Zagreb is the capital city of Croatia and despite what others might say, absolutely worth a trip to explore. The cities architecture is an interesting mix of less than desirable bland communist-era buildings and quant colorful buildings reminiscent of Prague. The streets are a lovely mix of cobblestones and pavement and are well kept so it’s easy to both drive and walk around. The main area is centered around the Ben Jelacic Square where many of the main attractions stem from. On top of the beauty of the city, Croatian people are among the most hospitable I've ever met! Read on for how we spent 2 amazing days in Zagreb or skip to the bottom for the download on what to do, eat and drink!
Day 1 - We had gotten to Zagreb the night before and so woke fresh and ready for the day. I walked down the street to grab some burek (a delicious Croatian pastry filled with melted cheese...yum) and other cherry pastries from the pekara for breakfast and then we were off. From our AirBnB (very close to the main Sheraton hotel) we took the train to drop us off at the top of Tkalciceva Street. This is a great street to people watch or stop into one of the numerous cafe's and restaurant's for coffee or lunch. One thing to note: Zagreb is very serious about their coffee scene. Croatian's have mastered the art of making one double espresso last hours while chatting with friends and most likely avoiding work.
Walking along, you can cut into a side alley on the right hand side and walk back up the hill a bit where you’ll see steps on your left that will take you up to St. Mark’s Church (built in the early 13th century). You’ll pass through a small shrine where people may be praying or just taking photos and then walk up to this stunning church located in St. Mark's Square. The roof has tiles laid to represent the coat of arms for Zagreb and the former Triune Kingdom of Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia and sets the church apart from others that you'll see scattered around Europe.
We took the church in for awhile, took some photos and then walked down to a viewpoint which is also the exit of the funicular if you choose to take that up the hill, although it won't be a long ride, it's the shortest in the world. Once there, you can take the steps down on the left hand side that dump you right into Ben Jelacic Square. Tim’s mom and I did some shopping (more sampling in my case...) and enjoyed walking through the local merchants. Very close by you can walk through the flower merchants up the steps to the Dolac Market which is an open air farmers market filled with delicious treats. On the right hand side are all the dairy stalls and being a cheese fanatic I had to try all the fresh cheeses. They were soooo delicious and it was all going great until I inhaled a piece the wrong way and started choking - whoops! I don’t think the nice Croatian woman thought that was all that polite. We wandered into the fish market and then over to the Cathedral. The Cathedral of Zagreb is beautiful. The interior includes some inscriptions of the Croatian language before the Roman invasion, which was really cool to see. From there we walked back to the main walking street to get some lunch at Street Food, which had delicious cevapi. This night we ate at Tim's Croatian families house - they are the most hospitable people you've ever met. The food came non-stop and so did their homemade rakija (Croatian brandy) which I was feelin the next day. By the way - if you have cold, just drink some rakija, you'll be cured :)
Day 2 - Well I'll preface this by saying, we accidentally slept until almost 1 pm soooo safe to say we wasted half the day!! But It was some much needed sleep. But if you don’t sleep half the day away like we did, this would be great day to check out the Zagreb Zoo or any of the 9 beautiful parks surrounding the city. I would suggest grabbing picnic food from Dolac and a bottle of rose beforehand for a perfect lunch.
We repeated some of the same sights (St Marks, Dolac, Cathedral) and then took the bus over to the Mirogoj Cemetery and walked around the grounds for a couple of hours. Tim has distant relatives buried here which is the reason that we went, but I would honestly recommend a visit to anyone. It was so incredibly beautiful and huge!!
Then it was already time to head back to Sregco and Marijas for another amazing meal this time of lamb and all the amazing accoutrement.
TL;DR
To Do:
St. Mark’s Church - the tiled ceiling with the Zagreb and Croatian crests are stunning. The church is an icon of the city, and in fact sits on the highest part of the city. We didn’t go inside, just walked up and took a few pictures
Tkalciceva Street - meandor down and feel free to pop into any of the cute stores, cafes or restaurants. It’s an adorable street and if you start at the top you’ll dead end into Ben Jelacic Square
Ben Jelacic Square - the main city square. Every day we were there they had a goods and foods market set up in the middle of the square. You can buy anything from lavender oil, to bee pollen to CBD infused lotions
Dolac Market - If you take the steps up from Ben Jelacic Square (past the flower merchants) you’ll at Dolac Market. Start on the right hand side with the vendors selling fresh dairy including delicious cheese that they’re more than happy to sample for you. Then wander for a bit more to find fresh veggies, fruits, etc. This could be a great place to grab a picnic and head to one of the many parks around Zagreb with a cold bottle of vino. There is also a fish market on the back left corner which is indoors, worth a look (beware if you don’t like the smell of fish!). If you walk straight out of the fish market, you’ll walk directly into the Cathedral
Zagreb Cathedral - beautiful building. Definitely worth walking around. You can light a candle and say a prayer if that’s what you’re into. We were in shorts and t shirts and we were okay to go in. They prefer no tank tops, short shorts and flip flops (but I didn’t see anyone policing it)
Mirogoj Cemetery - This isn’t typically somewhere that I would think to visit, but because Tim has family buried there, his mom definitely wanted to make a trip and see the graves of her Grandma and Grandpa’s siblings. But even if you don’t have any sort of attachment, I would say it’s worth the trip. It is an extremely beautiful cemetery with an ornate entrance. It might also be one of the biggest that I’ve ever been to. We had to take a separate bus to get here, and we were able to grab it right from the Cathedral. The one way route was something like 7 kuna
To Eat:
This is a tricky one for me to give you advice on because we mostly ate at Tim’s families house. They LOVE to host and spoil you with incredible food. If you have an opportunity to have a meal with a Croatian family I would say take it in a heart beat. Most hospitable people in the world! Just prepared to be very, very, very full.
In general, the food in the city is very meat heavy. You have to enjoy local favorites like cevapi (we some great cevapi at Street Food on Tkalciceva Street), lamb or my favorite burgers stuffed with cheese
Make sure that you try Burek - they sell it at any pekara (bakery in Croatian). It is puffed pastry stuffed with a variety of things like apples, meats or my overall favorite just plain simple cheese. Yummm.
We walked to HERITAGE - Croatian food/ snack bar after a recommendation from a friend and from having the #1 rating on TripAdvisor. It looked great but it’s basically a small shop with a few tables so wouldn’t have fit our party of 5. I would check it out for lunch if you don’t have a big group
Other restaurants that looked good (again didn’t check out myself):
Vagabund - dinner
Pri Zvoncu - looked a little nicer with a cute terrace area to sit out at
Le Struk - casual place serving another Croatian delight strukli (dough and fresh cheese)
To Drink:
Zagreb has developed a craft beer scene that is centered around Opatovina Street near Tkalciceva Street. You can hop from place to place to enjoy some local craft beer. Some that were mentioned are Craft Room, Ro&Do and Tolkien’s House.
Coffee! Zagred is famously known for their coffee houses. In fact, coffee houses were the downfall of Tim’s cousins business in Croatia. His workers were always late because they were busy enjoying a long cup of coffee with friends - we are talking two to three hours! These are of course all over the city (and most double as bars), but there are some “trendier” coffee spots that have popped up that look like the perfect place to spend a lazy afternoon (that is if you aren’t supposed to be at work!). A few that looked especially great to me were Botanicar, Program and Greenery Procaffe
General Tips:
The train system is paid but we never once saw anyone actually pay and never paid ourselves. Just hop on and off and it’s a really easy way to get around the city. Download the Google Map area offline on your phone for the city of Zagreb and you’ll be able to map the routes and trains you need to take even when offline. They are really easy to find and seem to come every 10-15 minutes. Some are more updated than others but overall they were quite nice and efficient
Uber definitely works here. We took an Uber from the Zagreb airport into town and the 25 minute ride was 200 kuna - about $30 USD. Just FYI all the Uber’s are also Taxi drivers so don’t be confused when you see they have a Taxi sign on the top
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