Zagreb, Croatia, Spring 2016

It has been many weeks since I posted on here. My absence was due to my annual visit to Zagreb, Croatia, the city I was born and grew up in, and then my niece and her boyfriend's visit to us in Leeds. I've enjoyed myself immensely, but there was no time for editing photos or writing. However, I did take many pictures and am ready to get back on track with blogging now. With hundreds of new images I hardly knew where to start and what to prepare for sharing first. I decided to choose a dozen random photos of my beloved, beautiful Zagreb. The city was basking in mellow spring sunshine almost all of the time, and was gaily bustling with various events taking place around the city centre landmarks. It was a perfect time for a visit.

Tkalciceva Street. A very popular street in the old Upper Town, very close to the main city square. It is lined with bars and restaurants that are busy throughout the day, but it is in the evening when it assumes its real appeal due to its thriving nightlife. At night the street feels like it belongs to some popular holiday destination. As a matter of fact, there are more and more tourists coming to Zagreb every year, and the Upper Town is deservedly becoming a growing visitor attraction.

Ilirski Square. It is situated in the historic old Upper Town which I simply adore. The square got its name from the Illyrian movement in the first half of the 19. century which lead towards Croatia's cultural and political revival.

Some Upper Town houses with recently renewed facades, distinctive cobbled street, and an inviting rustic restaurant called "Grandad's Dream" that I am still to visit for a first time.

I am always on the lookout for interesting window shots. I loved this old arched window with its cheerful flower pots, hot pink blind and a drawer-like feature underneath it.

Opaticka Street, a typical Upper Town street.

Recently renovated buildings of the Zagreb City Museum which used to be a female monastery in the middle of the 17th century called St. Klara Monastery.

Strossmayer promenade, or simply "Stross" as the people of Zagreb call it. It is a very special place with the lovely, romantic alley flanked with trees on either side. There are beautiful views over Zagreb Lower Town to the south. During the summer months various concerts and shows take place here from 9 o'clock in the evening. This year for some reason, as yet unknown to me, the tree trunks have been painted blue and green "lights" suspended from the tree tops.
I processed the image with one of the delightful, recently bought Jessica Drossin's Lightscaping Overlays.

This is a view over Zagreb taken from around the middle of Stossmayer Promenade. In the bottom off the image there is the entrance to a lovely restaurant lying under the Lotrscak Tower the cannon of which has been firing and marking the noon every day ever since 1877.

In the Upper Town there are a few old, narrow stairways running between the walls of houses. I love lingering around them and taking photos. These stairs are called Mill Stairs, apparently because in the past they were leading to a mill.

Ilica, one of  the longest Zagreb thoroughfares connecting the central square and northwestern parts of the city. It is a beautiful, winding, very busy street boasting fine architecture, shopping and cultural sites. Every time I am in Zagreb I pass here on a daily basis whether on foot or on one of Zagreb's tramways.

Old Vlaska Street. Another street full of character and cherished memories for me. Just loved those ancient houses, and am thankful they have been restored preserving the original architectural style. In the middle there is a bronze statue of August Senoa, a renowned 19th century Croatian writer. The statute was placed there in 1988, the year I left Zagreb for England.

This image was taken in the area of the city where I grew up and lived in up until I moved to England. I used to walk around here every day on my way to school, or to catch a tram to town or elsewhere. My flat was just around the corner from here. I have set myself a project to photograph all the landmark places of my childhood and early adulthood over a two or three year period, and publish all the chosen photos in one or two posts. This photo is just a "taster" of  the project in making.