Zagreb, Croatia

Getting out of Pécs towards the south was a bit problematic since there never was much international traffic from there, and the train was unfortunately shut down in light of current events. So I found a BlaBlaCar that was going to Zagreb, which is how Zagreb became my next destination. It was a bit different than the original plan, which was to go to Belgrade (Serbia), although as things turned out I would eventually make it to that city anyway.

On the way, we had to cross the border, which means we got to witness Hungarian border paranoia security, including the infamous barbed wire fence that even spanned the 6-meter wide bridge crossing the river that forms much of the border. We would eventually be let through by the Hungarian military, needing to wait for traffic in the opposite direction to be approved through the narrow single-lane passage.

Barbed wire over the bridge.

Noteworthy things about Zagreb: lots of bookstores for some reason, the world’s shortest funicular (or that’s what it felt like; it’s actually semi-true apparently), a ski resort in walking distance, and graffiti art along a long stretch of wall.

Maybe it’s just me but I felt like I saw one on every corner.

It’s even smaller than it looks here. You’re quicker walking up the 15ish stairs just to the left.

Kind of weird seeing one without snow. One of the lifts actually was derelict too.

Sorry Berlin you’re not unique.

There was also a bitcoin machine in one of the nightclubs.

No good explanation here.

And I wanted to give Zagreb a shoutout for placing its central post office right at the train station, so that you can not only mail cards before you leave town, but also so that mail heading to other parts of the country gets loaded into special wagons that are tacked onto the regular passenger trains!

Brilliant.

In terms of real tourist attractions though, Zagreb only has one as far as I’m concerned: the Museum of Broken Relationships. Started by a split couple, it now houses thousands of items from relationships that have ended, each which have a short story attached. It was a lot of fun to read them and explore details about the lives of people I’ll probably never know. All these pictures should speak for themselves.

There’s also a well-used guestbook at the end where you can make your own confessions (no, not my writing).

And of course, the attached cafe has a fitting wifi password.