ABOUT CROATIA/ISTRIA

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Since 10 years ago, Croatia emerged in one of the most attractive tourist destinations in Europe. With its magnificent coastline, 1,185 islands, islets and reefs, Roman ruins and picturesque medieval villages, Croatia is more and more rising to the top world tourist destinations - alluring for fun and sun lovers, maritime places, domestic food and old historical legends.

 

ABOUT CROATIA

After centuries of fighting for independence, and being sliced and diced geographically to suit political and ethnic divisions, Croatia has ended up arc-shaped. Its long Adriatic coastline forms the western leg, tapering to the unique ancient seaport of Dubrovnik in the south, while the land between the rivers Drava and Sava forms the northern section. The capital, Zagreb, has settled in-between. The most prominent feature of Croatia's tourist industry is Dalmatian coastline, which is indented with rocky cliffs, peninsulas and islets. Numerous good quality hotels and marinas have been resurrected or constructed in the past few years, and the Croatian province has once again began to enjoy a tourist boom reminiscent of its heyday in the 1930s. There is a special atmosphere in side Croatian towns and villages, which are mostly built on the remains of ancient Greek, Roman and other colony settlements dating from the 4th century BC. This, within the hospitality and determined population, Mediterranean climate, scenic beauty and lush vegetation, is aiding Croatia's rise from the ashes of war into one of the greatest world tourist hot spots.

 

Croatia - At a Glance :

- Geographical position - Croatia extends from the furthest eastern edges of the Alps in the north-west to the Pannonian lowlands and the banks of the Danube in the east; its central region is covered with Dinara mountain range, and its southern parts extend to the coast of the Adriatic Sea.

- Surface - the mainland covers 56,542 km2, and the surface of the territorial sea is 31,067 km2.

- Population - 4,437,460 inhabitants; composition of population: the majority of the population are Croats; national minorities are Serbs, Slovenes, Hungarians, Bosnians, Italians, Czechs and others.

- Capital - Zagreb (779,145 inhabitants), the economical, traffical, cultural and academic center of the country.

- Coastline - 5,835 km of which 4,058 km comprise a coastline of islands, solitary rocks and reefs. Number of islands, solitary rocks and reefs: 1,185; the largest islands are Krk and Cres; there are 50 inhabited islands.

- Highest peak - Dinara: 1,831 m above sea level.

- Currency - Kuna (1 kuna = 100 lipa). Foreign currency can be exchanged in the banks, exchange offices, post offices, travel agencies, hotels, camps, marinas; checks can be cashed in banks.

 

ABOUT ISTRIA

Istria (or Istra, how is called on Croatian) is the largest peninsula on the Adriatic Sea. The peninsula is located at the head of the Adriatic between the Gulf of Trieste and the Bay of Kvarner. Istria is the most developed Croatian region, in the terms of tourism due to its vicinity to the Western Europe. The peninsula is large and triangular, pointing into the Adriatic. Although the coast is less developed like in Dalmatia, besides it is an attractive region for holidays and vacation, because provides great features on the coast and has an interesting inland, which gives an insight into the Croatian long culture and history. As a border region with Italy and Slovenia, it has a rich cultural life, marked by the old cultures that have lived on this areas during many centuries. The large Italian community is still enliven, many Croats have good knowledge of Italian language and numerous Istrian cities, streets, schools, places and buildings are bilingual. The region is famous of its varied home and abroad cuisine. There are served seafood dishes, and also the heavier inland, international and Italian cuisine. Main towns which need to be visited on peninsula are Pula, Rovinj, Novigrad, Poreč, Motovun, GroŽnjan, Oprtalj and Hum, which are in details presented in the town sections.

Istria is connected to Zagreb and all other main cities with bus lines which makes it easy reachable from Rijeka and other places. There is also train connection from Ljubljana to Pula, and there are ferries connecting Pula with Lošinj and Zadar. If you want to travel the other routes, not the ones indicated here, you are advised to take the car.

 

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