Ireland day 1284. Friday 04 April 2025- Zagreb 1

Today’s summary	Went on a short walk after breakfast to have a look at Zagreb railway station then met up with some more mourners from the UK for coffee. Attended Jonathan’s funeral at Mirogoju crematorium then an informal wake at his flat with his widow and family. Dinner at a nearby restaurant in the evening and drinks afterwards
Today’s weather	Dry sunny and mild all day. Light north easterly wind. Appx 17c

Today’s overview location (The blue mark shows the location of my route)		Close-up location (The blue mark shows where I walked) (No GPX today)

Commentary

Another day, another funeral. Today it was the turn of Jonathan – A friend from the UK who I knew for the whole of his 63 years. I attended the funeral along with his brother and two other friends and relatives who had come over from the UK.

It was a beautiful day for it, just as it was in Scotland. But as the ceremony didn’t start until around noon, I took advantage of the spare couple of hours in the morning after breakfast to have a quick look around the town. Naturally, I thought the railway station would be an interesting place to visit – I always find continental rail stations fascinating, with all those exotic destinations tempting you from the departures board. I wandered out onto the platform, to take a look at a long-distance electric express about to depart. But then I ran out of time so walked up to the Trg bana Josipa Jelacica square to meet up with the rest of the UK contingent for pre-funeral coffees.

After coffee, we went to meet up with Jonathan’s widow and young family, then got a lift with one of their friends to the crematorium at Mirogoju for the service. It was a very sad but beautifully done event, with at least two hundred people paying their respects. Jonathan was a well respected and much loved character in Croatian society, having lived here for over twenty years.

After the service, there was a small wake back at Jonathan’s widow’s flat, and then, after a couple hours’ break during which I repaired to the hotel, we met up again at a Bosnian kebab restaurant for dinner. Very enjoyable and lots of wine and grappa was consumed!

To round off the evening, three of us headed into Zagreb to get another beer and grappa at Mojo’s bar before I finally called it a day. It was only about 10pm but after the comings and goings, and emotional drain, of the last week, I was ready to call it a day by that stage.

I have a super-early flight to Dublin tomorrow morning so have set the alarm for 4am. Which is alarmingly close to now, so I’m going to sign off and do my packing. Onwards and upwards, as they say.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


In Zagreb railway station ticket hall, with the platforms beyond	Street coffees before the funeral

Croatian National Bank, in Trg Hrvatski velikana	Croatian “black” wine (a very dark, strong, red) on the menu for dinner tonight

Post-dinner drinks in Bar Mojo this evening. A nice way to wind down after a challenging day

RIP Jonathan