Day 98 Zagreb, saddness in your walls!

Wednesday 27/06/2018 Apartment Vuksa Ribnjak ulica 54, Zagreb, 10000, Croatia

We did our washing this am and as no line could only string it up above our bed with my travel cloths line...looks a sight but at least it might dry....

Then off to do our Free tour... the Zagreb free tour awaits... it didn’t start until 11 am... so we just wandered around the city centre, had Maccas again, then waited fir about 3/4 for our guide whose name as Luka once he finally showed up... very hung over from a big night of football watching !

He then proceeded to take us from one area to the next in the city centre... learning about its culture, the history, sights. Before we had set off we had met an Aussie couple doing a trip shortly by boat and bike combined tour... gamer than we are... Zagreb is not a big city, it does have a million people in it now recovery really in such a short period of time from the war only 20 yrs ago where they wanted independence from Yugoslavia in 1991 when Croatia 🇭🇷...

The tour itself wasn’t to be as tour go, it last over 2 1/2 hrs, going from sight to sight. Easy to get to, and a great way to get a feel for the area... Luka was passionate about the last 23 years of Croatia’s history and had commission the government of today if he and a mate could start up a Homeland War Tour, so people could learn about what happened, how the city of Zagreb survived and how it has climbed back... also history on how the rest of Croatia faired during the war years and since... the car went broom 1991-1995 21,000 people died in this conflict and many to this day still bare the emotional scares of what occurred.... this was a paid for tour that would last about 2 1/2 hrs as well, I felt John would love this tour and after having given Luka a good size tip, it was decided I would go and do my own thing and John would go on the tour... which he did and I had me time wandering around discovering new sights as well as going bs into some of the sights Luka took us... as there were a rather large group in our tour it was hard in some spots to get a good pic so by going back I was hoping it might be less people and quieter... and that’s exactly what it was... I had a lovely time just wandering and exploring. John really enjoyed his tour as well, so we both had a bonus afternoon...
While on tour with Luka he explained how much impact the Catholic Church has had on Zagreb and still has on it... with the ownership of a good portion of real estate around the Cathedral, many priest train here and just walking around you see many nuns as well... they have a priests retirement home just up the road from the Cathedral... it’s history started in 1093 and has a succession of Bishops ever since... there are a number of Catholic Churches in Zagreb the biggest and most impressive is the Zagreb Cathedral...
I even saw an extremely young nun she honestly looked about 18.... as we don’t see nuns where we live and those we do see today are retiree, it was quite a shock to see one so young...

I did actually get to see some great real wall art graffiti that looked great,sham the vantage get the little grubs killing the walls to do some work like this around the city.....Divert their graffiti passion to an art form...

I think the saddest part of Zagreb is the Graffiti it really has ruined a city that has so much to offer... I know it’s only surface rubbish or surface defacement but it has had such an impact on it visually.... seeing it over so many of the truly amazing sites around the inner old city.. it really makes the walls look like they are crying...

I wandered home after I had had enough, only for some reason, I couldn’t get in the key wouldn’t work for me... after 20 mins of trying I finally texted John whose tour was nearly over and then sat on the step... the people from the apartment building were coming and going... and giving me strange looks, nothing I could do about it... lugging, my little back pack a carry bag and my camera is taking its toll on my shoulder... it as aching like all hec... having quite a weight hanging from it Day in day out when walking cities is really getting too much... so sitting was best even if it was in a dark stair well...
finally John came hime and yep,one turn well 2 actually which I had don bu didn’t know you had to turn it slightly to the left again an yep opened straight up... that peeves me when h gets it straight away...

A little rest then we headed out for Pizza tonight..the weather is changing and going to rain apparently, but the wind sure has picked up, we started out outdoors,but had to come inside as the wind was blowing us away and everyone else as well... had our pizza never does just taste as good as some here not sure why..it’s food fills the spot... so after eating we headed to check out the streets at night... worth a look, as not quite totally dark, but Zagreb does look slightly better at night with lights,you don’t notice the graffiti as much...
Made it home ok did some pics then off to bed...Læs mere