6/4 Tuesday
We need to register with the local
authorities in Croatia. Marco meets us at the city equivalent of the DMV to
fill out our paperwork with us. All around us there are people pouring in the
doors to wait in numerous lines. Marco gets a number and takes us to a nearby
café for a coffee while we wait for our turn. It’s fun to have a chat with him.
He speaks nearly perfect English, is very proud of his country and happy to
tell us about it. He explains that the coffee cafes don’t serve any food because
the regulations are too cumbersome. So everyone just enjoys their coffees. He
goes back to wait in line and texts us when it’s our turn, insisting that we
stay in the coffee café to wait. It takes about and hour and a half to get
through our registration, then we say goodbye to Marco and go into the city
center.
The
famous farmers’ market is winding down at this hour of the day, but we can see
that it’s a doozy. There are hundreds of plank tables, vendors packing up,
street cleaners getting ready sweep through the place. We pass a woman with a
small pile of arugula on her table. She’s talking to us in steady, non-stop
Croatian as we walk by. We can’t understand a bit of it, but she’s obviously
saying “How can you walk past this arugula, come back and buy some, look at it,
why aren’t you stopping?” I turn back,
she’s still talking. I say, It really does look nice, why not get some for our
salads tonight. So, we go back and make gestures for a handful, please. She keeps
talking as she pulls out a bag and starts filling it with arugula. We’re
shaking our heads, no, no, that’s enough! Cut! Ok, ok, enough! She keeps
talking “What’s wrong with you people? I grew this myself, I picked it this
morning. I’ve been here since five a.m., I’m not going home until it’s all
sold, you’re buying it, of course you are, why wouldn’t you want this, look at
it, I’m doing you a favor selling it to you, it’s the best you’re ever going to
see. Here, it’s all gone now, I can be done.” Bob hands her a big coin, I don’t
know what it is, but she does and she keeps talking “What are you nuts? This
stuff isn’t free, I gave you a whole bag, you’re going to pay me this? What’s
wrong with you people?” So Bob tries again, pulls out a bill, less than two
dollars American, and she takes the bill, Ah, folding money, that’s better.
Smiling. She stops talking.
We’re
off with our sack of arugula a little farther up the hill to the Cathedral,
surrounded by a medieval fortification, just for something a bit different.
It’s another perfectly beautiful gothic cathedral. There are three gigantic
brass chandeliers along the main aisle. Behind the altar is the crypt of the
founding Bishop. It’s very quiet and reverent here, not such a tourist
showplace as in Vienna.
The
city is more compact than it seems from the descriptions. The “hill” to the old
town is really just a big flight of stairs, so it’s all easier to navigate than
we expected. We head back to our apartment with all the city commuters swarming
around us. We enjoy a nice home-cooked dinner of spaghetti with arugula salad.
1 Video Included
Zagreb Downtown
No comments:
Post a Comment