Last night I spent my time clicking away on the ‘puters in the hostel getting frustrated at the minute bandwidth on offer (I reckon some wideboy was hogging it with P2P over the Wi-Fi) but my temper (patience isn’t a virtue I possess) was mitigated by the Croat beer and my chuckling away at the Family Guy marathon going on behind me.
I was also laughing when an Aussie girl who was having trouble with her netbook asked her mate “Should I use the big computers instead?”.
After lots of moping around and living life in reverse this morning I finally got my buttocks in gear, had a shower, finished off that pasta (plus the single remaining beer I had left) and got myself out on to the streets of Zagreb.
I didn’t make it very far though as within 2 minutes I was in a bar I’d read about in my excellent Rough Guide (am I allowed to mention them when I’m kind of affiliated to Lonely Planet?) as it’s literally round the corner from the Hobo Bear hostel where I’m crashing.
Anyway the bar is called Sedmica and is well hidden down what I’d call a guinell (as would many other Northern folk) which in itself is off a side street. It’s a cool little place with some decent loose roots and reggae tunes on the go. It’s somewhere I can imagine Johnny Dangerously knocking about, though he might detest reggae for all I know.
Speaking of Lonely Planet, there’s a whole £1.14 of advertising revenue been made by me so far don’t you know. Not that I’m arsed, I’m just happy with the exposure on a good travel (miles better than Rough Guides, ahem) site.
Actually the tunes in this bar are going all over the place now, I’ve not heard a single one before but I like them all, always the hallmark of a good establishment. I think it’s time to leave or my Zagreb experience could be a minimalist one.
Davey, one of the lads I was knocking about with in Bratislava and Vienna uploaded this video earlier as an indication of what the trip was like. Peruse if you so wish.
Just one more in this bar and then I’m offski to the Zagreb City Museum. I could happily sit in here all day if I was in good company, or any company for that matter. I like how they leave the iTunes Cover Flow display on so you know who you’re listening to if you don’t know who you’re listening to. Right now it’s the album ‘Tiny Voices’ by Joe Henry and the best way I can describe it is as like what Jaime Cullum would sound like if he wasn’t crap, a tw*t, had a decent band, some of his own ideas and was mates with Pela and Håkan Hellström. Is twit a swear word?
They’re playing soft blues now. This is a hard place to leave. It’s like a 16:00 lock-in.
Davey has also uploaded another clip of a very different ilk. I like it muchos.
I’d like to tell you what beer I’m drinking but I have no idea, I’ve become like Steve McManaman on this trip, I just point a lot and see what comes of it. He was like a midfield witchfinder General during his City days, at least he had a lovely barnet though.
I did eventually leave the bar and make my way to the museum which was bang in the heart of embassy country. When I trundled my way over there I came across a large procession of flash blacked-out and parked-up cars surrounded by a fair old amount of broad-shouldered, tight white-shirted, dark shaded (?), Madonna miced up (urgh), grim sweded tough looking b@stards knocking about ominously. Bodyguards I reckon. Somet was going down.
I’d have liked to think that a few of them were sweaty palmed and even itchier triggered as they suspected me of being a rogue Western European hitman here to kill the vice-president of Chad with a Pritt Stick. As it was I’m pretty sure they all had me correctly zeroed as a slightly lost, slightly tipsy, mildly deadly English tourist.
The museum was okay and only cost me a little over a quid with the stud. card applied (I never tire of that joke). It was very quiet though and after 3 pints previous and a couple of floors of exhibits I got to feeling quite sleepy. So sleepy in fact that if a 16th century Zagrebian couch (bought then, paid in 1620) had have been an item on display I may well have just had a wee kip there and then. No harm done.
The place is worth a look if you have the time as it’s cheap in, large, well maintained and professionally put together and covers many eras of Zagreb’s (and the precursors to) history. I’d have liked to have seen a lot more on the past 20 years though, but my main historical interest is always 20th century. Me, me, me eh.
For my evening meal I went to a place serving cheap traditional Croatian grub that the hostel had recommended, Mali Medo. My washdown was courtesy of Zlatni Medvjed (lager with golden colour, refreshing taste and a semi-bitter aroma apparently) and my main course was Trganci s pivnickim gulasem (home made pasta with pub goulash apparently).
The lager was indeed bitter (and not the best IMHO) and the scran was hearty seafaring stuff, it was basically thin strips of pasta with chicken gravy and beef chunks (sounds like Italian Winalot), quite stodgy but tasty enough. I demolished it. All for the meagre sum of 38 Kunas (matata), or £4,50. I rounded it up to 50 Kunas or 6 quid as the lady was friendly. Not so hobo style.
So I’ve not seen as much as I should have done of Zagreb but I’ve liked my time here. It seems a very dynamic, busy and cosmopolitan city with ever so slight hints of the Mediterranean about it and lots of traditional charms, this appeals to me.
It is as yet untouched by the budget British airlines but I’m sure this is a matter of time. Dubrovnik has already fallen as has Budapest, the net closes. I shouldn’t complain as I often make use of these facilities. 27 pi$£ed up fellas from Slough can easily dilute the attraction of any city though.
A special mention for Richard Dunne this eve, although I’ve not been his greatest fan over the past few seasons I’ve never doubted his heart and effort. To throw out a mega cliche, he has been a great servant to the club. It is indeed the end of the era and a blue moon does look to be rising finally which is a good thing in my book, but what I will say is that he was certainly one of the major highlights of the last one. Cheerio Two Tonne and the best of luck to you. 4/1 on an own goal within 5 games of his debut at Ladbrokes no doubt?
It’s a bit City heavy (and football in general) this blog lately I concede. I can’t pretend it’s going to change any time soon though. Apologies and TTFN.
