Hometown-Zagreb.
Written: Apr 26 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Undiscovered country
Cons: Customer Services need improvement.
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| rukav's Full Review: Zagreb |
Zagreb is my hometown. I have been travelling there for the last
twenty-five years. The first trip back was in August 1977. The world
has changed since then. My last visit there was December 1998/January
1999. One reason for that time of the year was partly due to the lower
air fare and I wanted to be with friends for the Christmas holiday. Of
course, I could also spend the new year there.
Zagreb is a pedestrian city, full of cafes and art galleries and street
cars and old buildings from the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. Since then the city was under a kingdom, a state, a beautiful ideal(it wasn't that beautiful) and recently, and at last, on its own.
The dollar was valuable only so much. I live in Cleveland, Ohio. The cost of living here is inexpensive. I was getting 6 to 7 Kuna for the dollar. I was paying prices there that I pay here. Cafe coffee was expensive, in some places $2.50 a cup. Their coffee is Turkish style, or
expresso, Croatian style. The cups weren't full, they had to last through a conversation, into a half hour and, of course, a refill, at another $2.50.
Street cars are a Zagreb personality. Without those trams it would not be Zagreb. The fare was about a dollar per ride in one direction. Of course, there were ways to get around that. Buying postcards was easy, finding postage stamps was another story. Mailing them was not necessarily convenient.
I stayed with a friend, some 25 miles east of Zagreb. This reduced the costs considerably. Bus rides, train rides were easily accessible and rather plentiful available. Since I am familiar with the routes and places and conditions the winter slush, the heat in the apartment, and the to and from were quite struggling. For me it was the desired effect.
I travelled at that time to see the residents in their element. I am keeping a chronicle of the era. I travel when others don't. I walk, and dress and eat and buy what they have to in the stores they have to.
It was an effort to be nearly invisible as a tourist. It was a struggle in the cold, the drafty bus terminal and the trudge through grocery stores, exactly what the regulars were going through.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
rukav
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Member: Steve Renko
Location: Cleveland, Ohio (U.S.A.)
Reviews written: 17
Trusted by: 1 member
About Me:
I am a products photographer.
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