Zagreb is a city of 100 villages.

Now, that's a pretty provocative statement in this part of the world. The term "the village" here, has a very pajorative connotation. In fact, throughout my 2 years in Bosnia, the officers of all three armies kept trying to tell us that all the "bad things that happened" were because the armies had been forced to taken in "people from the village." So, given that implication, why would I say such a thing about the city? Does it mean I don't like this place any more?

Well, a little explanation is in order. First, what is not immidiately apparent in Lower Town is that the city is hollow. I don't mean empty exactly, but the buildings on the street are not massive blocks. They are actually not very deep. If they are wide, they usually have a gate that allows vehicles access to the "courtyard" in the back of the building. So, if you look at the first picture, you will see in the center of the building, between the two stores on the ground level, an opening. That opening leads to the courtyard in back of the building. If you wald through the gateway, this is what you find.



Basically, it is a parking area for people who live in the building, and some commercial establishments. In this case, a couple of stores and a cafe - resturant. Now, not every courtyard is like this one. Some are just parking areas, and some are very nicely maincured gardens. But there are a lot of them just like this.








And this is the cafe - resturant. Actually, kind of a nice place with lots of rough cut wood tables. A very "village" kind of place, and they had really good čivapi. So, I had lunch there today. What struck me after a few minutes there was how quiet it was. You could barely hear the street sounds. I really was like sitting at a cafe in a smaller town, very peaceful. The city is full of these little places. This is what the 19th century building regulations in the city were intended to do. They inverted the urban landscape, putting the couryard in the back, hiding "the village" part of daily life from the street. It was an effort to trasform Zagreb into a city while still accomodating desire, and the need, for village life.

Ok, enough for now. More later.