Croatia - Locations of Interest

Croatia is richly blessed with natural and cultural-historical treasures. The country owes its peculiar ability to attract visitors primarily to the splendor of its beaches, coasts, and islands. There is also much that remains unseen and undiscovered, as the attractive venues worth seeing are not only to be found in the Adria region, but all over Croatia. Here is just a small selection.

Plitvice Lakes Natural Park

Croatia is home to nine designated natural parks, ecologically valuable regions which are specially protected. One of these is the Plitvice National Park on the border of Bosnia-Herzegovina in the hilly karst region of central Croatia northeast of the Kapela mountain range. This natural reserve lies just around 100km (62.1mi) southwest of Zagreb directly on the National Zagreb-Split Highway D1 between Slunj and Korenica.

The park was founded in 1949. The goal of the establishment of the natural park was to protect and preserve the ecologically and culturally precious karst landscape with its multitude of lakes and waterfalls. Thus it is also Croatia's oldest national park and was elevated to the status of World Cultural Heritage by UNESCO in 1979. The parkland geography promises a distinctly unique natural experience and is an alternative to city tourism or a holiday vacation on the Croatian Adria.

The central point of the natural reserve area is formed by the Plitvice Lakes. At a length of 9 kilometers (5.6 miles), the lakes stretch from north to south as a chain of perfectly crystal clear, above-ground karst lakes in a complex, cascade-shaped system. The lakes, which lie above one another much like a set of stairs, are held back and separated from travel routes through the densely wooded and hilly landscape by numerous layered rocks, also called Travertin barriers. The water flows over these natural dams in rapid and avalanche-like waterfalls which finally empty into the Korana canyon.

To clarify: the unique natural appearance of the Travertin barriers are preceded by a millenia-long process of calcification. An ideal interplay between flowing water, stone, vegetation, and climate. The basis of such developments are the unique features of a karst region, a landscape which typically consists of brittle, porous stone.

The difference in height between the highest and lowest lakes is about 130 meters (426.5 feet), in which space changes in landscape are also observed. While the twelve larger upper lakes are embedded in a harmonious hilly landscape, the banks of the four lower lakes are distinguished by bizarre, white, craggy calcium rock formations. The lakes formed through the confluences of a number of smaller rivers as well as subterranean karst inlets.

Especially worth seeing are not only the countless cascades and small waterfalls, but also the two large waterfalls in the lower lake region. The smaller is the 25m (82ft) high »Galovac-Waterfall« (Galovacki buk), while the »Large Waterfall« (Veliki slap) crashes down from a height of 78 meters (256 feet); the lakes formed through the influx of several smaller rivers combined with subterranean karst tributaries.

With a total area of around 2km² (0.77mi²), the park's water surface area is very small, as the overall surface area of the Plitvice Lakes Natural Reserve totals 30,000km² (11,583mi²). The unique climatic conditions within the protected area with its Adriatic influences, mountain air, and singular elevation as well as the absence of damaging influences such as noise pollution or air pollution, create ideal conditions and a unique diversity of flora and fauna. There are certainly many endemic varieties to be found such that they are not found in any other place but in the park. Around the lakes there are many types of animals to be discovered which lived here even before humans did. The dense deciduous and coniferous forests are home to bears, wolves, wild cats, deer, and rare types of birds, e.g. the wood hen and the long-eared owl.

The area around the Plitvice Lakes is also known in the German-speaking world through the Winneout movies filmed during the 60s. Lake and waterfall scenes in this western were filmed in this Croatian national park.

Around 900,000 guests visit the park each year. The national park is reached by automobile. The A1 Highway from Zagreb to Split runs about 50 kilometers (31.1 miles) west of the national park. The nearest airports are Zadar, Zagreb, and Rijeka. In terms of public transportation, the Plitvice Lakes are best reached by bus from Zagreb, Karlovac, Zadar, or Split.

The Istrian Peninsula

The Istrian peninsula lies in the northern part of Croatia's Adrian coast between the Gulf of Trist and the Kvarner Gulf/Bay. The larger area belongs to Croatia, with a smaller part belonging to Slovenia. The peninsula is overwhelmingly mountainous; the landscape, vegetation, and land use have a Mediterranean character, Culturally, Istria displays strong regional characteristics. Around 300,000 inhabitants occupy approx. 3,200km2 (1,236mi2). Among the most important cities are Pula, Opaija Rovinj, Poreč und Umag.

For over two thousand years, Istria was the subject of various rulers. In this time, the island was especially moulded by the Republic of Venice - despite Byzantine, Roman, Frankish, Bavarian, and other influences. This one hears talk of »Venetian Istria«, representative of the architecture of the cities.

The region is radiant with particular attractions, notably its multitude of historical and cultural places, monuments, and churches as well as bastions, towers, and fortifications. In addition, excavations in Istrian caverns have uncovered evidence of prototypical humans as well as footprints and bone remnants of dinosaurs. The ruins of more than 400 settlements point to the heavy colonisation of Istria in the Bronze and Iron Ages.

Particularly worthy of mention is a journey of discovery to the idyllic Istrian coastal cities, a journey whose path will be crossed at many points by numerous cultural works of architecture. The amphitheater in Pula, erected in the 1st century and time of Kaiser Vespasian's rule, is the largest ancient example of architecture on Istria and one of the six largest Roman amphitheatres worldwide. Here, the gladiator battles of old took place, which could be cheered on by about 20,000 spectators. In the summer months the amphitheatre features concerts, operas, ballet performances, and a film festival.

Dvigrad, located near Kanfar in Rovinj, is the site of the largest fortress ruins and lies atop a bank. After a plague epidemic in the 17th century, Dvigrad was abandoned. Today, the entire area stretches over 16,000 square meters. Nezakcij, an ancient city four kilometers distant from Pula (2.5 miles), was the residence of Histra, which was conquered by the Romans in 177BC.

Probably the most significant work of architecture in Porec, located in the western part of the peninsula, is the former bishop's palace with the Byzantine Euphrasius basilica, which, together with the three-nave church, baptistery, and atrium, has been declared part of World Cultural Heritage by UNESCO.

Further worth seeing are the ancient residence complex in the Bay of Veriga on Brijuni (one of nine nature parks in Croatia), the Temple of Augustus, the small Roman theatre and the fort in Pula, the church of St. Euphemia in Rovinj as well as the Kažune, often small, usually round field refuges made of dry masonry walls. These are indeed the most well-known symbol of Istria.

Natural beauty in and around Istria displays a particularly rich environment with a diverse world of plants and animals, and forest which stretch to the sea. The sea is considered to be very clean and still untouched in some placed. In these surroundings one finds the Brijuni Islands, designated as one of the nine natural reserve parks in Croatia, regarded as an especially beautiful archipelago which possesses a well-preserved Mediterranean holm oak trees.

The ideal climate on Istria makes for a pleasant stay all year long. Profiting from the location and landscape, it has distinguished itself for some time as an alternative to the usual bathing or excursion tourism which will establish a new form of travel - that of health tourism.

Istria was also known is the past for its saunas, baths, and special massages. However, in recent years, wellness centers, special therapies, and healing and cosmetic treatments, as in many European countries not to mention around the world, seem to have sprung out of the ground.

The well-known bath "Istarske toplice" is worth mentioning here: it is located in the middle of the Motovun Forest in central Istria. Even in the time of the Romans it is said to have had a thermal healing bath. The main thermal source of St. Stephan with its water temperature of 36° C (96.8° F) originates under an 85m high wall of stone (278.9ft). Ailments in the respiratory organs, in the locomotive system, post-operative conditions in bones and joints, and some chronic throat and skin diseases as well as gynaecological diseases are treated here.

Overall it can be seen that there is a wide palette of health and wellness program offerings, whether anti-stress therapy via music, color or aroma therapy, various baths, ice tubs, solariums, and saunas or medical and cosmetic treatments, from Thai and Shiatsu massage to Finnish, Roman, and Istrian saunas, Turkish baths, whirlpools with waterfalls and underwater massages, Istria is indeed the most cost-effective option for these offerings within Croatia.

Well-known wellness centers in Istria are the "Istrian Relax Village" and the "Villa Rustica" in the Umag Hotels "Sol Umag" and "Sol Koralj" as well as the wellness center in the hotel "Diamond" in Poreč, the wellness hotel "Croatia" in Duga Uvala and the hotel "Valsabbion" in Pješčana Uvala near Pula, as well as the wellness polyclinic "Peharec" directly in Pula on the southern tip of the peninsula.

Its location in relation to the big cities of Europe is very good. For Europeans, heart-shaped Istria is the so-called Gate to the Mediterranean. Triest and Ljubljana are in the immediate vicinity, Graz is not far away, to Milan and Vienna it is about 500km (310.7mi) and Munich is less than 600km (372.8mi) away. With Pula, Istria has an international airport.