Glimpse of Croatia

I: Eastern Croatia

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 18:26:39 -0800

Vukovar.

This town on the Eastern border of Croatia was at one time the 2nd largest city of Croatia. It is the biggest river port in Croatia, and it is located at the confluence of the Vuka River and the Danube. But in 1991, some 90 % of the town was destroyed by the Yugoslav Army, when Croatia broke away for independence. Our guide called it “The Homeland War”, which may sound benign, but it is a good indication on how vicious it must have been.

Some 100 tanks of the Yugoslav Army were destroyed here in house-to-house combat in an area nicknamed the “Tank Graveyard”. Over the years the tourist guides have upped the number to make the event more dramatic. It is now three hundred, paralleling those brave Spartans who died in Thermopylae. The locals still like to show the memorial of this particular victory to visiting Serbs. At that time the Yugoslav Army consisted mostly of Serbian Serbs. The Croatian freedom fighters received their weapons from the Bosnian Serbs. Nothing like brotherly love for good infighting.
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Most buildings are still pockmarked with bullet holes and an occasional desolate swath of ruins still dot the landscape. The siege ended with the murder and expulsion of most of the Croat population by the Serbs.

left: Shell of destroyed building in Vucovar.

But people have come back to rebuild. It now has a Brave New World look, but it still looks depressing.

Osijek.

We did not stay long in Vucovar and drove some 15 miles to the village of Osijek, which sustained only moderate damage in the war. The fields along the road were planted with corn, wheat, sunflowers, sugar beets, and the whole gave an impression of an active agricultural society. But a number of fields were still fallow. These had not been completely cleared of mines and other booby-traps of the previous war. The specter of death still hovers over the landscape.

Osijek was a Roman camp in the 2nd century, but then the Huns came and destroyed everything. Later it became part of the Habsburg empire and in the early 19th century it was for a brief time the largest city in Croatia. The Ottomans ruled here for 160 years and during their time they had an annual market lasting 40 days. People came from long distances just to visit this market. The town now has a population of some 110,000 with many nice historical buildings, most of them of the intricate Austro-Hungarian baroque style. They have 19 public libraries and the illiteracy rate is an astounding 1 %. The city is also promoting itself as a special destination for young people. Geezers with clogged arteries and slow-flowing juices are also tolerated, as long as they have money to spend.

right: The Tvrda fortifications

Our tour bus dropped us of at the Tvrda, which is an Austro-Hungarian fort, and which is now being transformed into a mixture of Osijek university campus, archeology museum and a smattering of pubs and restaurants. I don’t believe the planning commission really know what to do with the behemoth. The castle fort complex was started in 1090 and rebuilt over the centuries, as late as 1770.

The fortifications are adjacent to the Drava river, which looked like a placid stream, when we were there, and which eventually flows into the Danube.

We were driven to the city center and had a look at the “Rising of the Holy Cross” church. It was not the most important church of the city --that would be the Cathedral, of the Church of Saint Peter and Paul-- but this was a place where the bathrooms were easily accessible to larger tour groups. Expediency is more important than centuries of history, and if you are older, you do appreciate this choice of venues.

left: The baroque altar of the church of the “Rising of the Holy Cross”.

It was a nice little church with a huge baroque altar. For good luck you were supposed to walk around the back of the altar before leaving the church. We all did, but the stock market still went down that day.

Just a block or two away is the main square, where the market stalls were just in the process of opening up, and a band of musicians were warming up the sparse crowd. There were not too many people around yet, but there was a lot of interest already in the wines on sale. The local wines seem to be very good.

right: The square is empty because it was still early.

They were still working on the statue in the middle of the square, but it was draped in cloth with this huge advertisement on it.

The Osijek Annual Fish Soup contest

There were also some 20 local groups of people preparing for their annual fish soup contest. Everybody was busily chopping their secret ingredients, including fish, and dropping them into steaming cauldrons over open fires. The Drava river is a great source of fish. Even though it looks placid, catfish weighing up to 100 lbs have been caught in this stream.

right: Everybody was busy creating the “mother” of all fish soups in the annual fish soup contest

We did not get a taste of these soups, because we were too early and they had all just started. But that evening we had fish soup on the menu. It tasted very good, also because it had a slight hot tang to it. Especially with a nice local Chardonnay.

What we also did in the adjacent village of Aljmas was to enjoy a “home”-cooked meal at the Hascek family. Her husband was not home that day, so Mrs. Hascek was the cook and hostess combined. She had obvious done this before. She spoke passable English, so we could have a nice conversation with her, as she served soup, mashed potatoes with meat patties, cole slaw, and a dessert cake. She gets reimbursed about $12/per person by Vantage for this effort. She and her husband also runs a small B&B at this place, so she is somewhat used to feed a lot of people.

At the end of lunch she showed us her garden and their equipment to make high-grade brandy from their fruit wines. We all had a taste of their slivovich, some of them from plums, some of them from pears or apples; it had a nice good kick and it was good.

II: Zagreb

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 21:36:15 -0800

Zagreb

Our river tour actually ended in Budapest, but we were driven by bus to Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. On the way we passed lake Balaton, at 1-2 miles wide and 45 miles long one of the largest lakes in the region. The lake is not visible from the highway, and our bus driver had to make many detours just to get to the shore of the lake. The lake is shallow and muddy, so there is almost no water sport activities going on. But a lot of communities are built around the lake for the view.

While still in Hungary, we stopped at the Hubertus Hof, a very nice country inn for lunch. They served goulash soup, a meat platter and Apfelstrüdel for dessert. And they served an excellent glass of wine with the food. If you ever drive by, you’ll really have to stop there for lunch. Then we crossed the border into Croatia, called Hrvatska by the locals. The highways were very good and Zagreb is currently the most prosperous city in Southeast Europe.

The 5-star Regent Esplanade is presumably one of the best hotels in Zagreb, a stately hotel with an old-style ambiance and courtesy. It was located close to the railway station and in the good old days the upper crust traveling on the Orient Express would stop and overnight here. And the old town was only about a mile away, about 15 minutes by foot. We especially liked Tom, the concierge. He was very helpful and organized.

The next day we had a city tour. We started at the Mirogai, an exquisite cemetery, the final destination of all Croats who believe they are either rich or famous. People with money have already purchased plots in the upper-class sections and covered them with huge marble gravestones. They are primed for the future. Most people don’t get to see in advance where they will spend eternity, so they are usually ill-prepared for this journey. So these people know that even in death they will look as imposing as they were when they were wealthy and kicking. The old money, on the other hand, have crypts, where generations stay together peacefully, probably more so than when they were alive.

left: One of the main galleries with crypts lined up next to each other on the floor.

There were other interesting places we drove by. The Botanical Garden is next to the hotel and has over 10,000 different species of plants. The main portion of the garden is an arboretum, designed in the style of an English garden. They exchange seeds with some 350 other botanical gardens and arboretums all over the world.

The Mimara museum is said to be comparable to the Prado in wealth and quality. It has lots of artistic treasures, including sculptures, paintings, crafts, etc., spanning a period of 3000 years, much of it with a Christian theme. It is with regret we missed seeing the interior.

Old Zagreb should be enjoyed on foot. We started at the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. It was started in the 11th century, razed to the ground by the Mongols in 1242 and later rebuild. There have been constant renovations and repairs because of the low quality of the sandstone used in the construction.

right: Entrance to the cathedral

Our local guide maintains she has never seen the cathedral in her whole life without some scaffolding around it.

The main restoration of the cathedral was carried out by Hermann Bollé, who added two spires of 105 m height each. These spires are visible from a great distance around in the city. Bolle’s effigy is prominently displayed at many locations in and around the church. The walls surrounding the church, which were there for protection from invading armies, were also torn down to get a better view of the entrance.

We walked past the market, an extremely orderly affair where shopping is a serious and highly regulated matter. Even the umbrellas are the same.

left: Standardized colored umbrellas are used in the market square

Just like in Venice, the city of Zagreb also has a St. Mark’s square and a St. Mark’s Church.

The roof of St. Mark’s church is unusual in that it has some 22,000 colored ceramic tiles, showing two coats of arms. And as can be expected, the church is also under reconstruction and partly under wraps.

The church itself was started in the 13th century, but in the next century it was radically altered into a Gothic-style church.

right: The nicely decorated roof of St. Mark’s church

The coat of arms on the left on the roof represents the Triune kingdoms of Croatia (red and white checkerboard), Dalmatia (three heraldic leopards), and Slavonia (on the lower half). The shield on the right is the coat of arms of the city of Zagreb.

Across the square from the church was a pharmacy once operated by Nicola Alighieri, the grandson of Dante Alighieri, the Florentine poet, author of the Divine Comedy. It was also the 2nd oldest pharmacy in Europe.

left: Ivan Generalić; 1967, Solar Eclipse; pencil and watercolor on paper.

And a block away is the Croatian Museum of Naive Arts. Founded in 1952, the museum now has some 1850 paintings, sculptures, drawings, and prints (in 2013).

right: Mijo Kovačić, 1962-3, Singeing a pig; oil on glass

Many of the paintings are painted on glass, so the results are a mirror image of what was originally painted. The focus is on the artists of the Hlebine School, such as Ivan Generalić, Mijo Kovačić, Mirko Virius, Dragan Gaži, Ivan Lacković Croata and others.

Across the street from this museum is the Museum of Broken Relationships,
which grew out of a traveling exhibition on failed relationships. People send mementoes and stories of relationships they once had and they are all exhibited here for the world to see. The premise is that people create mementoes of marriages, funerals, graduation, so why not of relationships which have gone kaput. It is actually a sad museum, and you step out chastened by the misery these people had, and who wanted to share this gloom and sometimes rage with the world. There was the story of the woman who fell in love with a Buddhist monk and followed him into a monastery. But he discarded her soon afterwards. She had a miscarriage, and as she was bleeding on the sidewalk, she saw him with another woman. Another monk consoled her by saying this is OK.

Two blocks away is the Jesuit Church of St. Catherine, one of the finest churches in the city. The inside is baroque, but the exterior is renaissance. At this moment (April 2013) the church is closed because of a petty dispute. The vicar wanted to charge admission for the tourists; the city council didn’t approve and so, in a pique, the vicar locked the church and only opened it for services.

And around the corner of the church are parts of the city wall and an old tower still standing. When the clock in this tower strikes noon, a cannon is fired. The tourists jump up in fear and apprehension, the locals just shrug their shoulders and go on.

At that point is also the entry to the funicular. In 55 seconds the train takes you down to a lower level of the city.

left: The free tourist elephant train. The spires of the cathedral are visible in the background

We ended our walk by taking the free city tour in the blue elephant train, which makes a 30 minute circle around downtown Zagreb. After walking all morning, it was nice to sit down. The train leaves every hour on the hour, driven by an extremely bored driver.

In the evening we walked to the Zagreb Concert Hall, also known as the Vatroslav Lisinsky Concert Hall and Convention Center. It was about 15 minutes away from our hotel. The main hall seats 1840 persons. The London Radio Symphony was giving a concert, including the Cello Concerto No. 1 in C Major by Haydn. Surprise; the soloist played an English Horn. Superbly, I may add. As you can see from the picture, people were neatly but casually dressed. Our seats cost $32 each, but they were excellent seats in the orchestra section in the middle of the hall.

right: Interior of Zagreb Concert Hall.

Food:

I just wanted to cover two venues we went to. One was Spajza, an outdoor cafe on a terrace close to and above the downtown market. On their recommendations we had the “mahone”, which is a stew soup of fresh beans, lamb, tomatoes, dumplings and potatoes. You eat the soup accompanied with brown bread. It was a very satisfying meal, very reasonably priced, and we saw a lot of locals enjoying the same stuff. People were very nice. We were looking for a place in the shade and a patron said he would hurry up and finish his meal, so we could use his seat.

left: A fabulous calamari dish at the Bulldog Bistro.

The other place was called the Bulldog Bistro, where we had a fabulously prepared grilled calamari dish. The small restaurant is located somewhere in the old downtown area of the city.

III: The Plitvice Lakes

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 21:37:12 -0800

There are many reasons for coming to Croatia, and a good one is to visit this world-famous park. It is Croatia’s most popular tourist attraction and it is also one of the most beautiful places we have seen. In 1979 it was included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage sites. There are some 16 lakes, going from south to north, interconnected by a series of waterfalls, in a wonderful woodland setting of mostly beech and fir. We started at the Upper Lakes and, as we walked downwards from south to north, we passed different lakes at progressively lower elevations. The total height difference between the top and bottom lake in the park is 135 meters. The colors of the water also changes from one location to another.

left: Water fall from a lake above to the lake below. Here the water was dark green.

The Lakes are formed because of the hydrography of the karst formation in the area. The main rocks are tufa or travertine, a porous carbonate rock formed by the sedimentation of calcium carbonate from water. These deposits form barriers in the karst streams and rivers, changing the water flow and forming numerous waterfalls, as the water cascades down from one lake to others at the lower elevation.

We were extremely lucky in our timing. The best time to visit the park is in spring, when there is a lot of water, or in the late autumn, when we were there. I believe we made the better choice, especially because it was dry. It actually rained cats and dogs the next day. And in the summer, it is usually wall-to-wall tourists trying to walk past each other on the narrow paths. And enjoying the gorgeous fall colors with just few visitors to block your camera shots is definitely wonderful.

right: The fall colors are absolutely stunning.

In October, the leaves turn to brilliant hues of red and gold. There are few tourists around. True, the restaurants are closed for the season, but you can always buy some sandwiches. In the summer, entrance fees are higher and the place is overrun by visitors. The paths are narrow, so tour groups usually follow a set pattern so they will not have to pass each other. If a tour group chooses to go against the grain, they are probably French. If they are loud, they are probably from Israel. There is not much space on the paths to maneuver, so in a big group it is almost impossible to get good pictures without at least half a dozen people in it.

As you come into the Park, you will see three suggested itineraries; the 2-hour, the 4-hour, and the six-hour hike. Most guided tours take the crowded 2-hour segment because of lack of time, since it takes two hours to get from Zagreb to the Park and another 2 hours to drive back. Add an hour for lunch, and there is not much time left.

left: A blanket of orange leaves on the shore of a lake.

We had rented a car and driven ourselves to the Lakes. In hindsight this was an excellent decision. It was very easy to rent a car. Tom, our concierge. arranged to have a car delivered to our hotel in the morning, where we also returned the car. Car rental of the midsize car was $82/day, including full insurance. As a matter of fact, if you come into Zagreb airport, you will find the booths of 15 different car rental agencies in the arrival hall. And drivers in Croatia are generally quite polite and courteous. Driving yourself also allowed us to take the full 6 hour-hike in the Park at our own pace. The roads are well-marked and in good condition.

right: The paths are easy to walk on.

Tom managed to get us free parking in one of the hotel parking lots, which was right in the middle of the park. From there we took the park bus at station ST 2, which was near the hotels and were driven to bus station ST4, close to the Upper Lakes. From there we took the path down the various lakes, stopping often to enjoy the scenery and taking pictures galore. It was easy to walk on the 1-meter wide, wood-covered paths.

left: A dreamy scene of fall leaves on the lake.

It was overcast but dry and the fall colors were absolutely stunning. There were big blankets of golden leafs on the ground and on the shores of the lakes, but there were still many leaves of different colors on the trees and shrubs. On the granite rocks we saw big splotches of fiery-red leaves.

With few visitors around, you could take the time to make nice pictures. We walked down to the middle lake to P2, which was located across station ST 2, and where all the tour groups seem to congregate. From there we took an electric boat to the north to P3.

right: There are big splotches of red on the granite cliffs in the distance.

From there we walked further north past little lakes and also along the main river flowing downstream. Afterwards we walked up a steep hill to get to bus station ST 1. There we took the bus to ST 2 to pick up our car before driving home. It had been a long, but beautiful 6-hour hike. It is an amazing place.
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left: Far below one can see the footpath running past a number of waterfalls.