Kristina Hlaban

Kristina and the Esplanade hotel in Zagreb

Kristina was born on the other side of Zagreb’s mountain Medvednica, in the Hrvatsko Zagorje region. After obtaining her diploma in French language and Art History, she started working in a Zagreb-based tourist agency, and after a few years, she decided to replace the classic office with the open-air one. She is very passionate about her job as a tour guide and she thinks she’s got one of the best jobs in the world!

 

Education: MA in French language and Art History

Languages: English, French

Guide since: 2015

 

Kristina’s favorite:

 

…restaurant in Zagreb is La Štruk – a charming little place, close to Dolac farmer’s market, where one can try excellent štrukli, traditional Croatian specialty, a must-try when in Zagreb.

 

…museum in Zagreb is not really a museum, it is more of an open-air art gallery – the Mirogoj cemetery. It is one of the greatest achievements by the architect Herman Bollé and the biggest achievement of Croatian sepulcher architecture, but also one of the most beautiful European cemeteries. Mirogoj reveals the works of the greatest Croatian artists that turned this town cemetery into a beautiful gallery. The most impressive part of the Mirogoj is a 500-meter long string of neo-renaissance arcades with the green domes.

 

…Croatian product is a lavender sachet which is a perfect little gift for your loved ones, but you can also tuck it in your pillows, drawers or wherever you want to leave the sweet and calming scent of the lavender.

 

…thing to do in Zagreb is walking in the Upper town a few minutes before the sunset, as this is the time when you can meet the lamplighters while lighting the gas lamps manually in the old fashioned way.

 

…destination outside of Zagreb is, of course, Kumrovec in the Hrvatsko Zagorje, as Kristina was born and raised there. Kumrovec is a small place close to the Slovenian border, popular for being the birthplace of Josip Broz Tito, president of the former Yugoslavia. Tito’s house can be visited within the Old Village museum, an open-air ”in situ” museum that represents traditional architecture, customs and crafts in that region at the turn of the 20th century.