Green city oases
The people of Zagreb have always loved nature, enjoyed its charms, and lived in accordance with its principles. It is therefore not surprising that they incorporated nature into the structure of this city and that its streets and squares are intertwined with real green oases.
One of the city parks is Maksimir, a forest park that was opened back in 1794 at the initiative of Bishop Maksimilijan Vrhovac. There you'll see people of Zagreb leisurely strolling through the park or jogging, children playing, and pensioners relaxing on benches - after all, this is one of their favorite destinations. There is also the city Zoo with as many as 275 species of animals, located in the southern part of the Maksimir forest park, which was opened in 1905 as the first zoo in Southeast Europe.
Ribnjak is yet another park, located next to the eastern walls of Kaptol, which is a real romantic place in the city center with its green areas and stone silhouettes. Tuškanac forest park is a legacy of the once rich forest that stretched from Medvednica. Today it is a true paradise that is simply magical throughout all seasons.
The people of Zagreb have integrated nature into every aspect of their city, and not only in the form of parks. Seven city squares, today better known as Green or Lenuci’s Horseshoe , are imbued with greenery and are a real escape from the noise of the city and seem to create a balance between the urban and natural, the gray and the green. They are joined by the Botanical Garden, with more than 5,000 plant species from Croatia and the world that create a real harmony of flowers and greenery, where it is quite easy to forget that you are in a city, and not in a fairy tale.
