The telescope viewing
The moon and planets with live explanation.
Zagreb Observatory occupies the Priests' Tower, one of the medieval towers of the upper town wall — an odd and appealing juxtaposition: a telescope on top of a medieval defensive tower in the heart of Zagreb's oldest district. The observatory opened to the public in 1903 and still works to the same purpose: spreading astronomy among ordinary people rather than academic research, since serious scientific observation needs dark skies far from city lights. Here you look through a telescope at the moon and the planets of the solar system, accompanied by someone who explains what you are seeing. That imposes an obvious constraint: it opens in the evening after sunset rather than by day, and what you see depends on how clear the sky is that night. On a cloudy night there is nothing to see. The compensation is that the site is in the upper town near St Mark's church and the Lotrščak tower, so an evening there combines more than one thing.
The moon and planets with live explanation.
Near St Mark's and the Lotrscak tower.
Opaticka 22, Upper Town, 10000 Zagreb
Tkalciceva StreetTkalčićeva is Zagreb's street of cafes and restaurants: a narrow pedestrian run 2 minutes walk4.8
The Meštrović AtelierIvan Meštrović's house and studio in Zagreb's Upper Town, where he lived and wor3 minutes walk4.9
The Upper Town (Gornji Grad)Gornji Grad is original Zagreb: the medieval hill town of lanes and two hundred 4 minutes walk4.6
The Franciscan Monastery at KaptolA Franciscan monastery and church in Zagreb's Kaptol district, a short distance 5 minutes walk4.7
The Museum of Broken RelationshipsThe Museum of Broken Relationships is Zagreb's most famous cultural export: two 6 minutes walk4.4A thirteenth-century tower from the Gradec walls, from which a cannon has been fired at exactly noon every day since 1877 — an unbroken daily tradition said to have begun so that the city's church bells could be set to one time. It can be climbed for the view over Zagreb. Hearing the noon cannon is among the simplest and most distinctive things to do in the upper town.