My beautiful Croatia! (Part 1)

Day 1,481, 13:50 • Published in Croatia Croatia • by dRobi1990


Hi there, dear readers.

First of all, why am I doing this?

I`ve read quite articles in all around the world newspapers and they are more or less concentrated about ingame problems and negative thinking.

So, my goal is to make 50 articles about our small country and show the world all the beauty Croatia has and set a positive thoughts in people`s minds.

Photos will have explanations and a small info.

! Notice: These article is only made to promote Croatia and Croatian nature, culture, cities, heritage, history, art, cuisine, sports and people (either born in Croatia or others) and is not made to usurp, tease or start any sort of controversy, so please have this on your mind when you post comment.

Added Croatian wattle and avatar for each theme (nature, people, sport, city, cuisine) and I hope you wil like it and recognise it in future articles.

Part 2 will be published soon

Enjoy!







Croatia info



Croatian flag



Located at the crossroads of the Central Europe, the Mediterranean and the Balkans, with area of 56,594 km2 and 4,29 million inhabitans.

Capital and the largest city is Zagreb.

Independent on 8 October 1991.

! More info on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croatia











Zagreb from air



From left to right: Westin Zagreb Hotel, Cibona Tower, 1 Ilica Street, Zagreb Cathedral and HOTO business tower



Zagreb main square (Trg bana Jelačića) from air.

Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia (686,568 inhabitans).

It is situated in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain.

Zagreb's architecture, streets, squares of Upper and Lower town, open air green markets, churches and monuments are witnesses of a history that successfully resisted the fast tempo of life at the end of the last century.

Nine hundred year old Zagreb, live a rich cultural life, with more than 20 theatres, 3 concert halls, around 60 museums and art galleries.

It is a big centre of congress tourism, economic and business events, and trade fairs not only in Croatia but also in this part of Europe.

The transport connections, concentration of industry, scientific and research institutions and industrial tradition underlie its leading economic position in Croatia.

It is also the seat of the central government, administrative bodies and almost all government ministries.

! Video: Zagreb from air - Must see!
! More info on: Zagreb on Wikipedia
! More info on: City of Zagreb - Official web site
! Tourist info: Zagreb on Croatian National Tourist Board
! Photo: Zagreb Panorama











The park harbours a grand collection of waterfalls, gallery of lakes, forest and diversity of animal life. The lakes are renowned for their distinctive colors, ranging from azure to green, grey or blue.



Plitvice Lakes is the most prominent National Park in Croatia. It is among the most beautiful sights in Europe.



The colors change constantly depending on the quantity of minerals or organisms in the water and the angle of sunlight. The sixteen lakes which are formed by natural dams of travertine are separated into upper and lower lakes.

Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia's first National park established in 1949 covers 296 square km of breathtaking natural splendor becoming with it the largest among the eight national parks of the country.

The park was inscribed on the UNESCO World HeritageList, in 1979., in recognition of its "outstanding natural beauty and undisturbed production of travertine (tufa) through chemical and biological action".

The park harbours a grand collection of waterfalls, gallery of lakes, forest and diversity of animal life and represents a phenomenon of karst hydrography.

The highest waterfalls are the 78 meters high Large Waterfall (Veliki slap) at the end of the Lower Lakes, over which the Plitvica river falls, and 25 meters high Galovac waterfall (Galovački buk) at the Upper Lakes.

About 90 percent of this area is part of Lika-Senj County, while the remaining 10 percent are part of Karlovac County.

! Video: Plitvice Lakes National Park Promo
! More info: Plitvice Lakes National Park on Wikipedia
! More info: Plitvice Lakes National Park Official Website
! Tourist info: Plitvice Lakes









Coronation of king Tomislav, Oton Iveković, 1904. - 1905.



Map of south eastern Europe in 910.

King Tomislav (died in 92😎 was a ruler of Croatia in the Middle Ages.

He reigned from 910 until 928, first as Duke (dux Croatorum) of Dalmatian Croatia in 910–925, and then became first King (rex Croatorum) of the Croatian Kingdom in 925–928.

Tomislav was one of the most prominent members of the House of Trpimirović.

He united the Croats of Dalmatia and Pannonia into a single Kingdom in 925.

He ruled over the territory of today's Croatia and Bosnia, rounding off his state from the Adriatic Sea to the Drava River, and from the Raša River in Istria to the Drina River.

! More info on: King Tomislav









Its soft current meanders through the Gacka Valley, from its spring in the southeast, to its gulf in the northwest.



The beauty of Gacka is eternal, and that is why it is well loved even by those who only saw it once.



Historical illustration - Otočac city surrounded by Gacka river, 17. century

Gacka is a river located in the Gacka valley in Lika region, Croatia.

Because for a large part of its course it is a subterranean river, estimates on its length vary.

The overground part has undergone substantial human intervention - it is 32 km long.

The river passes through karst fields and most notably the town Otočac, and is known as one among the three best known trout sites in the world.

The beauty of this surrounding nature, the ambiance, and the fishing opportunities are able to capture the hearts of all those lucky enough to ever come and visit the worldwide known beauty.

! Video: Gacka promo by Croatia Airlines
! More info on: Gacka river on WIkipedia
! Tourist info: Otočac town









Pula Arena was constructed in 27 BC - 68 AD and is among the six largest surviving Roman arenas in the World.



Aerial view

The Pula Arena is the name of the amphitheatre located in Pula, Croatia.

The Arena is the only remaining Roman amphitheatre to have four side towers and with all three Roman architectural orders entirely preserved.

A rare example among the 200 Roman surviving amphitheatres of unique technological solutions.

It is also the best preserved ancient monument in Croatia.

! Video: Pula Arena on YouTube
! More info on: Pula Arena on Wikipedia
! More info on: Interior of Pula Arena Panoramic view
! Tourist info: Pula









Galešnjak (also called Island of Love) is located in the the Adriatic sea, between the islands of Pašman and the town of Turanj in Zadar County

It is one of the worlds few naturally occurring heart-shaped objects.

Galešnjak is privately owned and contains only wild plants and trees. Human activity recorded on this island are three known Illyrian burial mounds and remains of an ancient building's foundations.

The island's unusual shape was first recorded in the early 19th century by Napoleon's cartographer, who included it in his 1806 atlas of the Dalmatian coast (kept today at the National and University Library in Zagreb).

! Video: about Galešnjak island (on crotian language)
! More info on: Galešnjak on Wikipedia
! Tourist info: Pasman island











Croatian national football team, 1998 FIFA World Cup bronze medal winner on Stade de France, Saint-Denis in semi-final game versus France

The modern Croatia national football team was formed in 1990.

The team played their first competitive matches in the successful qualifying campaign for UEFA Euro 1996, leading to their first appearance at a major tournament.

In Croatia's FIFA World Cup debut in 1998 the team finished third and provided the tournament's top scorer, Davor Šuker.

Since becoming eligible to compete in international tournaments, Croatia have missed only one World Cup and one European Championship.

Most caps Dario Šimić (100)
Top scorer Davor Šuker (45)

! Video: Croatian national football team
! More info: Croatia national football team











Surogat (known in English as The Substitute) is a 1961 Yugoslavian short animated film by Dušan Vukotić, produced by Zagreb Film, a Croatian film production company.

The film won an Academy Award for Short Subjects (Cartoons) in 1962.

Plot: "A man takes a trip to the beach and every object he brings with him, no matter how unlikely, is inflatable."

Running time: 10 min.

! Video: Watch Surogat













Memorial Centre Nikola Tesla; Nikola Tesla's birth house and statue in the village of Smiljan, Croatia

Nikola Tesla (1856. - 1943.), born in Smiljan, Croatia, died in New York, USA) was a Serbian-American inventor, mechanical engineer, and electrical engineer who lived in Austrian Empire. (today`s Republic of Croatia)

He was an important contributor to the birth of commercial electricity, and is best known for developing the modern alternating current (AC) electrical supply system.

His many revolutionary developments in the field of electromagnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were based on the theories of electromagnetic technology discovered by Michael Faraday.

Tesla's patents and theoretical work also formed the basis of wireless communication and the radio.

The SI unit measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction), the tesla, was named in his honor.

In 1917 he was awarded the IEEE Edison Medal (the highest award of the American Electrical Engineer Society).


! Video: They tried to make the world forget his name - Nikola Tesla
! More info: Nikola Tesla on Wikipedia
! More info: Memorial Centre Nikola Tesla
! Tourist info: Gospic









Čvarci (singular "Čvarak") is a specialty of Balkan cuisine, a variant of pork rinds.

They are a kind of pork 'crisps', with fat thermally extracted from the bacon.

Čvarci are a kind of rustic countryside specialty, common in Croatia.

They are usually homemade, with industrial production not as pronounced.

Preparation:

Preparation of čvarci involves deep-fat frying of bacon.

Bacon is cut in blocks of about one inch (2 cm) in size and slowly fried in their own fat.

Process lasts until all fat melts away and only a kind of tough crispy pork rind remains.

Onion or garlic can be added as a spice.

Pieces of skin may or may not be attached.

In most common variety of čvarci, some percentage of pork fat remains.

Consumption:

As with most traditional pork products, they are considered to be winter food.

Traditional time for pork processing in Balkans is late November and early December, and čvarci are consumed throughout the winter.

They can be eaten on their own as a snack, combined with heated fruit brandy common to the same region, called "rakija", or they can be used as an ingredient in other food recipes.

If consumed as a snack, they are very often combined with beer.

Recipes with čvarci include various sorts of pastry.