Europe 2019 - Day 44

19 June 2019, Wednesday

Today we travel again, this time to Zagreb, Croatia. Luckily it’s not a very long ride, about 5 hours only.

We checked out at about 10.45 a.m. and made our way to the bus station. Here I met a boy travelling with his mother, who are from Zagreb! What luck! So I asked him about food, things to see and other general stuff about Zagreb. 

And now for some history. The Croats settled in the region in the early 7th century and formed two principalities: Croatia and Pannonia. In 925 it became a kingdom under King Tomislav which lasted until 1102 when Croatia, after a series of dynastic struggles, entered into a personal union with Hungary, with a Hungarian king ruling over both countries. In 1526, after the Battle of Mohács, where Hungary suffered a catastrophic defeat against Ottoman Turks, Croatia severed its relationship with Hungary and its parliament voted to form a new personal union with the Habsburg Monarchy. Croatia remained an autonomous kingdom within the Hapsburg state (and later Austria-Hungary) until the empire's dissolution following the defeat in WW I.

In 1918, a short-lived State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs (carved out of south Slavic parts of Austria-Hungary) joined the Kingdom of Serbia to form the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, later renamed Yugoslavia in 1929. The new state was unitarist in character, erasing all historical borders within its new territorial division, which resulted in a strong movement for more autonomy for Croatia. In 1939, just days before the start of WW I, Croatia was granted broad autonomy within Yugoslavia, only to lose it when Germany and Italy attacked Yugoslavia in 1941 where the state was dissolved, parts of it annexed to Germany and Italy, and puppet governments installed in Croatia and Serbia. Almost immediately, a strong resistance movement was formed, led by communist leader Josip Broz "Tito", which gained broad popular support.

After the end of WW II, a new, communist Yugoslavia was formed with Tito becoming "president for life". Tito ruled with a strong hand, using political repression and secret police to quell any separatist sentiments, with the official motto of the new country being "Brotherhood and Union". Still, due to the fact that Yugoslavia didn't belong to the Warsaw Pact, having broken off political ties with USSR in 1948, it was by far the most open socialist country in Europe and its citizens enjoyed more civil liberties and a higher living standard compared to the rest of the Communist bloc.

After Tito's death in 1980, the weakening of political repression led to a period of political instability. Faced with the rise of nationalist sentiment, a decade-long recession, and the weakening of communist grip on power on the eve of the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, first free elections were held in Yugoslavia in almost 45 years. In these elections, nationalist options won power in all Yugoslav republics, which led to a rise in inter-ethnic tensions, culminating when Croatia and Slovenia declared their independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. This led to open war in newly independent Croatia and later in Bosnia and Herzegovina which declared its independence in 1992. The wars ended four years later, in 1995, with decisive Croatian victory in operation Storm, bringing peace to both countries. The anniversary of operation Storm is celebrated as Thanksgiving Day in Croatia every August 5th.

Today Croatia has about 4.2 million people, and a little less than 1 million of them reside in Zagreb. Present day Zagreb was developed out of 2 medieval settlements, Kaptol (Lower Town) and Gradec (Upper Town) which thrived over the centuries on 2 adjacent hills divided by the Medvescak stream. The stream marked the boundary and political border between these 2 medieval towns. Kaptol was basically a church town, having lots of churches, seminaries, monasteries etc. Gradec was more of a trading town. The 2 towns did not get along with each other. There was a bridge across the stream linking both towns, and this bridge came to be known as “the Bloody Bridge” because many battles were fought, and much blood was shed, on this bridge between warring factions from both these towns. 

The 2 towns were finally unified in 1850 and Zagreb was born. We arrived in Zagreb at about 5.30 p.m. and found our way to the hostel. The receptionist was quite good, she provided us with a lot of useful information on where to eat and places to see. Armed with a map, we headed out again to try some of the local food. On the way, we saw a Serbian Orthodox Church called the Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Lord.

Then we arrived in Tkalciceva Square, which is a square connecting Ban Jelacic square (the Main Square) with Upper Town. It is a pedestrian only street filled with restaurants, bars, small shops, night clubs etc. The locals call it the Bar Street. Here we had dinner in one of the restaurants - I had fried pork fillet stuffed with sausages (it came with a lot of potatoes 🙄) and I also tried a local pilsner called Pivovara Medvedgrad. It is very smooth and nice and not too bitter - I really enjoyed it. And it’s true what I read about Croatian beer - it’s one of the finest quality beers in the world. Hallelujah!