Exploring Zagreb

Wow! What an amazing day. We started our morning by walking across the street to a pastry shop and bought breakfast and ate it at the park. 

Maksimir Park

                                                     King Tomislaw at Maksimir Park

He was a King in the 10th Century who fought against Hungary.  He was one of the few kings that Croatia had.

These houses are on the edge of the park.  They have been in the same family for years.  The parents hand down their house to their children.  The parents end up living on the ground floor of the house, while the rest of the floors are occupied by other family members.  Very few Croatians take out a house mortgage because they inherit their parents' house. 

 This is the train station and the pictures below show the flowers that adorn their windows and streets.

Zagreb is going through a process of renovating the outside of their old buildings.  It hasn't been a priority until a few years ago.  Zagreb's governor has made it a priority and this is one building that has been redone and the building below is in the process of being redone.

This is the Art Pavilion and they have a facade hanging over the construction area that shows you what the building will look like.

 This was Croatian marketing at its best.  This stuffed lady held their sale sign. It really caught your attention.

This was a small vendor selling yummy Croatian pastries by the Government Square.  They were delicious.

These are pictures from The Government Square.  It houses a small park that has statues of political figures.  Government buildings face the park and administrative responsibilities are taken care of here.  The park has statues, fountains and a outdoor pavilion.  They had a band playing there this morning and people where dancing to the music. 

Not far from the Government Square is the Main Square.  Main Square is the shopping district and it is full of small shops and various businesses.  Cafes line the walk ways and people come to have a drink and visit with their friends.  It is the social gathering place.  

Walking to the square.

The Main Square is the social gathering place for the people of Zagreb.  They come to shop and sit at the Cafe and visit with their friends.  It is a very leisure time for them and it is a very crowded place.  The cafes serve drinks and pastries or ice cream.  They do not serve meals.  People come for a drink and a snack and then they have a late lunch and eat a very light dinner.  We had ice cream and lemonade because it was very hot today. It was in the low 90's.  These are pictures from the Main Square.

Zagreb is divided into 2 different sections, the Lower town and Upper town.  Everything up to this point has been in the lower town.  As we were walking to Upper town we encountered a small parade of musicians.  They were playing traditional music. It was fun to hear them so we recorded them so you could  hear the music when we get home. These are a few of the band members.

The Cathedral of St Stephen is the most famous monument in the city.  They have been restoring the outside and as you can see they are still working on one of the spires.  It has great ornate details on the front entryway of the cathedral.  It is very impressive.  The grounds house a place for the Cardinal to live and also a place for the nuns to live.  They also have beautiful flowers that grace the entrance of the square.

Zagreb was very busy today.  We also came across another parade.  These girls were at the Cathedral waiting to be in the parade.  We asked them if we could take their picture and they were sweet enough to say yes. 

Every morning the local people bring their produce to the Green Market to sell.  There are a ton of merchants there.  I was surprised at how big it was.  They close up every day at noon.  The place was packed with people.  We bought peaches and had a snack.  Ante said everything they sell is locally grown except the bananas.  It was great fun!

After we visited Green Market, we visited the Flower Market.

As you can see, we were very busy today.  This is the Stone Gate.  This divides the Upper Town from Lower Town.  It was built in the 13th century.  There was a large fire which damaged most of the area except a painting of the Virgin Mary with child.  They have built a small chapel around it and people come and pray and light candles.

This is the Church of St. Marks.   The roof has colored tiles that represent the Coat of Arms for Zagreb and Croatia.  Croatia is on the left and Zagreb is on the right side of the roof. 

 

This is a close up of above the doorway of the church and the tiles on the roof.

This is the Parliament Building which is located by the Church of St. Marks.

This is Ban's Palace which houses the President.  These 3 buildings are in Markov Trg.  Trg means square, so it is Markov Square.

This is the Church of St. Catherine and a close up of St. Catherine.

This is a view of the city from Upper Town to Lower Town.

This was the second parade that we came upon as we were walking back to the Lower town.