We cycled around the capital of Croatia

 

The most recommended way to explore Zagreb is by bike, with the Blue Bike Tour Company, so we took to the streets with our guide Leia and our bicycles. We began in front of the art museum and biked toward the City Theatre. It had been a long time since I was last on a bike and the initial few metres were particularly unstable, but it didn’t take long until I was racing through the streets of Zagreb, ringing my bell and swerving out of the way of pedestrians. 

 The first stop was the city theatre in Tito Square. This is the only sign of Tito left, as all other reminders of him were destroyed during the war or the after party as Croatians celebrated their new found independence from Yugoslavia and the rule of the Serbs. Across the road from the square was a large building, built in the early 1900’s as a hospital. Unfortunately, the building never actually a hospital (you will soon note this is the way of Croatia), and its central purpose was actually a tobacco factory for about 20 years before it became a university building, and remains that today.

The main square in Zagreb is called Ban Jelačić. It is here that the statue of Josip Jelačić on his horse, sword in hand, was erected in 1866 Austrian authorities, despite protests from Zagreb councilmen. It was oriented towards the north, with his sword raised against Hungary, to commemorate his battle against Hungary in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848. However, this greatly offended the Hungarians, and when nationals came to visit, the people of Zagreb were forced to cover the statue with an oddly shaped large wooden box, which would then be removed again when the nationals left. To prevent the Hungarians destroying the statue, it was taken down one night in 1947, by locals and hidden. It was not for nearly sixty years that the statue was located and re-erected. This time in the middle of the square, as to avoid offending anyone!

During  WWII, Zagreb opened its doors to the Germans, as it was safer to be with rather than against. To prove this, the locals of the city blew up their own Jewish Synagogue… interesting way of making an alliance.  What was a Synagogue is now a carpark, merely with a small plaque to commemorate the loss. Further to the Zagreb influence in WWII, Cardinal Stepinac, (pride of the city, mentioned in the last post), was also known to have blessed the concentration camps. Some would argue this act to be condoning the treatment and eminent death of millions of Jews, therefore making Stepinac a Nazi… Oh and  on the topic of Croatian Catholics, those beautiful big chandeliers in their Cathedral were actually donated by an American who fell in love with a Croatian girl, they were initially from a Las Vegas casino!

Up near the Cathedral was the Croata tie shop, the only place to get ‘genuine neck ties’ as Croatia is the birthplace. From the red croat tied around the neck of lovers going off to war to the now minimum priced $120 ties sold in the shop. Sam made his purchase, as he felt he just had to have one and it was a lovely blue tie with a floral pattern. Leia explained to us that the Turkish ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire?’ million lira question was “In which country was the neck tie invented?” The owner of Croata was looked on as the Turk lost his million. In order to display commiserations and have a bit of fun , the owner sent the Turk the most expensive tie in the shop.

The Blue Bike website advertised a highlight being the visit to the Bloody Bridge. Now, we being Kiwis who take everything literally, we kept our eyes out for a bridge, forgetting it would have existed hundreds of years ago. Leia stopped us in street and explained that hundreds of years ago, water used to flow down from the mountains, through the city, dividing the two main communities, St Francis’ and St Catherine’s. The two parishes refused to intrude on the other’s territory, so all meetings would take place on the bridge. Many arguments and fights took place. Today, there is no water flowing through the city and what was the bloody bridge is now merely a street.  Similarly, when the water through the city was dried up, the plan was put forward to turn what was a sculpture park. The park is now ‘complete’ with merely two sculptures, as they ran out of money.

Across the ‘Bloody Bridge’ and up one of two hills in the city, we came across one of the entrances into the walled community of the Church. In 1709 there was a huge fire, destroying all of the eastern part of the city. The only thing to remain was a portrait of Mary holding baby Jesus. This painting is now displayed in the passage through the wall, surrounded by gifts of flowers and sweets given to Mary from affectionate visitors. The passage is more like a big cave, with pews in the opposing corner from Mary. For the locals of Zagreb, this place is more sacred than the Cathedral, this is where they come to worship. To make their gratitude toward Mary tangible, the entire interior of the cave is covered in plaques, inscribed with such phrases as “Havala Majko!” meaning “Thank you, mother!” The religious influence is Croatia is huge and unavoidable.

We then cycled up to the parliamentary part of the city. On our way, Leia explained there were orange poles placed across the footpath in order to deter people from the paths being used… seemed a bit backwards as people were forced to walk on the roads. However, it all made sense. As soon as she stopped telling me the snow pulls the tiles down with it, a tile fell from the roof of the town hall and smashed on the footpath below. Had I, or anyone else, been walking down the path, they would have been knocked out for sure. 

Throughout the city, most of the buildings tend to be grey, expect for the odd yellow one. There was a princess of the Hungarian/Serbian monarchy who would often visit the city and loved the colour yellow. So, to please her, the council decided to paint the most important buildings sunshine yellow – theatres, galleries etc.  There are also many little statues or objects donated to the city by the locals of Zagreb. For example, one park in particular has a weather station from a local scientist, a band rotunda fro a musician and a fountain from an architect. It is very much the people’s park, with old men going for their Sunday morning stroll, rugged up in their big coats and hats. 

Last but not least was the Museum of Broken Relationships, a museum designed to give people closure to the ended relationships. Many people from all over the world send it various items with stories to accompany them. The most memorable was a story told by an elderly woman.

She had met a soldier in WWII, through her friend’s older brother. She wrote to him, hoping he was safe and coping with his duties, but he did not remember her. In reply, she sent him a photo of herself. This was good enough for the soldier, as he sent photos of himself to her. As their letters continued, a bond grew between them (even if it was just a fantasy). The lady’s family hosted the soldier one weekend, at the end of which he gave her a coin to remember him by and keep her safe. He went back to his duty, leaving his love.

She never heard from him again, neither did anyone else. Where he went or what happened to him was never know. It was presumed he had been killed in battle.  Years later and the lady was set to marry a new man, whom she had been with for about six years. But, after all this time, she still had the coin. In fact, even today, in her old age, she still has the coin… it was melted down and made into her wedding ring.

She has never forgotten the soldier, or the bond between them.