There are a lot of vicious bitey insects, which rudely don’t appear to understand that where I come from, it is customary not to bite people who have practically bathed in citronella.
I had hoped they would have learned by now, but sadly my trust in foreign armed flying-teeth bastards to adapt to my English ways was misplaced.
This has not stopped us from exploring, however, and today’s jaunt took us to the incredibly beautiful Saint Mark’s Church for the changing of the guard, then on the trams to make the most of our 30 kuna day-ticket.
Saint Mark’s Church is the parish church of old Zagreb and dates from the 13th century, although the colourful roof – which sports the medieval coat of arms of Croatia, Dalmatia and Slavonia, and the emblem of Zagreb – is from the late 19th century. Saint Mark’s Square also houses government and administrative buildings, including parliament and the constitutional court. It’s best accessed via the funicular, which is included in the ZET day-ticket.
At the top of the funicular, in the Gornji grad (Upper Town), is the Lotrščak Tower, containing a cannon which is fired over the city at noon every day. As an added bonus, today being a Saturday, we also got to witness the changing of the guard, a two-hour long ceremony which also takes place at noon. We thought we’d been savvy by going directly to Saint Mark’s Square to wait for the changing of the guard as you can hear the cannon from most places, but as soon as it had been fired, swarms of tourists armed with selfie-sticks poured into the square from the tower, blocking most of the view.
Nonetheless, it’s an impressive sight, and the soldiers do a good job of pushing the more irritating tourists who “don’t understand” out of the way, kindly, but firmly. Don’t even try and get into the church after the changing of the guard as it’s rammed, something which didn’t seem to distract the on-duty verger from his phone.
After a walk around the upper town looking at some street art, we had lunch – spicy tortilla hotdog and crispers – around the back of the Ljetno Kino Gradec outdoor cinema, then made the most of our travel card by taking the tram out to its terminus somewhere out towards the mountains, then rode the 15 out to the loop and back again. We didn’t stay there long because to be honest, there’s not much to see, other than the tram driver having a crafty fag as he turns it round. I bought a bottle of water, though, to help cope with the excitement.
We finished our trip to Zagreb with a light meal and a bottle of local wine and then sat on the step of out little house ready to get up for our early train tomorrow. Both were lovely – the wine and Zagreb. It’s a lovely place. We were reminded by one of the tour-guides we eavesdropped in the square that here was war there not long ago, and it still bears the scars of that and looks a bit run-down or battered in places, but is a wonderful place full of parks and trees and plenty of things to see and do.
Bok!, molim, hvala and doviđenja go a long way.
