Monarch Airlines has announced that it will begin flying to Dubrovnik from London Gatwick, Birmingham and Manchester from summer 2012.
The walls of Dubrovnik with a sculpture of the city's patron saint Sveti Vlaho, Croatia
Photo © Rudolf Abraham.
News and updates on the Cicerone guidebook Walking in Croatia by Rudolf Abraham
Photo © Rudolf Abraham.
My article on hiking in Croatia in the latest edition of OE magazine.
Hiker on the trail from the coast up to Zavizan, Northern (Sjeverni) Velebit national park, Croatia
Plitvicka jezera (Plitvice lakes) national park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Croatia
Images copyright Rudolf Abraham. No unauthorized use.
Once were pirates. In search of the Uskoks of Senj
My article on the Uskoks of Senj (and their legacy in the wooded hills of the Zumberak region west of Zagreb) was published in issue 34 of hidden europe on Friday.
Roman Catholic Chapel of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary (left) and 'Greek Catholic' church of Sts Peter and Paul (right), in the village of Sosice, Zumberak nature park, Croatia
Never heard of the Uskoks? Rudolf Abraham, a regular contributor to hidden europe, takes us to the Zumberak hills west of Zagreb in search of displaced Adriatic pirates.
Mile Vranesic sits below a shelf laden with religious icons, framed certificates and wooden folk art, mouth slightly open as he pauses mid-sentence, and examines me from beneath brooding eyebrows through a plume of cigarette smoke. Old bottles filled with homemade rakija stand on the heavy wooden table before him, and the dark walls are cluttered with densely-hung pictures — plaques and certificates, local heraldry, and an old, faded photograph which shows an enormous cross being carried uphill by a procession of villagers.
I am sitting in the zupnik’s (parish priest’s) office in the Croatian village of Stojdraga, close by the border with Slovenia. And I listen as Mile Vranesic recounts the history of the Uskoks — uskoci in Croatian. The Adriatic pirates of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, they were much celebrated in popular folklore as defenders of Christendom, and the scourge of Ottoman and Venetian shipping in the region. And there is a connection with the inland village of Stojdraga, for it was to these low, wooded hills in the Zumberak region that many Uskoks were outlawed, just a little under 400 years ago. And it is here that one is most likely to find something of their past.
Patrolling the Adriatic
The word Uskok derives from the verb uskociti, which literally translates as ‘to jump in’ (perhaps alluding to their propensity to dive into a fight). As typically recounted, the Uskoks’ story is that, displaced from their homelands further south and east by the Ottoman invasion of the Balkans, they entered the service of Austria as soldiers on the Croatian Military Frontier (Vojna krajina). They were based, among other places, at the strategic fortress of Klis, above Split, and in the port of Senj — the spot on the coast most closely associated with the Uskoks. And it was in Senj that the Uskoks, having repeatedly failed to receive any wages from their Habsburg masters, turned to piracy in order to support themselves.
The reality is of course slightly more complex, and the Uskoks themselves, among them Vlachs and Morlachs (and including Orthodox as well as Catholics in their numbers), had in many cases served as border troops for the Ottomans, and in response to a reduction in privileges were now enlisting for service under Austria. Senj was manned by a garrison of regular troops, who were increasingly joined by Uskoks and other irregulars as the latter were displaced from lands already under, or threatened by, the Ottomans. In particular, following the fall of Klis to the Ottomans in 1537, a large number of its defenders — many of whom were Uskoks — joined those already at Senj.
This is just an excerpt. For the full text of this article see hidden europe 34.
Cast of the tomb of Ivan Lenkovic (from Franciscan church in Novo Mesto, Slovenia), Captain of Senj, in the Nehaj fortress, stronghold of the Uskoks until 1617, Senj, Croatia
Text and images copyright Rudolf Abraham. No unauthorized use.
A few images from a very snowy Plitvicka jezera (Plitvice Lakes) national park, Croatia, taken in January this year. I timed this particular visit to arrive after four days of snow and sub-zero temperatures, so that the icicles on the waterfalls didn’t melt. This also meant that the section of the national park I planned to visit was officially closed, so I had to seek special permission to get into that bit (that is, get in with a 3-minute boat trip rather than walking the long way round by road, which would have lost me half the day!). Croatia’s first area to be declared a national park (back in 1949), and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Plitvicka jezera gets incredibly busy in the summer – but in the winter it’s surprisingly quiet, and you get large sections of trail to yourself.
Veliki prstevac, the waterfall I had come to photograph at this time of year, near Gradinsko lake
One of the best-known views in the national park, the trail winding across Kaluderovac lake
The trail between Kaluderovac and Veliki slap (the highest waterfall in the national park)
Gradinsko lake in the ‘closed’ (at the time, anyway) southern section of the national park
All images copyright Rudolf Abraham. No unauthorized use permitted.
Worth mentioning that as of 18 January this year, tram rides in central Zagreb – which had been free for the previous couple of years following an election promise (and we all know what happens to them sooner or later) – now require a ticket just as anywhere else in the Croatian capital. The system’s still the same though – buy ticket(s) from news kiosk, insert ticket into machine when you board the tram to get it ‘stamped’ with time/date, and use said ticket on multiple journeys (tram/bus) in the same direction over a two hour period. Or you can get a top up card, or buy a ticket by text message.
Tram and snow in Ilica, Zagreb, Croatia
I’m giving a talk on walking in Croatia at the Outdoors Show on Saturday 15th January, at the Excel Centre in London – gave talks on Montenegro and Patagonia today. Hope you can come along.
Posavina. Croatia’s Lonjsko polje and Turopolje
Article in hidden europe issue 32
Rudolf Abraham is the perfect guide to the wetlands of north-east Croatia, as we join him on a tour of the Lonjsko polje region with its distinctive wooden architecture and storks’ nests.
The villages of Lonjsko polje — Cigoc, Krapje, Lonja and others — stretch along the left bank of the Sava as it sweeps east towards its distant rendezvous with the Danube below the fortress of Kalemegdan in Belgrade. A narrow winding road separates the river from the neat rows of wooden houses, some of them over two hundred years old and representative of a style of architecture now lost in much of Croatia.
Occasionally an oxbow lake, long severed from the river’s course and now a place of motionless reed beds and chirping frogs, makes the road swing away from the river briefly, before inevitably drifting back to follow its course again. Livestock can be glimpsed in fields and among the wooden barns and other outbuildings, including the narrow, open-air feed stores, filled with multicoloured cobs of corn. Tall crops of corn stand yellowing in the alluvial rich soil of the surrounding fields, and sunflowers, blackened at the end of the season, hang their charred heads. Passing through Kratecko, a slash in the riverbank leads down to a traditional ferry, which drifts over to the opposite shore, providing the only crossing point along this stretch of the Sava between Sisak, to the northwest, and Jasenovac, far away to the south-east on Croatia’s border with Bosnia.
Lonjsko polje
Lonjsko polje constitutes the largest wetland area in Croatia, and is protected as a nature park (park prirode) as well as being inscribed on the Ramsar list of wetlands of international importance. Covering an area of more than fifty thousand hectares, this vast flood plain is home to numerous species of plants, birds and animals, and is the site of Croatia’s first ornithological reserve, created at Krapje Dol in 1963.
The wooden houses in the villages along this stretch of the Sava are built at right angles to the river, stretching back much further than their narrow facades would initially suggest. The corners clearly show the distinctive traditional joinery, the horizontal planks meeting in something which looks rather like a large dove-tail — or a vuglec, to give it its proper name. The earlier houses actually originally had square joints — and if the houses’ regular plank construction looks rather like they could all just be packed down and reassembled, that’s because they actually were. Families would simply disassemble their home and move it according to the whims of the river Sava, which like all rivers had a habit of flooding dramatically or gradually changing its course.
The houses were made by locals rather than trained builders or craftsmen (though they are nevertheless beautifully made), and the more simple joinery also reflects this. The roofs were originally thatched, but this was later replaced by tiles, and the more simple joins (Hrvatski vuglec) superseded by the more complex (and more permanent) dovetail variety (Njemški vuglec) — the latter through the influence of more highly skilled German craftsmen.
This is just an excerpt. For the full text of this article see hidden europe 32.
http://www.hiddeneurope.co.uk/posavina-croatia-lonjsko-polje-and-turopolje
Istria feature in November edition of CNN Traveller. Truffles, festivals and frescoes – a most enjoyable piece to research…. ;~)
The pic shows the central Istrian hill town of Draguc – used as a film set in numerous Croatian and several international films
http://www.cnntraveller.com/2010/11/03/croatia-a-taste-of-istria/
Just before my most recent visit to Lonjsko polje (early October 2010), the area around Zagreb and Sisak had recently been subjected to some of the worst floods in more than a quarter of a century. The wetlands of Lonjsko polje – into which part of the Sava’s flow is diverted as a flood defense measure – were a quite spectacular, drowned world. Under such circumstances any walking route/exploration beyond the flood bank which lies north of the villages of Cigoc etc is impossible (at least, unless you happen to have a boat). The flood waters also swept away the wooden bridges on the short walking route south of Cigoc – and the remaining ones, I almost found to my camera gear’s cost, are far from stable. Check at the Lonjsko polje park information offices if you’re planning a walk in the area.
Lonjsko polje nature park in early October, after the floods of September 2010 (the most serious for more than a quarter of a century)
Q: Is there much new material in the 2nd edition?
A: Yes
The first edition was 224 pages, with 17 walks; the second edition is 272 pages, with 26 walks – including some in Slavonia (Papuk, Lonjsko polje, Kopački rit nature park), which was not covered in the first edition, another on Medvednica, more coverage of Plitvička jezera and Krka national parks, and more walks on the islands (Korčula, Hvar and Mljet) – as well as short summaries of further walks in each area (which effectively brings the number of walks up to 38). There’s also a much longer hut directory, changes and updates to original walks (in particular the walk in southern Velebit, which now includes the area around Bojinac), and new photos.
So, hopefully there’s something there for you even if you already have the first edition of the guide….
The full contents of the second edition are listed on the About page, above.
Posavina horses in Lonjsko polje, one of the new areas covered by the second edition
