“Everything changed. In the time I was gone, it all changed. This is the only place that is still the same. This place connects the two parts of my life,” she says. “The Zagreb before and the Zagreb after.” In explaining this, she takes me to her personal oasis, a small cafe shining with mirrors and sparkling with intimacy. The pulse of urbanity is that of guaranteed encounters.

What better opportunity could there be to get to know a city than through the eyes of others? The Urban Festival in Zagreb, organized by the BLOK, the Local Base for Culture Refreshment, afforded me the opportunity to experience the city through the eyes of Zagreb people.