Croatia

August 3, 2015

32C today.

Image credit http://imgbuddy.com/map-of-croatia-and-surrounding-countries.asp

Brief history of Croatia: Like the other Balkan countries, Croatia was first settled by Greeks and then ruled by Romans until the 5th century. A Slavic people called the Croats settled in the area around A.D. 500. Croatia was controlled by the Turks and then the Austro-Hungarian Empire. During WWI the Austrian Empire broke up, and Croatia declared its independence in October 1918. They joined the group of states named Yugoslavia.  During WWII, Yugoslavia was occupied by Germany. Croatia was liberated in 1945 and a Communist regime was imposed. Communism collapsed in most of Eastern Europe in 1989. Croatians voted for independence in 1991 and were invaded by the Yugoslav (Serbian) army. Peace was reached in 1995. The population of Croatia is 4.5 million.

Today we cruised along the Danube in the morning.  Our cruise director gave a presentation about what it was like growing up in a communist country (he is Romanian).  We will send highlights of the talk in a separate blog.

After his presentation there was live music from a Croatian tamburica band.  A tamburica is a stringed instrument.

The ship arrived in Vukovar around noon. Vukovar saw much fighting during the Serb-Croatian War because of its important location at the juncture of the Drava and Danube rivers.  Some of the buildings still have marks from shrapnel or bullet holes.

Part of our excursion took us to Aljmas, a village of 350 people.  We went on a visit in small groups to Croatian homes, where we could chat with a local for an hour and sample lots of local goodies.

After lunch, our excursion took us to Osijek, the fourth largest city in Croatia. The word Osijek comes from the Croatian word meaning “ebb tide”. This town is known for being relaxed and laid back. 

We went to Tvrda Fortress, built here by the Austro-Hungarians in the early 1700s to defend against the Turks. However, the Turks had already left by the time the fortress was finished. 
Ten thousand people live in the fortress.

We went to the Holy Trinity Square and the Church of the Holy Coss, sometimes called St Anthonys Church.  Two high school girls put on a concert for us (Ave Maria stuff).

Behind the Rising of the Holy Cross Church, there are two interesting memorials. The first is a crucifix made of war materials such as bullet casings. The other is a sculpture shaped like a menorah, featuring holocaust figures.

Leonard got a phone call today that there are problems on the Rhine River. Four of their ships are stuck right now.  Alot of the people from our group are taking this.

Croatia did not have much graffiti, probably because we were in small villages and the countryside.  But we did find this: