Trg Maršala Tita.

Believe it or not, while countries are often times dramatically cleansed of their political legacy - as has clearly been witnessed by many post Soviet Republics (although some others... well, not so much. cfr. Moldova or Belarus) - there is a somewhat cultural component that tends to stick, even if posthumous governments and sovereign states try, more often than not, to purge societies and popular folk of these elements which can otherwise remain for generations to come. An example of this can be found in the subject title, which refers to one of the main squares in downtown Zagreb... and yes, it is named after Marshall Josip Broz Tito. Apparently, the square has had various names over the years since it was first built / accommodated within the contemporary Zagreb urban design: Fairground Square, University Square (as it also houses the main administrative building of Zagreb University), Woodrow Wilson Square (!! - yes that American wartime President who was the a leading actor in the 1919 Treaty of Versailles and famous for his 14 Points, of which point #10 directly applied to Croatia as a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and as a region incentivised to follow the path to self-determination post conflict), Kind Alexander I Square, Square No. 1 and Theatre Square. In 1946 it went through its final "name change" and to this day maintains that subtle link to Croatia's (as he was born in Kumrovec, Croatia) and Yugoslavia's not so distant past. At present, as one can only imagine if the analogy is made with other countries with a not so "pleasant to remember" past (e.g. Spain), many political forces are advocating for yet another name change. Now what is best to secure a country's cultural and social legacy, to remember history at face value or to simply forget it and erase it as if it had never occurred? Interesting dilemma many present day governments in the Balkans and abroad still have to come to terms with.

So, after a rather short and uneventful 2 hour train ride out of Ljubljana on Tuesday morning, I arrived in Zagreb. Wait... hold your horses. Beforehand, about an hour into the train ride, first shock: I need to show my passport. Some of you may be aware of my thoughts towards the US Customs and Immigration practices, which I absolutely detest because one feels frowned upon for starters under the assumption that he or she is liable for some mischievous action(s) that only American authorities are aware of... and hence the questionnaire upon entering the country, the baggage checks and the "sniffing" dogs. Well, the Americans may well blame these measures on "Homeland Security" policies, but in the Balkans (and other ex-Soviet states for that matter, sorry, just speaking from experience and facts here) it very much seems a legacy of a state in which the police and the law-enforcing institutions had oversized powers to rule at their discretion... Well back to the story... Upon presenting my passport to the Croatian Boarder Police officer, I start getting an unusually high number of questions regarding my intentions in the country, the length + purpose of my visit, the place I would be staying at, etc. I also notice how the office starts paying close inspection to my passport, flicking pages back and forth, looking at every single visa and stamp I have on there (blame the US ones? no way!) and using a magnifying glass to determine the "authenticity" of the document. In the end, and after a sordid 2 minutes, I was handed over my passport, tourist visa +1. phew! I arrived to Zagreb at about 11am local time and headed straight to the hostel which was conveniently located about two blocks away from the station. Before though, I went through the motions of my balkanic rail trip routine when I get to a new city / country: 1) Go to the tourist information office to get as much info as possible on the city and try to get as much stuff for free (i.e. city guides, maps, etc.); 2) Ask the staff at the train information desks about timetables related to my prospective trains leaving the city (in the case of Zagreb it was my train this morning to Sarajevo) and 3) Swing by the currency exchange bureau to collect some local cash (believe it or not, I went for a whole day in Zagreb, excluding accommodation, with a mere 20USD - 110KUNA... gotta love it).

So turns out Zagreb is a really cool city! After dropping my stuff off at the hostel I was ready to hit the streets a little before noon. To be honest, I am still not aware of how I am managing to do so much walking in one single day. I must have been out for a solid 7 hours! Only resting up for lunch (20 mins), a beer break before heading back to the hostel (forgot to load this picture up on facebook but a pint of local draft pilsner was under 1EUR... yeah!) and a "oh crap I am so freakin' cold" break, which saw me resting up inside the Cathedral for c. 15mins. All in all, Zagreb is a beautiful city... As one walks around, one gets the unequivocal feeling of cultural richness and historical heritage. The latter mind you, from many, and sometimes even unexpected, sources - living up to the multicultural complexities of the Balkan region. A melting pot of cultures, religions (although, in reality, present-day Croatia is mostly Catholic), architectural styles and historical episodes, blend in to perfection to create a vibrant 21st century city. One thing which impressed me was that on every official (and unofficial for that matter) building, alongside a Croatian flag, there seemed to be a EU flag. No kidding, most people in Croatia, including, obviously, the current government are fairly pro European and (one can argue) accession talks have been ongoing since 2000. But, many areas still need to be tackled and in some instances even dramatic change, for example, related to rural development and structural policy as well to the competition policy. Most Croatians are also aware of the great benefits granted by EU accession as they have witnessed it in their Slovene neighbours since its accession in 2004. Apart from all that and back to the story (gosh... it's real easy to get off topic here!), I wrapped up the day by hitting a local bar to watch the infamous 1-1 draw between Real Madrid and Lyon. Was hoping for a better result for the valorous Frenchmen but let's hope they can get their act together at the S. Bernabeu stadium in a couple of weeks time.

Fun fact of the day: Did you know that Danthe Alighieri's (The Divine Comedy - http://www.divinecomedy.org/divine_comedy.html) great-grandson, Nicolo Alighieri, not only lived in Zagreb but was a chemist and founder of the very first documented pharmacy in Zagreb, and for that matter Croatia? (http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.lucygordan.com/foto/261_thumb.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.lucygordan.com/gallery.php%3Fa%3DCroatia-Zagreb&usg=__xWvChFN04eXf0uj72hGr3l8VrhI=&h=220&w=165&sz=12&hl=en&start=32&zoom=1&tbnid=Vacf2-ENn9U1pM:&tbnh=163&tbnw=120&ei=LoJlTfubFNHJswaKu6zeCw&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dkamenita%2Bstreet%2Bzagreb%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26biw%3D1366%26bih%3D681%26tbs%3Disch:10,567&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=149&vpy=415&dur=50&hovh=176&hovw=132&tx=89&ty=178&oei=JoJlTaDTOseV4gb5k-WYBw&page=2&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:13,s:32&biw=1366&bih=681)

This morning I took the 9am train to Sarajevo - after a whooping 9 hour train ride (and yet another border inspection) I finally got here, and I have wifi at the hostel... awesome. But let's save the details for another day - can't wait to hit the sack!

Btw, sorry for not uploading pictures... turns out the connection I have at the moment is quite terrible and would take ages to even upload one picture. Let's aim to find a bar tomorrow with a "robust" wifi signal so I can share the many wonders of Zagreb with the audience, even if just visually.

Speak soon,

pv