Spent Saturday Just Taking in the Sights and Sounds....Took a Trolley out to Maximir Park....Walked Around the Vegetable, Fish and Flower Markets.....

…..I bought an all-day ticket for the trolley system since I will be going out of the “free zone” tonight for the soccer game and used the ticket to do some exploring. I went out to Maximir Park and to the central square to check out all the markets. It was a mixture of live native music, Hare Krishna singers and dancers, and a troupe of medieval knights and maidens. Here are some of the photos without commentary---you’re probably glad to have me shut up at this point anyway…..Tonight I go the the soccer match…..

Remember, you can double-click on the photos to enlarge them…..

Between the Cold Front, Overcast and Rainy Skies, and Icelantic Volcano.....

.....there hasn't been a lot of sunshine this past week. Sometimes I think this winter is never going to end for me but yesterday (Thursday) the sun came out in the afternoon and today was beautiful but still pretty cool temperatures. The airport here is closed because of the volcanic ash and, more importantly, the Frankfurt airport is closed indefinitely--which is where I connect back to Houston. So, at this point, I can't leave but I still have another week of work here.

Rain or shine, and despite cold temperatures, I've been walking two to three hours every evening. It stays light here until about 8:30 pm so it's nice for walking. I'm pretty familiar with the Old City by now but am constantly finding small parks, squares, statues and fountains in unexpected places. The statuary here is absolutely amazing--there are at least three dedicated to St. George after his slaying of the dragon and I found a small statue of a child relieving himself in a pond. I just try to imagine what storms of protest this statue would cause in Houston--I'm sure every religious group in the city would be protesting it--but here nobody seems to really even notice it. Artwork, of all types, is everywhere here.

I walked down by the Central Train Station which, like most European cities, is the central focal point for the city. From here, the streets fan out and up into the older part of the city. The building is very old--and this was the station I arrived at in 1970--but I really just don't remember that trip. Next door is the Regency Esplanade Hotel of Oriental Express fame. The Oriental Express train ran from Paris to Istanbul but since Yugoslavia was one of those twilight areas--Communist yet pro-Western--this hotel was a major stopover on the route and supposedly was, during the Cold War, a haven for spies, smugglers and arms dealers. They must have been pretty wealthy because this place is no economy joint.

I had a good group this past week. I had students from Slovakia, Macedonia, Serbia, Czech Republic and Bosnia. As you probably remember, there have been a lot of fighting and wars between these countries during the last twenty years but everybody got along just fine--in fact I think they pretty much went out as a group most every night to eat. We had a group dinner with some of the embassy staff Thursday night and I tried a "typically" Croatian dish which was basically just a wide selection of grilled meats. It was a good time, though, and the kind of thing I miss being able to do when I'm working in Africa.

I had hoped to take two day trips out of the city this weekend but it's early for tourist season and I don't think there's going to be enough sign ups for the trips to make but I will be able to go out to one of the national parks that is supposed to be really beautiful. Saturday night I plan to go to a Dinamo Zagreb soccer game and see how they play it over here.

Spent Over Six Hours Walking Around Zagreb Sunday.....

.....and got to know the city pretty well. Zagreb has a lot of people--over a million--but is surprisingly compact. There is an Old City and a New City as well as an Upper Town and Lower Town and the four don't mix and match perfectly but together, they make for an interesting blend of history and culture.

I slept in, ate a late breakfast, and left the hotel around 10:00 and walked back up to the Ban Jelacic Square which is the main gathering point in the city. It is a large open area with a huge statue and is surrounded by Baroque facades and sidewalk cafes. It is the favorite gathering spot for students. Walking up to the square--about a ten minute walk--I was really hit by the lack of cars on the streets even though it was Sunday morning. There are trolley tracks on every major street here and trolleys run probably less than a minute apart and are always full of passengers.

After the 1991 Revolution and the Balkan War, the Croatian government basically banned almost all parking downtown and those spots that are available are really expensive. After they banned cars, the government also abolished trolley fees so everybody can ride downtown at no cost and they do it--trolley after trolley. As a result, cars disappeared; road maintenance became a non-issue; the air cleared up; and hardly any cars are seen on the streets now. What do you do with empty city streets? Here they put in sidewalk (or in this case) street cafes. It really seems to work well. I can't imagine it working in Houston but here, it is a success story.

I walked back up by the Cathedral and the walled fortress walls that were constructed to guard against the Ottoman Turks--the old stone gate is now the scene of a religious shrine to the Virgin Mary. The Old City is just that--really old--with winding cobble stone streets and ancient buildings. I walked uphill to the Lotscak Tower and climbed the wooden spiral staircase to the top and watched them fire the noon gun cannon at precisely noon--like they've been doing for about a hundred years now. From there I walked over and visited the St. Mark's Church with its ornate colored tile roof and then visited the Dolac Market--a large open-air farmer's market in the town center.

The large ornate buildings here are just amazing: the yellow building is the National Opera Theater. The Mimara Museum is just down the street from my hotel and the National

Archives and Library are also nearby. There are several major museums in the city and I visited the Croatian National Museum on Sunday (the bottom photo).

Unfortunately, the weather took a turn for the worse late Sunday afternoon.....

Arrived Mid-Afternoon on Saturday.....

.....and despite the relatively short trip was bushed. After checking into the hotel, I showered then took an hour and a half walk around the old town. The hotel is a nice one--located right at the edge of the old city--and within walking distance of many of the historical sites.

Old Zagreb is a unique collection of Baroque buildings--many in deteriorating condition--but also many that have been beautifully restored. In fact, restoration

is kind of a problem getting good pictures because scaffolding is everywhere--on the cathedral and behind many of the statues in the numerous squares.


There is statuary everywhere--much of it seems to involved mounted horsemen but there are also a lot of relatively new statues of religious figures and, of course, the old Communist leaders.


I always found the old Yugoslavia to be a fascinating country--one of the most successful in fighting and harassing the Nazi occupiers--then a real thorn in the side for the Soviet Union. Yugoslavia was always a maverick Communist state--living just on the edge but avoiding a Soviet invasion like those in Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968. Yugoslavia was very close to NATO--even sharing military exercises to the chagrin of the Soviets. I was a political science major in 1970 and I think that was one of the reasons I wanted to visit here on my honeymoon.



I really don't remember much from that trip. I walked down by the railroad station but it was so long ago.....

First I walked up to the main square today and looked around; then I walked up the hill to the Zagreb Cathedral which was under construction in the front--but they way a true cathedral is never finished. From there I walked around some of the old cobble stoned, winding streets in the old town then down past the public squares with fountains and statues to the railroad station then back to the hotel. I was really tired from the trip and was feeling it by this time so I went to my room, ordered a room-service sandwich and soup--and tried to get some sleep.

Tomorrow I think I'll join an organized walking tour and try to learn some facts about some of the stuff I saw today. At least today, I got my bearings somewhat.....