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Croatia, Zagreb and
venue
Croatia - Land of
1000 islands
Croatia
is a Central European and Mediterranean country that covers
a land area of 56,691 square kilometres and has a population
of about 4.4 million people (2001 census). The main
population centres are
Zagreb, the capital (with a population of just under
800,000), Osijek in the northwest, and the ports of
Rijeka, and
Split in the south. The official language is
Croatian, which is written in the Latin script.
Croatia has an amazing 5,835km of
coastline, 4,057km of which belongs to islands, cliffs and
reefs. There are 1,185
islands in the Adriatic, but only about 50 are
populated. The climate is Mediterranean along the Adriatic
coast, meaning warm dry summers and mild winters, with 2,600
hours of sunlight on average yearly - it is one of the
sunniest coastlines in Europe! In the interior of the
country, the climate is continental with hot summers and
cold, snowy winters.
Getting
around Zagreb
If you arrive by plane, Pleso airport is
about 20km from the heart of Zagreb. You can take a taxi
(about £20/$38/€29), but a much better option would be to
take the inexpensive Croatia Airlines bus which takes you to
the main bus station in central Zagreb. Buses leave every
half an hour outside the airport terminal, and tickets can
be bought from the bus driver. Once you arrive at the bus
station, you can flag down a taxi to take you to your
accommodation or use a
tram to complete your journey.
Almost all visitors are puzzled as to how
to obtain tickets for trams as they are not sold on-board:
walk to the first newspaper kiosk and ask for a "tramvajska
karta" (tram ticket) which are sold singly or in packs of
ten. Once you board the tram, you must remember to validate
your card in the machines.
When sightseeing, head for Trg Bana
Jelacica, the main square in the city. From here you are
within walking distance of all the major attractions. The
main tourist office is at no. 11 in the square. Zagreb is
called a city of museums as there are more of them per
square foot than any other city in the world. But this
doesn't mean that there is nothing else for you to do if you
aren't a history buff. One of the many pleasures that the
Zagrebcani (the people of Zagreb) enjoy is sitting in
one of the numerous cafes watching the world go by. In the
evening, you can visit one of the many restaurants, sampling
a delicious Croatian dish, and finish the day in the one of
the bars or clubs. Whatever you choose to do, you are
guaranteed to have a good time!
Things to see
From Trg Bana Jelacica
(named after the Croatian hero and viceroy who defeated the
Hungarians in an uprising in 1848 - his monument is in the
square) turn right and into the first street on the left to
see the twin neo-Gothic spires of St. Stephen's Cathedral,
built in 1899. The baroque Archbishops' Palace is attached
to the cathedral. Nearby is the colourful Dolac market, the
main market in Zagreb, which is definitely worth visiting.
You can have an inexpensive meal in one of the fast-food
kiosks close by. Walk along Tkalciceva Ulica towards the
upper town and you will come to the 13th century Stone Gate
(Kamenita vrata) with a painting of the Virgin Mary which
miraculously escaped the great fire of 1731 and is a place
of pilgrimage.
Explore the Upper Town
which includes Banski Dvori (the Presidential Palace) with
its colourful guards, Sabor (the parliament), and St. Mark's
Church (with the works of Ivan Mestrovic, Croatia's most
famous sculptor) and note its beautifully tiled roof. There
are also several museums and galleries nearby. See Lotrscak
Kula (tower) before returning to the hustle and bustle of
modern Zagreb either via the pedestrian walkway or the
hundred-year-old uspinjaca (funicular railway). The good
citizens of Zagreb are reminded of the time at midday when a
gun is fired from the Tower (someone told us that there is a
similar ceremony in Edinburgh, only that it occurs at 1
o'clock?!).
In the lower town, you
can do your shopping in the main shopping street Ilica or
visit one of the more prominent museums or galleries, like
the Strossmayer Gallery, the Gallery of Modern Art, the
Ethnographic Museum and the famous Mimara museum (Rooseveltov
trg 5) which, with almost 4,000 priceless objects, is one of
the finest art galleries in Europe.
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