Film February - weekend trip to Zagreb, Croatia 15-16 Feb 2003
When I was on posting in Belgrade a colleague and I were chatting at lunchtime one Friday and discussing a trip to Budapest when she came back from holidays in Australia. We then started saying we should take advantage of being weekend driving distances from so many European cities and we should take advantage of that while I was in still there (due to finish at Easter). Next thing I knew we had decided that we were going to go to Zagreb after work that day. She phoned her husband who was working from home and asked him to look online for a hotel for us for the weekend, Afterwork we raced home (they lived in the same building as me, quick change a few things in a bag jumped in my car, hoped the roads weren't too covered in snow and off we headed to Croatia.
We were a bit unsure about it, relations between Serbia and Croatia were very strained and even though the car had diplomatic plates, they were still Serbian plates. We wondered if the border crossing would go smoothly. When we arrived at the border it was closed, apparently it was dinner time. Diplomats were generally treated very well at border crossings in Eastern Europe. We were prepared for a long wait with our fellow travellers, but my friend's hubby decided to approach them , he smiled and shrugged and said "diplomata" and before we knew it we were on our way. It was an easy drive - we stopped to stretch our legs and saw deer tracks in the snow. On arriving at Zagreb we realised the Lonely Planet maps were not great to use as rod maps in an unfamiliar city. (Had never heard of google maps or GPS for cars at this time). Some miracle helped us to find out hotel starting off a wonderful weekend of exploring Zagreb.
I really liked the weathered building with sundial and the statue in the foreground by the bench. I was glad I was using b&w film - it was well suited to the scenery.
Update the statue is Marija Juric Zagorka, writer and first croatian female journalist (hvala @violetlady)
Thank you for the story and the photo.It is excellent timing for today. My 85 year old mother is touring Zagreb today as part of a 23 day tour to Montenegro,Bosnia-Herzegovina,Slovenia and Croatia. This scene may be covered with snow from what I hear. This photo has real character.
I love this :) And as I live in Zagreb - just a quick info - this is a statue of Marija Juric Zagorka, writer and first croatian female jurnalist.... in this picture she is holding an umbrella, which was broken and stolen a couple of weeks ago
@violetlady Hvala. thank you for the information about the statue - it is good to know who it is. Terrible about the vandalism though. I had a lovely time in your city.
Gosh that pic has an almost spooky feel to it - with the worn building behind, it looks as if the statue is coming towards you. Great atmosphere, particularly considering your story.
@lbmcshutter I'm glad to hear you had a lovely time here, I hope you get more chances of visiting Croatia :)
and we have some good news - Marija's umbrella is back! I took a walk the other day and there it was... it even deserved a picture :)
March 14th, 2012
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and we have some good news - Marija's umbrella is back! I took a walk the other day and there it was... it even deserved a picture :)