Countries and their stories — 1

Being in a job that’s almost the same as being jobless,I came up with a thought to make use of this time that’s getting passed by.Learning about different cultures in different countries,their geography and many other aspects that make a country.

It’s not just a random thought that popped out of my mind but rather an inspiration from the app I used to play a lot.Its a world geography app that lets it’s users do quizzes on all things countries.Capitals,population,flags,geographical boundaries and such.It was an interesting app.

Though I thought of doing this a long time back,one thing that held me back from starting this a few weeks ago was that I’m afraid of not continuing this country blogging.But seeing how much time I’m wasting labeling it as “nothing- to-do” time,I decided to start this anyway.

So, today’s country - Croatia.Its a random one generated by some website when I got stuck with the challenge of choosing my first country.

Surrounded by a sea(Adriatic Sea) on one side and Slovenia on the north,Bosnia, Serbia and Hungary on the other sides,Croatia is 1/3rd the size of Andhra Pradesh,a state in India where I was born in.But the population is 1/10th the population of A.P which proves an already known fact that my state is crowded.This comparison is just to get an idea ,so for those who don’t know about my state,Croatia’s population is about 4.2 million and the area is 54000 square kilometers.Also,there are around thousand islands on its coastal area,which is kinda cool even to imagine.

Flag of Croatia

Flag’s meaning,though unofficial,is quite interesting.Top red — blood of Croatian martyrs,white — symbolises peaceful lamb like nature and blue — freedom and hope.Never knew the colors have meanings until now.Five shields represent five major cities of the country and the checkerboard has been a symbol of Croatian kings even from the 10th century.

Croatian kuna(Croatian word for Marten,national animal of Croatia) is the currency.1 HRK equivalent to 10 Indian rupees (0.14USD).Croatia became member of EU recently,in 2013.Its economy was devastated during its war of independence against Yugoslavian forces in 1990–91. Later,it improved before the financial crisis of 08 but after that growth was sluggish.

Major income source is Tourism industry which accounts for up to 20%.Besides that agricultural sector is also a notable source of income exporting blue water fish to Japan and South Korea.

It’s capital city is Zagreb with a population of 792000(2011), situated along the river Sava.Major industries are electrical machines and devices production,chemical , pharmaceutical, textile,food and drink processing.Might be the reason for it being one among the least employment opportunities in Europe.

In Zagreb, there’s this tradition of getting up early on Saturday morning and getting a coffee Downtown between 10:00 to 2:00 and that too in only a couple of streets in city centre.This is interesting .

Also,this city is known as city of museums,given the number of museums in it. Museum of broken relationships is unique among them all.

Moreover,Croatia is predominantly Catholic and are extremely proud of their heritage and culture,a according to a culture website.

University of Zagreb is a renowned university and one that has been a place of learning from very old days.

Photos:

St Mark’s Church

Zagreb on Jan 1st,2016