Zagreb was the last leg of our Croatian journey, and it was only included in our itinerary because we had to catch a flight back home from there. After visiting Zagreb, I completely regretted not spending more days here. It also made me realize that I am a "city girl" and not a "beach girl". It was typical European city, and it was cold ... like really cold! Basically, we had to change our entire wardrobe! We tried to squeeze in as much as we could in 2 days.
We stayed at the Hilton Zagreb which had a beautiful view of the city and was pretty close to a tram stop. Even if we decided to walk, the centre wasn't too far away (about 10 minutes or so). Being a lazy lot, we bought tram day tickets to get around. Since none of us were the normal "museum" kinda people, we decided to explore some quirky museums in the city as well as cafes, churches and markets.
The first museum that we visited was the "Museum of Broken Relationships". As weird as it sounds, thats what the museum was all about. In this museum, you'll find artifacts submitted by men/women who's relationship didnt turn out ... well, as well as the story behind it. It might sound sad, however, its quite amusing too.
The other museum that we visited was the "Museum of Illusions". If you have already visited the Trick Eye Museum anywhere in the world, I wouldn't recommend visiting it. The artifacts are comparatively less as compared to Trick Eye. Of course, if you still want to have some fun, you can visit.
Zagreb is divided into 2 parts - "Upper Town" and "Lower Town". We took the funicular to the upper down (coz we didn't have all the energy to walk up the slopes). With our tram day ticket, the funicular ride was free. This funicular also happens to be the shortest one in the world. Once we reached the top, we had a beautiful view of Zagreb. The Upper Town also happens to be comparatively quieter than Lower Town.
Zagreb has an amazing cafe culture and we loved exploring cafes and restaurants. Two cafes that we highly recommend visiting are - Kava Tava and Johann Franch. Kava's Tava's stacked nutella pancakes is da bomb! Make sure you go there on on empty stomach.
Johan Franck serves amazing breakfast. We enjoyed a breakfast plate for two! 3 of us could have easily shared it! Talk about huge portions! The interior of this restaurant will surprise you.
We would also recommend visiting Restoran Lanterna na Dolcu for amazing food and a unique dining experience (inside a cave!).
Since we were there over a weekend, we got to see some outdoor markets. At these markets, they sell everything from fruits to handicrafts, homemade cheese to cured meats .. and much more. We sampled homemade Croatian cheese and it was really good!
We visited only two churches in Zagreb. One of them was the Church of St. Mark. More than the interior. it was the rooftop that impressed us. We saw quite a few people get married in there.
The other was the Zagreb Cathedral - a 13th century cathedral with a Gothic interior.
Don't forget to visit the chapel at the Gradec Stone Gate! This tiny chapel is located where you least expect it!
The highlight of our trip was a visit to Mirogoj Cemetry. This place looked more like a palace than a cemetery with ferns all over. It is considered as one of the most beautiful cemeteries in Europe, and once you visit you'll see why. Many famous Croatians are said to have been buried here.
9 Comments
Jean
5/1/2017 10:29:23 pm
Oh Zagreb looks like an amazing place to explore. I can see why you feel in love with it. So much to see and do.
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5/2/2017 12:33:04 am
Zagreb looks amazing. I can see why you regret not spending more time there. I have never been to Croatia but I hope to go in the future, and I'll for sure include more time in Zagreb after reading this
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5/2/2017 04:39:09 am
Museum of broken relationship must be one of its kind in the world! The cemetery sure do looks more like a castle than a sad place to bury the dead. I guess Zagreb is a city which constantly tries to cheer up people and makes them forget all sorrow!
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Indrani
5/2/2017 08:07:52 pm
Such a cute city with all possible tourist attractions. I liked the museum pics. Definitely keen to visit that if I am there.
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5/3/2017 06:24:38 am
You just took me back to my time in Zagreb years ago! I wish I'd known about the Museum of Illusions when I was there. I did visit the Museum of Broken Relationships and agree that parts of it were amusing but parts of it were really depressing too!
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I have heard about the Museum of Broken Relationships before and it is on my bucket list on museums to visit in this life. I think the idea is brilliant and I think I would find it sad to visit. Zagreb looks like a quiet and non touristy city to visit, compared with other places in Croatia. I would like to go one day.
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5/18/2017 06:45:04 am
Zagreb is a contemporary, versatile, and spectacular city. Croatia is n my bucket list and Zagreb and Dubrovnik are a must visit for me.
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