ZAGREB (continued)
Actually, my heart is elsewhere at the moment.. Due to obligation and other unforseen circumstances, I have to put up with staying in Bristol, at least for the next few days..
After that visit to the fantasy club, Duc and I went around the city. First, we headed to an old building. There's something rather majestic and antique about the building, yet it was empty. Apparently, it has been converted into one of the shopping complex, and since it was sunday, most of the shops were not open.
Zagreb is a city full of Trg (Square), and most of the squares are dedicated to special person that has brought great honour to the country. There's Trg Bana, Trg Britanski, Trg Kralja Tomislava and many others. The old zagreb town can be divided into two parts. The first sector was under the control of the church or the religious institution, whereas the other one was controlled by the merchant. There were moments of tension between the two parties, which resulted in rather undesired ramification. The two sub-urbans were separated by a stream, yet connected by a bridge called The Bridge of Blood. These days, the stream is no longer there, and you can simply walk from one city to another.
First, we headed to the church controlled part of the town. To get there, one can walk, or one can choose to ride a small cable-car/train type of vehicle. The fare was reasonable, and the journey did not take very long. Located on top of the hill is a cannon tower, a remnant from the 'crusade war'.
When the ottoman empire was pushing its borders in order to expand into the catholic-controlled region, they came across the Hrvatskans. These people were warlike people, which were huge in built, and fierce in character. They managed to stop the Ottoman's expansion, hence maintaining their allegience to the Roman Catholic Church. Their Slav brothers, the bosnian had opened up to the muslims expansion, and eventually accepted islam as their religion. On the other side, their serbian brothers had decided to embrace the orthodox creed. Therefore, the croatians had to be strong to defend the 'catholic empire'. In fact, until today, the croatians are really proud for being the 'defender of the catholic church'.
Well, the cannon tower is located somewhat a hundred metre above the sea. During the war, it was used to fire against the muslim forces, and also served as a warning to the city regarding the invasion of the muslim. Today, the city council decided to keep the cannon and fire blanks every day around mid-day. We missed the firing that day, and honestly, I kept missing it throughout my stay in Zagreb.
The Gornji grad area has been greatly preserved by the croatian government. It houses many government offices, croatian parliaments, catholic churces, and many other relics of the previous centuries. Duc is a religious catholic, and he took me into most of the churches. I had a decent guided tour, which i willingly accepted. There were so many factions of christianity in zagreb, where each faction has their own churches. While most of them were tolerable, there were few who lived on the extremes and used to preached war all the time. I was not surprised at all, considering that even the muslim community is facing similar problems.
On the rooftop of one of the churches, one can see carefully-arranged tiling roof, which formed the country's coat of arms. The main symbol (and currency) is Kuna, a type of fox, which used to be the main trade of the Hrvatskan. They hunted the creature and sold the fur, and used them in their trade and exchange, hence the name kuna for the currency. 10 Kuna = £1.. and decent meal will cost about Kn. 50.
... to be continued.. pictures to follow...
After that visit to the fantasy club, Duc and I went around the city. First, we headed to an old building. There's something rather majestic and antique about the building, yet it was empty. Apparently, it has been converted into one of the shopping complex, and since it was sunday, most of the shops were not open.
Zagreb is a city full of Trg (Square), and most of the squares are dedicated to special person that has brought great honour to the country. There's Trg Bana, Trg Britanski, Trg Kralja Tomislava and many others. The old zagreb town can be divided into two parts. The first sector was under the control of the church or the religious institution, whereas the other one was controlled by the merchant. There were moments of tension between the two parties, which resulted in rather undesired ramification. The two sub-urbans were separated by a stream, yet connected by a bridge called The Bridge of Blood. These days, the stream is no longer there, and you can simply walk from one city to another.
First, we headed to the church controlled part of the town. To get there, one can walk, or one can choose to ride a small cable-car/train type of vehicle. The fare was reasonable, and the journey did not take very long. Located on top of the hill is a cannon tower, a remnant from the 'crusade war'.
When the ottoman empire was pushing its borders in order to expand into the catholic-controlled region, they came across the Hrvatskans. These people were warlike people, which were huge in built, and fierce in character. They managed to stop the Ottoman's expansion, hence maintaining their allegience to the Roman Catholic Church. Their Slav brothers, the bosnian had opened up to the muslims expansion, and eventually accepted islam as their religion. On the other side, their serbian brothers had decided to embrace the orthodox creed. Therefore, the croatians had to be strong to defend the 'catholic empire'. In fact, until today, the croatians are really proud for being the 'defender of the catholic church'.
Well, the cannon tower is located somewhat a hundred metre above the sea. During the war, it was used to fire against the muslim forces, and also served as a warning to the city regarding the invasion of the muslim. Today, the city council decided to keep the cannon and fire blanks every day around mid-day. We missed the firing that day, and honestly, I kept missing it throughout my stay in Zagreb.
The Gornji grad area has been greatly preserved by the croatian government. It houses many government offices, croatian parliaments, catholic churces, and many other relics of the previous centuries. Duc is a religious catholic, and he took me into most of the churches. I had a decent guided tour, which i willingly accepted. There were so many factions of christianity in zagreb, where each faction has their own churches. While most of them were tolerable, there were few who lived on the extremes and used to preached war all the time. I was not surprised at all, considering that even the muslim community is facing similar problems.
On the rooftop of one of the churches, one can see carefully-arranged tiling roof, which formed the country's coat of arms. The main symbol (and currency) is Kuna, a type of fox, which used to be the main trade of the Hrvatskan. They hunted the creature and sold the fur, and used them in their trade and exchange, hence the name kuna for the currency. 10 Kuna = £1.. and decent meal will cost about Kn. 50.
... to be continued.. pictures to follow...
posted by Zacharias at 2:29 PM
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