My wife, Zvjezdana, and I recently made our second trip to Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. The first time we visited was back in December of 2017. So far we have seen the city in rain, sleet, wind, and snow. It will be nice to visit during sunny weather one of these days.
Despite poor weather conditions, the largest Croatian city(by area) is a site for any history lover to see and experience. Kaptol and Gradec being the most significant historical sections of the city. Kaptol was originally founded by King Ladislaus I of Hungary way back in the year 1094. Unfortunately, most of the first settlement and diocese was effectively destroyed by Mongols a century and a half or so later in 1242. Legend has it that the Mongol invaders used the Cathedral in Zagreb as a stable for their war horses. The Cathedral, which was built in 1217 was rebuilt in the late 1200's, 1600's, and 1700's. Other historically noteworthy features of Kaptol include St. Francis and St. Maria, both Gothic churches, which were also constructed in the late 1200's as well. For the first few centuries Kaptol had no real fortifications to speak of and then in 1469, for fear of Turkish invasion, towers and walls were raised for the defense of the region. Construction was completed in 1473. These defensive structures, including Prislin Tower, which is still standing to this day, helped to defeat Turkish forces two decades after the completion of their construction. In addition, structural defenses were also added to Zagreb Cathedral, the tallest in all of Croatia, during the years of 1512 to 1520, most of which still stand. Many of the homes constructed centuries ago are also still present in modern-day Kaptol. Today, in Gornji Grad, Gradec both towers and walls built for defense nearly 800 years ago are still intact. These fortifications were constructed between the 1240's and early 1260's to protect the newly formed settlements located on the hill of Zagreb. Bela IV of Hungary in the early 1240's established Gradec as a free royal city, basically making it a feudal territory, or property, of the King via the Golden Bull of 1242. The original layout of the city was that of a triangle, equipped with four main gates and several towers inter-connected with the thick stone walls. The oldest coat of arms of Zagreb can be found etched into St. Mark's church in the middle of St Mark's square in the heart of Gornji, Grad. This coat of arms dates back to the late 1400's. The old city hall of Zagreb is also located here in Gradec, dating back to the early 1500's and underwent reconstruction in the 1700's and 1800's. There is enough historical significance to the old city of Zagreb to write an entire encyclopedia on. For history buffs, one could never run out of interesting sections of the city to explore. Our trip this time, however, was for business and not pleasure. Though we did manage to extend our stay a day longer than necessary for business in order to do a bit of site seeing. We stayed at the King and Queens hostel, a truly royal establishment. No pun intended. It was one of the best hostels we've had the pleasure of attending. I really can't say enough about it. The staff was friendly and professional. The rooms were clean and tastefully decorated, in fact, the whole place was extremely clean and well designed with a nice creative and artful flair. It was the middle of winter-time and was snowing outside, so it was a huge plus that the entire building was pleasantly and adequately heated as well. The selection of food offered to us in our free breakfast more than made up for the small fact that guests are required to wash their own dishes. We also enjoyed the private terrace for smokers. It made a lovely environment for us to share a few drinks and have a nice conversation. We plan to stay here again on our next trip through the region. We also recommend this spot for anyone planning to stay overnight in Croatia's capital city. The main purpose of our trip was actually to visit the US Embassy so that I could take care of some very important paperwork. The place was basically at the very edge of town, almost removed truly, with the presence of a modern fortress surrounded by high fencing and guard booths. However, my business inside took less than 20 minutes, which truly shocked me. I only had to deal with 3 separate employees, 4 security stations, and 8 police officers. I'm not exactly sure how the process would have gone if I was not a US citizen. I have heard stories. After leaving the US Embassy we headed directly to the Croatian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in order to get this new document stamped with the official seal of the Croatian Government. This also took only 10-15 minutes and involved interactions with 2 employees. There were no guards, no security stations, and no police. Later, we wandered around the big old city for the rest of the afternoon and evening. We stopped at a couple of coffee bars, a little burger place, a really nice ice cream parlor(nicest one I ever saw in my life), and on to our hostel. The next morning we had coffee in one of the same bars from the day before and then headed for the train station and got out of Dodge. Have you ever had the pleasure of visiting Zagreb? If so, how was your experience? We'd love to hear about it in the comments section below! Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for our next adventure. Namaste!
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December 2018
AuthorWriter, nature lover, poet, pagan, occultist and blogger. Categories
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