I'm back from a mostly enjoyable visit to Zagreb. To be more specific, everything in Zagreb was good, the return journey was not. Thanks to the efforts of Lufthansa (although 'effort' seems the wrong word in the context) I finally got home around 2a.m. yesterday morning.
After I got the work bit of the trip done I was able to fit in some culture before beginning the long trek home. The Croatian Museum of Naive Art in the Upper Town became a favourite of mine back in the pre-pandemic days when I used to visit Zagreb regularly, and it was good to go back.
The main attraction for me is the room devoted to the work of the Ivan Rabuzin, but there are lots of other interesting exhibits too. Here are a couple of personal favourites from the current exhibition - the first from Mr Rabuzin, the other from Ivan Generalić - and any art buffs out there can find some more over at my Flickr account.
The music side of the Croatian culture hunt also went well. It was good to see my pals in Free Bird Records - Zagreb's finest second-hand record shop - and as expected I picked up some bargains there. Less expected was the discovery of a brand new record shop in the city centre.
Its called Croatia Records, and as the name suggests it specialises in local music - not just from Croatia but also other parts of the former Yugoslavia. It has a fine selection of vintage reissues from the old state-run Jugoton Records alongside all the current releases.
Between the two shops I came away with a decent haul. Here are just a few of the records you can expect to be subjected to in the near future if I don't get distracted. I am particularly looking forward to listening to the last one.
"Jugoton Funk" features a track by the great Josipa Lisac. I know Josipa has an avid following among the Portuguese goat herding community, so this goes out to them.
"Ti Si Genije" - Josipa Lisac
"Sreća" - Josipa Lisac