Zagreb City

Our tour schedule, I may have mentioned, was turned around because of the Easter Holiday.  Today we toured the city itself which normally would be the first day after arriving.  And yesterday, as I hope you realized when you were reading about it, was the third great day in a row.

In the main square our meeting place wass the statue of the great leader who united Yugoslavia against the Ottomans.

Our cheerful and knowledgeable guide was Ida which is pronounced here as if the I was and E.

As we were walking I noticed these footprints and called Ida back to them.  They are a marker for when a naked man walked through the city singing a song about how beautiful it was and about loving Zagreb.  He did it a few times to show pride in his city before they made him stop, but here they mark the events.

We made our way to the shortest funicular in Europe!  Zagreb is on two hills, a lower one and a higher one.  This is between them.

 

The view on the top.  First a neighborhood where the trees are lighted at night all yer round.

Not only do they have land line pay phones but T-Mobile is the land line company as well as the primary cell service!

This is the roof of the building which had been built by the largest bank in Croatia.  The builders were Jewish and hence added, on their own, a railing of iron Menorahs!

This museum is honoring the inventions of Tesla who was a Croat.  He didn't live in Zagreb and only visited once.  although this might also be City Hall. We have seen so many buildings and our guide was not very loud so not especially easy to hear.  OAT does not use 'whisperers.'

I love the multi-bulbed light inside the museum/City Hall entrance.

Some of our group was out last night and saw the Lamplighter doing his job.  The flame burns low all day then he comes and turns them up.  They said he was very quick.  Of course in the morning they have to be turned down again but here in the Upper City Center they still exist!

The iconic roof of St. Marks church.  The tiles feature the Croatian flag and the Zagreb city flag.  It was quite difficult to get a good picture.  The square is small and the church sits in the center of it.  Another tour group was taking about ten minutes to get a croup photo.  The photographer had all the fanciest DSLR equipment.  But the group was about 35 people and that was tough to wrangle.  I do like that OAT groups are small.  Much more friendly, fewer people to wait for at every stop, and our group photo on Tina's Phone was two quick snaps!  Moving on! Here is a better picture and details. 

 Speaking of photo frustration. Everyone wants to take good pictures for themselves.  This man set up a tripod and took several pictures from the center of the preferred shot.  A few of us were waiting for him to move.  His wife tried to let him know to step aside.  When he finally moved he walked right up and kept taking more and more pictures.  I am sure they were good and maybe he does something wonderful with them at home to astonish his friends with his expertise.  I gave up, moved in right behind him and took one picture.  Not bad and truth be told, not a critical picture to even bother with!

I will say that I, and most of the people I travel with, try to decide what focus we want, what angles we want.  Then we move into the space, take a couple of pictures, and move on.  We know others are waiting.  We try to be conscious of our surroundings and the other tourists trying to enjoy what we too are enjoying.

The famed Stone Gate.  It is the last gate remaining and wsn't destroyed because of the miracle of the Virgin appearing here.  It really is a gate and almost seems church like because of the thickness of the old walls.

Notice the decoration on the roof of the Stone Gate.  Many roofs have this or very similar.  It was to keep witches away and make it hard for them to land on your roof and then work their evil magic.

From the same link above you can read the legend of Dora Krupiceva.  The novel, The Goldsmith's Gold tells the sad tale, and aren't they all, of this lost love.  It is by one of the greatest Croatian authors and the story sounds like it would be interesting for a quick read.

The icon is enhanced with real gold and is on the wall of the inside of the gate.

When the guide said that people leave thank you notes I was not expecting them to be engraved in marble!  They are hundred's who believe Our Lady helped them to achieve their wish.

The shrine is protected by iron gates but can be opened to place a wish right there.  Behind us are a few pews and people were in serious contemplation and candles burned.

Grafiti I take to mean someone is concerned about Global Warming.  There is a lot of graffiti, some okay and some not so nice, and some just silly.  One road sign, Tina translated, had the idea that everyone should go to the North.

Thrift and black tulips with a mossy wall behind him make this statue an interesting view.

The kravat was invented here.  Mercenaries word red scarves tied and tucked in when they went to France to fight.  The French used called them Croats but with the French word for it.  This was close to Kravat and now you can thank Croatians for inventing the necktie!

Steeple of St. Mary's Church.  It is very popular for weddings as brides like the pink interior!

We are standing at the site of the former river that divided the upper hill and the lower.  This is our first site of the Cathedral.  Notice that when under renovation the work is covered so that at first glance the building looks whole.  We see that in so many places.  Nice sometimes for photos from a distance.

Some window shopping found us a golden copy of the Goldsmith's Gold which is sometimes also called the Goldsmith's Treasure, but I didn't see and English version.  I think it is just a sort of fairy tale.



The I saw some interesting alcohol bottles.  I don't think in Zagreb the people are particularly heavy drinkers although yesterday we learned that in the mountains and villages we visited they are indeed.  The water in those places is not really potable so it is wine, morning, noon, and night!  And if they do drink water they purify it with wine!  Note that one of these bottles is extremely large and the other is purposely upside down!

This statue is of a story character who is a comic singer.  Note the rope around his neck.  He sang and joked his way out of trouble but his friends could not!

At the open market beautiful, lush, large hanging baskets were only $6.  Wish I could have bring some home with me!

They are still celebrating Easter here.  It is the week between the Catholic and the Orthodox holidays.  This is at the Cathedral lawn.  The round tower is part of the old city wall against which the church was built.

I love the 'eye' houses!  It looks as though the building is keeping an eye on us all!

Note the old wall on the other side of the Cathedral.  And pay note to the entryway filigree and detail above.  Beautiful.

There was a service going on for a group of Asian visitors who were traveling with their priest.  We heard the details outside and then just walked around the edges, so to speak, to see it all and were allowed to take pictures.  The chandeliers were a gift from a family who lived in Las Vegas.  They were donated on the condition that the donors would get pictures of them hanging in this ancient cathedral.  The chandeliers had once hung in the  Gold Coast Casino!

    Above you can see just a small sample of the floor which was really pretty and changed in different areas of the church.  Parts of it almost looked like rugs but it all was these beautiful shades of tile.

You also see a sample of Galgolitic script.  It was invented in the 9th century by Sts. Cyril and Methodius to translate scripture into Slavonic in order to spread Christianity to the Slavic peoples.

Renaissance monk's stall.  Note the arm rests for leaning support during long stretches of prayer and meditation.

13th century fresco.

It is a Croatian trdition to have God's Grave at Easter time.  Rather than represent it with a cave God is given glory with such a display.

This is the casket of  Archbishop Stepinca .  It is not him you see but his remains are here under the model.  Because of keeping the faith during the fascist regime of World War II he was imprisoned and kept under house arrest.  He is controversial as some think he did not do enough to fight genocide and others credit him with miraculousness.  He was declared a martyr by Pope John Paul II and is elevated to Blessed which is a step to Sainthood.

After the Cathedral we were turned loose until it was time to meet for "a coffee' with Author Cody McClain Brown so we popped into the department store to kill time out of the stiff breeze and slight drizzle.

      I leave you here for now as the hour is late and tomorrow we get another early start.  
     And, best of all, tonight I have a bathtub and plan to enjoy it before I go to bed!