Christmas Eve...

All is ready for the Xmas Eve in my home:



A typical Xmas Eve (day) here usually starts with a normal stress amount, getting everything ready, decorating the tree, cleaning the house, making lunch/dinner. The main traditional meal of the day is cod fish, usually cooked with potatoes (a row of potato slices, a row of cod fish, and it repeats several times) in olive oil, garlic, white wine and a bit of fresh parsley. Appetizer is either tuna pate or, this year, I made cod fish pate served with warm bread that was baked a bit in the oven right before the serving, and my parents made octopus salad. Xmas is usually spent with family and close friends.

How do you celebrate/get ready for holidays if you celebrate Xmas/Hannukah/New Year?

Happy holidays!

Snow!

Today's weather can only be described as nuts... the day started off with temperatures around 14C (57F), only to change completely to close to freezing, with hail, rain and in the end - snow:

Mary and the baby

Remember this post? Hilda asked me to post the photo of the sacred painting which survived the Stone Gate fire in 17th century. Well, here it is:

Molokai

This Molokai, albeit a very cosy cafe on the Catherine's square in the Old town, is no match to the Hawaiian island:

Music

A detail from the top of the Croatian National Theater building:

December Theme Day: Time

Time has definitely passed for these water lilies' seeds:



Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Nikola Tesla

As always, imagining the unimaginable...



Nikola Tesla was a man out of his time, an inventor, a misunderstood genius who was born in a tiny village Smiljan in the mountain region of Croatia in 1856. We owe him modern electricity (AC), eco-light bulbs, radio (Marconi developed it 6 years AFTER Tesla demonstrated the wireless radio communication!), remote control, radar, X-rays, Tesla coil, "death ray", green (renewable) energy and many things which we are only now beginning to understand.

Pink blob

Blue blob

Taking a stroll in Zagreb's center can sometimes take an unexpected turn... you might run into your friends, enemies, blobs:



To this date, I haven't found out what the blob was, but they were dancing :)

Insightful graffiti

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." - Gandhi:



Photo was taken by Sarah..

Praying statue

Americans in Zagreb series 2: Break-dancing

Rich decided that Medvegrad is a perfect place to show off his break-dancing skills:



Photo was taken by Chelsea...

H

Very decorative "H" on a door:

Chillin'

A turtle, just chillin' at the Botanical garden:

Americans in Zagreb series: 1 - Trying on a dress

I've had a series of US friends visiting Zagreb in October... have you ever noticed how different nationalities act differently when visiting a foreign land? This photo series shows how my friends enjoyed Zagreb. Too bad we couldn't take a photo of them trying to find instant oatmeal and peanut butter :).

Here's Sarah "trying on" a dress in the window:

Quince aroma

A specialist store whose name suggests quince products - until you get in. I couldn't find a single product made from quince, however, they do have fantastic chocolate and coffee deserts :)

Parasol

What a parasol this is! Lace with maple leaves details:

Yummmm...

A stand selling home-made jam and marmalade jars:

How Zagreb got its name

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful woman called Manda who'd come to the well on the outskirts of Kaptol, nowadays the center of Zagreb each day to get water for her family. One day, a man called out to her and said "Mandušo, zagrabi (=scoop)!"... so the well became Manduševac (now a fountain), and Zagreb got its name from "scooping" the water by Manda :)

The Arcades - Mirogoj

Famous Arcades at Zagreb's largest cemetery:

A well

An old well on Medvedgrad:

History of Croatia - by I. Meštrović

This is a sculpture called "History of Croatia" in front of Univ. Zagreb's Law Faculty building:

Toddler sculpture

This toddler sculpture has a wonderful view of the park from his place on the roof of the Croatian National Theater:

Dragon claw

Here be dragons

This is the dragon from the previous post:

Determined...

.. to kill a dragon:



A statue next to the Croatian National Theater.

The lion sleeps tonight

Eternal tear drop

A glass tear drop - a part of the sculpture at the Homeland Altair, for the fallen soldiers in '91-'95 war, next to the eternal flame, overlooking Zagreb's panorama:

Misfit

There's a cave called Veternica, on mountain Medvednica, which is a home for a large population of small bats. Nature park preservation center and volunteers work hard on educating the public (and especially kids) about these harmless, very useful, and cute little creatures. An exhibition in Medvedgrad's south tower boasts detailed info on bats and their habits, photos,... Each bat got a purple paper cutout with its name and put on the wall. Apparently this one has troubles fitting in the crowd :) :

Peaceful

A part of a statue in front of the Croatian National Theater (HNK):

Oldtimer - Trabant

A very old car (I'm guessing 30+ years), Trabant, famous (or infamous) for its funny sounding two-stroke engine, repainted in bright red color and comfortably parked among "new age" sedans, coupes and similar in Zagreb's center:

Little white alien

Steps

If you decide to skip on funicular, these are one of the steps that will lead you to the Upper town. They go directly along the funicular, and exit in front of the Lotrscak tower:

Secure enough?

Just on the other side of the street from the broken shop window from the previous post, these doors offer an unusual vista in Zagreb (I've seen similar only in renovated castles around Zagreb):



IMHO, they're fantastic! :)

Not a good day

This small shop window, quite common in the center and usually presenting goods sold by shops in the passageways, is now full of broken glass, not the goods:

November theme day: Public transportation - Funicular

Probably the shortest public transportation line in whole Croatia, but much loved by locals and visitors alike - Zagreb's funicular saves you a lot of step climbing and connects the lower part of the city to the Upper/Old town. The whole ride lasts full 30-40 seconds :) :



Now go on and check out other public transportation offered around the world! Click here to view thumbnails for all participants.

Follow me

The Botanical garden's little ponds are full of life:

The sound of music

I'm not quite sure why this guy chose to be turned away from the people passing by (he's right next to the tram line, facing it)... maybe the music was for the people on the opposite tram stop.

King Tomislav

Here's the King Tomislav from the previous post, this time up close and personal - Croatia's first king, crowned in 925AD:

All in one photo

My ex-roommate used to tease me that I usually take photos that are all-in-one - containing every possible angle, thing, person in one single photo. I guess this would be one of those photos - a fountain, King Tomislav's statue, Glavni kolodvor (central railway station):

Just another fountain

Zrinjevac park boasts several fountains, this one being one of the two larger ones:

Bark

An artist couldn't have made this tree bark better in Zrinjevac park in the center:

Legs above us

Quite ingenious way to promote a shop which sells all kinds of leggings, nylons, socks.......:

Water lilies?

Another curiosity from the Botanical garden - I was told some bit of this is edible (apparently in Japan). It's supposed to be a water lily plant, after the flowers are long gone:

Pacman!

Unexpected, simple, and funny graffiti on a downspout in Bogoviceva street, near Millennium cafe:

Fashion, art, or just plain craziness? || Bonus photo: Hvar - a daily dose...

I'll leave it up to the reader to decide their take on this:



They cost 1200EUR (US $1650)... Would you buy/wear them or like to see your girlfriend/wife wearing them?

--
Bonus photo: mid-day view of town Hvar, on the Hvar island, nearby islands...:



This is the same POV as yesterday's sunset.

Fall colors || Bonus photo: Hvar sunset

Zagreb's Botanical garden is filled with weird plants that paint the garden in various colors and shades:



--
Bonus photo shows the sunset on the island of Hvar (recently voted as one of the top 10 most beautiful islands in the world according to Reuters world travelers):



I took this a few weeks ago, from the higher fortress (there are two)...