Let's Hear It For Zagreb!

Zagreb.
You know- the capitol of Croatia?

For right or wrong, for better or for worse, somehow Budapest has always been dubbed my favorite international city. Why? Maybe because in Budapest all those years ago (2006)  my sister and I had a fabulous time. Since that trip, I've been stacking up the new destination to beautiful Budapest. Even the fabulous Barcelona couldn't knock it out of it's Katie O. #1 ranking...but guess what? I'm here to say that Budapest no longer holds the #1 spot on my list....

ZAGREB does!

Zagreb because...

• I didn't see one mosquito or get bitten.
• Things are still inexpensive, for now.
• Even if rainy weather hits, there are about 100 museums you can visit and they are all housed in beautiful buildings.
• Friendly people that speak enough English to get by that are proud of their city. 
• The Museum of Broken Relationships- need I say more?
• Lots of parks and "green" spaces tend to make you forget you're in a major city.
• The whole place just feels safe & clean- cameras, guards, trashcans (that are used).
• There are a ton of dogs, but not strays! Most are enjoying a walk or hanging out in an outdoor cafe.
• Public transportation makes sense. 
• Lots of interesting history with the city. A lot of it recent history (think early 90s) that makes you impressed that much more with what the city is today. 
• The buildings are beautiful. 
• Streets are filled with outdoor seating for the restaurants and cafes lining the sides. So many options it's overwhelming! 
• It's easy to get out of the city for a day to see the national park.
• Cotton candy for 10kn? I'm sold.
• A zoo with lemurs, bats, and red pandas?!?!
• Carbs are a primary food group.
• There's just this feel, vibe, & energy pulsating through the city. 

Okay and now looking over this list, I'm seeing a lot of things that never bugged me living in Monterey (when I fell in love with Budapest), but now 2+ years in Naples maybe they're more important to me. Or maybe it's the fact that I've seen so many other places in Europe? I'm not sure.

I do know that you need to check Zagreb out.  Split and Dubrovnik always seem to be the popular cities to see, especially with the ferry from Bari, but head inland- it's worth it!  You probably don't need 3 full days there, unless you're huge museum goers in which case plan on being there Tuesday-Sunday since they are closed on Mondays and only opened until 1ish on Sunday. Fact. The Museum of Broken Relationships is open until 10pm. Just trying to assist with trip planning.

Do it.
You won't regret it.

The Museum of Broken Relationships

Every place has one. You know, the place that you hear about and decide then and there to make it a priority on your visit. Like you, I never even knew that The Museum of Broken Relationships existed. Well, that was until April when I picked up my cousin and started hearing about her amazing prior week in Croatia. I remember laughing so hard about it that tears filled my eyes as I raced around the streets of Bari as she recounted how they kept seeing advertisements for the museum but never went. They apparently opted for the Arts & Crafts Museum instead???

Like so many other attractions it was filed in the back of my mind to remain until later. For once though, it wasn't much later because, when I did my quick TripAdvisor search once Zagreb was decided, I knew it was fate that it appeared as #4 in the attractions. Yep.

You can't make this stuff up.


But then again, you hope that some of this stuff was made up. The whole premise of the museum is based on people donating items that either held sentimental value in the relationship or breakup in the effort to let go and move on. In no particular order here are a few of the displays that in one way or another got to me:

The Object: A mini lint roller
The Story: Man had 2 cats. Girlfriend brought roller over so her clothes didn't have at hair on her (that should have been a sign it wouldn't work out). Relationship ends. Girlfriend moves out. Leaves lint roller. I kid you not, a few hairs remained.

The Object: A hand written letter
The Story: In 1992 when things were a little hectic in this part of the world, the 11 year old boy wrote a note to the girl his age traveling with her family in a car near theirs. Apparently everyone was prevented from leaving and in this time span of a few days he developed a crush on the little girl and decided to give her some music. Unfortunately but this time the cars were moving out and he never made the delivery of the music and letter, and he never saw her again.

The Object: Clock face of "We Broke Up on Skype" (picture above)
The Story: Girl in San Fran. Guy in Italy. Always looking at the clock to add those (pesky) hours to figure out when they could chat. Lots of time spent on flights back and forth. Finally it all ended...via Skype.

The Object: A bottle opener shaped like an old key
The Story: You said you loved me. You didn't sleep with me. It wasn't until you died of AIDS did I realize how just how much you loved me. 

The Objects: A collection of air sickness bags
The Story: Another long distance relationship. Every time a new airline was flown, a bag was collected.

The Object: An axe
The Story: Couple living together. Man goes out of town for new job, she can't follow. He gets back, she notifies him about her new lover and goes on trip, but leaves her things in the house. He gets mad. Goes and buys an axe. Chops up one of the pieces of furniture. Can't stop with just one. By the time she returns he belongings are in nice stacks of wood fragments.

I could leave Zagreb happy now, I'm not going to...but I could. For less than $5 I found myself some seriously good entertainment this evening. Granted, I found it, evaluated it, then opted for another walk around the block before actually going in...but it was the place to be! Now, I'm just searching my memory banks for items I could/would donated if I ever wanted to get in on this fabulous idea...