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!
0 Comments
I decided on Monday, November the 27th, that I wanted to try to apply for an expedited passport and was standing at the service counter at the Chicago Passport Agency being approved for one two days later on the 29th. In this blog post I will describe to you the details of that particular mini-quest.
The round trip bus ticket form Louisville to Chicago and back cost $81 online, or $127 in person at the Greyhound station itself, whatever sense that makes. Scheduled boarding time was supposed to be 2:45 am, with a departure set for 3:05 am, but the incoming bus was a good hour late. We ended up rolling out of Louisville and over the river into Indiana around 4:20 am. We had a 45 minute stop-over scheduled at Indianapolis which was turned into an 8 minute stop due to running behind. I relieved my bladder, bought a coke from a vending machine for $2.50 (to torture it some more), and a Twix for another $1.75 from another machine. The only plus to over-paying for that junk was that someone had paid it forward (intentionally or not) with a bag of BBQ potato chips left in the bottom of the vending machine for me to help myself to (which would have been another whopping $2.00 otherwise). We re-boarded and headed out for Lafayette and Chicago without event. Once on the open roads and flat lands of Indiana we eventually made back up the rest of our missing time and arrived in Chicago precisely at 8:40 am(9:40 am back in KY), five minutes ahead of time. The bus stop wasn't too crowded that time, when I came back later that afternoon was a different story. I relieved my aging bladder once again and made my way out onto the streets of Chi-Town, but only after a somewhat fair priced large cup of coffee from the only food joint in the place. The coffee was $2.50. Harrison and Jefferson was the first intersection that I came too, which took practically two steps to reach from the front doors of the bus station. I had my phone out with google maps pulled up and the passport agency on 101 W Congress Parkway punched in but my data was extremely slow and I was having trouble locating my cardinal directions to get headed correctly towards my destination. Two locals were posted up on the corner hustling something or another and I decided to ask them if they knew which direction W Congress Parkway was located. Unfortunately neither one of the men knew which direction the street was, and neither of them had any clue where the passport agency was located so they weren't too helpful at all. Oddly enough, the next twenty minutes to half an hour was one of the brightest moments in my day due to just standing on the corner kicking it with them as human beings. I didn't matter to them that I wasn't a gang banger and that I didn't have tattoos (or that my skin was a different color), and It didn't matter to me that they were obviously peddling something they probably shouldn't have been. After some point I asked which way down Harrison the river was, thanked them, and made my way onward. It's always refreshing to meet cool people, but to be able to openly discuss politics, the world, and things that truly matter with people who truly understand will always be the experiences I treasure the most. And isn't that really what traveling is about to degrees? Exploring new places, discovering new cultures, having unique experiences and expanding our understanding of people and the world as well as raising our levels of appreciation towards it. I remember that I felt blessed for the type of day that I was having. Stopping on a bridge along Harrison I snapped a few photos of an on-coming boat in the water below. It appeared to have a small dinner party of about 8 people in action on the main deck that was visible. A man walking a Scottish terrier, a man jogging, and a woman on a bicycle all passed me one by one while I was taking my time and enjoying the view around me. I followed Harrison until I reached S Financial Place and I hooked a left. At the next street I hung a right and I was on W Congress Parkway, my destination reduced to less than a 10 minute walk and before I knew it I was standing in front of the doors to the Chicago Passport Agency. I decided (very unwisely so) to go find a place to get something to eat, a cup of coffee, a pack of cigarettes, or possibly all of the above. I thought about searching up food places near me but remembering how slow my data had been earlier I skipped it and just starting walking in a random direction. Possibly two blocks away, if even that far, I came to a fairly busy intersection with a small gas station on the other side of W Congress Parkway and crossed over. One pack of cigarettes and a medium sized (horrible horrible horrible) coffee came to a total just over $15.50. I honestly wanted to be shocked that cigarettes in Chicago were more expensive than in Seattle or the Capital city, though I can't say that it actually surprised me at all. Returning in the direction of the Chicago Passport Agency, I sipped my coffee and enjoyed a cigarette. I had plenty of time to kill, almost two hours until my appointment, so I walked around a couple of city blocks for an additional half hour, explored a bit of subway, and headed back a good 45 minutes before I was scheduled to be. The entrance itsef was mostly glass with a bunch of security. I believe I counted 5 guards in the main area before being pointed to a hallway on the side of the room. At the end of hall was another security check-point which I had to remove my jacket, pocket change, and everything else including my boots before passing through the scanner. I found a bathroom a short distance down the hall from the elevators that sat around the corner and just beyond the security check point where I relieved my bladder once again, half the reason I decided to come in so early in the first place was that I couldn't find a public restroom and my bladder was again more than full and needing some serious relief. I washed my hands and headed up to the 9th floor where the application acceptance area of the Passport Agency was located and got in line. Two people were in front of me and in just about five minutes time I was presenting my documents to the first Agency employee. A quick look-over of my things and they were handed back to me and then I was pointed to another line. There was only one person in front of me and it was fairly fast. Once I was called to one of the probably twenty service windows my things were again gone over and handed back to me along with a ticket with a number and then I was told to have a seat. 10 or 15 minutes passed before I was called again. The actual acceptance agent who ended up helping me (Corey R.) was super proficient and after inspecting my birth certificate, state i.d., and travel itinerary I was approved and ready to go in a very short time. I was told that typically I could have taken my passport home the same day except that their printers were malfunctioning at the moment and I would have to have it overnighted for an additional $15.45. The overall service was fast, friendly, professional, and honestly the last thing I expected from a government facility of the sort. The total cost, $210.45, consisted of the $110 for the passport book, a $25 execution fee, a $60 fee for expediting services and of course the additional charge for overnight shipping with FedEx. Getting your passport can be quick and painless, though the thought itself may seem like some next to impossible task. It's really quite simple. The first you need to decide where you are going and research your destination. Look at things like the cost and location of hotels and food joints, and don't forget to look at all of the possible modes of transportation to travel before making a decision. The price differences between a bus, a plane, a boat, a train, and driving yourself are considerably large. It also doesn't hurt to take a few minutes and write down a few cab companies ahead of time. The second thing you will need to do is to gather the necessary documents for proving your identity. You will need your birth certificate and your state, government, or military identification card as well as a fully completed DS-11 form (the form for first time applicants - renewing a passport will require an even easier form that you can find here) which can be picked up from select post offices which act as passport agencies, from regional passport agencies themselves, or downloaded and printed off from various locations on the internet. Next you'll want to stop and make sure you have steps one and two completed, just keep in mind that whether it takes hours, days, weeks, or months to get your passport is ultimately going to be up to you. Create a checklist for yourself, mental or otherwise, and go over everything with a fine-toothed comb. Your only going to have to do this once, take your time, you don't want to be denied for writing the wrong date for your father's birthday and miss that trip to the Bahamas with your girlfriend like I did when I first applied 15 years ago. Third, your ready to make an appointment with the US Passport Agency nearest to you (you can locate the one you need here). They seem to be pretty decently dispersed across the country. After you select the one you want to visit you can make an appointment by calling the national passport appointment hotline @ , or you can simply request an appointment via an online wizard here. The fourth and final step is planning and carrying out your actual physical journey to the Passport Agency that your appointment is scheduled with. Make sure that you arrive 15 minutes early because your appointment can be deleted/denied after you are 15 minutes late or more but I suggest going in even earlier if at all possible. I arrived 45 minutes early for my appointment and I was actually done with the entire process and back out of the building in one hour flat. The Chicago Passport Agency was truly a well oiled machine the day I was there but I can not speak for the facilities in other cities or testify for the experience of applying normally through the post office or mail. Best of luck if your applying for your first-time passport. Slow down and do it right and it'll be a breeze! Feel free to comment with any questions! Thanks for reading, happy traveling! A message from US Passport Agencies: Proof of immediate international travel, the Expedited Fee, and an appointment are required for each application submitted in person at a Passport Agency or Center. To schedule an appointment, visit the Online Passport Appointment System. You may also call the National Passport Information Center 24/7 at 1-877-487-2778 (1-888-874-7793 TDD/TTY). OR To check the status of your application: https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/passports.html |
Archives
December 2018
AuthorWriter, nature lover, poet, pagan, occultist and blogger. Categories
All
|