Citizens of the World: A Stoic Podcast for Curious Travelers - Zagreb City Guide: The Best of Croatia’s Capital

Episode Date: April 19, 2019

“Zagreb is where you’ll feel the life of Croatia,” says Ashley Colburn, an American expat living in Istria. She’ss a TV producer who won an Emmy for her in-depth travel coverage of Croatia. On this episode, Ashley shares her favorite things to see, do, and eat in Zagreb, Croatia’s capital city. Visit postcardacademy.co for show notes.    I’m your host, Sarah Mikutel. Did you know I host another show called Podcasting Step by Step? Check it out if you’ve been wanting to start a podcast. Every week, I break down ‘how to podcast’ with a little loving motivation to give you the skills and confidence you need to finally launch that show of your dreams.   Ready to travel? Sign up for my newsletter and get your free guide to cheap airfare.    Thank you so much for listening to the Postcard Academy travel podcast. I know you’re busy and have many listening options, so it means a lot to me that you’re here. You are the best.   This podcast is brought to you by Audible. Not a member yet? Postcard Academy listeners can get a FREE audiobook and a 30-day free trial if you sign up via audibletrial.com/postcard   This podcast is also brought to you by World Nomads. Need simple and flexible travel insurance? Get a cost estimate from World Nomads using their handy calculator at postcardacademy.co/insuranceDo you ever go blank or start rambling when someone puts you on the spot? I created a free Conversation Cheat Sheet with simple formulas you can use so you can respond with clarity, whether you’re in a meeting or just talking with friends.Download it at sarahmikutel.com/blanknomore and start feeling more confident in your conversations today.

Welcome to the Postcard Academy. I'm your host, Sarah Micahel. In the last episode, Ashley Colburn, an Emmy Award-winning TV producer living in Croatia, helped us plan a perfect trip along Croatia's coastline. Today, Ashley and I are sharing a deeper dive on what to see in the capital city, Zagreb. I'm probably saying that wrong. I keep saying it wrong. But anyway, bear with me. I am headed there to meet up with my friend Crystal, who, you you have heard on several Postcard Academy episodes, including travel deals, Oaxaca, and the Animal Sanctuary one. And maybe we'll be podcasting from the road again, maybe Croatia, maybe Albania.

This episode is brought to you by my other podcast, podcasting step by step. Are you interested in podcasting but feel a little afraid, a little overwhelmed, maybe confused about where you're even supposed to start? Every week on podcasting step by step, I break down how to podcast. with a little loving motivation to give you the skills and the confidence you need to finally launch that show of your dreams. Now, let's jump back into my conversation with Ashley. I'm actually flying into Croatia soon. I'm going to meet up with a friend. We're going to do a Croatian tour, and we're going to start in Zagreb, the capital city. I would love to hear more about what's the

best way to get our bearings on the city. Just tell me everything. So for me, Zagreb is a great city. I like it because it's big enough where you feel like you're in a city, but you really can walk in all the important places. So even right now, I don't even have a car here, just because I don't want to have to deal with parking. And it's really everything is accessible via tram or just by foot. So the center of the city in Banjewitch Square, that's kind of the main hub. And from there, you have access to the big main open market,

which is called Dolats. Off of there, you also have a street that kind of separates the upper town from the lower town. It's called Kaltacheva Street. And on that, it's basically a street full of bars and restaurants, cafes. It's really a nice place to hang out, especially in the evenings, if you're here visiting. And then their upper town is really beautiful. It's all the old buildings. There's also a small funicular that takes, or gondola that takes you to the upper town if you don't want to walk up.

And up there, it's where they have the parliament and St. Mark's Church. So it's all cobblestone streets too. So it's really nice to just go for a stroll up there. As far as what to do up there, I mean, there's not museums really. Or there are actually there are a few museums, but there's not, you won't see many people up there because mainly it's a resident. and then there's some churches and that's where parliament meets. But a few other highlights are Svetney Turk. This is a place where everyone gathers to have a coffee on Saturday morning where they all want to be seen.

And the paparazzi will be out there to take pictures of everyone because it's funny. In Croatia, Saturday morning is when everyone wears their like new outfits. And again, it's really good people watching on. Saturday mornings because they really will go and drink a coffee for three hours and take a stroll with their family. And it's very cute. And then along the main street is Elitza and that's where the tram is always going up and down and that and that leads to the main square. And that's where you find all the shops and ice cream shops. Everyone likes to kind of stroll down Elitsa, you know, if it's a nice day out. And then there's several parks. There's actually like a horseshoe shape of

parks throughout Zangreb. Zerinevats is a great one to visit. Then there's the botanical gardens and there's Bundek, which is another park. There's another park called Yadun where there's actually a lake where people can go rowing and a lot of people are very active around Yadun. So for me, Zagreb, there's also a business district that's kind of cool. I mean, I don't think many tourists go there, but just for people living here, it's kind of modern. an upcoming and and I for me Zagreb really has it all they have really good restaurants many people even say that the fish at the seafood restaurants in Zagreb are sometimes even better than the ones in Dalmatia just because you know they're really high end here and

they're making sure they're getting the fresh fish every day from from the sea so you can you can order fish in Zagreb and still be very satisfied can we do a little lightning round of your favorite places in Zagreb. Okay. Favorite bakery? Dubrovica. There's tons of these types of bakeries like throughout all of Europe that you can buy anything from like a croissant to a piece of pizza.

But I do think Dubravica is my favorite in Zagreb. And you'll see those all the time. It's a chain for sure. It's not. Or Kokitza. I would also say Kokitza. This is more of like a French bakery as well. That's also good.

How about coffee shop? It's called Kawa. So it's Q-U-A-H-W-A. I might have said that wrong. But it's so cool. The coffee is being roasted right there. And then another one of my favorites is Ellis Cafe, E-L-I-S. What kind of coffee are people drinking in Croatia?

I think at Ellis it's mainly like Ethiopian, but it's, but these are places where when you go, I'm saying like you would never add sugar to it because there's no need to. Like it's really good coffee. and I think that that's important because sometimes if you just go to some random cafe and when you have to add a whole pack of sugar to get it down, it's just not an enjoyable experience for me. So I really am kind of a coffee snob in that way now where when you know, you see, you can walk into the coffee shop and just smell it because it's being roasted right there.

So we can go get a coffee and then just sit there for three hours. And no one will say a thing. Oh, and one other tip you always have to ask for your bill. beer. Okay. That is a great tip. Not necessarily for the coffee, but definitely at any restaurant. They will never bring it to you. So they're just letting you do your own thing. Yeah. Like if you had a reservation at a restaurant for 9 p.m. and you walk in at 6 p.m. And you say, hi, can I have a table? And they're like, I'm sorry, we're full. But you're like, yeah, but every table is open. And they're like, yeah, but we have a 9 o'clock reservation. Because they're really specific. And they're like, and they're like, yeah, but we have a 9 o'clock reservation. Because they're really specific. And they're like, and they're like, and they know those people will stay from nine till, I don't know, closing, midnight, but they're not ever going to, they don't ever want to push someone away. So they would rather just lose the business than, you know. Ah, that's why.

Okay. Yeah. That makes sense. Where do you like to go for lunch? I like Vinodol, that's in Zagreb on Nicola Tesla Street. And it's, for me, I've never had a bad lunch there. And it's food you can kind of get from all over creation. but traditional and it's very, very good.

And how about dinner? Oh, I really like Botasaret. They have a few of them. There's one in Dubrovnik. There's one in Split and in Zagreb as well. Very, very fresh seafood to the point where you, I mean, it's kind of, it's a sushi restaurant, but you can have like all the fresh carpaccio from the Adriatic. So it's really nice.

Do you have any recommendations for vegetarians? There is one restaurant that I know. is I'm in it. I will find the name of it for you. I have not, but I have heard that it is very, very good. Okay. I will add that to the show. But you wouldn't be able to find at any of the normal restaurants, you would always be able to find something because they always have lots of vegetables. And yeah, they would definitely be able to prepare something for vegetarians here. Where do you like to hang out at night? So there is a street. It's called Desmond Street. And there's Desmond Bar. And it's kind of a nice place on a site. street to have a cocktail or a glass of wine, just because no cars are driving through, but I feel like

a lot of tourists until now don't know about it. But it's kind of a hip, trendy place, and I like the small street that it's on. But if you kind of want to be in the crowd and meet other even tourists or meet some locals too, I would recommend Kaltichieva Street. And that's that street that kind of separates Upper Town from Lower Town. And it's, literally a street full of bars. Tell me again, what was the one that you like, really like? Desmond. So it's D-E-Z, but it's the J-M-A-N. So it looks like Desmond. Okay. Yeah. How about museum? What's the museum we've got to see? So this is kind of funny, but I think it's really, it's won a lot of awards and it's really, I think, great. It's called the Museum of Broken

Relationships. And that's in Upper Town. And it's this museum. It really has nothing to do with gracious. So maybe I shouldn't be encouraging this. But it's so funny. And I think it's a good laugh. And basically what it was is all these people who are in relationships, something went wrong. They sent their story and something that represents that relationship. So you go around and you read and some are really funny. Okay, some are sad. But it's, it's just kind of a laugh, to be honest. And something different that I had never seen before. But also there's the Museum of Illusion. that is also very good in Zagreb. And then, of course, there's like many art museums and the National History Museum, the Museum of Archaeology.

So there's plenty of museums in Zagreb. But I'm not a huge museum fan, so that's why the broken relationships was kind of a funny one to go to. Yeah, I have a friend who was there last year, and, you know, that's not a place that I would ever think of checking out. But he said, yeah, it's really fun. you need to see it. And it's in a great part of town, too. So it would be worth it to just go up there to see that. What's the Museum of Illusions? What is that about? It's like you walk through and, you know, there's mirrors all around you and it makes you almost like you're in one of those like kaleidoscopes.

Oh, cool. So it's just like different. Oh, actually, you know, another great museum is Nikola Tesla was born in Croatia and there's the Nikola Tesla Museum where you can learn all about his. inventions and what was patented and it's actually also worth a visit. You can visit his home too, which is kind of near Plippitsi Lakes, his birthplace, and that was turned into museum too. And that's kind of on the side road. So if you were to travel to Plifizai Lakes and then take the old road down back to the sea, it would be worth a stop. Okay. Awesome. What is the cultural scene like in Zagreb? Is there music? Is it known for anything specific? So there's lots of concerts that happen at a place called Lysinski, and then the National Theater is really beautiful.

You can also do a tour of the National Theater, but they have different shows. Again, if they're in Croatian, that might not be that great for tourists, but there is, or there are a lot of shows that happen throughout Zagreb, definitely. I will say that there's lots of wine bars that have music. One in particular, I really like a wine bar called Bass. and you kind of go down to go into it. And sometimes they have live music. You'll hear some live music, you know, just on the street when you're walking around if it's a nice day out. But yeah, there's definitely, I would say people in Europe in general are much more musically talented as far as learning instruments and such than what I'm used to in the States.

Like they all learn from a young age. in the season at noon every day they have in the main square they call it like the regiment comes through on horses and they're all wearing the traditional outfits with that red tie that I mentioned about the cravat or the tie and they do like a short performance in the main square so they're all on horses and it's the soldiers on horses and it's something nice to see for tourists they really like that

that's really cool is there a specific time of day that they're coming? It's at new. Okay, sorry, I missed that. Is there a certain neighborhood you would recommend that we stay in? I would recommend anything that's walking distance to the main square. So as far as, so, I mean, in the center, definitely. It's the place to be. And you could also look as far as Britonsky Turk. That's another square that has like a little farmer's market every day. and then on Sundays they have an antique fair that is really fun to look through. So it's kind of like a flea market on Sundays there. But that's still maybe only 15 minutes walking to the main square if you stay in and around Bertomsky Turk.

So that's also. But I would say as long as it says how long it takes to walk to the main square, then that would be good. Okay. That sounds like a lot of neighborhood. Everything surrounds the main square. So how much should we tip it? Is there a tipping culture in Croatia when it comes to like restaurants, taxis, things like that? So I typically round up when, I mean, it's definitely not like in the States, but then again, sometimes at a nice restaurant when I have really good service, you know,

I really do tip well. But for small things like coffees or taxis, if it's two or three kuna more, then I just will say, oh, no, it's okay, you know. But it's definitely not like in the States where we have to think, oh, gosh, what's the, you know, what's the percentage of this? If you're satisfied, like leaving, you know, 10, 20 Kuna at a restaurant, like, typically that's, that's okay. How much is Kuna? $1 is $6 Kuna. Okay. That's what it is.

Yeah. Okay, okay. So a coffee is maybe 12 Kuna, so $2. That's easy to figure out. You can basically divide by six. Okay. And then figure it out how many dollars it is. What would you say are the biggest differences between American and Croatian culture?

Well, first of all, the difference between American and Croatian culture is it's much slower here. I mean, that's, I think, in general, in a lot of European countries, as far as the way that people choose to live their lifestyle. And I, of course, like that. However, I still have my American mentality of hustling, hustling, hustling and working all the time. But then I find that you can find success in that when you are in a country where things are a little bit slower. You know, it's not like you're surrounded with all of everyone else who is, you know, has the same mentality as you. So I kind of like that. But here when you, people have coffee breaks, you know, five times a day and they can even sit there for an hour or three.

hours on a Saturday morning having one small little cappuccino. So to me, that is really funny because, and I also remember people used to always invite me to coffee. And I thought that that meant you had to order coffee. And then finally, and I was like, but I already had five today. You know, like, you really can't have any more. And then I remember meeting someone and they ordered juice. And I was like, oh, yeah, I'll have juice too if I don't have to. But I just thought, I didn't want to be rude, like, oh, they invited you to a coffee. And you can order wine if they invite you to a coffee. I mean, it's really, it's just kind of a term, general term of let's sit somewhere for hours. But there's a lot of funny things to me as far as the culture, but I think that would be

anywhere that you go. I mean, there's like, for instance, in America, when we open our windows, let's say it's hot outside, we open our windows because we want to have the breeze. Like, we really need some fresh air. In Croatia, they really think that there, this breeze will kill you. Like they think it will make you sick. You know, God forbid, a breeze come through. And so it's so funny to see moms and grandmas and everything running to the window or closing the door or, you know, or if you don't have socks on your feet.

I mean, I grew up in Southern California and probably never had socks on my feet as a young child and baby and everything. And here they dress everyone so warm. I mean, these are just funny things that you see every day. And you're like, that child is probably roe. I mean, it's 100 degrees outside and they have a beanie on its head and all this thing. So these are just kind of funny things that are cultural, you know, traditions, I guess, or myths or I don't know what you want to call. Old Wivesdale's, maybe.

But then there's many things about the culture that I love. And that's mainly just has to do with the people and their traditions. In America, I mean, I know my family, we have our own traditions that, you know, maybe my grandparents started. But in Croatia, I really feel part of the culture. And when I hear the music and I see the dances and I see that kids learn to like love their culture from a very, very young age, these are some things that I kind of feel like we miss in the U.S.

I mean, we have July 4th and everyone goes out and watches the fireworks and we have a barbecue. But here it's like every Sunday, there's family dinners or lunches. and I don't know, things, they're very family oriented here and I like how they, you know, always are putting everybody first in their family and it's just very obvious that they enjoy the time spent together. It sounds like Croatia and Italy have a lot of similarities. Definitely, yeah. I mean, I've been to Italy many, many times and it is very similar. It's this like Mediterranean type of feel. Final question. What advice would you give to somebody who's interested in moving to Croatia? They don't make it necessarily easy for people to come here. But I would just stick with it and find your niche on what you can, I mean, depending on what your job is. I think that when you move to a country too, it really is important and people would appreciate if you learn the language. So I would definitely recommend people. people learning, I mean, while people do speak English here, I've seen more of my success and just

being able to understand people on the street and doing everyday things, being able to speak the language really does make you feel more part of the culture. So I think that that would be important to do rather than just kind of live in the dream here and not really understanding the country and how it, you know, works and operates. So I think that anywhere you move, you have to really immerse yourself and not just hang out. with other expats because I see a lot of that where expats only hang out with expats. And I wouldn't really recommend that because then you are kind of segregating yourself from the culture. Actually, I'm going to ask you another question because that's a great point. You know, I think it's

quite easy as expats to make friends with other expats. It's just easier to find them because of like online forums and different things like that. How have you made friends with local, Croatian people. Well, I was lucky making friends with Croatian people because when I came here so many times and for so many years I was always filming. And so when I was filming, I was only with locals. So actually, I didn't meet expats until a long time afterwards. So I was lucky in the fact that all my friends were Croatians and they were the only people I knew. And then I was remember hearing, oh, other people live here too. like because I never was around it. Now I do have some expat friends, of course, but many of them are married to a Croatian.

And so there is like a comfort in hanging out with them, definitely. But I would say the people in Croatia that feel like my family are Croatians. So that has allowed me to really, I think, put roots here because you do feel like you have a family, especially when it's people from that country. If somebody moves to Croatia, but they don't have a sort of network to jump into, do you have any advice on how they can meet Croatians? Well, I will first of all say that Croatians are very, very friendly. So, I mean, and they are, they really like foreigners. I mean, in the fact that you're immediately kind of cool in a way, because, you know, they have questions and they want to know.

They're very curious people and they're very just like open about asking anything. and I like this because I feel like my conversations with creations are like true real conversations. Like I feel even if, you know, I left like learning something or just enjoyed the conversation, whether we agreed on something or not. So they are very open for that. But like there are for expats, there's also many online clubs and events that you can go to, whether it's, you know, I went the other night to like a business. cafe, international event, and half the people were foreigners, but half the people are

Croatians. So these are some fun things to, you know, share ideas and get connected with other people who are living there too. So I think in any place, and again, everyone here does speak English. So it's not hard to even, you know, go out at night and talk to people and that type of thing. I mean, if you were here by yourself, it might be like in any place, you know, you might be kind of nervous to go talk to people, but you would quickly see that everybody is very warm and friendly. All right, I am getting very excited for my trip to Croatia. Crystal and I and our friend Elki have booked our first few days of accommodation.

This planning ahead is not the norm for us, and I have to say it feels pretty good to have things lined up ahead of time. When my mom and I went to Torino recently, most of the Airbnbs that I had been looking at were gone by the, the time I booked, which I think was probably at the airport when we were on our way there. So, sorry, Mom. We ended up staying in a decent place, but it's nice to have options. So when you know where you're going to be in a month, which I often do not, it's great

when you can plan ahead. So I really like this. I'm going to try to do it more often. I'll link to the Zagreb places Ashley and I talked about today on postcardacademy.com. And that's all for now. Thanks for listening and have a beautiful week wherever you are. Do you ever go blank or start rambling when someone puts you on the spot? I created a free conversation sheet sheet with simple formulas that you can use so you can respond with clarity, whether you're in a meeting or just talking with friends. Download it at sarahygotel.com

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