Nikolina Demark (1989)

You know that feeling when you’re roaming the streets of a foreign city and you suddenly get hungry, but aren’t quite in the mood for the whole restaurant menu? Well, there’s a quick fix for that situation – skip directly to the dessert.

There’s a great pancake house called Sladomazo, situated near the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing. Well, pancake house probably isn’t the best way to describe it – there’s barely a few square feet of space. On the colder days, when people get more eager on the idea of eating inside, it’s not easy to enter. You know the popular saying, three’s a crowd? When it comes to this place, it’s kind of… literal.

Sladomazo offers just one pancake size – which is quite big – but an incredibly wide range of fillings. From basics like Nutella cream or marmalade, the menu builds its way to extravagant combinations named after well-known chocolate bars, like caramel syrup and peanut butter for Snickers. There’s even a variety of non-sweet pancakes filled with vegetables, meat, cheese and random sauces.

Oh, not to forget the tricky part – if the name itself reminds you of the naughty S&M expression, get your mind out of the gutter right now! It’s only an amusing play on words – the Croatian name roughly translates as ‘covered in something sweet’. No fear: head straight to Sladomazo and satisfy your need for sugar!

Zagreb is packed with various bakeries, ranging from big chains like Pan-Pek to little independent ones, so it might seem a bit hard to pick your favorite.

Since I moved here, I’ve been to every bakery – well, to the ones in the city centre, which is what probably interests you the most. So, when you see my curvy figure, it becomes pretty obvious that I know a good pastry when I find it, and believe me – Dinara is the place where you want to buy your pastries. Or bread, bagels… any other thing you crave at the moment. 

Situated a few streets away from the Jelacic square, the Dinara bakery offers a wide range of delicious products. They have recently opened one more shop at the beginning of the Preradovićeva street where most of the bars are situated, so you can grab a pastry on your way. The staff quality remains the same – the nice kind ladies behind the counter work really fast and they’ll always give you the freshest things, warm and tasty, just taken out of the oven.

The KIC club is a funky little place situated on the second floor of a building overlooking the edge of the Preradović square.

The bar itself isn’t really visually impressive – it could be described as a simple square room with walls painted in a dull shade of grey, and a cluster of small tables surrounded by colorful but shabby chairs and sofas. Yet there’s a cool, laid-back vibe to it that you just won’t be able to resist. KIC is always buzzing with lots of people, mostly young intellectuals.

As KIC stands for ‘cultural information centre’ in Croatian, you might think that something cultural actually takes place there every now and then. You’d be right: there are movie nights (and most of those aren’t silly blockbusters, but something you’d be glad to watch), various lectures and photography exhibitions.

Those photos are one of my favourite things about this place – you’ll spot them the minute you walk in, and they’re usually quite attractive so they’ll give you something to gaze at as you’re drinking your morning coffee. It’s evening already? Well, just enjoy the company of your friends while having a drink and chilling out at this great artsy bar.

If you’re walking around Upper town in Zagreb, there’s no chance you will miss this place. From outside, it looks like a simple passage, but you might want to stick around a while longer.

I’m talking about the Stone gate (Kamenita vrata), the only remaining gate out of four that once connected Lower town to a part of Upper town known as Gradec. In 1242, the Croatian king Bela IV gave Gradec a status of a free royal city, which automatically made the Stone gate one of the most important passages in Zagreb. Yet, the historical aspect of this place isn’t as important as the spiritual one: today, the Stone gate serves as a chapel where people take a moment to light a candle and say their prayers. The feeling is quite special: in an instant you’re no longer in the urban rush; instead, you find yourself in a calm place lighted only by dozens of candles. The main point of the chapel is the painting of Mary with baby Jesus, which miraculously survived a fire in 1731, and is now placed behind a beautiful large iron grille.

Even if you’re not religious, I suggest you buy a candle from the old lady standing at the entrance. You might want to think of your loved ones while lighting it, you can make a wish, say a silent prayer, or just enjoy the atmosphere of the place and the simple act of placing your candle next to all those that are already burning.

There’s a passage in the centre of Zagreb that has no specific historical importance; no events take place there, it’s not the first thing the tourists rush to see upon their arrival. And yet I take a short walk through it every time I find myself downtown. I’m talking about the Oktogon, a place named after the octagonal stained glass dome that vaults the central area of the passage.

I can’t tell you much about Oktogon’s history; today it simply houses an ensemble of shops and maybe doesn’t look as an attractive spot to visit, but I suggest you go take a look anyway. There’s something calming about its ambient – it’s a welcome shadowed shelter from the summer’s burning sun, and a refuge in autumn when it starts to rain and you don’t have an umbrella.

The neoclassical architecture is visually appealing, culminating with the mentioned dome that looks beautiful even on the dark cloudy days – imagine how the glass beams with light when it’s sunny outside. On an average day you’ll also probably find a street musician or a group of young dancers practising their routine.

Places like Oktogon have a certain quality that you can’t really describe or even grasp to understand, but that’s what really makes them special – even though it may seem as just another downtown building, its magic might win you over.