Zagreb, Croatia

The first recorded appearance of the name Zagreb is dated to 1094, at which time the city existed as two different city centers: the smaller, eastern Kaptol, inhabited mainly by clergy and housing Zagreb Cathedral, and the larger, western Gradec, inhabited mainly by farmers and merchants. Gradec and Zagreb were united in 1851 by ban Josip Jelačić, who was credited for this, with the naming the main city square, Ban Jelačić Square in his honour. The origins of the name Zagreb are less clear. The Croatian word "zagrabiti" translates approximately to "to scoop", which forms the basis of some legends. One Croat legend says that a Croat ban (a viceroy) was leading his thirsty soldiers across a deserted region. He drove his sabre into the ground in frustration and water poured out, so he ordered his soldiers to dig for water. The idea of digging or unearthing is supported by scientists who suggest that the settlement was established beyond a water-filled hole or graba and that the name derives from this. Some sources suggest that the name derives from the term 'za breg' or 'beyond the hill'. The hill may well have been the river bank of the River Sava, which is believed to have previously flowed closer to the city centre. From here, the words may have been fused into one word and, thus, the name Zagreb was born.

While the city is old old old, much of the city appears to have been built in the late 19th and early 20th century--very attrractively, I might add, and very walkable. The city has well under a million inhabitants, so it is a very managable size--not that there isn't traffic, there is, but it is easy to navigate, and everything is in latin letters, so we could actually read street signs. A real plus!

We stayed in the old part of the city, called Gornji Grad just off Ban Jelačić Square in an apartment we rented from InZagreb. I found the web-site myself, but booked the Gold Apartment after reading about it in Rick Steve's guidebook. The location was fantastic, and the apartment would have been ideal for a much longer stay as well as what we used it for. The only thing is parking. We found street parking, which worked fine for the weekend but wouldn't work for week days--and we were unaware that streets were blocked off to traffic on Sunday afternoons, and couldn't read Croatian (which I am sure would have told us said information), so almost got a 500 Kuna ticket (~$100). Otherwise, Zagreb was grand.