Reminders of the war in former Yugoslavia come as quite a shock in Zagreb. The city is so solid, so Hapsburg and bourgeois, yet at the airport white UN vehicles can be seen in the carpark.
At some hotels, notice-boards carry announcements for Organisation for Security and Co operation in Europe personnel, and the refugees who have been living in hotel rooms for the past five years do not look like they want to return to the devastation of Vukovar.
British SFOR troops stand around the airport building near their base. In the departure lounge Norwegian women soldiers in baggy fatigues and big military boots are buying perfume in the duty-free. The Croatian authorities do not like these reminders of the war. It upsets their self-image of being European, not Balkan; a Christian, no, Catholic country surrounded by the Orthodox and Muslim.
Strangely it is their brand of Catholicism that actually marks them apart from the rest of Europe. Near Zagreb cathedral in the Kaptol district nuns can be seen as nuns have not been seen for years in Ireland, complete with veil and wimple.
In the cathedral the very public displays of piety remind one of Russian Orthodox churches, with multiple signs of the cross and lips moving frantically as prayers are said.
Shops in the nearby market sell large plaster statues, of the type that used to decorate Irish classrooms. They are sold for actual devotion, without any sense of irony, as they are now sold in Ireland in antique and curio shops.
The cars, even those big Mercedes and BMWs whose presence is hard to explain given the low wages and high cost of living, have rosary beads dangling from the rear-view mirror. Catholicism is an integral part of Croatian nationalism. It is what sets Croats apart and, if their Catholicism seems dated, it is for most only part of their lives for the past seven years.
However, Zagreb does have a very central European feel. It reminds one of Vienna without that overwhelming imperial architecture and of Budapest, but with buildings in better condition.
The lower town is filled with impressive Hapsburg buildings from the reign of Franz Josef and coffee shops. Some, such as the national theatre, are built from a lovely yellow stone. They all seem to house impressive institutes, such as the Academy of Arts and Sciences. There is even a very impressive, if more modern, House of Journalists.
The upper town, by contrast, has Baroque and Renaissance pa laces and churches, cobbled winding streets, remnants of the old city walls, all built on two hills. There is even a funicular rail service, the descent is so steep.
The centre of the city is Jelacic Square. It is here that the trams terminate, where people meet and where there are the biggest and busiest cafes. In the centre is the statue of Ban Josip Jelacic on his horse, sword pointing forward.
When he was mounted on his plinth, his sword pointed towards Hungary as a reminder of Croatia's rout of the Hungarians. For their pains the Croats were handed back to the Hungarians some years later, in 1867.
Anyhow, Jelacic was taken down by the Tito regime. The story goes that Tito wanted the site for a statue of himself astride a horse, but could not find a competent sculptor.
When Croatian independence was declared the statue was found hidden and put back. It was thought it would be appropriate for the sword to point towards Serbia rather than Budapest, but in the end the direction was decided by reason of aesthetics. It simply looks better.
Despite the pretensions to being a fully European country - some people ask how soon one thinks Croatia will become a member of the EU - there is the problem of their authoritarian president, Franjo Tudjman. His HDZ party has ruled since independence in 1991.
The media in Croatia are hardly free. There is only one stateowned television station which tends to lead all news bulletins with accounts of the President's activities or official announcements. The main independent radio station was closed.
The press is either owned by members of the HDZ party or has been so intimidated that it offers little challenge to the authorities. The most independent newspaper, the satirical and investigative weekly, Ferral Tri- bune, is constantly under threat for libel.
Control of the media is hardly surprising. At the start of the war Croatian authorities understood that it was necessary to make the unthinkable possible: civil war. The media were used to foment a kind of virulent nationalism. To day President Tudjman remembers how necessary the role of the media was then and is retaining a tight hold now.