One Morning in Zagreb
After the summer, but well before the legendary holiday markets, I had a chance to spend one night in historic Zagreb. Past the patio and up the stairs, I will realize a secret garden awaits. It’s the beginning of fall, and Zagreb is coming into its own. The focus is shifting, from the coast and summer’s endless days, back to the business of city living. As much as I love the rural living of the coast, I am also a city person. I find the beauty in city spaces just as much as in nature, and my favorite is when one calls to the other, like neighbors or cousins, like kin.
Statue of a Croatian Poet Antun Gustav Matos Sitting on a Bench, Zagreb
I love a clean wall, but I also love the right application of art in public spaces. The walk up the wall does not disappoint as it offers paint, stickers, and even mosaic tile work. Eventually it will bring me right up to the center of the old city.
Unlike graffiti scratched into the tram stations where everything brings out tensions, these types of spaces, display something more subtle, more natural, about the relationships between artists, and their environment.
Like the pink aerosol figure, leading the way, I feel a bit like I am floating between daily life and the power of the local imagination. That gentle tug of nature and human creativity pull me out the back of the Jãgerhorn hotel’s back doors, up its historic stairs. As Zagreb’s oldest hotel, the Jägerhorn has a magical quality. After their delicious breakfast, and the rich smell of coffee brewing first thing in the morning, I can’t help but explore. The terrace is closed.
It’s barely September and an early rain makes for a misty morning and renders the outdoor seating temporarily uninviting. The city is bustling and busy. The university is readying for students, people are taking trams to work. The last bits of summer and the energy of life make it hard to be lazy. Adventure is the call.
Walking up the wall, this one morning in Zagreb, the clouds are parting after the morning rain. I have a few last hours to spend exploring. I see flowers and they beckon. It takes a minute to realize the garden here rises with twisting stairs.
Step by step, up these stairs, this urban nature, takes over my senses. This is the bittersweet moment you feel upon leaving Croatia, that one last walk, before the taxi ride and the flight, that one last coffee you never want to end. Step by step, I walk up the stairs, with church bells sounding the top of the hour, announcing I will soon need to leave.
When I arrive at the top, the old town sites will unfold before me, but the walk up is as good as the destination. From the deck of the back garden, the steps are each their own experience, with the sounds and shapes of life. With cats and other fascinating creatures leading the way.
Up along these old walls at the back of this historic hotel, a mix of art greets my eyes, and offers surprises. I follow the pink spray paint, up and away, the pull of greenery, wet and alive feels irresistible. Despite the comfy room, the clean, modern spaces of the interior at Jägerhorn, I give up on reading my new book to breathe in this surrounding air one last time.
I have a cup of coffee still in my hand, because I am not expecting this journey at all. I am unable to stop, as every few feet the staircase turns. At every turn I take in the height. The view of the hotel courtyard gives way to the city, the view expanding my perspective.
Eventually, at the top, I wander past a bench and into a park where the art explodes into yet another unexpected scene. An open space is painted with birds. The architecture of the old city, and the art by young, living artists adds to the day, to that bridge between tradition and novelty. The blue skies peek at me.
Zagreb delights me. With the traffic below me, the day feels suspended in time. The clocks continue to go forward, and soon it is time to go back down. It’s time to zip up the suitcase and call the taxi. I wave to the painted birds, and wind back down the staircase to checkout, and until the next time.
