Croatia travel guide

Holiday Care, T0845-124 9971, www.holiday care.org.uk. Basic information about facilities for disabled people in various countries and can help find a tour operator specializing in travel for people with mobility difficulties.

Make sure you are up to date with the most basic vaccines such as tetanus, diphtheria and polio. It is still wise to be up to date with hepatitis A vaccine and typhoid even for this relatively safe destination. Tap water is safe to drink throughout the country.

For business, like anywhere else, appearance counts and you should dress smartly. In all other situations you can get away with casual wear, though scanty clothing is frowned upon in churches – cover your legs and shoulders before entering, even if it’s just for a quick peek at the interior. Very few restaurants or nightclubs demand a shirt and tie, but remember that Croatians, and especially Dalmatians, are quite style conscious, so you may receive some withering looks if you turn up in a smart restaurant in shorts and a grubby T-shirt.

A formal greeting takes the form of a handshake – social kissing is reserved for friends and family. Croatians are generally friendly and hospitable, though they are not ones for false smiles: shop assistants can be a little dour and waiters and waitresses in overcrowded bars and restaurants are quite open about displaying exasperation.

It’s usual to ‘clink’ glasses when making a toast and you should look the person you’re clinking with straight in the eyes so as not to seem evasive. Croatians often eat cheese at the beginning of a meal as an appetizer rather than at the end, so if you order everything at once the cheese will probably arrive first. In informal eateries along the coast, it is quite normal for people to eat barbecued fish with their hands, which is actually far more practical than struggling with a knife and fork.

Hrvatska radiotelevizija , http://www.hrt.hr, is the state-run national TV and radio company, which airs three channels: HRT1 shows mainly Croatian-made programmes including news, documentaries, educational, scientific and cultural transmissions; HRT2 broadcasts mainly foreign light entertain- ment and comedies plus regional news; and HRT3 concentrates on sports and music. In addition, there are many local TV channels, which vary greatly in quality, some being no more than mere advertising networks.

Foreign productions are shown in original version with subtitles. British comedies such as Allo Allo, Only Fools and Horses, and Men Behaving Badly have an astonishing cult -following here, as do David Attenborough BBC wildlife documentaries. However, over the last decade, cheap American films have started to hog a fair chunk of viewing time. All that said, most hotels have satellite TV so you can tune in to foreign channels.

Croatia is much more expensive than other former Eastern bloc countries such as the Czech Republic or Hungary. Some Western Europeans come here with the idea that it’s a cheap option and then complain about the prices, not taking into consideration the high quality of locally produced food and the fact that most manufactured goods are imported from Western Europe in the first place.

Hotels and restaurants are reasonably cheaper by EU standards, though prices rise significantly through Jul and Aug with an influx of Italian and German tourists. Private rooms are the best source of low-cost, clean, comfortable accommodation – expect to pay anything between 200Kn and 600Kn for a double, depending on the place, time of year and furnishing. There are not many really top-class luxury hotels in Croatia – the rich and famous who turn up here are normally aboard a private yacht – the exception being in Dubrovnik and Hvar Town where you can expect to pay as much as 2000Kn for a double room. It is worth noting here that prices in Dubrovnik have escalated out of all proportion, so that even a cup of coffee now costs double what it would cost anywhere else in Croatia. In some fashionable resorts on the islands, such as Hvar Town on the island of Hvar, prices for everything are hiked up through Jul and Aug, but drop again in Sep.

Balkan Holidays, T0845-130 1114, http://www.balkanholidays.co.uk. Arrange holidays to the seaside resorts of Istria, Kvarner and Dalmatia.

Croatia for Travellers, 63 Therberton St, London N1 0QY, T020-7226 4460, www. croatiafortravellers.co.uk. Offer programmes for independent travellers island hopping in Dalmatia.

Explore, Nelson House, 55 Victoria Rd, Farnborough, Hampshire GU14 7PA, T0844 499 0902, http://www.explore.co.uk. Offer a selection of adventure tours, including hiking, cycling and boating.

Holiday Options, 0844 477 0451, www. holidayoptions.co.uk. Arrange holidays in numerous resorts along the coast.

Neilson, Locksview, Brighton Marina, Brighton BN2 5HA, T0870-333 3356, http://www.neilson.co.uk. Offer sail-and-stay holidays, based in Lumbarda on the island of Korčula, South Dalmatia.

Ramblers Holidays, T01707-331133, http://www.ramblersholidays.co.uk. Offer a 1-week sight-seeing break based in Dubrovnik, with trips to Cavtat and Čilipi.

Saga Holidays, T0800 096 0074, http://www.saga.co.uk/travel. Organize 7-day breaks for the 50-plus age group in Poreč in Istria, and Makarska and Dubrovnik in Dalmatia. Some of their Mediterranean cruises stop at Dubrovnik en route.

Thompson Holidays, T0871 231 4691, http://www.thompson-holidays.com. Arrange packages to numerous destinations along the coast.

Remote Odysseys Worldwide, PO Box 579, Coeur d’Alene, ID 83816, T800 451 6034, http://www.rowinternational.com. Offer a Jewels of the Adriatic 11-day tour, from Venice to Dubrovnik by private yacht, combining sailing, walking, history, culture and wine tasting.

http://www.cronatur.com Croatia Naturally (naturism)

http://www.gastronaut.hr Food and restaurants

www.hr Croatian homepage

http://www.hic.hr Croatian information centre

http://www.hina.hr Croatian news agency

http://www.mvp.hr Croatian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and EU Integration

http://www.seoski-turizam.net Agrotourism (farm holidays), in Croatian and some English

Plavi Svijet (Blue World), Kaštel 24, Veli Lošinj, Island of Lošinj, T051-204666, http://www.blue-world.org. This environmental organization takes on volunteers to help with the Adriatic Dolphin Project off the coast of Lošinj and Cres. The research team includes experts from Croatia, Italy, UK and Germany, who are currently studying 120 photo-identified bottle-nosed dolphins living in the surrounding waters. It’s possible to join the team as an eco-volunteer for 12 days at their base in Veli Lošinj. Activities include observing the dolphins at sea (the group goes out daily by boat) and collecting and analyzing data in the office. Cost (currently €640-770 for 11 days) includes accommodation in a shared, fully furnished house. The organization also runs the Lošinj Marine Education Centre.

Eco-centre Caput Insulae, Beli 4, Beli, Island of Cres, T051-840525, http://www.supovi.hr. Take on volunteers to help with the upkeep of the centre . Activities include maintaining ecotrails, repairing drystone walls and clearing ponds, as well as work in the interpretation centre. Cost includes accommodation in a shared, fully furnished house. Jun-Sep 1 week costs €149 (this includes accommodation) plus €5.50 per day for food. Oct-May 1 week costs €98.

Glenny, Misha, The Fall of Yugoslavia (1996) Penguin; The Balkans: Nationalism, War and the Great Powers, 1804-1999 (2001) Penguin. Both these books give detailed and readable analysis of the history and politics of the wider Balkan region, with many relevant references to Croatia.

Judah, Tim, The Serbs: History, Myth and the Destruction of Yugoslavia (1997) Yale University Press. A scholarly but lively account of the last 6 centuries of Serbian history.

Morris, Jan, The Venetian Empire (1990) Penguin. Includes an excellent chapter about the Venetian port towns along the Croatian coast.

Silber, Laura and Little, Allan, The Death of Yugoslavia (1996) Penguin Group and BBC Worldwide Ltd. Based on the BBC documentary of the same name, this book gives a step-by-step account of the lead up to hostilities and the war itself.

Stavrianos, Leften Stavros, The Balkans Since 1453 (3rd edition, 2000) New York University Press. Although written in 1958, this book gives an excellent introduction to the Ottoman Empire, tracing Balkan history from the fall of Constantinople up to the close of the Second World War.

Ridley, Jasper, Tito (1994) Constable, London. An excellent general biography, written with hindsight following the break up of Yugoslavia.

Murphy, Dervla, Through the Embers of Chaos: Balkan Journeys (2002) John Murray. Murphy on a bike, exploring the current situation in the countries of former Yugoslavia.

Croatian belongs to the South Slavic branch of the Slavic group of languages – a similar language is spoken by Serbs, Montenegrins and Bosnians. While the latter three speak only the štokavian dialect, Croats speak štokavian, kajkavian and ć akavian. The names of these dialects are derived from the interrogative relative pronoun ‘what’, being spoken either as ‘kaj’, ‘ć a’ or ‘što’. Kajkavian is mainly spoken in northwest Croatia (but not in Istria), while ć akavian can be heard on all the Dalmatian islands (except Mljet) and along the Dalmatian coast near Zadar and Split. Croats in other parts of Croatia, as well as in Bosnia and Herzegovina, western parts of Vojvodina (in Serbia) and Boka Kotorska (in Montenegro) speak the štokavian dialect. Since it is the official variant taught in schools, štokavian is also spoken in kajkavian and ć akavian parts of the country.

The area where these dialects were spoken was far larger before the Turkish wars, which caused mass migrations. As a result of these population movements, today there are Croatian minorities in Burgenland (Austria), Slovakia, Moravia (Czech Republic) and the region of Molise (Italy), where the older variant of the Croatian language has been preserved.

Croatian is almost identical to Serbian, the main difference being that Croats, who are mainly Catholic, write in Latin script, while Serbs, who are predominantly Orthodox, use the Cyrillic script. Variations in grammar, spelling and pronunciation are comparable to differences between British English and American English.

In 1107, five years after the rest of Croatia had done so, the coastal towns of Dalmatia recognized Koloman as their king, and in return he granted them a certain autonomy. The first town to receive a charter was Trogir, which soon became a model for those of other Dalmatian towns. According to this charter, citizens of Trogir were obliged to recognize the supreme power of the king and to give him two-thirds of all customs fees; in return they were granted autonomy in all other aspects of town life. The Hungarian kings gave greater privileges to the Dalmatian towns than to Hungarian towns as they needed them for their access to the sea.

In 1054 the ‘Great Schism’, the break between Eastern and Western Christian churches, took place, and the border between the Eastern and Western Roman Empires, drawn up by Theodosius in AD 395, became the border between the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches. The east Adriatic, bisected by this border, was of direct interest to both the pope in Rome and the patriarch in Constantinople, and the papacy was eager to keep Croatia under the Catholic wing.

The Bronze Age began here in the late fourth century BC following the arrival of the first groups of Indo-Europeans, settlers from the East who knew how to work metal. The most famous site from this period is Vučedol, near Vukovar in Eastern Slavonia, where objects such as ornamental ceramic dishes, tools and weapons have been unearthed. The best known find is the Vučedol Dove. In northern Croatia, several urn-fields (burial sites where cremated bodies were placed in an urn with a lid, which was buried in a circular pit) have been discovered. These people probably worshipped the sun, and were part of a culture that spread across Central Europe at that time.

Christianity arrived early in this part of the world. Apparently St Paul sent his disciple Titus to the area to spread the new religion, and St Paul himself was shipwrecked close to the island of Mljet. The oldest diocese in the country was probably Salona (Solin), and its founder was the martyr Venancius, who died around AD 257. The Bishop of Salona, later known as St Gaius, was elected Pope in Rome in AD 283. After the ‘Edict of Milan’ (which legalized Christianity) Salona became the seat of the Archbishop of Dalmatia, and its importance is testified by numerous archaeological finds on the site.

The rule of the first Hapsburgs was devoted to defending the region against the Turks. When the Turks took Klis in 1537, they effectively had control over the entire Dalmatian hinterland all the way south to the River Neretva, leaving Dalmatia divided between Venice and the Ottoman Empire. In October of the same year, the Turks defeated Ferdinand’s armies at Gorjan (near Djakovo), and thus opened their way to the Croatian lands in the west. Croatia, under the authority of the ban, was “the remains of the remains of what it once was” (reliquiae reliquiarum olim incliti regni Croatiae). Ferdinand, using the excuse of installing better defence, centralized the government into his own hands in order to constitute a unified monarchy.

Already at the end of June, the Yugoslavian People’s Army (JNA) was sent in to Slovenia, but fighting there lasted only several days as the country was not a target of Milošević ’s expansionism, having no significant Serbian minority. However, the war then transferred to Croatia, where Milošević was more than eager to defend the 600,000 strong Serbian community, who were mainly concentrated in the old Krajina zones. Local Serbs worked together with the JNA, who were confronted by poorly armed Croatian policemen and voluntary soldiers. Much of the former Krajina came under Serb control in the so-called Log Revolution (trees were felled and placed across roads to literally block access to the region), and the Republic of the Serbian Krajina was declared, effectively cutting off one-third of the country. Basically the Serbs said that if the Croats could claim independence from Belgrade, then they wanted independence from Zagreb.

Serbian TV, Milošević ’s main propaganda tool, predicted the resurgence of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), spreading fear among Serbs of a return to the Second World War-style persecution. Likewise Croatian TV broadcast horrific stories of Serbian barbarianism and the evils of Communism. The seeds of ethnic hatred had been sown and it became increasingly impossible to distinguish the truth from the lies.

By excessive donations of feudal estates, the king’s juridical and economic power weakened. The situation climaxed at the time of Andrew II (1203-1235), when the feudal nobility gained certain privileges on the king’s account through a charter known as the Golden Bull (1222), an agreement very similar to the English Magna Carta from 1215.

The 13th century saw the king’s patrimonial power further diminished with the forming of the Sabor (parliament), where nobles would meet to discuss matters of national importance. The first meetings were held in Zagreb and attended only by nobles from Slavonia.

The Hapsburg’s power gradually strengthened under Marie Thérèse (1740-1780) and Joseph II (1780-1790), and with them came a process of increased Germanization. Marie Thérèse employed centralistic rule, governing from 1764 without the parliament and issuing her own laws, pleasing Croats one moment and Hungarians the next. In 1745 she united Slavonia and Croatia under a combined administrative unit as a reward for the contribution Croatian soldiers had made to various wars the Hapsburgs were participating in. However, in 1779 she eliminated the work of the Croatian regency council, handing its affairs to the Hungarian council, effectively erasing any type of Croatian independence.

In 1784, Marie Thérèse’s son, Joseph II, ordered Croatian clerics to learn the German language within a three-year period. This lead to considerable protest, as the official language in Croatia and Hungary at that time was Latin. However, the emperor went ahead with his plans and in 1786 he ordered that all administration should be carried out in German.

Meanwhile, a great surprise was install for the Croatian representatives at the Hungaro-Croatian parliament in Buda (part of present-day Budapest). Instead of Joseph’s decision on German being the official language, the Hungarians proposed that Hungarian should be the official language of Banska Croatia (the area of Croatia under the ban). However, in the upper house of parliament, where Croatian representatives had a right to veto, the proposal was declined and Latin remained the official language.

In 1827, the parliament in Zagreb passed a law making the Hungarian language obligatory in all secondary schools in Croatia. However, by this time new political aspirations were blossoming in Croatia, lead by the so-called Illyrian Movement, founded by Ljudevit Gaj (1806-1872). Gaj believed that unification of the South Slavs was the best way to oppose the increasing Germanization and Hungarianization of the region under Austro-Hungary, and aimed at doing this through a reawakening of the national consciousness, primarily through language and literature.

Besides the Illyrians, a pro-Hungarian party also existed in Croatia, made up mainly of knights, who wanted union with Hungary. Understandably, these two parties came into strong conflict. The pro-Hungarians accused the Illyrians of acting on the behalf of Russia, and the name Illyrian was thus prohibited in 1843. In its place, Gaj’s movement was renamed the National Party.

The National Party rapidly gained popularity on county assemblies and as a counter-Hungarian wing in the parliament. Meanwhile, the revolutions that swept across Europe in 1848 gave further impetus to the movement. The ideas the Illyrians cherished were expressed in so-called ‘Demands of the People’ that were announced and accepted on 25 March 1848. These included the union of Dalmatia, Slavonia and the Krajina (military border), the institution of Croatian as the official language, and the foundation of a Croatian people’s army.

The National Party also voted for Josip Jelačić as ban (governor), and he was instated on 4 June 1848. Croatia was now in a difficult position because the revolutionary movement in Hungary refused any possible agreement with the Croats: the Hungarian revolutionary leader, Lajos Kossuth, famously said “Where is Croatia, I do not see it on the map?” In September 1847, Jelačić thus lead his army into battle with the Hungarian revolutionaries, in the defence of both Croatia and the Hapsburgs. Not that he was protecting the empire, but rather he hoped that by so doing he would be able to procure certain favours from the Austrians.

As the situation became more complicated than had been expected, in December 1848 Emperor Ferdinand abdicated in favour of his teenage son Franz- Josef I. With the revolution in Hungary finally over (with the help of the Russian Tsar) Jelačić ’s dream of a ‘Slavic Austria’ also ended. In August 1849, the Hapsburgs returned to their old ways, with Emperor Franz-Josef I eliminating the new constitution he had formulated and imposing a centralistic-absolutistic regime accompanied by Germanization that eliminated all political freedom. “While the Magyars received absolutism as a punishment, the Croats got it as a reward” became a common expression at the time.

One of the National Party’s demands that was eventually implemented was the integration of the Krajina (military border) into Croatia in 1881, which extended Croatian territory by one-third. This brought a considerable Serb population into the sphere of Croatian politics, a situation that was immediately abused by the new pro-Hungarian ban, Khuen Hedervary (1883-1903), who played off the ongoing competition between Croats and Serbs to weaken the Slav position by inciting conflicts between them. At this time there were 103 Serb representatives in the Croatian parliament, of whom 101 were pro-Hungarian.

On 16 May 1895, during a state visit by Francis Joseph, the Hungarian flag was burnt in Zagreb, reflecting a mood of discontent. Soon after that, the Croatian Peasants’ Party, led by Stjepan Radić , entered the Croatian political scene. It represented a sizable force, as about 80% of the population were peasants at that time. All the progressive parties united themselves into one party in 1902, and the so-called Croatian Question, dealing with the destiny of Austro-Hungarian Slavs and the monarchy, came more and more to the centre of politics.

Meanwhile, in Serbia, King Alexander, of the pro-German Obrenović Dynasty, was assassinated in 1903, and substituted by Petar, of the Karadjordjević Dynasty, which was more orientated towards Russia, France and Britain. The change of dynasty brought about opposition to the Austro-Hungarian Empire within Serbia, and many Serbs in Croatia also stopped supporting Hungary, and switched their interests instead to building closer ties with the Croats.

At the end of the First World War, other European countries such as Poland, the Baltic countries, Finland and Czechoslovakia formed their own states, but this option was not open to Croatia. The Croats therefore seized the solution of forming a new South Slav country, and their neighbours, Serbs and Slovenians, agreed. After the military collapse of the monarchy on 29 October 1918, the Croatian parliament made a resolution to break all relations with Austro-Hungary and announced that Dalmatia, Croatia and Slavonia, together with the independent city-state of Rijeka, would enter a new State of Slovenians, Croats and Serbs. On 1 December 1918 this unification was officially announced in Belgrade and the new Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was formed. The leader of the Serbian military delegation responsible for the unification was Dušan Šimović . The only person to oppose the unification was Stjepan Radić , leader of the Croatian Peasants’ Party, who said to the Croatian delegation before their journey to Belgrade, “Do not rush yourselves like geese in the fog.”

The basic problem with the unification was that it was done unconditionally, leaving Croatia with little state autonomy. The unification came about not only due to the aspiration of South Slavic intellectuals from within the country, but also through the interest of France and Britain to disable German influence and the Bolshevik ideal. Meanwhile, the Treaty of Rapallo was signed in order to arrange the borders between the Kingdom of Italy and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Istria, the islands of Cres, Lošinj, Lastovo and Palagruža, the city of Zadar and part of Slovenia were all awarded to Italy, effectively placing over 500,000 Croats and Slovenes under Italian rule.

In 1921, on St Vitus Day (28 June), parliament voted for a constitution that was centralistic, and as such could not satisfy the Croats, who were determined to keep some sort of autonomy. The Croatian Peasants’ Party opposed the move and tried to obtain the support of several Western European countries, but they approved the politics of Belgrade.

King Aleksandar used the assassination to dismiss the parliament on 6 January 1929, to abolish the constitution and to set up a royal dictatorship in order “to save the people from parliamentary troubles”. In the same year the king signed a law by which he changed the country’s name to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, meaning the ‘Kingdom of the South Slavs’, and divided the country into nine governmental regions. The use of the terms Croat, Serb and Slovene, together with their national flags, was prohibited. Exception was made for the Serbian flag, on the grounds that it was also the flag of the Serbian Orthodox Church. In 1931, the king announced the new constitution of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, without a parliamentary vote.

In the late 1980s, the appearance of Albanian nationalism in Kosovo gave a good excuse for the programme for a Greater Serbia. It was a continuation of the Serbian nationalist politics from the 19th century, which aimed to make the country the leading force in the Balkans. Having seized the presidency in Serbia, in 1988 Slobodan Milošević deposed the Communist leaders of Vojvodina, Kosovo and Montenegro, and in 1989 he made amendments to the Serbian constitution, thereby eliminating the autonomy of the provinces of Vojvodina and Kosovo.

The year 1989 saw the fall of the Berlin Wall and the demise of Communist regimes throughout the countries of Eastern Europe followed the disintegration of the USSR. In a way it was a case of history repeating itself, just as in 1918, when a succession of new independent countries were founded following the fall of an empire. This time, Croatia did not want to miss the opportunity.

Attempts by the Croatian economist Ante Marković and the Reformed Communists to save Yugoslavia seemed destined to fail from the start, mainly because of Slobodan Milošević . In spring 1990, the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), lead by Franjo Tudjman, won the elections in Croatia on a nationalist manifesto. The Assembly met for the first time on 30 May 1990, and Tudjman was elected president. However, already in August, Serbs in Knin began rebelling against the Croatian state, fearing that they would be marginalized by its nationalist agenda.

It was at this time that the Ottoman Turks began expanding towards Croatia. The Holy Roman Emperor and King of Hungary, Sigismund I (1387-1437) organized a crusade against the Turks, but was defeated at the Battle of Nicopolis in 1396. It was an evil omen that signified forthcoming wars between Croatia and the Ottoman Empire that would last for centuries. Sigismund’s negligence and his absence from the country brought about the disintegration of his authority. Disunited Croatian society spent all its efforts on internal conflicts and was unable to fight the Turks.

Having lost Dalmatia to Venice, Croatian political life was reduced to the region of Slavonia (formerly known as Pannonia). By this time, the term Slavonia was applied further to the east, while the name Croatia was moved from Dalmatia northwards to the area between Gvozd Mountain and the River Drava.

Conditions were even worse during the reigns of Albrecht Hapsburg (1438-1439) and Vladislav (1440-1444), who was also King of Poland. The more competent Matthias Corvinus (1458-1490), who aspired to establishing a Central Europe kingdom that would counterbalance the Turks (a role that was later played by the Hapsburg monarchy), tried unsuccessfully to enforce order in the country and protect it from the Turks.

The area that is today Croatia was inhabited as long ago as the Stone Age. One of the sites with the oldest traces of early man is the cave of Sandalja, near Pula, where a 1,000,000-year-old tooth was found. The other notable Stone Age site is a cave on the hill of Hušnjak, near Krapina, where 30,000-year-old Neanderthal remains were unearthed in the late 19th century. Traces of Neanderthal hunter-gatherers from the period preceding the last Ice Age have also been discovered in the cave of Veternica, near Zagreb, and in Vindija, near Varaždin.

The Mongol invasion of 1241-1242 left Croatia and Hungary devastated and impoverished. It also rapidly liquidated the king’s power and strengthened that of the feudal nobility and the ban (governor or viceroy), who substituted the king and became the political exponent of the nobles.

At the turn of the 14th century, the Hungarian Anjou Dynasty succeeded to the throne with the help of Croatia’s most powerful family, the Šubić s, who had installed themselves as hereditary bans. Both Carl (1301-1342) and Ludovic (1342-1382) ruled without parliament, but the riots and conflicts between local noblemen left the country in a state of turmoil. Venice took advantage of the situation to gain control of the Dalmatian coastal towns of Šibenik and Trogir (1322), Split (1327) and Nin (1329).

In the mid-third century BC the southern tribes united to form an Illyrian state under the leadership of the Ardedians, a people renowned for piracy. Under King Agron the Illyrian state encompassed South Dalmatia, part of Herzegovina, Montenegro and Albania, with its centre in Skodra (present-day Shkodar in Albania). Feeling threatened by Illyrian expansion, the Greeks called the Romans for help. In the meantime King Agron died and his place was taken by Queen Teuta, who managed the throne in the name of her under-aged son. When Roman messengers arrived to ask Teuta to curtail piracy they were promptly put to death, causing the beginning of a series of wars between the Romans and the Illyrians. After three wars fought between 229 and 167 BC, the Illyrian state was defeated and its territory turned into the Roman province of Illyricum.

The Roman Liburnia, which was a fast and powerful ship powered by two banks of oarsmen, was built on the original model of those used by Liburnian pirates, and the majority of sailors in the Roman military navy originated from Illyricum. Interestingly, according to Greek and Roman writers of that time, the Liburnians kept a matriarchal society.

The Illyrian tribe of the Histri was conquered in 177 BC, when the Romans took their last point of resistance, the fortified city of Nesactium (present-day Nezakcij near Pula). The Romans gradually expanded the borders of Illyricum up to the River Danube, and the territory was divided into two provinces: Pannonia and Dalmatia. The capitals of these two provinces were Poetovio (in present-day Slovenia), and Salona (near Split), which is said to have had a population of 60,000, a figure only attained by modern-day Split in the year 1960.

The first Roman settlers were traders and soldiers. Legions built military camps that soon developed into centres of Roman culture. Besides fortresses, the Roman army built roads, bridges and aqueducts, which stimulated the arrival of civilians who were attracted by the possibility of expanding trade and colonization. This lead to the development of the inland towns of Siscia (Sisak) and Sirmium (Srijemska Mitrovica), and the coastal towns of Pola (Pula), Senia (Senj), Jader (Zadar), Salona (Solin), Narona (Vid near Metković) and Epidaurum (Cavtat). The Romans built roads so as to make military intervention possible and to improve trade and communications. The two most important routes both linked Aquileus (Aquileia) in northeast Italy to Byzantium (present-day Istanbul), one passing through Emona (Ljubljana), Poetovia (Ptuj) and across Pannonia to Singidunum (Beograd) and Naissu (Niš), while the other ran south along the coast through Dalmatia and then veered east to join the Via Egnatia (Egnatian Way) through Epirus (mainland Greece).

The town was founded in the seventh century on a site known to the Romans as Ragusium. Dubrovnik came under the protection of the Byzantine Empire until 1205, after which it came under the Venetian Republic. Dubrovnik liberated itself from Venetian protection in 1358 and from that moment onwards its rise to glory began. Even though the town recognized the authority of the Hungaro-Croatian king, in reality it became an independent city-republic. The term republic was used for the first time in 1430. Due to the fall of the Hungaro-Croatian Kingdom and Turkish hegemony, Dubrovnik recognized the authority of the Turkish Sultan to whom it paid a fee of 12,500 golden coins.

Later the Hapsburg Dynasty became stronger and the Turks weakened, so in 1684 Dubrovnik signed a contract with the Hapsburgs, agreeing to an annual tribute of 500 golden coins, an act which revived the protection of the Hungaro-Croatian crown, whose successors were the Hapsburgs. Dubrovnik continued to pay a fee to the Turkish Sultan too. The French brought about the end of the republic in 1808, 11 years after the fall of Dubrovnik’s greatest rival, Venice.

During its golden years, Dubrovnik developed diplomacy to the extent that no country before or after has ever managed. This was essential, as sitting between the mountains and the sea it was surrounded by the Ottoman Empire landwards and Venice seawards. The Dubrovnik aristocracy cherished the republic and put it above their own interests. Their motto was “With everyone nicely, with everyone carefully.” They were divided between the East and the West; the secrets they discovered in the courts of the Christian rulers they would sell to the Turks, and vice versa.

In 1377, Dubrovnik was one of the first places in Europe to open an organized quarantine as protection against the plague. Following this model, other European towns founded similar quarantines. In 1570, the republic’s fleet numbered 180 ships with a total capacity of 56,810 tonnes, worth almost 700,000 golden coins and, for some time, tiny Dubrovnik had the third largest merchant fleet in Europe. In the early 16th century, the city started building the biggest ships in the world at that time, with capacities of up to 2050 tonnes.

Members of the EU, with much persuasion from Germany and the Vatican, recognized Croatia’s independence on 15 January 1992. The JNA left Serb-occupied territories, which remained, however, in the hands of the self-proclaimed Republic of the Serbian Krajina, and in March 1992 UN peacekeepers were sent in to oversee the situation. Isolated incidents of ethnic violence continued, but all-out fighting had stopped. On 22 May 1992 Croatia became a member of the United Nations.

Under Clinton, the US began sending in American military advisors to train the Croatian army. In early May 1995, with American blessing, in the military operation Blijesak (Lightning), Croatian forces attacked a Serb-held enclave in western Slavonia. The Serbs were forced to evacuate the region, giving the Croatian army a victory and considerably reducing the Croatian territory controlled by the Serbs.

Then, in August, with the military operation Oluja (Storm), Serb-held areas of North Dalmatia, Banovina, Kordun and Lika were liberated. The fall of the Republic of the Serbian Krajina was officially announced when Croatian soldiers hoisted the red and white chequer-board flag above Knin Fortress. A mass exodus of Serbian families ensued, with most fleeing to neighbouring Bosnia and to Serbia-proper.

The Croats were the only Slav nation fortunate enough to have settled on the culturally rich Roman Mediterranean. Very few written documents exist regarding their early years in the region, although around the year 800 we have evidence of one Duke Višeslav, whose court was based in Nin (near Zadar, in North Dalmatia).

Croatian territory covered the hinterland of the coastal towns of Zadar, Trogir and Split, but did not actually include these towns. It stretched south as far as the River Cetina (near Omiš), and east into central and western Bosnia. To the north it included Lika and Krbava, which were governed by a ban (governor or viceroy) and later it also covered the province of Istria. When the Croatian rulers were at their height, Pannonia, between the River Drava and Gvozd Mountain, was part of Croatia, but during periods of weak central authority Pannonia lead a life of its own.

Trpimir, Duke of Croatia (845-864), is deemed as the founder of the dynasty that ruled the country until the end of the 11th century. He expressed a patrimonial perception of the state, considering the entire territory as his own personal property and surrounded himself with a council of hand-picked counts (župani), who were each responsible for a county (županije), to help him rule.

Trpimir’s successor, Domagoj (864-876), built up Croatia’s naval strength and came into conflict with Venice over the control of the Adriatic, which is why the Venetians called him the worst Duke of Croatia. After Domagoj, Zdeslav (878-879) came to power but he was assassinated and was succeeded by Branimir (879-882) who was loyal to the pope and obtained the first international recognition of Croatia from Pope John VIII.

At that time the ‘Apostles of the Slavs’, the brothers Methodius and Cyril, were requested by the Byzantine emperor to invent an alphabet that could be modified for Slavic languages and would thereby spread the Byzantine influence among these people. The papacy, worried about the strengthening of Byzantium, wanted to keep Croatia under Rome’s watch.

When the Roman Empire was divided into the Eastern and Western Empires in 395 – a division that was to have far-reaching consequences for the later history of the Balkans – Dalmatia fell within the West. With the fall of the Western Empire in 476, the region became part of the Ostrogoth state of Theodoric the Great, until the Byzantine emperor Justinian I conquered the Ostrogoths in 555, and it was made a Byzantine province. During the second half of the sixth century, it was invaded by tribes of Slavs and Avars, and by 600 they had reached the most western point in their migration, Istria. They also travelled south through Dalmatia, where they demolished Salona.

During the First World War, the centre of Croatian politics was moved outside the country with the exiled Yugoslav Committee, which represented the Yugoslavian people under the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, and aimed to unify all the South Slav countries in the Balkans into one nation.

During the 200-year fight to hold back the Turks, Croatia lost not only three-quarters of its territory, but also the same proportion of its population. People either died in battle, or were captured by the Turks and taken away to be used as slaves. The survivors moved to the north and the west of the country, and even beyond its borders. The aristocracy also migrated, with the Šubić -Bribirski family, the Drašković s, Kukuljević s and Vranicanis all moving northwards, thus displacing the centre of the Croatian state from Coastal Croatia to Upper Croatia. The clergy, knights and military government encouraged these migrations.

Two Croatian aristocratic families in particular distinguished themselves in the wars against the Turks: the Frankopans and Zrinskis. These two families were related by blood, and also by similar political beliefs. In the 17th century, Petar Zrniski, together with a group of Hungarian aristocrats, lead a diplomatic mission to free Croatia of Hapsburg domination. But the conspiracy was soon discovered and the court in Vienna sentenced Petar Zrinski and his brother-in-law Franjo Frankopan to the guillotine. They were executed on 30 April 1671, and their extensive estates were confiscated on behalf of the court chamber, eg the Hapsburgs.

By 1718, Croatia had reclaimed all of Slavonia, a part of Srijem, Banovina, Kordun, Lika and Krbava from the Turks. These lands were immediately claimed by Vienna, even though in theory they should have been placed under the jurisdiction of the Croatian parliament and the ban. But the Hapsburgs did not want to strengthen Croatia, so on the pretext of having been won in war, they were placed instead under military authority, effectively becoming a constituent part of the Krajina. The Hapsburgs also started to give away large estates in the liberated and recently acquired Slavonia to foreign (German and Hungarian) families, such as the Odescalchis, Eltzes, Normans and Trenks, to the obvious detriment of the Croatian nobility. Therefore, the Croatian parliament started to lose its importance, and fewer and fewer noblemen participated in its meetings, attending the Hungarian parliaments instead, where they solved Hungaro-Croatian matters together with the Hungarian nobles.

The Hungarian Arpadović family, like the other royal dynasties that ruled Croatia, did not gain their crown through military occupation but with the approval of the Croatian nobility. In spite of this, each royal house that ruled the country treated it as a province in their kingdom.

Croatian history from 1102 until 1991 finds the country divided into three large administrative areas that had little contact with each other – Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia – under foreign rulers such as the Arpadović Dynasty as of 1102, the Anjou Dynasty as of 1301, the Hapsburgs from 1527 and the Karadjordjević Dynasty from 1918. In theory this was the free choice of Croatian nobility (the people with a say in politics), but in reality it was somewhat different.

Under each foreign ruler, the Croatian nobility requested that the union should be between two equal partners, and that it should have the character of a personal or individual union. However, each dynasty, upon settling in Croatia, insisted on a real or actual union. Personal union is when both countries concerned retain autonomy in internal affairs and are linked by the persona of the ruler – the best examples of this are the countries of the Commonwealth that recognize the Queen of England as their ruler, but govern their own internal and foreign political matters. Real union is when a king has the power to make laws and the countries under him have limited local autonomy.

The Croats were misfortunate in that every time they gave their independence to foreign royalty, they then had to claim back their historical rights from them. Croatia could oppose the ruling dynasties when it still had great noble families such as the Frankopans and the Subić -Zrinskis who were powerful enough to oppose the king. But with the loss of territory upon the arrival of the Turks and the extinction of the Frankopans and the Subić -Zrinskis, and with the increase in the number of rulers in Europe (absolute monarchy), this freedom was decreased. Until the French revolution the conflict between the ruler and the nobility was a conflict between a narrow class of people, but later with the growth of a national consciousness it became a conflict between entire nations.

The change of dynasty had far-reaching consequences for Croatia. Most of the national territory – Croatia, Dalmatia, Slavonia and the county of Neretva (south of the River Cetina) – was united under the Arpadović s, but in spite of this there were significant differences between these regions. The dualism of Croatia and Dalmatia continued, while medieval Slavonia and the county of Neretva each developed separately.

However, soon after his death a conflict blew up, provoked by the Normans, Venetians, Byzantines, Hungarians and the pope in Rome, who all hoped to gain control over Croatia and Dalmatia. The result of this was that Zvonimir, the former ban (governor or viceroy) at the time of Petar Krešimir, succeeded to the throne in 1075 and took the title King of Croatia and Dalmatia. Zvonimir was chosen thanks to the support of Pope Gregory VII, and in return he placed the country under papal sovereignty. He was linked to the Hungarian dynasty Arpadović through his wife Jelena, who was a sister of the Hungarian king Ladislas. Legend says that Zvonimir left the Croats with a curse that they would not have their own king for 1000 years.

After Zvonimir, Stjepan Trpimirović ruled for a short time, but he was too weak to put an end to difficult internal problems. This chaos was used by the Hungarian Arpadović Dynasty, with some assistance from the pope, to take control of Croatia and Dalmatia and finally fulfil their long desire to open up their land-locked territories with access to the sea. Rome favoured the Arpadović s, and thus in 1091 the Hungarian king Ladislas came to Slavonia and claimed the right of his sister Jelena (widow of Zvonimir) to Croatia and Dalmatia. Ladislas succeeded in taking Pannonian (which from then on became known as Slavonia), and in 1094 he founded a diocese in Zagreb, but he had no luck in conquering the hills of coastal Croatia. In 1097, his successor to the throne, Koloman, defeated the last Croatian king Petar on Gvozd Mountain, which was later renamed Petrova Gora (Petar’s Mountain).

The name Hrvat (Croat) has been used by two other Slavic tribes, besides today’s Croats – the so-called White Croats in Poland, who populated the area around the River Vistula, with their centre in Krakow, and the Croats of the northeast region of the Czech Republic. Other smaller groups who also called themselves Croats have been traced in Slovenia, Slovakia, Montenegro, Macedonia and even in Greece.

Even though Duke Pavle was strongly opposed to the Germans, the kingdom was surrounded by Axis Powers, and he therefore decided to join them under reasonable conditions. In reply to a message from the American president, Franklin Roosevelt, that Yugoslavia should not approach the Germans, the duke said: “It’s easy for you big nations a long way away to tell the smaller ones what to do.” Two days later, on 27 March 1941, a military putsch took place in Belgrade, organized and paid for with 100,000 pounds in gold by the British secret services.

Once the regency had been removed from power, a new government, led by General Dušan Šimović , was formed. Already on 6 April 1941, Germany and Italy attacked the kingdom. On 10 April, in Zagreb, the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) was proclaimed, with Ante Pavelić as leader. The Germans thought that Vlatko Maček should stand as president, but he believed that the Allied forces would eventually win and therefore refused the position.

Croatia’s independence was at first met with high hopes by the majority of Croats, but when the government gave a large part of the coast to Italy, and began persecuting Serbs, Jews and Gypsies, this support suddenly vanished. The country was divided into two spheres: the south was governed by Italians, and the north by Germans.

As a reaction, the Partisan movement was founded and as the terror enforced by the Italians, Germans and the government increased, so the number of partisans increased. Even though the movement was mainly organized by Communists, members of the Croatian Peasants’ Party also participated. The leader of the outlawed Communist Party, Josip Broz, now became the organizer of the largest anti-fascist movement in occupied Europe.

In 1943, the Zemaljsko antifašističko vijeć e narodnog oslobodjenja Hrvatske (Territorial Antifascist Council for the Liberation of Croatia), or ZAVNOH, was formed. Italy capitulated on 8 September 1943, and at the following ZAVNOH assembly it was decided that both the Treaty of Rapallo from 1920 and the Treaty of Rome from 1941, through which Italy had taken possession of much of the Croatian coast, should be abolished.

Initially, the Allied forces only acknowledged the Yugoslav royal government in exile, based in London, but later the British were the first to help the partisans, having been persuaded by Winston Churchill, who even sent his son as a military agent to Tito. That was how the British established a strong military base on the island of Vis, where still today there is a British military cemetery. Vis was for some time the capital of liberated Yugoslavia and it was here, on 14 June 1944, that the first meeting between Tito and Šubašić , the representative of the Yugoslav government in exile, took place.

Since Tito was the military victor in the war, all possible agreements between the two of them were unsuccessful. At the beginning of 1945 there was a conference in Yalta in which three great leaders participated, and the well-known division of interests in a liberated Europe was agreed between Stalin and Churchill. Their interests in Yugoslavia were divided 50-50%.

Germany capitulated on 9 May 1945, bringing about the end to the Independent State of Croatia. Together with the military retreat, many pro-Ustaša civilians also tried to leave the country, frightened of possible revenge attacks. When they reached Austria, they were turned back by the British army, and regardless of whether they were soldiers or civilians, they were handed over to the partisans and killed on the field of Bleiburg.

The Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia was proclaimed on 29 November 1945, supposedly organized as a federal and socialist country of people with equal rights. It was made up of six republics (Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina), and unlike the other countries of Eastern Europe, did not acknowledge Stalin as holding absolute power, as the Yugoslav partisans had liberated the country from the Germans by themselves.

This snubbing of Stalin resulted in conflict between the Soviet Informburo and the Yugoslavian Communist Party in the spring of 1948. Tito consequently broke with Stalin, and many Yugoslav Communists who supported Stalin ended up in prison.

Yugoslavia now found itself as a barrier between the Eastern and Western blocks. Placing itself midway between the Communist East and the Capitalist West, it set up the so-called self-management organizations.

By 1950 self-management had been proven a viable scheme, a third way between the free-enterprise of the West and the state planning and state economy of the Soviet Block. To put it simply, firms were managed by the workers themselves through a workers’ council, which had the power to determine production, to decide on the distribution of profit and to build homes for their workers.

Post-war reconstruction was rapid and optimistic. Increased industrialization brought about mass migration from rural areas to the cities, and modern high- rise suburbs sprung up. Public health and education were well funded, and living standards rose significantly. Tourism began developing along the Adriatic coast in the 1960s, bringing with it foreign currency. All this was conducted under the ideal of ‘Brotherhood and Unity’, a motto Tito coined to stress the importance of holding the country together and suppressing individual nationalist aspirations.

However, the richer republics (Croatia and Slovenia) soon began to object to having to pay hefty taxes to Belgrade for investment in the less-developed parts of the country. This, plus the fact that national feelings could not be openly expressed, gradually lead to a silent discontent that culminated in the so-called ‘Croatian Spring’ of 1971. Those who participated in the event asked for greater autonomy for Croatia, greater cultural freedom, and for the foreign currencies received from tourism and earned by Croats working abroad to stay in the republic. Some Communist officials from Croatia of that time also participated in this movement. By the end of 1971 Tito decided that it had all gone too far and the movement was suppressed. However, some results were gained in 1973 when the Socialistic Federal Republic of Yugoslavia introduced a new constitution by which the individual republics’ sovereignty was strengthened and their right to eventual independence was acknowledged.

The following century is linked with Tomislav’s reign (910-928). He started his rule as a dux (duke) but changed his title to that of rex (king) around 925. For his achievements in the wars against the Bulgarians, the Byzantine emperor Romanus Lacapenosus awarded him control over the Dalmatian towns and the title of ‘proconsul’ so he could rule them in the name of the Byzantine Empire.

During Tomislav’s rule, two state-church assemblies took place in Split, one in 925 and the other in 927-928. Only a century earlier it would have been beyond imagination that a Croatian ruler should preside over a church council in the Roman city of Split. In Europe at that time, the church wielded such material wealth and political influence that rulers did not interfere directly with church matters. Croatia had its own independent bishop in Nin who had no connection with the other bishops in the Dalmatian cities. Now that Byzantine Dalmatia and coastal Croatia were united under the authority of a single ruler, bishops in Dalmatia saw a unique opportunity to spread their jurisdiction, and by doing so increase their income, which up until then depended solely on the towns. Bishop Gregory of Nin wanted to preserve the diocese of Nin, the use of Glagolitic and the Slav liturgy. But the Bishops of Dalmatia won the day, and the diocese of Nin was abolished and its jurisdiction divided between the Dalmatian dioceses.

By the mid-16th century, the Turks had conquered all of Dalmatia apart from the islands and the coastal cities of Zadar, Šibenik, Trogir and Split, leaving more or less the area that had been the Byzantine theme of Dalmatia in the early Middle Ages to Venice. During the Candian War (1645-1669) Venice conquered a narrow territory from Novigrad to the River Neretva together with Poljica and the Makarska coastline. Following the war against the Turks (1682-1699) in which Poland, the Hapsburgs and Russia all participated on the Venetian side, Venice extended it territories to Ravni Kotari and the towns of Knin, Sinj and Vrgorac. The Venetians applied the name Dalmatia to all these parts, including the hinterland, which had once been the centre of the Croatian kingdom. Venice, just like the Hapsburgs, declined to return territories liberated from the Turks to the Croatian aristocracy, but held onto these lands itself instead.

In 1718, the peace treaty of Požarevac awarded Venice the hinterland territory up to the Dinara Mountains, the area around Imotski, one half of the gulf of Boka Kotorska (in present-day Montenegro) and the area to each side of Dubrovnik, thus threatening the republic’s 100-year independence.

However, the citizens of Dubrovnik were very skilful diplomats and, not wanting the Venetians as neighbours, they gave the area to the north around Klek (present- day Neum) and the area south around Sutorina (close to Herceg Novi in Montenegro) to the Turks, thus forming a buffer-zone between the republic and the Venetian Empire.

Croatia lies halfway between the North Pole and the Equator. The Pannonian Basin displays a continental climate, the Adriatic coast a Mediterranean climate. In the Pannonia region, winter temperatures average 0°C and summer temperatures 22°C. Along the coast, winter temperatures average 2°C in the north and 9°C in the south, with summer temperatures between 24°C and 26°C respectively. The sunniest place is said to be Hvar Town, which has 2718 hours of sunshine a year (by comparison, Nice in the south of France has 2706 hours of sunshine). In the Dinaric mountains, in areas over 1500 m, winter temperatures average -6°C and summer temperatures average 18°C.

Croatia is a boomerang-shaped country with a total surface area of 56,690 sq km, making it about three-quarters the size of Scotland. It lies on the east coast of the Adriatic and serves as the main gateway from the Mediterranean to Eastern Europe, bordering Slovenia in the northwest, Hungary in the north, Serbia in the northeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina in the east and Montenegro in the extreme south. It has 1778 km of indented mainland coastline and over a thousand islands and islets, of which only 67 are inhabited.

Croatia’s contrasting geographic regions afford a wide variety of natural vegetation. Approximately 35% of the country is forested. The common oak predominates in the low hills on the northern edge of the Pannonian Basin, while the indigenous forests and grasslands of the eastern part have been largely felled and turned into arable land, the one exception being the wetlands of Kopać ki Rit, which have been preserved as a nature park. The Dinaric Mountains are quite barren in parts, though lower altitudes of up to 1200 m support dispersed forests of beech and fir, while individual specimens of spruce, sycamore and elm can be found in the same belt. In areas over 1200 m, the sub-alpine beech dominates. The area along the Adriatic coast and the islands are covered with sub-Mediterranean and Mediterranean vegetation. Evergreen forests of holm oak and Aleppo pine, as well as macchia, are typical of the coastal belt and the islands. Some of the islands, notably Pag and the Kornati, display typical karst features and are relatively barren, but for feather grass and sage.

Croatian wines are little known abroad as they are exported in relatively small quantities, though some of them, such as the highly esteemed Dingač, are excellent. By and large the north produces whites and the south reds, though there are some exceptions.

Among the whites, names to look out for are: Pošip and Grk (from the island of Korčula), Vugava (island of Vis), Žlahtina (island of Krk), Malvazija (Istria), Graševina and Traminac (Slavonia). Of the reds, be sure to try: Dingač (Pelješac Peninsula), Plavac (islands of Hvar and Vis), Babič (Primošten) and Teran (Istria). Dalmatia also produces a rich sweet wine known as Prošek, similar to sweet sherry.

To buy top wines at better prices, go direct to the producer. You will find vineyards open to the public on Pelješac Peninsula and the island of Hvar. On the island of Vis, some producers have opened small shops where you can sample wine and then buy bottles to take home. In Istria, the regional tourist board has drawn up a series of wine routes with a list of producers who receive visitors, for an interactive map check out the website, http://www.istra.com/vino.

Along the Dalmatian coast, simple, honest fish and seafood dishes top the menu. All ingredients are fresh and seasonal, so there’s little attention paid to fussy preparation. The classic favourite is fresh fish, barbecued and served with olive oil and lemon, plus blitva sa krumpirom (swiss chard and potatoes with garlic and olive oil) as a side dish. Likewise, shellfish such as kucice (clams) and škampi (shrimps) are flashed over a hot flame with garlic, white wine and parsley, a method known as na buzaru, which cooks the flesh to a turn and produces a delicious rich sauce to mop up with bread. Worth mentioning here is that some of the best shellfish, notably ostrige (oysters) and dagnje (mussels), can be found in Ston on Pelješac Peninsula in South Dalmatia.

In summer, a popular and refreshing starter is salata of hobotnice (octopus salad) made from octopus, boiled potatoes, onion and parsley, dressed with olive oil and vinegar. Venetian influence is apparent in the abundance of risottos, the most popular being crni rižot (black risotto) made from cuttlefish ink, as well as rižot frutti di mare (seafood risotto), normally combining mussels, clams and prawns, and rižot sa škampima (shrimp risotto) invariably served with a splash of cream at the end. Pasta dishes are also served with a variety of seafood sauces, though the pasta is often overcooked by Italian standards. Another classic Dalmatian dish is brodet, ahearty mixed fish stew made with onions and tomatoes, and normally served with polenta. On the island of Hvar a local version of brodet is gregada, made with onions, potatoes and fresh herbs but no tomato.

When it comes to meat dishes, locals rave about dalmatinski pršut, smoked dried ham on a par with Italian prosciutto. It’s normally served as an appetizer on a platter together with paški sir (sheep’s cheese from the island of Pag) and a few olives. Meats such as steak, sausages and home-made burgers are invariably prepared on a charcoal fire and served with chips and a side salad (lettuce, cucumber and tomato). Another classic Dalmatian dish, brought to the area by the Venetians, is pasticada, beef stewed in sweet wine and served with njoki (gnocchi).

Lamb has a cult following throughout the Balkans, and in Croatia you’ll see many roadside restaurants serving janjetina – whole lamb roast on a spit – especially in inland Dalmatia. A special mention also needs to be given to the peka, a metal dome dating back to Illyrian times. Food is placed in a terracotta pot and covered entirely with a peka, which in turn is buried below white embers. Delicious casseroles of either octopus, veal or lamb can be prepared using this long, slow cooking method, though most restaurants that offer it stipulate that you should order a day in advance.

Desserts are limited, the standard offering being palacinke (pancakes), served either sa orasima (with walnuts), sa marmeladom (with jam) or sa cokoladom (with chocolate). In Dubrovnik, look out for rožata, similar to crème caramel.

Moving inland, food is generally heavier, with lard or dripping used in place of olive oil for frying and roasting. The Zagreb area, and especially Zagorje, is known for štrukli, dumplings filled with curd cheese, which can either be boiled or baked. The most popular meats are roast turkey, duck or goose, classically served with mlinci, wafer thin pastries cooked in dripping. The best bread is made from maize flour rather than wheat, giving it a yellow colour and a heavier consistency.

In Slavonia, pork is used to make kulen, a delicious spicy salami often served as an appetizer. Hungarian influence is apparent in meat specialities such as gulaš (goulash) and fiš paprikaš (a rich stew made from river fish), both of which are generously seasoned with hot paprika.

In Lika, the inland area between Zagreb and Dalmatia, look out for škripavac cheese, roast lamb and hearty peasant dishes employing kiseli kupus (sauerkraut), grah (beans) and krumpir (potatoes).

There are no direct flights from Australia, Canada, New Zealand or the US to Croatia.

Through winter, Croatia Airlines (http://www.croatiaairlines.hr, T020-8563 0022) offers direct flights from London Heathrow to Zagreb, Split and Dubrovnik. Flights cost from £150-260. It is advisable to book early during the summer months as availability is limited. Approximate flight time from London to Zagreb is 2½ hours. In summer, there are additional flights from Heathrow to Pula, Zadar and Rijeka. Flight time is approximately two hours.

From the UK, the cheapest way to get to Croatia is with Wizz Air (www.wizz air.com) which launched a service between Luton and Zagreb in 2006.

Alternatively, Ryanair (http://www.ryanair.com) offer bargain flights from London Stansted to Pula and Zadar, and from Dublin to Zadar. Or travel with EasyJet (http://www.easyjet.com) from London Stansted to Ljubljana in neighbouring Slovenia, then catch a train to Zagreb. Note that through summer, EasyJet also flies to Split from London Gatwick and Bristol. Flybe (http://www.flybe.com) offers summer flights from Birmingham to Split and Dubrovnik, and from Exeter to Dubrovnik. If you are based in Scotland, bear in mind that Flyglobespan (http://www.flyglobespan.com) fly direct from Edinburgh to Pula and Dubrovnik.

Croatia Airlines offer direct flights to Zagreb from Amsterdam, Bari, Berlin, Bologna, Brussels, Catania, Copenhagen, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Genoa, Gothenburg, Hamburg, Helsinki, Istanbul, Lisbon, Lyon, Munich, Oslo, Palermo, Paris, Prague, Rome, Sarajevo, Skopje, Stockholm, Turin, Vienna and Zurich.

The cheapest and fastest route is London-Paris-Venice-Zagreb, taking the Eurostar through the Channel Tunnel. The entire journey takes about 39 hours and requires an overnight train. Depart from London at 1404, and change in Paris to arrive in Venice at 0939 the following morning, and finally depart from Venice at 2127 to arrive in Zagreb at 0418. Prices vary greatly depending on how far in advance you book – if you know the exact days you want to travel try to buy your ticket several weeks before you wish to depart.

There are regular international buses to Croatia from major towns in Italy, Slovenia, Hungary, Austria, Germany, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro, and the Former-Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Buses depart from Trieste (Italy) to Rijeka taking 2½ hours. Buses also depart from Trieste for Pula taking 3¾ hours.

Eco-Centar Caput Insulae, http://www.supovi.hr.

Agencies specializing in adventure sports, including organized cycling tours, include: Big Blue, Podan Glavice 2, Bol, Island of Brač, T021-635614, http://www.big-blue-sport.hr; Huck Finn, Vukovarska 271, Zagreb, T01- 618 3333, http://www.huck-finn.hr; Marco Polo, Mažuranić 25, Rovinj, T052- 816955, http://www.marcopolo.hr.

Skedaddle Tours, T0191-265 1110, http://www.skedaddle.co.uk. Offer biking tours of rural and coastal Istria staying in agrotourism farmhouses.

Dive Tours, Total Diving Solutions Ltd, 46 Watergate St, Chester CH1 2LA, T01244-401177, http://www.divetours.co.uk. Organize diving holidays throughout the world, with a base in Korčula, Croatia. Hrvatski Ronilački Savez, Dalmatinska 12, Zagreb, T01-484 8765, http://www.diving-hrs.hr. Pro Diving Croatia, Bulevar Oslobodjenja 23, Rijeka, T051-219111, http://www.diving.hr.

Paklenica National Park, Tudjmana 14a, Starigrad Paklenica, T023-369202, http://www.paklenica.hr. Can arrange guided hiking tours of Velebit.

Hrvatski Planinarski Savez (Croatian Hiking Association), Kozarčeva 22, Zagreb, T01-4824142, http://www.plsavez.hr. An umbrella group for some 170 local walking clubs, can supply maps and information about mountain huts throughout the country. Biokovo Active Holidays, Kralja P Krešimira IV 7B, Makarska, T021-679655, www.biokovo. net. Organize 1-week and 2-week hiking and climbing tours, exploring Mt Biokovo and various other regions of Croatia.

Peng Travel, 86 Station Rd, Gidea Park, Romford, Essex RM2 6DB, T0845-345 8345 (in UK) or T01708-471832 (from outside the UK), http://www.pengtravel.co.uk. Specialize in naturist holidays around the world, focusing on the Rovinj area in Croatia.

Croatia Naturally, http://www.cronatur.com. Dune Leisure, 2 Market Pl, Great Dunmow, Essex CM6 1AT, T0870-751 8866, http://www.awaywithdune.co.uk. Specialize in naturist holidays around the world, focusing on Dalmatia in Croatia.

Huck Finn, Vukovarska 271, Zagreb, T01-618 3333, http://www.huck-finn.hr.

Atlas, Vukovarska 19, Dubrovnik, T020-442222, http://www.atlas-croatia.com. Generalturist, Praška 5, Zagreb, T01-481 0033, http://www.generalturist.com. Organize 1-day rafting trips and 1-week adventure trips which include rafting.

Active Holidays, Knezova Kačića bb, Omiš, T021-863015, www.activeholidays- croatia.com. Include rafting in their programmes.

Nautilus Sailing, 87 High St, Edenbridge, Kent TN8 5AU, T01732-867445, http://www.nautilus-yachting.com. Specialize in sailing in various parts of the world, with yacht charter bases in Pula, Zadar, Biograd, Murter, Split and Dubrovnik in Croatia.

Cosmos Yachting, T0800 376 9070, http://www.cosmosyachting.com. Specialize in bareboat and crewed yacht charters, with several bases in Croatia.

Club Adriatic, http://www.charter.hr. An on-line charter service with special low-season offers and last-minute deals on over 1300 yachts.

Activity Yachting, South View, Boxham Lane, Sidlesham, West Sussex PO20 7QF, T01243-641304, http://www.activityyachting.com. Specialize in sailing in Croatia and Turkey, offer 1-week sailing instruction, as well as skippered charter, both bareboat (1 yacht) and flotilla sailing (groups of 5-10 yachts). Adriatic Holidays Ltd, 1 Victoria St, Oxford OX2 6BT, T01865-516577, www.adriatic holidaysonline.com. Operate with charter companies in Croatia with bases all the way down the coast from Istria to South Dalmatia. Also offer a selection of luxury villas so you can opt for 1 week aboard, 1 week on land. Adriatic Nautical Academy (ANA), T051- 711814, http://www.sailing-ana.hr, run an annual sailing school, Mar to Oct, based at the ACI Marina in Jezera on the island of Murter, offering intensive courses at all levels with multi-lingual instructors. They also have a summer school in Cavtat near Dubrovnik.

Sail Croatia, 160 Brompton Rd, London SW3 1HW, T0871-733 8686, http://www.sailcroatia.net. Charter sailing boats, with or without a skipper, from their base in Split, also offer sail-and-stay, combining time afloat with time on land (islands of Hvar and Brać). Sailing Holidays Ltd, 105 Mount Pleasant Rd, London NW10 3EH, T020-8459 8787, http://www.sailingholidays.co.uk. Specialize in sailing in Greece and Croatia, organize flotilla holidays with itineraries concentrating on Central Dalmatia and the Kornati Islands. Ultra Sailing, T021-398980, www.ultra- sailing.hr. Offer courses, Mar to Oct, in Milna on the island of Brač (Central Dalmatia).

Croatian Football Federation, www.hns- cff.hr; ATP Croatia Open, www.croatia open.hr; WTA Croatia Bol Ladies Open, http://www.bolladies.hr.

North Dalmatia is in many ways less attractive than Central and South Dalmatia, but if you have three weeks or more in Croatia it may be worth a visit, particularly if you enjoy unspoilt nature parks. The chief city, Zadar, is renowned for its Romanesque churches. Close by, Kornati National Park is a haven of small uninhabited rocky islands, while a day hiking in Paklenica National Park will give you a taste of the mountains. The region’s most interesting island is Pag, home to the delicious paški sir (sheep’s cheese).

In Central Dalmatia, the monumental Roman city of Split is an ideal starting point for exploring the islands of Brač, Hvar and Vis, as well the nearby coastal towns of Trogir and Makarska and the inland village of Klis.

If you are short of time and planning to spend a week or less here it is best to concentrate on one area. Take either Istria, Central Dalmatia or South Dalmatia, and use a coastal town as a main regional base.

In Istria, the most popular region with the best tourist facilities, Pula, Poreč or Rovinj each warrant a visit. You could choose one of them as your base, and use it for making day trips to the islands of Brijuni National Park and the inland hill towns of Motovun and Grožnjan.

A week aboard a sailing boat gives you the freedom to explore the mainland coast and islands in direct contact with the sea. You can devise your own route, discover hidden coves with deserted beaches accessible only from the water, or moor up for a night in the harbour of a pretty fishing village or in one of Croatia’s 50 sophisticated marinas. Croatia offers perfect training ground for inexperienced sailors as the islands run parallel to the mainland coast, affording easy line-of-sight navigation and island- hopping in protected waters.

The main centre for charter companies is Split in Central Dalmatia. If you charter a boat from Split you could spend a week exploring the region following this itinerary: Day 1: Set sail from Split to Maslinica on the island of Šolta (15 nm). Day 2: Maslinica to Vis Town on the island of Vis (22 nm). Day 3: Sail around Vis, from Vis Town to Komiža, stopping at Biševo en route (16 nm). Day 4: Komiža to Hvar Town on the island of Hvar (26 nm). Day 5: Hvar Town to Bol on the island of Brač (19 nm). Day 6: Bol to Milna on the island of Brač. Day 7: Early-morning departure from Milna to Split (12 nm).

If you have two weeks at your disposal, the number of options opens up considerably. To understand the country’s complexity, spend some time in the capital, Zagreb, a city culturally and geographically closer to Vienna and Budapest than to the Venetian- influenced coastal region. Having visited the city’s museums and churches, devote a couple of days to the rural villages and medieval castles of Zagorje, and the small baroque city of Varaždin.

Big Blue, Podan Glavice 2, Bol, T021-635614, http://www.big-blue-sport.hr; Orca Sport, Račić 9, Bol, T021-740625, http://www.orca-sport.com. Both offer courses at all levels from beginner to advanced and rent equipment to experienced surfers.

Atlas, http://www.atlas-croatia.com. Run 1-day wine-tasting trips from Dubrovnik to Pelješac and Korčula, plus an 8-day Wine and Gourmet Tour, travelling from Zagreb to Dubrovnik by coach.

http://www.istra.com/vino, for maps and contact details.