Marshalls Abroad

croatia Life zagreb

Evening Walk in Zagreb

Zagreb is an incredibly lovely and fascinating city. It seems to get overlooked by most tourists who head straight to the coast (understandable — the Croatian Coast is amazing!) but there is so much to see and learn in the capital. This is the view of Crkva Sv Marka (St. Mark’s Church) from the Lotrscak Tower that blasts off a canon every day at noon to mark midday and to signal to churches to ring their bells. Right next to St. Mark’s is the Sabor, the Croatian Parliament, and the most important government buildings, which are gorgeous. It blows our minds watching officials walk in and out through the piazza with no security around it.

Zagreb is well-known and well-loved as a cafe culture. There are literally cafes everywhere — even outside the large hardware store (their version of Home Depot) which made me laugh outloud. All ages and walks of life in Zagreb meet at cafes for a cup of kava. 
We just celebrated this handsome man’s birthday on friday!! The very best husband, father, friend. 
We heard these two ladies squeal, “kawaiiii!” and immediately smiled knowing where they’re from. Japan! 
Novi Zagreb is in the distance. It’s the part of the city easily identifiable as mostly built during the Communist Era. There are parts where you can visually see the effect of socialism on the economy and living conditions. 

We love this beautiful city and are so excited to call it home for a few years.


Comments

  1. brittany says

    so gorgeous and so fascinating!! i am excited to see croatia through your eyes as you guys experience it all!! i had heard that it was beautiful, but i really had no idea! makes me long for more of a cafe culture for sure!

  3. Melanie Fontaine says

    I'm loving all your Croatia posts so far! I've never been to the Balkans (though I really want to visit!!) and like you mentioned it seems like pretty much every picture of Croatia that I have ever seen was from the coast, so it's lovely to see the rest of the country through your beautiful photographs! I'm glad you'll be in Zagred for a while, so I can keep on seeing this country through your eyes! 🙂

  4. Caravan Sonnet says

    I love that you are sharing with us this area of the world!! Thank you so much sweet friend!! What a beautiful evening it looks like y'all had!! It is so fascinating to read about some of the history and culture of this area of the world!! 🙂 And happy (belated) birthday to Cam!
    🙂 Rebecca

    • Amanda Marshall says

      Hi there! Thanks for the comment.
      You're right — they are not the same. I didn't say that they are. They were socialist under a communist government, and even now under a social democracy, they unfortunately hang on to socialism. This is what I was getting at.. where there is socialism (i.e. the government, not a free market, controlling and attempting to plan the economy) you will find a stifled economy. You can see it no matter what the form of government, be it communism, or democracy like in the United States: socialism smothers economies. In Croatia you can visually see this in the run-down and depressed neighborhoods and towns where there are few jobs and no growth. The problem with socialism is that sooner or later you run out of other peoples' money… To quote the Iron Lady 🙂

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