Catégorie : Blog-fr

Andautonia and Scitarjevo

During our guided walks with visitors we usually say that Zagreb was founded at the end of the 11th century.

But archeological findings tell us another story of Zagreb. The whole territory of Croatia was under the Roman rule and was part of the Roman Empire. Part of this antic heritage can be seen very close to Zagreb, in Zagreb County in the village Scitarjevo.

The open air museum on the site of the Roman municipality of Andautonia on the area of 2500 square meters displays the remains of this ancient city from the 1^st – to the 4^th century. In the archaeological park you can see the remains of a Roman street, the city baths and the two buildings. There is also a Roman necropolis, which was at this location in the first century.

The small village Scitarjevo still has some traditional wooden houses as a good example of the traditional architecture of the region around Zagreb. The best example are the “Wooden beauties of Turopolje” – a theme we will present in our next blog.

The visit of the Zagreb County (half day trip or full day trip) can be booked at least two days in advance.

See you soon in Zagreb.

Popular destinations around Zagreb – Žumberak

One of the most popular destinations among the citizens of Zagreb for one day – full day trip are the Žumberak-Samobor hills. The natural beauty of the hills and peaks like Okić (495 m) south of Samobor, Oštrc (753 m) and Japetić (871) are on regular itineraries of Zagrebian mountaineers. The central point of the region is a small town of Samobor. Now, the Samobor hills and Plesivica are populated enough, with well-known wine roads and tourist itineraries. We offer hear a discovery and a visit to the central part of the Žumberak Mountain filled with dense forests, hidden streams, little picturesque villages and family farms.

Žumberak Mountain is the central part of the Žumberak-Samobor hills.

Zumberak Mountain is one of the least populated areas in Croatia, with a constant emigration during the last one hundred years. But this is not the downside, this is actually its best comparative advantage! And although the emigration left the region nearly abandoned, the Žumberak Mountain with the Samobor hills and Plešivica are all three the most popular excursion destinations of the Zagrebians.

Here you can read a short presentation of the Žumberak Mountain written by the local resident, M. Goran Klanfar.

The massif of Žumberak follows the Croatian – Slovenian border. It’s located in the western part of central Croatia and belongs mostly to the Zagreb County. The biggest part of Žumberak massif consists of the Žumberak Mountain spreading 40 km NE-SW. In the North the steep slope ends in the Krka valley, in the South a mild slope ends in the Karlovačko pokuplje, in the East it descends in mild slopes to the Sava valley and in the West it passes into the Kočevska plateau. The highest peak of Žumberak Sv. Gera (1181 m) is in the West.

The massif of Žumberak has the characteristics of three different regions: sub-alpine, Pannonian and Mediterranean which is manifested in the flora, fauna and relief. From the geological point of view there are karst and alpine terrains.

Karst terrain is predominant in most part of the central Žumberak Mountain and is composed of carbonate rocks – the tufa rocks that was extracted from the streams to be used as a building material for houses and farm buildings. This was the most popular building material in the central Žumberak region between Sošice and Gornja Vas, and partially in the Samobor part of Žumberak Mountain.

The Alpine terrain is found in the northern part of Žumberak (Samobor part of the Žumberak massif) and its characteristic is the dolomite rocks and indented relief.

Archeological remains discovered in Žumberak indicate that there was a mining activity in the area (copper, iron, lead). Today the silica sand mining is predominant for the production of glass and building stone.

NATURE PARK ŽUMBERAK-SAMOBOR HILLS

Žumberak spreads through three climate regions: continental, alpine and Mediterranean. Those influences overlap so in Žumberak you can find plants from the Mediterranean area like oregano and St. John’s Wort, plants from the alpine area like thyme – the citrus variety which usually grows above 800 m above sea level in the Alps, and the plants typical for the continental Croatia: hellebore, snowdrop and 30 types of orchid.

PILASTER OR PILLAR – Saint’s Pillar

It’s not known when the pillar was built, but it’s probably from the 17^th century when New Town of Žumberak (Novi Grad Žumberak) was built. The name “pilaster” just like the kaikavian dialect variety of the word – Pil (Croatian Zagorje, Međimurje) means the same thing – column – and in particular church column or saint’s column.

These types of constructions are linked to the Alps, Slovenia to Carinthia and East Tirol. The pillar in Žumberak is the easternmost object of the group of four-sided alpine pillars – tabernacle. There are three stories of the pillar: the first one tells us about building such monuments on important crossroads to mark the exact orientation to the north-east-west-south, the second story tells us that the pillars were built for protection against disease (plague, cholera) and against evil (statues, paintings-icons inside the pillars), but the origin of the pillar is not known – whether it’s profane or sacral. The third story tells us about the pillory which served to punish offenders during the Military Frontier in Croatia, allegedly four people were walled up alive in the pillar according to the legend that should be checked and proved.

The houses in Žumberak are built mostly in stone or wood, or the combination of both: the cellar in stone, and the living area in wood. Unfortunately not one house has been preserved with straw roof, but we can still see the clay rooster on the crest of the roof, a relic from the period of Turkish incursions when the Ottoman Empire exerted great influence on this region that was part of the Military Frontier until 1884. In nearly every old garden you can find, and even in some new ones, a lily – the symbol that beauty knows no hate or intolerance.

The road that leads through Žumberak today was built in the 18^th century under the supervision of Nikolaus Ritter von Weymann (monument in Žamarije). They used a part of an old Roman road that went through Žumberak in the direction of Germania.

In Žumberak – the name for the mountain, for the municipality and for the village – there were two towns: Old town Gradina (Stari grad Gradina) and Sichelburg – Shumberk or Uskočka regiment, which was demolished in 1947. Only a part of the western wall was preserved.

In Žumberak two ceremonies are held in the Catholic Church: Roman Catholic or western ceremony and Greek Catholic or eastern ceremony. Or as said by the reverend Pajić: in Žumberak we breathe in both lungs.

During the 15^th and the 16^th century Žumberak was devastated to the point that today’s inhabitants of Žumberak are the descendants of immigrants. Every village has its specificities regarding the origin of its inhabitants and we can hear that in the diversity of dialects and languages: Bosnian, the sto-dialect, the “I” dialect of Croatian language.

Nearly every village in Žumberak has a sacral building: if it’s not the church then it’s a chapel, if there is not enough space for a chapel, then there is a simple crucifix.

The inhabitants of Žumberak are very introverted people, self-sufficient, but if the traveler gets stuck in Žumberak, help will be given in a second, and they will show their cordiality and hospitality instead of the highland harshness.

The central part of Žumberak is rich in water, the estimation is that there were around 150 mills, today only several are preserved, and the mill in Čunkova draga of the noble family Medven is a representative example of the construction of mills.

Zagreb around World War II tour gives answers to frequently asked questions about the ex-Yugoslavia. And there were two Yugoslavias in the 20th century. The first one before WWII and the second one after the war.

In between during the Second World War stands the short period of the Independent State of Croatia as the marionette country under the German, and partially Italian rule on the coast.

During the nineteen thirties Zagreb, the capital of Croatia was the industrial, business, financial and cultural center of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Zagreb was developing fast in those days especially to the east of the historical center where we can still see the result of the urban planning of that period.

By dimensions a small town but with high living standards and modern architecture of the Zagreb architectural school. The characteristics of that school is functionalism and it gave to this district a cold and hermetic look.

The political situation before the Second World War was tough in Croatia. The dictatorship of the Serbian political establishment provoked the discontent among the people of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Political parties were banned, sending them to illegal and underground activity.

Everyone felt that hard times are coming. It was obvious that Germany was emerging as a military force without competition in Europe at the end of the nineteen thirties. France and United Kingdom were weak. People had a suspicious attitude towards Chamberlain’s politics to Hitler and kids were joking with Chamberlain’s name pronouncing it “J’aime Berlin” as describes prof. Flaker in his memoires.

In 1941, at the beginning of the war in Croatia Tito was still in Zagreb. Soon he had to leave, because every police officer knew his face. Do you know how he tried to cover up during his stays in Zagreb? Send us your answer to info@bestofzagreb.com and if you got it right, you will receive a small gift on your day of the tour!

This is just a short introduction, for the rest of the story join the Zagreb around World War II Tour!

Roomescape experience in Zagreb

I have recently discovered a game called RoomEscape and I am thrilled with it! I tried it online as a computer game. However, I have to say, it is more fun as real game in a real room.

This game threw our little group of friends out of our usual every day rhythm. In the game, we felt completely dependent one from the other. And, in 60 minutes we have revealed things about each other that we were not aware of.

My friends and I have discovered that high levels of stress motivate us and different things motivated every one of us. The curiosity to discover, learn and solve the tasks is fun but you have a limited time! Do you have strength to impose yourself as a leader in order to get the group to work together better and faster – or are you looking for acceptance, just to remain the part of the group? These are the behaviors behind the activities in a limited space with a limited time and very specific goal!

We tried the Zagreb Room Escape: the game consists of the group of up to five people entering a room. There you have a number of traces, tasks and puzzles to solve in order to escape the room. To make it more fun, you are limited to 60 minutes! To increase the level of stress even more your main goals are to either save the world from a nuclear bomb, from a Zombie virus or – to steal diamonds from the Central bank and get rich!

The fun part is that you really have to work with your team, as the tasks are very smart – for different types of personalities and skills! Someone has good visual skills, others are skillful with their hands and fingers and others are good in math. You need all these skills to successfully complete all the tasks!

It is not a surprise that some companies send their people to these Escape Rooms for a Team building adventure, and others send candidates as part of the recruitment process to see how they react to stress and to check their abilities such as – cooperation or leadership.

Late March and Easter in Zagreb:
book your local guide now at info @ bestofzagreb.com

Official calendars say spring starts on March 21st, but old calendars say that spring starts on St. Joseph’s day, March 19th. Others insist on later dates, St. George’s on April 23rd.
Next week is the Holy Week – the week before Easter. If in Croatia Easter is Uskrs or Vazam. Croatians are predominantly Roman Catholics and Easter is their most important holiday. The ties with Vatican are long (since the 9th century) and strong. But let’s think back a little and remind ourselves how the mobility of Easter enabled this Christian holiday to be perfectly imbedded in the spring festivities of the awakening of nature. To be imbedded into very old, archaic beliefs.

For many, Easter starts much earlier, at the end of the Carnival season, on Ash Wednesday. During Lent many people commit to fasting, as well as giving up certain luxuries. Since the beginning of culture this was a difficult and long period of forced fasting as winter was ending and nature did not give yet its new fruits. The real purpose of the Christian custom was lost during the 20th century, giving up to trendy seasonal cleansing to prepare the body for the warmer season and for summer. We understand the word ‘sacrifice’ differently today.

But who cares what season we are in, when we have all nature’s fruits and gifts all year in the supermarkets!
This is why our farmer’s markets are so important. There we can see the seasons change, and one after the other, new, young and fresh spring fruits and vegetables appear on the markets around the town.

When visiting Zagreb and Croatia – you have a possibility to get to know a new culture. Check my Culture & History Walk

The Easter table (Easter Sunday) makes us happy! For whatever reason you were fasting at the end of winter, enjoy now the spring veggies, fruits and traditional cakes!
These include spring onions, ham and hard-boiled eggs with horseradish and radishes for breakfast. It also includes different kind of meat – remember – traditionally people were fasting for forty days, so the Easter lunch would and should usually include meat. Meat is served with spring vegetables, lettuce, and all kinds of fresh season greens.

Try the Easy and Simple Zagreb Food Tour – morning walk (starting before noon)  possible every day if not a holiday

You, a traveler, should ask yourself what you prefer more: real life stories based on facts or fairy tales and fantasy. There is no good or bad answer here. It is a fact that we accept new information more easily through stories, real or made up. How far should we go in interpreting the heritage without compromising facts and real life behind it?

And does it event matter?

Look at the pictures that we posted two weeks ago with a question – what do you think these carvings are?

Well, these are the walls in the basement of Muzej Slavonija in Osijek, Croatia. These carvings have to be examined yet, but what we do know is that they were made mostly by prisoners of war.

Did your perception change once you learned the facts?

Now, look at the “Zagreb Tunnel” and share your impression with us. Is it a medieval tunnel, is it just a corridor?

What speaks to you more: the left tunnel or the right tunnel?

Whatever you chose, come and follow the stories of people who lived in Zagreb and who created our history.
Come to our Zagreb around the WWII tour to learn real life stories, other people’s experiences that influenced the post WWII world so much, that, yes, we can say that we live better today than we would have lived 70 or more years ago.

You, a traveler want to discover new cultures, people and traditions. We, as guides, will make our best to interpret the heritage. The process between the three of us is interesting! (1. you, 2. we, 3. What do you think is under “3”). In between is a message transferred by a story.

The challenging time connected to the pandemic of virus Covid 19 has changed the course of everyday life for the people all around the world. Being on a lock-down at our homes, especially now, with the beginning of spring, we, the tourist guides, are feeling it strongly.

We had to accept a new “normal“ and instead of uncovering the secrets of Zagreb‘s streets to our foreign visitors we had to adapt and venture into discovering the secrets of our home’s nooks and crannies that were somewhat neglected for too long. At least, that is what I have done. So, with great joy I share my findings.

This beautiful uniform set, that was patiently waiting in the back of my closet, is a part of my family’s inheritance passed down to me from my great-great aunt Barbara. She and her husband Franjo were the upstanding citizen of city of Zagreb, and together they witnessed the turbulent era of Mid 1900’s. Two World Wars and the financial crises didn’t crush their spirits. At the beginnings of 1920s, Franjo, as an ex-solder joined The Humanitarian society “Ban Jelačić” founded in 1886 and kept the membership until 1948 when all the activities were stopped. They were promoting the philanthropic agenda and provided for the financial aid to their members during the time of illness and support to the widows and the children after the member’s passing away. As a Society they were entitled to participate to the official city events, anniversaries, and the religious processions. During these „outings “, they had the right to wear the official uniform that consisted of the blue trousers and the blue-gray jacket. My great-great uncle Franjo was at one point the President of the Society and his uniform was decorated with the golden epaulets and trims. Over the jacket a red cape was worn with the golden braids. The uniform was completed with the sabre. The sabre was considered only an honorary weapon and it was strictly forbidden taking it out of its sheath.

Blissfully unaware of this rule, that sabre was a faithful companion  to my brother’s and mine childhood plays, but even if the whole set had been a part of our life since we could remember we always knew that it was an item worthy of respect. And we were right.

The Uniform’s design introduced in 1933 was inspired by the historic uniform of the Governor and general Josip Jelačić and one of the most respected Croatian political figures of the 19th century whose equestrian sculpture today dominates Zagreb’s main square.

Having served in the military the members of the Society wore their uniforms proudly supported by the official Society flag as seen in the image taken during a procession in the center of Zagreb in 1934.

They had all the right to be proud because not only they assured the security of their families, but they were, at the same time, Zagreb’s first responders in case of the major natural disasters.

My uncle’s lavishly decorated uniform is maybe tucked safely in the closet but the willingness to give a helping hand to your fellow man in times of need is a value and a tradition still very much alive today, proven these days in the city of Zagreb which is healing after destructive March 22^nd earthquake.