Welcome to Croatia

Rijeka - Trsat Castle - Frankopans

Liburnia has a very rich history and it provided the first script to Croatia. It not only provided the script but also presses and code and also the Frankopans story. The Frankopans were a very dignified family who ruled Croatia for centuries and have a major effect on the country’s history. There are remains of their palaces, castles, building and towers and the impact of their rule can be clearly seen from these. The country has many tourists every year and many of these are extremely interested to know more about the past and more details of the Frankopans. For the benefit of these interested tourists a project called “Following the Path of Frankopans” has been started. As a part of this ten fortresses and castles have been improved and decorated. The project not only enables the tourists to know more about the heritage but also enjoy the beauty of Croatia hinterland and the coast making the Croatia holiday great fun.

The main aim of the authorities to undertake this project is not only to preserve the rich heritage and also to show it to the residents of the country and also to the world. County of Primorje-Gorski kotar in 2005 initiated this project and is considered to be a complex project of preservation of cultural heritage.

Grobnik is a town which reflects the rich history and has a monument which is very well preserved. There is a palace which is in of a triangular shape and it has towers and semi towers which fortify it apart from the set of walls around it. Since 10th century this town has been a part of Croatia. From 1225 to 1671 this town was owned by the Frankopans and later due to an agreement it became the property of Zrinski who was a cousin of the Frankopans. After his execution the castle was plundered. Read more…

Pakovo Selo - Ethno Village - Sibenik Croatia

Agro tourism in Miljevci was truly unthinkable as tourism in the Šibenik hinterland was unknown at that place. Since time changed, several family farms, two large factories for production of smoked ham on Miljevci including number of other honey, olive oil and cheese producing firms were opened in the Pakovo Selo area and after the these production firms, the place became quite famous when compared to the previous time and this ultimately led to the development of agro tourism on this area. It was reported that in one of the Miljevci, in Brištani, the family of Ante and Danica Bačić had recently opened a country household “Peace” located in the vicinity of River Krka, on the National Park’s very edge.

Some of the speciality features that have been designed in the family house in Brištani are truly amazing and luxury. What makes the house so special is its three rooms and a guest apartment for all such people who are interested in traditional and original values and top quality homemade dishes, homemade wine, therapeutic brandies, figs, almonds, walnuts and many more things. So people go ahead and check out this family house for all these items and comfort that is provided in the house. The main specialty of the house is its meat roasted under an iron bell (peka), cheese and smoked ham because they are offered as appetizers and guests can choose their own salad from the garden. The owners of the agro tourist estate have cultivated 2000 vines and plenty of olive trees so that their guests can relax and take a walk along the vineyards. In addition, you also get an opportunity to have a look at the view of the attractive river krka basin which is also present in the vicinity. Read more…

Lipicanci

Franjo Vinkovic who is a blacksmith from Dakovo is one of the persons who have their own firm in Croatia and 12 million Koreans who regularly watch the South Korean TV station EBS from Seoul will meet Franjo in November. The purpose of their meeting is to actually authenticate his skills on the blacksmith’s fire and anvil. He will also determine how he made the first Slavonian Pedalina that is called an open four seat carriage with pedals. In addition, TV viewers from the Far East location will also get an opportunity to see the Lipizzaner horses and the architectural peace of the Đakovo Cathedral in four TV episodes. Franjo, the blacksmith is truly a hard working personality and the Korean journalist were also thrilled by his trade and his way of working because such level of skills cannot be seen in the countries that are highly technologically developed. They were also given the horseshoes provided by Franjo the blacksmith that they took home with an interesting and spicy TV material.

It is for sure that the Koreans will enjoy the particular Slavonian features on the British television channel but on the other hand, the viewers of channel 4 will be enjoying and having fun watching an episode of the reality show the “coach trip” that was recorded in a rafting settlement on river Sava in Slavonski Brod and at a swimming pool complex in Migalovic. Then, after Italy and Switzerland, the British TV crew visited Croatia. Read more…

Croatia Wine and Dine

A photographer, a gourmet, an art Director, Carmen Grenier from Ottawa has spent five months travelling in Croatia and during these months she has covered 8300 kilometres along the Croatian coast, the hills, the islands, and the hinterland while exploring new culinary ideas and adventures. She published her research of the Croatian wine and food on the website carmencuisineandtravel.com . Here, conventional Croatian recipes in French and English are easily available and the traditional Croatian dishes and the products which are necessary for preparing them, like the Dalmatian smoked ham (pršut), cheese from the island of Pag, , the smoked sausages (kulen) from Slavonia, etc, are shown through beautiful photos. Special stress has been given to wine, olive oil, and brandy and, because of this, different varieties are presented like,  grk , graševina, Istrian malvasia, teran plavac, mali, and žlahtina wines some other types of brandies. She has also shown the markets of eight Croatian towns to the public.

In October 2007 she first visited Croatia when a friend persuaded her to accompany her. She travelled from Zagreb to Lovran, and other parts of the country like Dubrovnik and was spellbound by the Croatian culinary tradition, which was formed through various historical influences and eras by the neighbours and different conquerors. In April 2008, she came again for a five-month journey to the country, and visited every part of it and researched for culinary pleasures. The end result of this wonderful journey is the website, which will be regularly “refreshed” with new articles and photos dedicated to the country and the food.

She was too impressed with the country and could not single out one area which she liked the most, but her favourite in terms of food are pršut , Ston oysters, cheese form the island of Pag, kulen, kremšnite (custard cake), meat prepared under an iron bell, mussels stew, cold pressed olive oil from Istria ,wild mushroom soup, and Slavonian white wines.

She says that Croatian cooking is as per the limate of the country and the dishes, have a Mediterranean flavour and are prepared in an easy and very tasty way. “If you travel to Slavonia, you will be able to enjoy kulen with peppers and garlic or try grilled game somewhere near an open fire. And in Istria you can try the white or black truffles, the wild asparagus or pasta with seafood”, says Carmen Grenier. She is very hopeful that this website will provide the tourists and others with the information of what Croatia truly is.

River Drava - Repaski Most

UNESCO “Man & Biosphere” program is helping the creation of biosphere reserves. The Mura-Drava-Danube Biosphere is an example of such a reserve formed in agreement between Croatia & Hungary.
So what’s a Biosphere Reserve? It is an ecological area with 3 key priorities: Protection of natural assets Encourage sustainable ecological development and Stimulate scientific research related to the improvement of the quality of life and sustainable use of natural goods The Mura-Drava-Danube Biosphere covers 500 kilometres of 3 river flows and is located around 630,000 hectares of beautiful natural & cultural landscape comprising very rare but large flood resorts, river islands, pebble & sand coasts and oxbow lakes.

The reserve also serves as the home of several endangered species such as the little tern, black stork, otter or sterlet. This reserve houses the biggest nesting population of the very rare white tailed eagle in Europe and is an extremely important winter habitation for more than 250,000 wading birds every year.
This protected river area is important for the socio-economic development of the surrounding area for the following reasons:
Progress of continental eco-tourism which in turn enhances awareness of the need to protect the natural surroundings & environment of the entire region Agriculture & fishery management. Sustainable forestry. Efficient flood defence system and last but not the least Primary source of drinking water Representatives from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) state that this ecological reserve has the richest biological diversity of species in Europe.
Read more…

Croatia Wine

The wines in Croatia are very high in quality and they were liked by all the judges at the competition this year that was organized by Decanter, a London magazine. The wines were declared as hits and they won 8 gold, 5 silver and 11 bronze medals and three of these also were recommended. The gold medal winning wines come from Continental Croatia and the most successful of these was the small vineyard Bodren from the Hrvatsko zagorje region. Sweet predicate wines are produced in this region. Four of the wines from here were very popular and won 4 gold awards.
Two gold wines were won by Vlado Krauthaker for his Zelenac Kutjevo 2007 and Graševina wine 2007 and gold medals were also won by Graševina Daruvar 2007, Badel 1862 and Iločki Podrumi. The President of the Prize-Awarding Committee for Central and Eastern European Wines is Angela Muir and he was of the opinion that Croatia was the biggest discovery of the year with its wide range of wines which included dessert and dry wines, range of wine sorts, and many others. The Director of Decanter, Adam Lechemere said, “This really puts Croatia on the wine map. If you like sweet white wines, you would be crazy not to try them. Croatia can now truly take its place as a serious player in the world of wines”. This year more than any other wine countries like USA, Chile, New Zealand and others, Croatia won the maximum gold medals. Read more…