A different Croatia...

[Christian P.]

I really need to spend more time in these countries. I just found out aout Plitvice, one of their most beautiful national park.

Anyone here has been there?

http://www.hellomagazine.com/travel/201104155270/plitvice/national-park/croatia/1/

 

[Martinjmpr]

Never heard of it but it looks beautiful! Is it on the Adriatic coast?

I spent a bit of time in Croatia from 97 to 98 with SFOR (Operation Joint Guard.)

But most of my time was spent leading convoys and patrolling the roads between the Hungarian Border (Drava River) and Nasice/Virovitica. I do remember thinking it was very pretty there, reminded me a lot of Germany.

 

[My Overland Adventure]

We went there back in August, a stunning place, however it was overrun with Tourists when we were there, would be great to go back out of season.


Some pics here:
http://myoverlandadventure.com/croatia/


Martin
http://myoverlandadventure.com

 

[Pipo]

Hy!!.
My nickname is Pipo
This is my first post on Expedition Portal Forum.
On this forum I found very interesting themes, so I decided to join forum.
Sorry on my bad English, I suppose you understand everthing I wrote and I will write in future.


I see you ask about Croatia, I'm from Croatia, so I will post here about my county when I take some more free time. You can ask me everything and I will try to answer with photos and descriptions.

Best regards from Croatia
Pipo

 

[ReconH3]

I got to participate in the 2002 Croatia Trophy, and fell in love with the beauty of the country. The people were amazing too. Always inviting you to "pivo" (excuse spelling). Great people! Great country!

 

[Harald Hansen]

Hi, Pipo! I'm looking forward to your posts. Croatia is beautiful. I went through a couple of times in less happy times in 93-94 (UNPROFOR), but would like to go back and enjoy the country someday.

 

[Sirocco]

We spent 3 weeks backpacking/island hoping in 2006 when economy flights were dirt cheap from the UK. This was a few years before I got into overlanding.

My girlfriend still regards this as one of our best holidays. ease of travel, excellent weather, beautiful snorkelling, no hassle, easy communication, laid back and relaxing with excellent transport infrastructure



This is a pic of me at Krka NP

Our route took us from Riayka(sp?) in the north to Dabrovnik in the south via many of the islands and then on the coastal road back north through Bosnia and then back into Croatia.

Awesome, fully recomended. :coffeedrink:

G

 

[theicecreampeople]

looking forward to more post Pipo ...never new Croatia was so beautifull

 

[JED THE SPREAD]

Here are couple of videos from part of our tour of Europe this year that feature Croatia.

http://campervanculture.com/2011/10/traveling-around-europe-in-a-vw-campervan-part-2/

http://campervanculture.com/2011/10/travelling-around-europe-in-a-campervan-part-3/

jed

 

[Saiyan66]

Plitvice looks amazing, I have wanted to go there for a few years now. It is how I imagine Rivendell looking in the Lord of the Rings books. Someday my wife and I will get over there.

 

[dwh]

Hello Pipo! Welcome!

May I ask - have you seen the films by Boris Malagurski? I.e., "The Weight of Chains".

If so, what do you think of his films?

For those who haven't seen this film: Highly recommended.



http://www.weightofchains.com/

 

[Nikolaj]

I guess this thread is good for my first post. I'm a Danish person living in Croatia.

It is indeed a very nice country. Like some people said, certain places are overrun with tourists, but there are still many other places where you can go and have unique experiences without being bothered by tons of other people. Slavonia is very nice and does not have many tourists. There are many beautiful national parks and mountains where you can go hiking. People are very friendly and eager to show their country to tourists.

I also highly recommend Bosnia, Serbia and Montenegro - those countries are all wonderful with beautiful nature (especially Bosnia) and highly worth a visit. If you like to visit cities then Belgrade is amazing and very cosmopolitan.

As for the movie "Weight of Chains." I'm a history major and Balkan history is where my interest is. (which is the reason I am here in the first place) and it is my opinion that this movie is not a very accurate portrayal of Yugoslavia and the events that led to the disintegration of the country. Its a biased and stylistic portrayal that is a bit out of touch with reality. Unfortunatley, history in this part of the world is a very politicized area and its easy to be misled if you just watch/read a few things without background knowledge.

If you want to watch something a little more neutral and i'd even say more scientific then check out BBC's documentary series "The Death of Yugoslavia" in 6 parts.

If anyone has any questions about travelling in Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia or Montenegro then feel free to ask me.

 

[dwh]

If you want to watch something a little more neutral and i'd even say more scientific then check out BBC's documentary series "The Death of Yugoslavia" in 6 parts.

Thank you VERY much for that recommendation. I was hoping for an opinion from someone "on the scene" as to the veracity of that film.

And welcome to ExPo!

 

[dwh]

Apparently there is some accusation (of course) of western bias in regards to the BBC documentary. I'll watch it anyway.

Opinions on "Yugoslavia: The Avoidable War"?

 

[Nikolaj]

I agree that the BBC documentary is slightly biased. However, its still a lot more neutral than Weight of Chains and its the best documentary out there. Its made in 1995 while fighting was still going. It has interviews with several of the politicians, generals and leaders involved including Milosevic, Tudjman and Izetbegovic. I think you will find very little media and litterature in this field to be considered unbiased because its still so heavily politicized.

As for "Yugoslavia: The Avoidable War"? - I don't think its an accurate portrayal either. Its not that these movies dont bring up a few good points, but its the conclusion that they draw from those points that is faulty. They are interesting to watch, but one should be careful about drawing conclusions about the subject based on them alone. Really, the best way to get information is in books but ofcourse a movie is easier and quicker to digest.

There is another docu film called "A Cry from the Grave" about the Srebrenica massacre. Its also an interesting watch, but imo not as good as the BBC series.

Alas, now we've fallen into the usual trap of bringing up a 20 year old conflict in a topic about a modern european country. Most Serbs, Croats and Bosnians want to move on - its not fair that us foreigners bring up this subject everytime these countries get mentioned. War is over now and I can honestly say that these countries are some of the safest places I have ever travelled. I am more afraid of walking home alone friday night in my birth town in Denmark with 25.000 people than I am walking home alone in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. Still, the countries all have a lot of problems with corrupt politicians and poor economy and the people are too apathetic to do anything about it...I think its a leftover from communist times.

I've been to all the ex-Yugoslav countries except Macedonia, they have a lot to offer regardless of your interests and tastes and people are very genuine and friendly

Just be careful about where you go offroad in your truck, there are still landmines in some parts of Croatia and Bosnia :Wow1:

Also thanks for the welcoming!

Edit: I'll upload some photos when I get back from work.