Two-Nannies On The Road Again: Zagreb - The capital of Croatia

Zagreb has only 1 camp ground and we were told the city is much less geared for tourists. What we found was a very well set up camp ground - expensive at €32 per night but with great facilities and helpful hosts - and a very stunning city.

Much of the city centre is framed by large imposing civic buildings housing museums and arts, built during the late 18th century, and mostly set amongst lawns and large trees. We spent 2 days here enjoying the stately atmosphere, where neighbouring buildings have crumbling facades, graffiti, and more trees and park areas. The streets are wide, busy with trams and cars, with quite a few squares which are car free, and multitudes of outdoor cafes and bars which are always busy with people drinking and talking.

On the second day Heather had two specific museums she wanted to visit, so we set about to find them in the upper town. As we got closer to their location, we came across what we thought was a small rally, with a very heavy police presence. When we asked a local store owner what was occuring she just said it was bullshit. There were still plenty of people coming and going so on we ventured, finding an alley way that should lead us to the first museum. But no, this area was congested with people and at the far end, barring any progress, a very heavily armoured frontline police squad. We stood looking wondering what to do and what was going on. A man next to us explained that he was a Croatian war veteran from the 1991-1995 war of independence (from Yugoslavia). He said that he and his fellow veterans were protesting for the rights of veterans. A 100 of this group were attempting to present their concerns to government officials, but the police came and so they sought refuge in the nearby church. Police were allegedly threatening to arrest them. We stood and talked for awhile, seeing the raw emotion this man felt for his fellow veterans. I then suggested we move away, as we couldn't progress forward anyway. Heather wasn't going to give up her plans for the museum visit easily though, so we trudged around the cordon looking to see if there was an entry point to at least the outer location. When a police man eventually declared that "no", we couldn't enter the area at all today, we headed back down the hill.

We looked up the news the following day and saw that the protesters were being allowed to leave unhindered, and that a politician was looking into the concerns. But it was too late for us to return to that part of town, and heather suggested since her hopes of viewing the local naive art were dashed, perhaps we could visit the local cemetery on our way out of town, as this was promoted as an area local Croatians regularly visited to pay homage to the great poets and writers of the region.

That seemed doable, so we located the destination on the GPS and set off for the Mirogoj Cemetry. I would have had second thoughts if I had known that the trip was going via the centre of town, complete with all the traffic issues of any city, including tram lines, bollards lining lanes, convoluted and complex lane changes and so on. Heather was amazing, when I realised I was driving by the yellow building next to the down town rail station, she calmly stated reassurances, and encouragement, and where could I go anyway but onwards. And I must admit, Zagreb traffic is relatively calm, and exceptionally considerate, with drivers allowing me to change lanes mid intersection when really I ought to have been turning the opposite way.

The cemetery was worth the bother though, and understandly described as the most beautilful in Europe. Green ivy climbing over the high walls, two arched arcades stretching down the hillside, mature trees, statues, and grand tombs lining the multitude of lanes and paths.

In the end this little excursion had worked out so well, that we decided to attempt to locate the nearest hardware store as we were out of porta loo chemicals, and maintaining the onboard loo had become a priority. We had enquired at many places trying to locate a store for this much needed purchase, and we're a bit disbelieving when the last camp office said to go to any of the Bauhaus stores. It was actually easy to locate in a nearby mega mall, and we found the product we needed. The store was very like mitre 10 back home, but even bigger, and we realised we had been driving past these in various locations for the past week, but hadn't recognised what they were.