Another sunny day so after breakfast we set off back to the main town square to walk round the lower town. First we went to the main railway station which was built in 1892 and had a look at the statue which is actually king Tomislav who was responsible for uniting all the Croatian areas into one and defending against the Hungarians. He died mysteriously three years after being crowned but all Croatians still see him as the founder of the unified country.This time we actually walked through the park and had a look round the buildings and fountains that are in the park. We ended up back at the square and went up the slope to the side of the square, this takes you to the Cathedral which was started in 1094 although most of it was added to in the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries. With the expansion of the Ottoman Empire the Turks attacked Zagreb a number of times so the cathedral was fortified by adding a turreted outer wall, in the 18th century when the threat had passed the bastions to the south and east of the cathedral were reconstructed to form a monumental bishops palace which unfortunately is not open to the public. An earthquake in 1880 did a lot of damage to the cathedral and when it was reconstructed the two slender 105 metre towers were built, they are currently being restored as they have suffered from erosion over time. We tried to get into the treasury but couldn’t find the way in so we gave up and started walking up the road and into another church that has very modern stained glass windows. Then it was round to the market where fruit and veg is sold, the market is in every day of the week and the fruit smelt wonderful. There is a statue at the entrance of a woman with a basket on her head, this represents the original market sellers who were the farmers wives who walked in with their produce, sold it, then went back to the farm. From there we went to the 360 observation deck which is actually on the 16th floor of what looks like an office block but it has a great view over the city. We watched the cannon fire and looked at a number of impressive buildings then came down and walked round some more of the back streets taking in a number of the statues and sculptures that are everywhere in the city. Then it was time for lunch and we went and had a pizza again then we walked back to the hotel via the university area, this has a number of really impressive buildings. The national theatre and the museum are both really impressive in fact the whole area has some wonderful buildings, we finished the walk by the botanical garden which although we hadn’t realised it is right next to the hotel. After a bit of a relax we went out for a walk and something to eat which ended up being pizza again which was really nice, we also had another ice cream on the way back which could mean if we keep this up I may have to buy some bigger clothes by the time we head home.
