Zagreb

Monday, Aug. 8, 2016--Zagreb

Zagreb has been a complete surprise for me.   After 9 days in Slovenia where most traces of the period of communism have been wiped away by cities where businesses, apartments, and homes are modernized, colorfully painted, and gloriously restored, Zagreb provides great contrast.  Much of it still has the gray, crumbling look of communism.  I traveled thoroughly in East Germany, Hungary and Czechoslovakia during the communist days and remember "the look."  But so many of the former communist countries today have made much progress in restoration and revival--not just Slovenia, but Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and to a certain extent even Romania, Bulgaria, Georgia, and Armenia.  But Zagreb seems to fall far behind all of those at a level I can only compare so far to Moldova.  The one big change is the abundance of merchandise in shops.  In communist days, a store would have long aisles of shelving that would have nothing on them, or maybe a manager would get creative and put one ketchup bottle (or whatever item of merchandise he/she had) every 1/2 meter (1/2 yard) to make the shelves look less empty.  One would realize there was always a shortage of items to buy and a general sad state of the availability of everyday goods.  Today, the shops here have plenty of merchandise to buy.  But many of the storefronts, including the whole facades of the buildings, still have that depressed communist look.

We spent most of the day in the center of town just wandering and looking.  We explored the main square (Trg J. Jelacica), the main shopping sareas, walked up into the old town to see the Cathedral, sat in Zrinskog Park watching people, and passed many monumental buildings including the National Theater, the Mimara Museum, etc.

In the late afternoon, we returned to the apartment after stopping to buy groceries.  We read through tourist literature to plan what we will be doing in the coming days.  Then we went out to a nearby place and bought cevapi for dinner.  It's a sandwich which starts with a huge bun that has onions and red peppers cooked into it, is dipped in butter, and toasted on a griddle.  Then it is filled with cooked cevapcici (small, fingerling sausages that are a local specialty).  It is served with chopped onion on the side.  We brought them home and ate about 3/4 of each with a local beer we had bought.  The leftovers will be lunch tomorrow.

In the evening, we went back to Zrinskog Park where they have nightly dances.  Tonight, it was Hawaiian dancing when the disc jockey was playing music and rockabilly music when the band Mojo Stuff was playing.  Many people were in the park just enjoying the nice evening.  After a while, we left and went to "Summer at Stros," another outdoor concert venue with a duo (guitarist and singer) named Duo Trbuh were performing a variety of music including rock, jazz, and country.