We held the Euréseau Autumn Meeting 2013 in the charming capital of Croatia, Zagreb. Ranko Pećarević and Sanja Relic have given a special treat to the attending members on Friday night, October 11, 2013 in the restaurant Lari at Penati in Zagreb: "Good discussions combined with typical Croatian finger food in this very outstanding place". We enjoyed a very successfull working meeting on Saturday and were spoilt with a delicious lunch and a wonderful dinner.
Although the weather was somehow indifferent (sometimes bright sunshine, sometimes rain) the city of Zagreb could reveal its beauty and specifically its remniscence to the Austro Empire Charm. The upper town of Zagreb (the old city centre) is marked by its wonderful (today neogothic) cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Zagreb bishopric was established in 1094 and construction of the cathedral started soon afterwards. Another very prominent and very impressive sight are the cathedral defensive walls which were build when the threat from the Turcs was at its height. The old city centre offers beautiful views into middle-aged court yard houses as well as buildings from the 17. to the 19. century outstanding for their beautifully structured facades. Since the author of these minutes loves food and cooking she was definitely attracted by the many open-air food markets which make up one of Zagreb’s most attractive features. Almost every district in the city has such a beautiful open market. The most famous one is Dolac (close to the cathedral). In Dolac people sell fresh food, vegetables, meat and fish every day of the week and you will find specialties and almost irresistible food stuffs from all parts of Croatia. But Zagreb offers a lot of cultural sights and houses one of the finest museums in this region. If you are keen to see contemporary art you should go outside of the old centre south of the river Sava and visit “Novi Zagreb” (“New Zagreb”). The brand new museum of contemporary art has a permanent collection of prominent Croatian and international modern art from the 1950 to the present day.
After all: If you could not manage to visit Zagreb this time try next time and do not forget to ring up Ranko and Sanja if you are there. We thank Ranko and Sanja for their excellent hospitality!