Zagreb - Post Report Question and Answers
What do you wish you had known about this particular city/country before moving there?
How long the commute from "the hills" are to the embassy; we would've pushed harder to be closer to the embassy (as in the hills, you're still not really within easy walking distance to downtown, so you're just kind of away from stuff). - Jan 2023
I wish I would have known how much I would love it. I also wish I would have better established my work-from-home business. It is not easy starting from scratch here. - Jul 2018
We were not prepared for the European winter: Grey, drizzly, foggy dark weather from November to March, often with 2-3 weeks straight without sunshine. After many years in the Middle East, this was really hard! The coast of Croatia basically closes down from October to April, so a lot of the cool touristy things you see advertised aren't accessible during the off season. Zagreb is a small, non-central European capital. There is a very small English speaking expat community, and not many English language events for expat kids, outside the school. Most Croatian mothers have to return to work after the baby is a year old, so the parks are filled with grannies and older nannies, but not other moms. The embassy community lives literally all over town and is very loosely connected. There are many people in our small community who I only see every 2 months. There is no community space for people to gather in, such as an American club pool, or playground. We really miss the tight sense of expat community which we experienced in other posts, as well as missing a more international scene. Zagreb will be great for you if you are looking for a quiet life, with frequent road trips. This hasn't been a great fit for our family. Babysitting has been harder to come by here, which has limited our ability to get out and about. - Apr 2016
How easy it was to live there. While maybe not on the same level yet as Austria or Germany, Croatia is light years away from the places in the former Soviet Union I had been comparing it to. - Aug 2014
