Guide for a long weekend in Zagreb, Croatia

Written by Tommaso

How did I get there?

One of the best parts of studying at our university is how international Prague is. You can meet people from all over the world, often in unexpected ways. In my first weeks here, my American roommate and I were hopping between pubs around the city, a great way to meet new friends, especially Czech ones. One particular night we met a group of people who later became our friends. One of them, that I met by chance that night out, invited me to Zagreb and offered to host me.
To go from Prague to Zagreb I booked a night FlixBus, a cheap, reliable but slow way to travel… nine hours in total. In the summer season there’s actually a faster (and even cheaper) option to travel there, a direct Prague to Zagreb flight. For the rest of the year the bus is your only budget choice if you want to go to Zagreb. It was a Thursday, after classes; I went to Prague Main Station to catch my bus to Zagreb. I fell asleep in the Czech Republic and woke up already in Croatia.

What I’ve seen in Zagreb that you should see.

I could see the cathedral of Zagreb, which was still under construction, when my friend started telling me a Zagreb folklore story about the ‘black queen’, Wife of Sigismund of Luxembourg, the Hungarian–Croatian king. According to the legend her snake sleeps under the city and is the origin of the eartquakes and strange noises that come from underground. After that we went visit the Grič tunnels, tunnels built during World War II. While I was there, there was an art exposition. Nine views is an installation in Zagreb: it’s the solar system scattered all around the city at a scale of 1:680 000 000. In my visit I casually stumped upon the Sun, my friend then
took me to see all the different planets.

Foods that I tried in Zagreb.

While I was in Zagreb I tried various dishes, here I’m going to list three of them that I think you should try in your visit to Croatia. Ćevapi u kajmaku, very different from what I’m used to back in Italy, sausages in a buttery, heavy sauce, with a rich and intense flavor, iconic in balkan culture. Gurmanska pljeskavica, a big balkan burger with kajmak (same sauce used in the
Ćevapi) inside of it; served with lepinja bread. For last but not the least, the incredible Mazalice, spriced ground meat spread on bread. Absolutely delicious, everyone should try this one.

Conclusions

I think Zagreb is an interesting option for a quick trip for international students at our university, is a small Prague with an accent of baltic culture. Sometimes the less popular destinations turn out to be the most interesting trips, allowing you to travel without expectations and genuinely stay curious about what you’re going to discover, opening yourself up to surprise.