I love this place. In fact I don’t really want to leave here. Sure, I spend a lot of time feeling like I’m either melting or on fire but it’s definitely worth it. And today, finally, the air conditioning has been fixed in my room and for once I can’t wait to go to bed.
The upper town of Zagreb, is essentially 
the old town and is a labyrinth of Italian style streets, back alleys, and passageways linking narrow lanes. My hostel is located right in the centre of all this on Tkalčićeva street (nobody can pronounce this) and actually used to be a creek separating the two main settlements, Kaptol and Gradec, until it was paved over just over a hundred years ago. Not that you would know from it’s wealth of coffee shops, restaurants and bars. It’s the main tourist hub of the city and can turn into a real party at night, with the tables filling up out onto the street, live music and the occasional Mariachi band coming by and playing you a song in exchange for some money.
Nearly all of the upper town is built on the southern slopes of the mountain Medvednica, including the Cathedral (which is always covered in scaffolding – even in the brochures), Dolac market, one of the biggest open-air markets I’ve seen and the St. Marks church with its patterned roof (left). There’s so much to see here and the great thing is it’s all within walking distance. I’ve been here for 4 days and still not seen everything. Even though Tkalčićeva street is busy, it’s apparently the quiet time of the year in the city because everybody is soaking up the sun at the coast. I can’t imagine what it’s like when it’s busy.
