FROM THE ARCHIVEs

zagreb, croatia

April 2016

9 years later, Zagreb feels like a fuzzy but warm memory. The details are blurred but with positive connotations. It was a different time, a different chapter of life. when traveling happened in mismatched groups of youth. Backpacks and local sim cards and paper train tickets and alarmingly little pre-planning before landing in a foreign city.

It was simpler, those days. Bandwidth was slower. Navigating was half on pre-loaded maps, half on vibes. And actually asking humans for directions. Things were less serious, a little rough around the edges. Sure, Instagram travel influencers were popping off, but they were too busy in Cinque Terre and Bali to bother with the Balkans. And most of the Game of Thrones tourists and Mediterranean cruisers never make it beyond the Dalmatian towns. So Zagreb was for the Balkans. And some European tourists. I definitely didn’t realize how special that was back then. It’s always nice to visit a city that isn’t a tourist hot spot. Even nicer to do so in a simpler social media and commercialized travel landscape.

After so many trips, so much change, it’s nice to dust off some of snapshots from simpler travels long ago.

Zagreb was the closest thing I got to experiencing Central Europe. Different from Dalmatia, different from Western Europe. Small enough to feel intimate but with history.

Zagreb was a weekend trip during a long stint in its Dalmatian sibling, Split. 260 kilometers and somehow a 6.5 hour train ride. Gotta love Balkan time.

Upon arrival, I remember having to climb over the tracks to get to the station. If Split was a chill Mediterranean retreat, Zagreb was a reminder that we are pretty close to central Europe. The contrast was a welcome change.

Much of the trip was spent wandering the central parts of town. Seeing the main sites, going to the viewpoints, walking around the parks. Wandering unfamiliar streets and grasping for bits familiarity.

I remember thinking St. Mark’s Church looked like a toy, blown up. It’s colorful tile roof shining in the light. To my American eyes, it looked quaint, storied, like a fairytale. Nevermind the 13th century church also happens to be one of the oldest monuments in the city.

I remember thinking I had the worst luck, that year, so many of the landmarks I visited were under construction.

That said, upon further research, it seems it was less my luck and more of the slowness of construction. Apparently this church hasn’t been free of scaffolding for over 3 decades. And after a 2020 earthquake, both of the towers are covered in scaffolding.

Zagreb more than delivered on the architecture, fulfilling my admiration for church designs. I suppose when in an old European city, churches are almost always the most iconic structures in the cityscape. Zagreb Cathedral stood tall over the city (it’s the second tallest building in Croatia, after the… less beautiful Dalmatia tower in Split) and the intricate façade was a marvel to look at up close.

Stepping inside, under the vaulted ceilings of the nave, a sense of tranquility. As much as the gothic period bored me in art history class back in high school, actually standing within a gothic cathedral is incredible. That in such dark times such beautiful could be created, beauty that still stands centuries later.

In any given city, I feel most at home in a market. Dolac Market felt like the beating heart of the city. Produce piled high, tables filled with flowers and house plants, ingredients that in another context I might have been tempted to buy to make a meal back at the Airbnb. Vendors with souvenirs that by then looked familiar with the patterns and colors of the Croatian crest.

I remember thinking the quiet, clean cobblestoned streets felt like walking through the back lot of a studio. What is the world but a series of movie sets.

I love exploring cities at street level on foot. Slow enough to really see and feel a place, particularly a city like this, built to be experienced at street level. I also love seeing the “tentpole” buildings in a city, that speaks to what a culture values. The churches reign supreme here. But then there’s also the opera house, art museum and the train station.

Parks were something I underappreciated back then, when I was naive enough to compare every park to the Tuileries. The botanical gardens in Zagreb are not like the ones at home. Thinking back, there was a good amount of green space throughout a city walk.

When I think back on Zagreb, I picture Trg bana Josipa Jelačića. The main square with pastel façades and an equestrian statue at the center. It felt properly European to me. Pretty in a way that contrasted the ancient Roman architecture of Split I had grown accustom to. The crossroads of life in the city.

The Oktogon gallery. I remember it delighting me. Reminding me of the covered galleries of Paris that I loved so much. The octogonal glass ceiling reminded me of Galeries Lafayette, minus the chaos below.

The Museum of Broken Relationships is reminder that rain sometimes is a blessing on a trip. Forcing you to slow down, change things up, be more intentional about where you go. Given the rain, we ended up at this unique museum that would go on to occupy my mind for years to come. A themed gallery with a tight concept that was quite beautiful. Shortly after, it had a stint in LA. It’s nice to know it’s still around.

Looking back, photos from this trip are also a reminder of how far I’ve come in prioritizing food and art in my travel itineraries. Meals were a matter of convenience, a means to an end, often directed by local recommendations, sometimes simply stumbled upon. Ice cream was the only intentional indulgence. A few years later, my trips would be entirely planned around meals, filling in activities around reservations and coffee shop stops. These days, I’ve toned it down a bit. Something nice about leaving room for spontaneity.

Someday, I hope to do a lengthy revisit to Croatia. To retrace old steps through new eyes. To experience these cities with a bit more disposable income, and a lot more cultural perspective. Zagreb is beautiful, and I’m sure it’s changed over the past decade. I can’t wait to revisit these old naive photographs again once there. Taking stock of the familiar, contemplating the new.

zagreb, croatia

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