Irony

A few months ago asbestos was found in Lisinksi. Lisinski is Zagreb's one and only concert hall, so performances will have to be relocated for as long as the removal of asbestos will last. The famous Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, for example, will now (today) play in Dom sportova (House of Sports), an indoor sporting arena. This concrete bunker seems a weird choice for a renowned orchestra that is used to playing in lavishly decorated concert halls around the world, but this is all Zagreb has to offer.
Lisinski itself is a particular building too. When I saw it for the first time, I'd swear it was an indoor swimming pool.
It looks a lot better from inside, though gravely brown colours dominate, and the acoustics are fine. It is hoped that Lisinksi will be back in operation by October 16. Fortunately, Croats showed some irony regarding the asbestos in Lisinki. Quite rare, and therefore refreshing.

36 hours in Zagreb

Alex Crevar, a New York Times correspondent, spent 36 hours in Zagreb and wrote an article about his impressions and experiences.
"The Croatian capital is in the midst of an identity crisis. Geographically, Croatia is indisputably part of the Balkan Peninsula, but call a chic Zagrebian Balkan and prepare to get an earful. While Zagreb’s vibe is indeed more Vienna than, say, Belgrade, it can also be deliciously rough-and-tumble. Zagreb is haggling with thick-fingered, green-market farmers and wee-hour clubbing with boisterous Slavs — both just beneath the mammoth spires of the city’s cathedral. It’s a leggy, high-heeled blonde visiting a bloody-aproned fishmonger. And it’s the construction of a new Museum of Contemporary Art — due to open by year’s end — and the avant-garde validation that the city hopes it will bring." You can read the rest of the article here.
I can't blame Crevar for believing that the new Museum of Contemporary Art is due to open by the end of this year. It was due to be opened by the end of last year, the end the year before last year, and so on. I bet Croatia will have joined the EU before we can finally see some modern art in Zagreb. The location of the museum is in Novi Zagreb, behind my back from where I took the picture above.
To spend 36 hours in a town as a journalist is not too short. Zagreb's problem, however, is that the average tourist doesn't spend more time either. One or two nights, and that's it. I can think of many ways to keep tourists much longer in town, but unfortunately the Zagreb Tourist Board (ZTB) suffers from a complete lack of imagination.

Update
As I wrote before, Croatian media closely monitor foreign media. If a foreign paper writes something about Croatia then that's considered news. (Of course, I wrote about the NYT article too, but with all respect for my blog, I would not call it media).
Javno fabricated a conclusion that is clearly meant for Croats who've never visited the Austrian capital: "Like Vienna - only more chaotic"
Jutarnji list writes: "NYT: Zagreb goes through an identity crisis" and Večernji list reports more or less the same.
Meanwhile readers started discussing whether the Croatian papers have correctly conveyed the message from the NYT. Somebody urged the editor of Večernji to find a Croatian journalist who understands English, as the English article is "way more positive" than one would think reading Večernji's interpretation.
You see, navel-gazing is the popular pastime here.

Capital of boredom

U2 gave two concerts this week in Zagreb. It was the biggest event in a decade as famous artists usually shun Zagreb. Tens of thousands of tourists came to Zagreb. It was unusual to see the streets teeming with foreigners, because Zagreb is not a tourist destination and many Croats spend the summer on the coast.
After two tumultuous days, Zagreb is as it always is in summer. Hot, empty, boring. Zagreb missed a great change to show itself to so many visitors. Truckloads of wealthy U2 fans couldn't change euro for kuna because the exchange offices were closed. So were most pubs, restaurants and clubs. A foreign visitor with an empty stomach said sarcastically on TV: "Zagreb is very lively in the morning, but dead at night. There's no night life here."
When Zagreb was chosen as one of Europe's most boring destinations last year, Zagreb's tourist organization vehemently protested. But thousands of visitors can't be wrong. Zagreb is the capital of boredom. Shopping centers are small and you can get most things cheaper in Slovenia or Austria. Museums are small, poorly equipped and they close their doors in the weekend at 1 PM. There are no grand parks, the Sava river (banks) and the ugly bridges that span it are depressive. The ropeway to Sljeme (the 1033 meter high mountain at the foot of which Zagreb is built) have been out of order for years now. All Subway sandwich bars will close down. There is no underground. The public library has only a handful of English books. Graffiti is all over the place.
Maybe I am too harsh. I do love Zagreb in a way, although it's a bit boring, provincial and small. What really annoys me is endless nonsense about Zagreb as a "modern European metropolis". "U2's concerts prove Zagreb is a true European metropolis," I heard someone say. Give me a break. Saying that proves Zagreb is a provincial backwater. U2 don't perform in Munich, Hamburg, Rotterdam, Marseilles, Rome and Madrid, but no self-respecting person living there wonders if there domicile is still a European city.
Enough criticism for now. I just returned from the coast. Only a two hours' drive from Zagreb you'll find another world. Palm trees, olive trees, pebble beaches, a cool breeze, rocks, blue water, fish...

Buy one, get more

Enough about politics, it's time for a culinary event: cleaning fish. Don't read or scroll down if you can't stand bloody pictures.
First a general observation. Buy one, get two. Buy two, get three. Supermarkets in Western Europe try to attract customers that way, but it is unheard of in Croatia. Only recently supermarkets started to discount certain products. In pubs it is not uncommon to see on the menu:

Karlovačko 15 kuna (0,5 liter)
Karlovačko 30 kuna (1 liter)

I thought the capitalist mentality is inborn, but some nations apparently don't have a knack for trade. Perhaps half a century of communism is enough to damage the fragment of DNA that is responsible for commerce. Karlovačko, by the way, is a beer.
I went to Dolac, Zagreb's central market, this morning to get fish. In the ribarnica (an indoor fish market that unfortunately lacks any Mediterranean ambiance) I bought this well size mackerel (40 centimeters) for only 18 kuna.

When home, I sliced it open and saw I got more fish than I had expected. The mackerel, when caught, was actually half way swallowing a smaller fish, so I could tell from the little fish tail sticking out of the mackerel's mouth. In it stomach I found remains of an earlier meal. A bit gross, but the mackerel itself was, in a word, super fresh. I could have made sashimi with it. Bit of soy sauce, bit of wasabi.... delicious!

Peasants against farmers

Hundreds of farmers from Istria, Slavonia and Baranje drove their tractors to Zagreb yesterday and gathered at the Ministry of Agriculture, demanding higher guaranteed prices and financial support. They want to talk to prime minister Sanader and threaten to block Zagreb if their demands are not met. So far the traffic wasn't hindered too much. Today is a national holiday, many took a day off tomorrow, so there is no traffic to speak off.
Former boxer and current president of Croatian Farmers Union (Hrvatski seljački savez) Željko Mavrović distanced himself from the protesters and their rival peasant organizations. "Do something, don't just scream 'give me money'," he said. He accuses them of representing "private interests" only. (In conservative, half-socialist Croatia "private interest" still is a term of abuse.) In turn the peasants accuse Mavrović of representing only big farmers, as the members of his Croatian Farmers Union have on average much more land.
Croatian agriculture is dominated by peasants whose produce often can't compete with Western Europe. The prices of vegetables, fruit and dairy products in supermarkets aren't exactly low though. A liter of yogurts costs around 1,50 euro, milk 75 cents, cheese (of the worst possible quality) 7 euro per kilo. GDP, both nominal and per capita, in neighboring Slovenia is twice as high as Croatia's, yet almost everything is cheaper there: food, wine, rent-a-car, mineral water... Revealing if you know that the average Croatian family spends 40 percent of its income on food. The slogan on the tractor says "Protect domestic production". If the government listens to such demands, Croats will soon be spending half of their income on food.

Gay bashing in Zagreb

If you are gay and want to visit Zagreb, it might be good to know which spots in town you'd better avoid. Unfortunately, you'll need to go hiking in Medvednica or take a swim in Jarun as the center of Zagreb is crawling with people who might, in the best case, insult you.
Zagreb Pride published a map (click to enlarge) that shows the most dangerous locations in town for gays. Not surprisingly, the most dangerous street is Draškovićeva, and not because of the cinema complex, the Sheraton, a Chinese restaurant, a hospital and a ministry in that street. The threat comes from the headquarters of the Bad Blue Boys, Dinamo Zagreb's "fan club". The Bad Blue Boys have a terrifying record of violence against "others" - supporters of rival football clubs, homosexuals, foreigners...
The most severe punishment for anti-gay violence (14 months) was given to Bad Blue Boy Josip Šitum. He tried to attack participants of the Zagreb Pride 2007 with Molotov cocktails, on Zagreb's main square (Trg bana Josipa Jelačića). First thing he said after he was released: "I did what 70 percent of the Croats would do, if only they had the courage."
Orange dot: location of reported attack.
Red dot: particularly dangerous location.

Anti-gay demonstration

In 1861 a man called Ante Starčević founded the political party Hrvatska Stranka Prava (Party of Croatian Rights). The HSP's virulent nationalism was not only directed against Vienna and Budapest, but also against the Slav brothers of the Croats - Serbs. Starčević considered Serbs at best as a lower and dirty race. By the end of the nineteenth century, some considered the HSP not radical enough and founded the HČSP. "Č" stands for "čista", pure. Starčević died in 1895 and was proclaimed "father of the nation". His statue stands right opposite of Zagreb's main railway station (Glavni kolodvor).
After the genocidal campaign against Serbs and Jews (in which some HSP members eagerly participated) during World War II and the subsequent victory of the communists, political parties were forbidden. In the 1990s many parties reappeared on the political scene, and so did HSP and HČSP.
Fortunately, HČSP is a marginal political phenomenon, but modern technology enables them to spread their hatred against others via the internet. Through Facebook, for example, they invite people to come to Trg bana Josipa Jelačića (Zagreb's main square) to demonstrate against gays, on 13 June at 15.00 hours. Josip Miljak, HČSP president, said: "It is intolerable that a handful of disoriented and immoral people terrorize and impose their deformed way of life on others". He referred to the Zagreb Gay Pride which will be held on the same day.
I find it quite sad that Miljak and his gang of purists will occupy Zagreb's main square. On the other hand, it's good to know which people here prevent Croatia from becoming a normal country.

Local elections (3)

Sunday is the second and decisive round of the local elections. In Zagreb, Osijek, Velika Gorica, Split and Dubrovnik (and some smaller towns) voters will decide which candidate they like best. The campaigns have been dirty and election rules have been violated. People who abstained from voting in Dubrovnik's first round received a letter from the HDZ party to support HDZ candidate Dubravka Šuica in the second round. How does HDZ know who voted and who did not? Aren't those lists supposed to be secret?
In a move to boost her popularity incumbent Dubrovnik mayor Šuica had "Parking pass holders only" signs removed, copying Zagreb's mayor Milan Bandić. I think one should have much disdain for voters to think that such cheap moves attract them, but in the Croatian take-and-give political culture this might work.
Milan Bandić sent me a nice postcard yesterday. It is a copy of the photo above, showing Bandić and his "achievements". It says "Citizens know", meaning that they know that Bandić built a brigde, an apartment block, a roundabout, laid out a public park, and so on. Truly impressive. But I was really amazed to see the Museum of Contemporary Art on the postcard. Zagreb is probably the only European capital without a functioning Museum of Contemporary Art. Since time immemorial the old museum is closed, pending the opening of the new museum in Novi Zagreb. When that new museum will be opened - no one knows, not even Bandić.
If a man like Berlusconi can be reelected in Italy, I don't see why Bandić wouldn't win the second round in Zagreb. I would just recommend Bandić to speak standard Croatian, and a bit slower please. You are completely incomprehensible to people who learned Croatian as a second language.

A walk in the woods

As a continental town Zagreb has no beaches, but it has a green mountain range, Medvednica. It doesn't really make up for the lack of a sea, but it offers a bit of coolness in this exceptionally hot spring. When I went hiking in Medvednica, on the 10th of April, it thought it was pretty warm already, but today's 30 degrees make April feel like a mild winter.
Nature was in full bloom, and even mankind in Croatia had undergone a remarkable change. After seeing "Maintenance in progress. Sorry for the inconvenience", I think Croatia is indeed getting ready for EU entry.
The fact that the message it in English only, shows that warnings and excuses like these are alien to the Croatian spirit, but let's not be too critical for a change.
Then follows the tradition chaos at Črnomerec, a bus station that looks like it could be anywhere from Vladivostok to Skopje to Warsaw.
After you get off from the bus (in Gornje Vrapče, at the foot of Medvednica) you quickly realize time passes slower here. Sometimes you get the feeling you are witnessing a scene that fits a horror movie.

The hiking trails are sometimes in good sometimes in bad condition, but what's really tricky are the terrible road marks. Judging by the condoms on the ground, open spaces in Medvednica are a favorite spot for youngsters.

The many brooks that run along the slopes Medvednica down to Zagreb are an excuse why Zagreb still doesn't have subway. Currents beneath the surface would render building an underground impossible. The real reason, of course, lies in the lack of money and skills, but blaming a brook is easier.
After a nice walk the outskirts of Zagreb reveals themselves, as do the large estates of Zagreb's upper class. Knowing that Croatia's coast is only a good hour driving from Zagreb, one marvels at the diversity of this small country.
Unfortunately, no one is paying for these nice words. I just feel like being on the Mediterranean coast now, sipping wine under a palm tree and eating fried squid rings.

Smear campaigns

I woke up this morning with Croatian Radio 1 playing Fleetwood Mac's "Little lies". A little later an angry sounding man started to talk about some American of Croatian descent who's all the time trying to blacken Croatia in the foreign press. This frustrated American-Croatian unsuccessfully tried to buy some real estate and directed his anger against Croatia by writing about corruption in our beautiful homeland. Or something like that, I was half asleep.
Now I understand why the HR1 (Hrvatski radio - prvi program) speaker was so upset. The Wall Street Journal Europa featured an unfavorable article about Croatia. A few quotes:
"Croatia remains wracked by corruption, smuggling and organized crime. If it is a model for the Balkans, then the whole region is condemned to failure."
"Given Croatia's dismal performance, it's hard to see why it deserves the EU's praise. In Croatia, it has become quite dangerous for journalists, political opponents and entrepreneurs to raise the issue of political corruption."
"Instead of continuing to send cash, it might be a better idea for the EU to send judges and prosecutors who can assist in strengthening the rule of law and an independent judiciary."
"[T]he EU now risks importing the treacherous Balkan Route and its trappings of organized crime and corruption into the world's largest trading block."
What should I say about this? It's probably true. As far as I can understand (my Croatian is not fluent) something is wrong with the political culture here. You can see it in the details. Yesterday, prime minister Ivo Sanader refused to answer questions from MP's, for example, how many students actually pay a tuition fee. Instead he congratulated the opposition with its miserable elections results. In Britain Sanader's refusal the play the democratic game would be called contempt of parliament, but in Croatia all eyes are focused on the second round of the local elections (31 May).
The good news is that Natasha Srdoc, author of the WSJ article, is still around. She runs the moribund Adriatic Institute for Public Policy, which offers little more than links to some (mostly old) newspaper articles written by others. In a half-socialist country like Croatia the Adriatic Institute could promote the free market, liberty, free trade and so on. It could take a stance against the "let me study forever at your expense" students that block the faculties. It could tell ordinary Croatian consumers that they pay way too much for everyday products because of the unholy alliance between the government and (big) businesses. It could...
Let me end with a positive note. "President Mahinda Rajapaksa met Croatian President Stjepan Mesic on the sidelines of the Group of Eleven (G-11) Meeting at the Dead Sea in Jordan last Saturday. The two leaders agreed to further consolidate economic cooperation between Sri Lanka and Croatia. They agreed that much potential exists for cooperation in the fields of port development and shipbuilding. They also referred to the long-standing bilateral relations existing between the two countries emanating from the friendly relations established between Sri Lanka and former Yugoslavia within the framework of the Non-Aligned Movement. They pledged their commitment to expand these historic relations into new areas of cooperation in the future." I know a "new area": a Sri Lankan restaurant in Zagreb. Spice us up!

Local elections (2)

Croats cast their vote in local elections yesterday. A summary of the results, ordered by the size of towns.
In Zagreb incumbent mayor and swanky social democrat Milan Bandić goes to the next round, in which he will have to fight independent candidate Josip Kregar, dean of Zagreb's Law faculty. Bandić received 48 percent of the votes, a bit short for a win in the first round.
Entrepeneur Željko Kerum got 40 percent of the votes in Split. His main contender Ranko Ostojić (social democrat) follows with 35 percent. Both men (Croatian politics is to a large degree, unfortunately, men's business) will have a face-off in the second round.
No second round in Rijeka, Croatia's largest port. Social democrat Vojko Obersnel won a safe majority of the votes.
Osijek will have a second round in two weeks. The contenders are incumbent right-wing mayor Anto Đapić and Krešimir Bubalo, member of Branimir Glavaš HDSSB party. Glavaš was sentenced to ten years last week after he was found guilty of war crimes against Serbian civilians in Osijek.
All other towns have much less than 100.000 inhabitants. Only in these smaller towns some HDZ mayors managed to secure their seats (HDZ is the ruling party in national politics). HDZ president Jadranka Kosor said that her party won the vast majority of the counties, for what it's worth. Croatia has 21 counties (županije), an administrative unit that does not hold a lot of power.
High-ranking HDZ-member Andrija Hebrang, former minister of Defense and Health, was not surprised that his party did not win in the bigger towns. "In the centre of the city live either the voters or descendants of people who were privileged during communism." The electorate Hebrang likes better gathered last week in Bleiburg for a commemoration. In 1945 Tito's partisans killed there a great number of fascists, ustaše, četniks and also some innocent people. Hebrang gave a speech in Bleiburg, a bunch of clergymen said that if "Bleiburg is no genocide, then what is genocide?", and several people were arrested for wearing fascist symbols.

Spoiled students on strike

The social democrats try to warm the electorate for the upcoming local elections with manekenke or models (I wonder how many Croats know of the Dutch origin of this word - photo Jutarnji list). Political and educational temperatures ran high already. The economic recession and budgetary problems forced the Croatian government to cut the salaries of a public sector workers.
Public sector workers aren't happy with that and will start a strike on 13 May that should culminate in a big demonstration on the 16th, pre-election day. I am not sure whether the great number of workers that are, almost as a habit, on sick leave will join in, but striking nurses, professors, teachers and others who work in Croatia's monstrously big public sector should cause serious problems for ordinary citizens.
The expected strike of university staff will not have too great consequences as many students are on strike themselves for almost three weeks now. It is an almost nation-wide strike (Pula, Rijeka, Split) but the center is, of course, Zagreb. The core of the striking students study at the Faculty of Philosophy. Other than its name suggests, this faculty is the largest and most important faculty in the country and is a true monolith. You can study there everything from art history, Japanology, Turkish, psychology, sociology, linguistics to literature and archeology. There is so much to choose that 2 out of 3 students never make up their mind and leave higher eduction without finishing their studies. The rest, 1 out of 3, finishes on average after seven years.
An intolerable situation, you would say. But then you haven't met Croatian students yet. Instead of protesting against the chronic shortage of study materials, books, electronic journals and likewise, they protest against paying a small tuition fee and demand free education instead. With pathetic slogans like "Znanje nije roba" (Knowledge is not a commodity) and "Jedan svijet, jedna borba" (One world, one struggle) they try to shift the financial burden of their protracted studies to the rest of the Croatian population, which is not particularly wealthy. One should know that students pay only 16 euro per month for a room in a dorm (2 students per room), 70 cents for a dinner in the student restaurant (including a drink) and nothing for public transportation. Cinemas, theaters, museums and anything that is remotely connected to a student's life are available at reduced prices. Minister of Education Dragan Primorac offered free eduction for all students who successfully get a degree, but the students didn't go along. Everything should be "free" for "everybody".
There is no such a thing as a free lunch, said Milton Friedman, but as the students also protest against capitalism, privatization and liberalism, anything that makes economic sense will fall on deaf ears. Croatia, by the way, has preciously little of either capitalism, privatization or liberalism.

Free tram rides in Zagreb (2)

I don't dare to say there is a causal relationship, but after my previous post about riding the tram for free in Zagreb, ZET decided to extend the "free tram zone" to Kvatrić.
Kvatrić is of no interest to tourists, unless you are interested in urban planning failures and want to wonder how Zagreb's mayor Milan Bandić could ever brag that Kvatrić would turn into "Zagreb's most beautiful square". In fact it turned into a no man's land with inadequate public transportation. Someone should tell him that a square is more than just an empty space surrounded by buildings.
I don't know who lives around Kvatrić, but they seem to love watching television.I ask myself if someone will bother to remove this antenna jungle when Croatia switches to digital broadcasting in 2011.
Kvatrić, by the way, is short for Kvaternikov trg, named after Eugen Kvaternik (1825-1871), a politician and co-founder of the Croatian Party of Rights. Kvaternik led a unsuccessful rebellion against Austrian rule in Croatia in 1871. Some of his offspring would hold important positions in the fascist Independent State of Croatia, a Nazi puppet state.

Free tram rides in Zagreb

Did you know that it is cheaper to ride the dazzling efficient subway of Tokyo than to hop on a old tram in Zagreb? A single ticket in Croatia's capital costs more than a euro (8 kuna). Even if you are lucky to get onto one of the new trams, it still is a lot of money. As the tram often shares the lane with cars, in the main shopping street Ilica for example, it moves pretty slowly.
Responsible for Zagreb's public transportation is ZET. Until recently ZET distinguished itself by a complete lack of innovation. To give a few examples: the fancy displays in the new trams say that "this tram has been financed by the citizens of Zagreb" but don't show the next stop; tram and bus stops in suburbs often don't have a name; some stops are nothing more than a small sign hanging on overhead power lines; stops don't have timetables...
But now ZET made a smart move. To fight the number of cars in the center of Zagreb, ZET announced that citizens don't have to pay for the first two stops from and to the main square. In other words, from Trg bana Josipa Jelačića (fortunately also known as "trg") you can ride any tram in any direction for free with a maximum of two stops (the colored lines below). That basically covers the part of town that is of interest to visitors.

Tourists are, of course, no citizens of Croatia, but I doubt anyone will ask you to show your passport. Also, the free travel guide Zagreb in your pocket mentions the free tram rides, so I guess it's save for tourists. The number of tourists in the first quarter of 2009 is down with 8 percent, so you should be treated as a king anyway.

Meštrović's relief damaged in Zagreb

In an earlier post I wrote about the sculptor Ivan Meštrović (1883-1962), one of Croatia's most famous artists. "Zagreb isn't exactly a top destination for art lovers," I wrote then, "so it is a pity that it neglects its greatest artist. After all, Meštrović is omnipresent in Zagreb."
Maybe his omnipresence has led to neglect. Otherwise, how can you explain that a construction company, in order to provide support for the scaffolding, made holes in Meštrović relief?
The scaffolding was put up for a huge advertising banner. After it was removed, the construction company provisionally filled the holes in the relief with some substance and painted over some parts, pretending there was no damage at all. In the end the truth was revealed.
The relief was put up in 1907, some 30 meters above street level on the facade of a rather ugly building overlooking Zagreb's main square, Trg bana Jelačića. Not much is known about the work, except that is is popularly called "Seljaci" (Peasants) and made of ceramics. It was Meštrović first public work in Zagreb and as there is no model of it, restoration will be difficult.

A street for strangers

The Bishop's palace that encircles the cathedral of Zagreb is an interesting sight. Build in the 15th century, it not only provided the clergy with accommodation, but was also designed to keep the Turks out. Therefore, the palace resembles a fortress.
We can only guess how the interior looks like, as the premises are firmly closed to visitors. A shame, if you ask me, but not uncommon in Zagreb. Other cities would gladly share their beauty with tourists (and charge them for it, of course) but Zagreb prefers to keep them out. Tourists are considered the Turks of the 21st century. Not surprising that Zagreb was chosen as one of Europe's most boring destinations.
A little street runs along the base of the low hill on which the cathedral stands, called Vlaška ulica. The adjective "vlaška" comes from the noun "Vlah", the name used for descendants of Roman colonists in the Balkans. As Romanians are the only Balkan people that speak a Roman language, the word Vlach became associated with Romanians, and especially with Romanians living outside of Romania.
In Croatian, however, the them Vlah was used for foreigners in general, and Italians in particular. Foreigners in Zagreb lived mostly at the foot of the Bishop's palace, just outside of the walls. That is how Vlaška ulica got it's name. It is a street for strangers.
Vlaška is one of Zagreb's oldest streets. The small houses look humble but cute next to the thick towers of the palace and the spires of the cathedral. Precisely this part of the street is in a terrible condition. The houses have been deserted, the doors and windows barricaded, the walls are crumbling. The foreigners are long gone. Zagreb's history is falling apart.