Westworld Alberta
Issue link: http://westworldmagazine.ama.ab.ca/i/89721
the past in Zagreb, which we approach under a light rain that lifts to sunshine. With a population of around 800,000, Zagreb is the largest city in Croatia and was an economic centre in the former Yugoslavia. The humourless facades of Communist-era buildings sit alongside the pale yellow of restored structures from the Hapsburg era. This juxtaposition of Communist sever- ity and classical grandeur repeats itself through the city. On our way to dinner, we pass the Regent Esplanade, a palatial art nouveau hotel built in 1925 for guests of the Orient Express. Walking back to our hotel (a Sheraton in central Zagreb that is basic but comfortable – like most of the accommodations included in this tour package), I wander under plane trees through King Tomislav Square and catch a glimpse of the city's neoclassical railway station, lit up at night. A few blocks along, I take photos of art graffi ti. In the morning, we walk 15 minutes to the Upper Town to see the Stone Gate, in the medieval heart of the city. In the 13th century, King Béla IV granted special rights to the community of Gradec to build fortifi cations as protection against the Mongols. This included four gates connecting the upper and lower towns. The Stone Gate is the only one that remains. The gate holds special meaning for the (clockwise from top) Moored boats in the seaside Croatian city of Split; the 3,500-year-old town of Budva, Montenegro; Roman "guards" at Diocletian's Palace, a late-third-century Roman castle in Split; the view from atop Ljubljana Castle, Slovenia; emerald pools and waterfalls at Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia; a war museum in Karlovac, Croatia. city's faithful (close to 90 per cent of Croatians are Catholic) because, as legend has it, a 1731 fi re destroyed the wooden parts of the gate, but not, miraculously, a painting of the Virgin and Child. Today it's a shrine where locals come to pray. Someone tells me today is the Day of the Virgin Mary of Stone Gate. As I walk through the gate, singing rises from the crowd that has gathered to light candles. Up the cobblestone road, I hear another soulful voice – this one coming from the Museum of Broken Relation- ships, a small art space in what the clerk describes as a former palace, but is more akin to a maisonette or row house. "I'm ready for you, I hope you're ready for me," Muddy Watters sings as I enter. Two former lovers created the museum four years ago, displaying relics of their rela- tionship. Soon friends and strangers began donating objects. One display case holds a national identity card from France, donated by a woman from Ljubljana, Slovenia (a city we will soon 22 WESTWORLD >> NOVEMBER 2012 Craille Maguire Gillies, (Budva) Jon Arnold Images/Masterfi le, (Plitvice Lakes National Park) Dattatreya/All Canada Photos, (castle view) Crispin Rodwell/All Canada Photos