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

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.
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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

River Gacka - Fly Fishing

Karstic waters is located in Kostelka source in Ličko Lešće, and is the centre in Croatia for ingenious variety of crawfish and fish. The main aim behind forming this centre was to promote scientific research and farming of ingenious species farming. After a year of it being formed, tourists found out about the spot and since then it became a popular tourist attraction. Recently an agreement has been signed between the United Nations Development Program and the representatives from the Otocac. As per this agreement these two bodies together will finance the up gradation of the centre. By providing the finance to the centre the authorities want that it gets satisfactory representation so that the story of the fish in the Karstic waters can be told to the visitors and the tourists in a very striking way. The main aim of the concerned authorities is to make this project the stepping stone in creating the awareness of preserving the fishes and the waters so that later on in the future a Water Centre can be constructed in the vacant area of the hydroelectric power plant in Svica. With this centre the authorities feel that a message can be given to the masses that tourism and protection of the species can be done together and is this way one can live from the protection and also protect the endangered species.
The European Union funded the construction of The Croatian Center for the indigenous species of fish and crawfish in karstic waters. This was one of the initial projects in the PHARE 2005 Programme and last year in the month of November it opened formally. The main founders of the centre were the Croatian Chamber of Commerce, town of Otocac, Gacka d.o.o and the Ruđer Bošković Institute. Read more

Flights to Dubrovnik Croatia

From this year holiday in Croatia will become easier to reach and the Dubrovnik will be much more accessible to the tourists. This is because from April or May this year, five low cost airlines have decided and thus, announced that new flights to Dubrovnik will be introduced by them. A German low cost airline called Germanwings, will introduce a direct flight from Hamburg to Dubrovnik and this flight will be started on 2 May, 2010. On the other hand, a British carrier Jer2.com will introduce a direct flight from Edinburgh. Blue1 is a Finnish company and it has announced to introduce a direct flight from Helsinki to Dubrovnik and this flight will be operating Saturdays from April and also on Tuesdays from May. From the end of October 2009 planes which will fly to Dubrovnik twice a week, will be flown by a company which is a part of SAS group since 1998.

Bmibaby is a British company and it has plans to operate flights between East Midlands and Dubrovnik from 30th May every Thursday and Sunday. Flyglobespan is a Scottish airline and it has announced to start a flight from Aberdeen to Dubrovnik and will start in May 2010 and will operate every Wednesday. With so many flights operating between different countries in the world and Dubrovnik, traveling to Dubrovnik will become much easier and more convenient. With better connectivity through different airlines, the number of visitors to this region will increase thus giving a boost to travel and tourism.

Virovitica Poucna Staza

The educational trail (Poucna staza) is the most frequently visited destinations in Virovitica. This four kilometre long trail is in the shape of a heart and passes through the silver lime tree and the sessile oak forest. It takes about two hours to walk the entire trail when one walks it slowly and stops a few times. All along the trail information tables have been put up where one can read and learn more about the history of the region and also the different cultural and natural sites that one find along the trail. These boards give a lot of important information about the silver lime trees which make these forest complexes one of the most beautiful in Europe, sessile oak forests, black stork and otter which are the protected species of the area, the grave of a roman soldier and many other sites which has interesting facts and stories attached which are of high interest to the visitors. In Virovitica there are many springs which have quality water and one such spring is on the educational trail and it is said that everyday more than 10,000 litres of water comes out of it. On World Environment Day, four years ago this trail was opened and since then many visitors from the country and also from other parts of the world have visited it. This trail is of great interest to scouts, tourists, students, hikers and mushroom gatherers and this is the reason the place is visited by so many people. Read more