Zagreb, Croatia

The story of Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, may have started right here. At least that's what the legend says.

Once upon a time ... a soldier returning home from battle stopped at this natural spring that was located in the middle of the city. He asked a little girl named Manda to "scoop" up some water. Scoop is the operative word here, because it translates in Croatian to "zagrebiti." The spring had been there since ancient times. The soldier took a needed drink. The gesture became famous. 

Eventually, the city was named Zagreb, partly because of the incident. If it's not true, it should be.

Late in the 19th century, the spring was covered over by a construction job and completely forgotten. However, in 1986 it was found again during some work at Republic Square. A fountain was quickly designed for it, and is a major landmark in downtown Zagreb today. 

With that subject covered, let's move on to the present day - and there's something every new traveler to the area should know. This is earthquake country. We were there in March of 2026. A website reported that there was an earthquake in the region about every other day or so in that time. Most of them probably weren't felt at all, and none of them caused any problems. 

That wasn't the case in 2020. If having a Covid-19 epidemic starting up in the spring wasn't a big enough  problem, a 5.3 earthquake hit the region in March. The center was a little more than four miles from Zagreb. Only one fatality took place as a result of the quake, but the damage was massive to the city. The best guess is that the earthquake did 11.5 billion Euros worth of damage. 

You don't fix that much damage over night. There aren't enough workers to handle it all at once. Even six years later, there is still a lot to do. The major buildings in town are still closed in many cases, and there probably is a long waiting line for workers to come to houses. That's left sections of the town looking a little empty, and in some cases a little sketchy. 

Zagreb isn't what it was because of that, and it isn't what it will be in a few more years. It's still a nice city, with some good architecture around the town. Just arrive with the proper expectations.  

 

Zagreb, Croatia: Benedetto Cotrugli Statue

Here's something you don't see every day. 

It's a statue that honors an accountant. Let's put it this way: AN ACCOUNTANT!

Benedetto Cotrugli is the man in question. He was a Ragusan businessman who also did work in diplomacy and economics in the 15th century. That's pre-Columbus, you'll notice.

In 1458, he "published" a idea that was revolutionary for its time: double-entry bookkeeping. 

In the statue, Cotrugli is shown in Venetian attire, typical of the period. The statue went up in 2007, right across from the entrance to our hotel in downtown Zagreb. Sorry about the graffiti, sir. 

You can't write the history of accounting without a tip of the hat to Benefetto. Clearly he was a man that we could count on. 

 

Zagreb, Croatia: Mirogoj Cemetery

What could this be? A Presidential Palace? A fort left behind by antiquity? 

Hardly. It's the entrance to a cemetery. But what a cemetery - the biggest you will ever see.

Mirogoj Cemetery requires about a 20-minute bus ride from downtown Zagreb to see, but it's quite interesting as these things go. The facilities has 60,000 graves and contains the remains of about 320,000 people. Once you get inside the walls, it extends as far as the eye can see and then some. 

This facility has an interesting operating principle, at least from the American perspective. You don't buy a plot of land here; you rent it. Purchases can lease the space for up to 10 years in advance. But if nothing is done to renew the lease, the cemetery essentially forecloses after a small grace period. They figure that the person in question has died, and no one in the family is either around or cares enough to renew it. So the space is essentially torn up, and the bodies are moved elsewhere. The exceptions are some religious figures and other dignitaries. 

There's even someone whose work you might know who was bury there, which leads us to a story. You've never heard of Ivo Robić, also known as Mr. Morgen, if you aren't Croatia. But you have heard one of his works. The story goes that he wrote a nice little tune that didn't go anywhere, so he sold the melody rights to Bert Kaempfert. That led to a connection to Avo Uvezian, an Armenian-American who wrote new lyrics. A fellow named Frank Sinatra thought the new version would work for him. The result? "Strangers in the Night." It may not be true, but it should be true.   

Prices for graves vary on location. The big plots, especially ones that are close to the entrance, need big dollars to reserve a spot. More than one person can be laid to rest in a grave area; they often just did a little deeper. And the headstones are quite ornate. You probably could do a book of photos on that subject.   

Zagreb, Croatia: Antun Gustav Matoš Monument

You have to admire a sculpture that makes the subject look sort of look like Gumby. 

The person honored here is Antun Gustav Matoš, who lived from 1873 to 1914. He was a writer who covered a lot of different formats - poetry, short stories, journalism, and essays. Antun is considered the first Croatian to join the European modernist movement in writing. I wish I could easily tell you what that means; I'm basically concerned with getting the score right in my stories. But it's always nice to see writers saluted in any form. 

This is a relatively rare photo of the monument in which no one is sitting next to him. There's a steady stream of tourists who like to sit next to him and pose for a photo. They have been doing so since the work was placed there in 1978.   

Zagreb, Croatia: Funicular

Got a minute?

Actually, it only takes 55 seconds to take a ride on Zagreb's Funicular. (To be fair another source put the time at 64 seconds. So bring a watch.) It's the shortest such ride in the world, at least for those connected to public transportation. The tracks cover about 217 feet. On the other hand, it's a steep hill - checking in at a 52 percent gradient. Better to take a ride than test your legs. 

The funicular opened with a steam engine in 1890, and it received an electric motor in 1934. The latter is still in use today. And there's never been an accident that hurt a passenger in more than 130 years. I guess that makes it safe for a visit.