146. Balkan Tour (10)

Zagreb

Four hundred kilometer drive through flat, flat farmland to Zagreb, called "a pocket Vienna" for its rich Austrian culture and architecture, gained during the Habsburg rule (1878-1918).  Beautiful 19th-century public buildings and parks, with lively, attractive people on the streets.  Quite a contrast with the unsmiling citizens of Belgrade among their grey buildings.   Still the same graffiti, though, and the smoking. 

The city was bombed by the Serbs twice during the Homeland War (the Croatian name for it), first, our guide Bozena said, to intimidate (1991) and then for spite because they had lost the war (1995).  The Serbs, she said, used the Yugoslav Army against them.  For Djina, our Belgrade guide, the Serbs were just one of many ethnic groups in the Yugoslav Army.  It was Yugoslavia trying to keep one of its provinces from seceding.

What's behind the Serb hatred of the Croats?  Well, we were reminded in Serbia of what the Croats did when the Ustashe were put in control by the Nazis: condemned all Serbs, Jews, and Roma to death in concentration camps.  About 300,000 died.

Bozena took us to the impressive tomb of Franjo Tudgman, surrounded by deposited flowers. He's the father of his country but "the outside world did not understand about Franjo Tudgman," she said, thinking maybe of the kind of press he got from the BBC, who called him an "ultra-nationalist autocrat."  He's the one whose restoration of the flags and other symbols used by the Ustashe threw such fear into the Serbs.

In front of the government building Bozena explained the complicated Croatian flag.  It has five parts, almost like coats of arms, standing for the different regions.  "Croatia is the name of many small parts united together, as the flag shows."

Afterward I asked her if any of the parts wanted independence.  No.  Could they have it if they wanted it? No.  Her expression showed that maybe I shouldn't have asked this.

The highlight of the walking tour for me was a courtyard of wonderful sculptures.  Our guide said the sculptor, Ivan Mestrovic, died in South Bend, Indiana.

Had dinner at a good restaurant with very good beer.  More Austrian influence, maybe.  Walked back to the hotel through parks full of flowers and lovers.