Zagreb

I’ve been regularly visiting Zagreb for over a decade, and have noticed that it is unique for three main reasons:

(1) The old town – all nice European cities have an old town, but five things make Zagreb’s particularly memorable.

• • The Funicular is the shortest in the world and Zagreb’s first form of public transit.

• • The Gric cannon fires at 12:00pm every day, and has done for for over a century. Kaboom!
  • The Stone Gate is in the upper town and displays an icon that supposedly survived a fire in 1731 (see here). Here is a photo of the stone gate from the 1940s:

• • The Gric tunnels are handy ways to pass through parts of the centre. I first heard about them from an episode of one of my favourite YouTube series, Cockpit Casual.

• • Croatia (as in “cravat”) invented the tie. See more here.

(2) Weird museums – Zagreb is home to several bizarre sounding museums, all in the centre of town. I’ve been to most, but am not sure what order to list them here. The perfect night out?

• • 80s Museum
  • Cannabis museum
  • Mushroom museum
  • Museum of Illusions
  • Museum of Selfie and Memories
  • Museum of Hangovers
  • Museum of Broken Relationships

(3) Festival of light – held in March each year, the festival marks the arrival of Spring and includes installations throughout the city. The use of light in public spaces is a theme in Zagreb, as you can see from the display on the Hendrix bridge:

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Finally, here are some ad hoc recommendations:

 Music

Movies

Food

• Zagrebačke kremšnite (from Vincek)

And here’s my favourite photo from Zagreb:

• Category: extracurricular