Glockenspieling: Our Balkan Beginnings

This summer for our family vacation we chose a road trip through the Balkan lands Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. I planned an ambitious 13-day tour that would cover 3 countries (we added Italy to the end), 6 cities and over 2500 km of road. I knew it would be tiring, but we were up for the challenge and excitedly set off after picking the girls up from their last day of school. (I know that was almost 3 weeks ago but between the road trip lasting 12 days and then flying across the ocean and dealing with jet lag I have had virtually no time or energy to deal with posting.)

Our first stop, the capital of Croatia, Zagreb. Having left Munich at in the early afternoon, we did not arrive at our hotel until bed time, so our exploring had to wait until after breakfast the next morning. Which, since it was the first day of vacation, naturally included gelato from the first place we found...

Our bellies full, we set off to locate the funicular that would take us up to the Old Town. It was easy enough to find, but once we got there, we decided to take the stairs up instead. If you look closely at the picture, you can see how short the ride is and it just didn't seem worth the wait for the 55-second ride up the shortest funicular in Europe (66 m) and the second shortest in the world. We did take it on the way down though because we couldn't pass up riding on a historically and culturally protected landmark.

Once at the top we found ourselves in the main square. Not having a set plan, we just picked a direction and went for it. We passed a procession of Fiat's that were headed to the front door of St. Catherine's church. The priest came out and told them they would have to move but not before they all got their picture. We popped inside and took a look around, but it was just another church.

We kept going out to our original destination - the view overlooking the city of Zagreb itself.

Almost right next door we found the first sight on my list of things we had to see, The Museum of Broken Relationships. Started in 2006, the museum is a collection of items, mementos of relationships that have now ended. Each item is donated and accompanied by a note explaining the significance of the item to that person/couple. It is an ever evolving installation and can also be viewed online at https://brokenships.com/share. I have a few pictures of the exhibits below (if you click on the picture it will bring it up larger, and you will be able to read the story also).

It was fascinating to learn about love found and then lost, but it also got a bit heavy after awhile. So we ducked back out into the sunshine and up the street to St. Mark's square. The square houses a church of the same name which is most famous for its tiled roof (the interior is very plain), the Banski dvori (on the left in the picture below) where the Croation Government currently does its business and the Old Town Hall (right side of the picture below).

We stopped to take a few pictures of the guards in front of the Danski dvori and went back down the street toward the Lotrščak Tower to get a 360° view of the city. And we ran into this...

So fun to watch the noon time procession through the square.

After climbing to the top of the tower and taking in these views of the city below...

We walked back to the funicular so that we could ride it back down to get a bite to eat but not before stumbling upon this photo opp...

For lunch, we headed to Tkalčićeva Street. The pedestrian street is the in place to have lunch (the big meal in Croatia) and so see and be seen. Street performers are found on each corner and patios are always full. We really enjoyed the atmosphere and spent an hour pretending that we were on a lunch date without kids.

Bellies full once again, we went in search of my next surprise. Heading down Ilica Street (the main shopping street) we kept an eye out for the Museum of Illusions. The girls had indulged us all morning by touring and learning and climbing and seeing so I thought a little break in after lunch to just have fun was in order. And what fun we had!

Baby B :)

My girls lost their heads over these exhibits.

Tiny Stinkerbell and Tiny Mama.

Lots and lots of puzzles to solve at the end.

After about an hour lost in the Illusions, we went back to our itinerary. On our way to the Bana Jelačića Square, we came upon the Dolac market just after it's closing for the day. A daily farmers market, it is the most important trading place in Zagreb, and I wish we had been able to get to it before it was just remnants of the day...

My wistfulness was short lived though when we saw the spires of the Zagreb Cathedral and entered the main square of the city. Absolutely gorgeous! We all stopped to take a picture. Inside and out. Officially named the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Saintly Kings Stephen and Ladislav most people just refer it to the Cathedral. Is the tallest building in Zagreb and also one of the most important as it is the main church for the Catholics.

The picture below may be the most interesting thing in the church though. This full height wall is inscribed in the Glagolitic alphabet. The myth is that the writing was created as a way for Byzantine missionaries to translate the Bible and Church Doctrine into Slavic languages. Some say it became adapted and became part of the Cyrillic alphabet. The use of the alphabet died out in the 1800's, but some Croatians want to keep their history alive and keep it in use.