How did the people of Zagreb tackle the heat in 1969?
We all love looking back to the past to see how people used to live and how times they are a-changin’ and Zagrebački Memento Youtube channel and a Facebook page are perfect for when you want a shot of nostalgia, especially on a hot summer day like this.
So, here are not one, but two blasts from the past, both from 1969, to see how the people of Zagreb tackled the heat in 1969.
First, there’s Dolac on a Saturday at noon, one of the iconic locations that does change, but also somehow manages to stay the same.
“This is Dolac, the belly of Zagreb, a market which sees about 2,000 sellers and 40 – 60,000 visitors, with up to 40 t of groceries sold here every day,” reporter Milan Sigetić announces.
Apart from the currency, which I’ve always found hard to grasp, especially when you hear a piece of fruit being sold for 1,000 dinars, most things are more or less the same – hard-working kumice get up early and bring their fresh groceries to the stands, some people are satisfied with the offer, while others aren’t, there’s a man buying fresh fish, a woman not too happy with the tomatoes, and a lady commenting that they spend around 120,000 dinars on food a month, when she and her husband earned a combined amount of 150,000 dinars,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDZQBxvbymA
Another video opens with the typical summer sounds of crickets, with reporter Miroslav Lilić strolling around Upper Town to see how people are spending their holidays, wondering why they haven’t gone to the seaside yet.
“I like it here, it’s not hot and children can play in the shade of the sycamores. My husband has more vacation time than I do, so he’s already gone to the seaside, but we’ll be joining him soon, and we’ll spend a month there,” a woman sitting in the shade tells him
Next, he visits Sljeme, teeming with people. Some people are starting or finishing their vacation there.
His last and most crowded stop is Bundek, filled with people sunbathing and swimming. For most people, it was the most they could afford that year because it was cheaper than going to the seaside, while others came there because they lived nearby.
“It’s my first and last time here,” a young man in the video says.
“Why last?”
“The water’s not that clean, there’s a lot of oil on the surface,” he replies.
The man next to him doesn’t seem to mind and the last interviewee says he just got there from Syria, so he came to Bundek for a swim.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFwKkebm4Xs
