We walked the Lower and Upper Towns in this city which now has 800,000 people and close to a million people, if you consider the outskirts. The Upper Town has the cathedral and Lower Town was merchant area. The funicular, shortest in Europe, was not operating … maybe because it was Monday? Many museums were not open on Mondays too; however, I found time to enjoy a cup of cappuccino after one museum visit. There is definitely an Austrian-Hungarian influence here. I almost feel like I am in Vienna. If I had a piece of strudel with my cappuccino I would believe I was!

I stopped in at the Museum of Naïve Art. Sort of a strange name. “Peasant artists” were called “naïve artists” at one time when collection of their work, paintings and sculptures, began in 1952. These individuals had no formal art education/instruction but their work had a recognizable style and were collected. Eventually the museum’s name changed to what it is now.

Fellow travelers said the Museum of Cartoons was very good. Also the Museum of Broken Relationships was interesting. One story I heard is a broken relationship with gluten! See, relationships of all sorts are presented. Apparently the NYTimes wrote an article about that museum and there are people sending something and their broken relationship story to this museum.

Much reconstruction is happening in the city since the March 2020 earthquake. They are still working on the cathedral’s spires. The bells survived and are safely inside the cathedral at the moment.

We took a bus out to the city’s public cemetery and walked around. It is very expensive to be buried here, plus with an annual fee. It is huge but I loved being among the trees.

Back to the city where the red umbrellas are you will find an outdoor market. Underground is the market for all foods needing refrigeration. There I saw plenty of meats and cheeses!

Tomorrow we are at Plitvice Lakes. I am looking forward to our hiking time and hopefully to see some birds!