Day 5: Zagreb

Since Andrew (the South African boy) was also travelling on his own we decided to explore the city together. We headed out just after 9am and walked into town. I was the designated mao reader for the day (obviously as Andrew was a typical guy and just wanted to wing it). When we got to the town centre we decided to follow the tourist route indicated on the map. We past a number of grand old buidlings (very european style) on our way to the old town (unfortunately we had no idea what most of them were, museums and parliament buildings most likely).

The old part of town was located on a hill at the top of the city. It was very cute and had a number of cobbled streets filled with shops and cafes. We saw the main cathedral and a few churches and then headed to the Dolac market (in the centre of the old town). The market was filled with many stalls selling local fruit and vegetables, I bought some for my dinner that night. Whilst walking around the market we also found a little stall run by a Brazillian women selling these Brazillian fried dumplings (filled with either cheese or chicken). We bought some for lunch and ate them on the steps of a nearby church (they were amazing!). After our mini lunch break we headed up to the old Stone Gate. On our way there we found ourselves following a prosession of guards in national dress (we assumed it was the changing of the guard for the government building). There was quite a crowd following them so we joined in. The captain of the guard was on a horse and led the rest of them through the stone gate and up to the government builiding (which had an amazing tiled roof). Outside the building itself the ceremonial prosession lasted for quite a while and consisted of very slow small movements by the guards. After watching them for about 10 minutes (with no real indication of what was going on or for how long it would last) we decided to move on.

Next we headed to the Museum of Broken Relationships, a one of a kind museum which started as an art project by the owners. The museum is basically a collection of objects the people have sent in after a relationship has ended. One of the most interesting objects on display was an axe which was sent in by a guy who had been dumped by his long term girlfriend. She left her stuff in his house while she went on holiday with her new boyfriend (just after they had broken up) and the guy hacked up a different piece of her furniture every day she was away. Brutal.

After becoming sufficiently scinical whilst walking around we left the museum and finished walking around the old town. Once we had seen as much of the old town as we could, we started the journey back to the hostel, stopping off in a park to have a rest. When we finally got back to the hostel we were both quite tired. I made an omlette for dinner using the peppers i had bought from the market earlier, and ate it whilst watching a film in the common room. At about 8pm Andrew said his goodbyes as he was off to Prague on an overnight bus. Soon after he left I headed to bed as tomorrow will be a long day of travelling.

So there you have my brief exploration of Croatia's capital city. Tomorrow it is off to Sarajevo. Until then readers

Lois x