In the lions company

I know that this is really not a special sculpture of a lion, but it is placed by the Upper town gallery called Lion. The gallery is great, but even more is the café bar that's part of it. You can sit outside on the terrace by this sculpture of a lion, under this fancy parasols and enjoy fabulous view - the Upper town Stone Gates!

The same place, but new perspective!

I took this photo of the street and passage I told you some time ago. It is in the Radićeva street by the Upper town. It is incredible how some places that we know so well, turn out in a new light from time to time. The same thing happened to me here, I just couldn't believe I've never saw this passage in this angle and light. What else is there to say?

Blue whale

I found this whale while taking a walk by the Lake Jarun. I'm not sure if he's smiling or scowling but he sure looks funny! Every time I pass by it's surrounded with children who are playing around, climbing and having fun! This time it was a resting place for this fellow walker.

Home of Croatian Artists

This building has a special place in my heart! It is placed it the eastern part of Lower town on the Victims of fascism square. It was designed by the famous Croatian sculptor Ivan Meštrović (he was very multiskilled artist!) and is called Mastrović's Pavilion – Home of Croatian Artists. It was built in 1938. as a exhibition place and, after many changes in function through years, it holds the same function today. I like the fact it is round (so perfect for exhibitions) and that it has this half-building-half-sculpture fell.

I wish you all a nice start of a new week!

Boy and his teddy

I found this unbelievably sweet sculpture in one small children's playground on Krešimir's square in the east part of the Lower town. It was made by the sculptor Emil Bohutinsky in 1939. I was really mollified to see it standing there, that little boy and his teddy bear!

Rowing into the new day!

I took this photo at the Lake Jarun last weekend. It was still very cold and cloudy. After beautiful and sunny week, this weekend is supposed to be rainy again. It really isn't fair! Still, I hope you will have nice sunny weekend! Cheers!

Romantic verses for country

I finally decided to show you this sculpture of Petar Preradović that's on a Preradović square also know as Flower square. He is a well know Croatian poet who lived in 19. century. Although he was a general and spent most of his life outside of Croatia, he preserved his love for mother tongue and country - and wrote beautiful verses full of romantic spirit! Also, he was one of the most important figures of Illyrian movement.

Two worlds collide

Few nights before I had two exhibition openings (yes, I know that you think I'm crazy!). They were both great and I didn't want to miss a thing. First one was in the Klovićevi Dvori Gallery and the second in Museum of Arts and Crafts (MUO). In Klovićevi Dvori I had a chance to enjoy the beautiful and charming paintings of Croatian painter Rober Auer. His magnificent Secession charm was just overwhelming! Than I rushed to MUO to see the exhibition of Croatian Designers Society. That one was incredibly crowded and crazy! It seemed like everybody who is anybody in the Croatian designer world attended. In this one evening it seemed like two worlds collide!

Velvet morning

I took this picture the other day while waiting for a business meeting in Lower town in Ilica street. I had a nice coup of green tea perfectly served with some tea cookies, honey and freshly squeezed lemon juice. It was in Velvet - an old/new café bar in Dežmanov prolaz (eng. Dežman's Passage) near the Upper town. The surrounding is so peaceful and calm, it was a delight to sit there and enjoy the sunny morning. I really like Velvet - it is in center of town but away from all the noise and craze, it is non smoking and it is so lovely decorated. I definitely recommend it!

Need a room to stay?

I was passing by this house the other day and thought how charming and lovely it looks. The door and the window just take my breath away! It was in Radićeva street not far away from the Iliric square. But it surprises me the most that it is actually a private house that has rooms for rent where you can stay while visiting Zagreb. And that would really be something, don't you think?!

The true winners!

Yesterday when I was heading for the river bank to take a shot of Sava flooding I stopped at the Jarun and took this photo. It was the Terry Fox Run that's organized every year in September on Jarun. This race is organized all around the world with the goal of raising founds for cancer researches. Terry Fox was a young Canadian who was diagnosed the malignant tumor and who than decided to star the so called ''Marathon of Hope'' with the purpose of fundraising for the cancer researches. The organizers were lucky this year considering all the rain and flooding in Zagreb.

Sava River Flood

Maybe you know and maybe you don't know, but Zagreb lies on river Sava. And I think that I haven't shown it to you before. So here it is, in its worst! Past three days here we had a strong heavy rain and also in the neighboring country Slovenia. It caused a lot of flooding and many small villages around Zagreb are flooded and in danger. Zagreb is safe for now because it has a quite efficient system of preventing huge amounts of water from reaching the city. The city has a big bank that can hold a lot of water. This trees you can see in the middle of the photo are the trees that are actually next to the river bed. Now it is all flooded and it looks very scary!

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Thank you notes

I guess you probably know what this is, no? I took this photo at the Stone Gates where I also took that photo of candles. The whole space around the holy painting of Virgin Mary is covered with these little plates that are thank you notes to Virgin Mary. These little notes are the witnesses of a great number of people who prayed to her and got help and their prayers accepted. The day that people of Zagreb celebrate as the Virgin Mary of Stone Gates day (31st of May) is also the Day of city Zagreb as she is the patron of Zagreb.

Dear readers, I wish you all a nice weekend - especially sunny and warm! :D

Formula One Baby

I took a shot of this baby on a Zagreb main square the other day. It is placed there as the invitation for the first Zagreb Auto Motor Show 2010. that's going to be held at the Zagreb Arena (a new multifunctional hall built in 2008) from 17th  till 19th of September. I'm really not particularly into cars, motorbikes or formula one cars and probably won't attend the event. But if any of you my dear readers will go, please do write a comment how it went.

What a scene!

Ooo, how I love this one! It's called The Fisherman and was made in 1908. by the sculptor Simeon Roksandić. He is actually a sculptor from Serbia that did two of this sculptures/fountains. The first one is placed here in Zagreb on the Upper town Jesuit Square. The second one I believe was placed in the famous Belgrade park Kalemegdan. However, the meaning of a fisherman strangling the snake still remains unknown to me. 

Edit: Link to Belgrade sculpture

Croatian Parliament

I was just passing by the St. Mark's Church on the Upper town the other day and decided to show you this building. It's the Croatian Parliament built in 1910. in Neo-Classical style. Although it looks quite small and modest, this building is rather a big complex that's occupying the large space that used to be a residential block.

Old chapel

I just have to show you this! - it is a beautiful, charming old chapel called the Chapel of the Holy Cross. It is placed at the Iliric square (more about Illyrian movement here) at the north side of the Upper town. It was designed by Herman Bollé, the architect I told you about before. It was built in 1892. in Neo-Gothic style and placed in the center of a square. It is a shame that today not many new urban projects of public places include such a cultural signs and monuments.

Different view

This weekend I went to the Museum of Contemporary Art - maybe you already got the right impression that I like museums and exhibitions a lot. But this time, I don't want to show you a typical exhibition photo but a rather different look onto my visit to the museum. What inspired me for this photo is, believe it or not, the weather (I speak so often about the weather, some might think I have English blood :D). It is so cold and gray as this photo might show. Hope it will turn out warmer and sunnier soon!

Beauty is in details

Oh, this is such a fascinating detail! This house was recently restored and while it was in progress the workers have found (possibly!) the original design and decoration of a facade. As you can see, it used to be decorated pretty colorfully! For some reason it was not possible to restore it in this manner completely so the conservators decided to leave this one detail on the facade as a document of past times and changes that happened to this house. I just love discovering such little details in my town!

Old times and places

I have just one quick post for you today. There's no special story behind it - I fell in love with the light and the atmosphere. It is the entrance and the hall of an old 19. century building in the Lower town. To me it evokes the sense of old times and romance.

I hope you are all having a nice weekend!

Warm colours, warm places

Yesterday was a bit sunny but I had no real opportunity to enjoy it. Still, I will try to warm up with this old photo of one small courtyard in Radićeva street. The colours and the light really caught my eye. The Tabriz is actually a shop (and a name of a city in Iran, of course!) that sells oriental carpets. I'm not a huge fan of carpets, but the Persian one's have always been so interesting and exotic!

Dora - the goldsmith's daughter

This is Dora Krupićeva - she was the only daughter of a goldsmith who lived at the Upper Town. More importantly she is not real but a character from a very famous novel written by Croatian writer August Šenoa in 1871. So, to make a long story short (as the Americans would say) at the end she died (was poisoned) because would not want to merry the evil Grga Čokolin. Oh well...

Traffic jam

It was such an incredibly cold and rainy day today! I am still at shock because I hoped for worm and sunny September. Now I am now sure what to expect. Anyway, I had no inspiration nor energy to make photos except this one - traffic jam and people desperately trying to get home as quickly as possible! Sounds familiar, no?

Light a candle

This is one very special place in Zagreb. It's called Kamenita vrata (eng. Stone Gates) and I did mention it in one of my earlier posts. This Middle Age gates (13. century) are the only one preserved in the Gradec (i.e. Upper town). There is a legend of a miraculous painting of Virgin Mary that survived the fire of the gates in 1731. So today, this has remained a special holy place where people come to light a candle and say a prayer to Virgin Mary of Stone Gates. It is a true symbol of Zagreb!

Ummm... it's sweet!

I really love sweets! Really! So any time I go to this cool shop called Delicije in Teslina street I literally go berserk! Although, many of this delicious things are little pricey I like to treat myself occasionally. I love the orange and lemon peel coated with sugar or famous Cuberdons, an old Belgian speciality. If passing by, don't miss it!

Zagreb Secession

I wanted to show you this building for quite some time. It's one of my favorites in Lower town. Today it is a Croatian state archive, but at first it was the National and university library. I love it because it is one of the most beautiful examples of Secession in Zagreb and probably the whole country. It was built in 1913. by an architect Rudolf Lubynski. Please don 't miss to notice these really cool owls on top of the building!

Lights and colours

I decided to show you another photo from Zagreb puppet theater only because I really love the interior. It looks so arty! It started with it's work in 1948. and had it's last renovation in 2004. The lights and colours are really effective!

Laughing frogs

This photo I took the other day in the Zagreb Puppet Theatre. It was one of several locations where the International Puppet Theater Festival was held in the past few days. In the theater's front garden I found these funny frogs. Actually, those are litter bins, each one for a different type of litter. I find it nice and educational - we need to teach our children about the importance of keeping our world green.

Krivi put or The Wrong Way

You are probably asking yourself what could this photo possibly be about. Well, believe it or not, until this Tuesday this was one of the few cult Zagreb clubs called Krivi put (in English possibly translated as The Wrong Way). It was totally trash and alternative but it was cool and fun. The people were interesting and the drinks were cheap - and that's the most important thing! Sadly, it had to close down but I heard it will be opened again on a different location.

Theme day: Open Air Market

As this month theme day is Open Air Market I decided to show you this rather unconventional open air market. It is a school book sale made on the improvised space in New Zagreb. Because of the bad economic situation parents are forced to find an alternative to buying new school books for their children. So, some people made the initiative for exchanging or selling of used old school books. And I think it is a great idea!

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