Handsome Zagreb

I really didn't know what to expect from Zagreb. I figured there would be some boring communist-era concrete (and there was), and some modern development, but hadn't thought any about what the older parts of the city might look like.

 

Wow, was I impressed! That's the National Theater building there. Most of old Zagreb was destroyed by earthquake in the 1880s, and rebuilt in the late 1800s. At that time, it was part of the Hapsburg Austrian empire, and boy does it ever look it. So much of the city looks exactly like what I expect Prague or Vienna to look like. At night, the downtown street cafes were jammed with people in a lively street scene.

We went out to Jarun, a city park with a man-made lake with beaches (including a nude beach!), and a 2 km rowing course that became very busy in the late afternoon.

Jill and I spent a day and a half wandering around Zagreb, and I can't get over how much I like this city. It didn't hurt that we had lovely sunny days. And of course you have to like a city that celebrates scientists and engineers, like this local hero Nikola Tesla...

Zagreb and Varazdin photo album on Picasa