September 26 ~ October 9, 2014
This tour was our third journey to Croatia. In 2005 we visited various Croatian ports by a small cruise ship. The following year we toured the eastern region of Croatia known as Slavonia during our Danube River cruise. The 2014 Heritage and History Tour of Croatia by Bob Jerin was a 13-day comprehensive tour where we traveled from Croatia’s most southern area to its most northern part.
Our tour group encompassed 41 history-seeking people of whom at least 60 percent had Croatian heritage. The tour was organized by Bob Jerin, a genealogist who assisted many of our fellow passengers in unlocking the mysteries of their past. In addition to attending to travel details and being available for 24-7, Alen, our Croatian tour guide, gave us a wealth of historical knowledge. The coach driver Tomislav expertly shuttled us to seaside resorts, remote villages and large cities in quest of history and ethnic cuisine.
The historic Dubrovnik is a popular tourist attraction nestled between the Dinaric (Di nar ick) Mountains and the blue Adriatic Sea. The crystal clear waters can be attributed to its shore of limestone mountains and pebble beaches. Recent archaeological excavations point to Dubrovnik being formed during the Roman times. During its early prosperity in the 15th and 16th centuries, Dubrovnik was known as the Republic of Ragusa.
The 40-mile long Peljesac (pel a sach) peninsula is the second largest peninsula in Croatia. The southern slopes of the Peljesac peninsula on the Dalmatian Coast is noted for its excellent wine because of a favorable climate for growing grapes since the times of the ancient Greeks. In fact the Zinfandel grape grown in the U.S. is an offspring of the centuries old grapevine found in Croatia.
The Walls of Ston are a series of defensive stone walls, originally more than 4.3 miles long, that surrounded and protected the city of Ston, in Dalmatia, part of the Republic of Ragusa, in what is now southern Croatia.
As part of our Croatian tour, we visited Mostar (mō star) and Medjugorje (mej a goria) in Bosnia and Herzegovina (herz a go vina). Herzegovina, the southern region of this country, borders Croatia and has a strip of land projecting into the Adriatic that separates the Croatia mainland into two noncontiguous parts. For example, when traveling by road from Dubrovnik to Split, Croatia, one must pass through two border crossings.
Mostar (mō star) was named after the bridge keepers who in the medieval times guarded the old bridge over the Neretva (nerva) river. The old bridge, built by the Ottomans in the 16th century, is one of Bosnia and Herzegovina's (herz a go vina’s) most recognizable landmarks, and is considered one of the most exemplary pieces of Islamic architecture in the Balkans. The bridge stood for 427 years but was destroyed in 1993 during the Croat (cro at) Bosniak War. The bridge was rebuilt in 2004 with international cooperation.
Medjugorje (mej a goria) has become a popular site of religious pilgrimages due to reports of the apparition of the Virgin Mary to six local Catholic children in 1981.
Between Dubrovnik and Makarska (ma kar ska) we stopped briefly to view these beautiful lakes near the Adriatic. Makarska (ma kar ska) is a popular picturesque seaside resort with stone-paved streets and plenty of attractions for tourists.
Split, the second largest Croatian city, is most noted for the palace of Roman Emperor Diocletian (di o clee shun). Split dates back more than 1,700 years ago when it was formed as a Greek colony. Diocletian built the massive palace in preparation for his retirement in the 4th century. Actually the palace resembles a large fortress whereof about half was for the Diocletian’s personal use and the rest housed the military garrison. After the Romans abandoned the site, the palace remained empty for several centuries. In the 7th century, nearby residents fled to the walled palace in an effort to escape the invading Slavs. Since then the palace has been occupied with residents making their homes and businesses within the palace walls. Today many restaurants, shops and homes can still be found within the walls.
Brac (brots) is one of the 1,200 islands of Croatia in the Adriatic Sea. Only 67 islands have some sort of settlement on them and 47 are inhabited in the sense that at least one person resides on that island. Brac is the largest island in Dalmatia. The four historical regions of Croatia are Dalmatia, Istria, which is the other region on the Adriatic, Croatia proper, which is the larger central part, and Slavonia, which is the eastern region. The economy of Brac is based mostly on tourism, fishing and agriculture namely wine and olives. Also white limestone was quarried on this island and was used in building Diocletian's Palace in Split and the Canadian National Vimy (vee me) Memorial.
Nikola Tesla was a Serbian American inventor best known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current electrical system. He was born in 1856 to Serbian parents in the village of Smiljan (smeel yawn) then in the Austrian Empire now modern-day Croatia. Tesla’s house in which he was born and the church were severely damaged by fire during the Yugoslav wars. They were restored and reopened in 2006. In 1882 Tesla began working for Thomas Edison and later started his own company where he was financed by a variety of investors including George Westinghouse. At the age of 35 in 1891, Tesla became a naturalized U.S. citizen. He obtained 300 patents worldwide for his inventions. Tesla died in 1943. After his death, the U.S. Supreme Court nullified Marconi’s questionable radio patents and restored prior patents for the invention of the electrical transmitter to Tesla and others.
Plitvice (plit veet seh) Lakes National Park is the oldest national park in southeast Europe and the largest park in Croatia. The park is world famous for its lakes arranged in cascades. Currently 16 lakes can be seen from the surface. The lakes are a result of surface and subterranean rivers with dissolved limestone, dolomite and gypsum forming travertine dams, which are formed by the action of moss, algae and bacteria. The park’s beech and fir forests are home to rare species such as the brown bear, wildcat, various bird of prey and wolf along with many more common species. All species continue to exist that have already existed before the coming of man at this paradise encompassing 73,350 acres. This is a rare case worldwide. In 1991 the Yugoslavia war began in Plitvice Lakes but fortunately the park’s natural setting was not affected.
The local community of this rustic village greeted us with festive music, dance and a grand luncheon of locally prepared specialties.
On the road from Platvice (plit veet seh) Lakes to Turanj (turan), a suburb of Karlovac (carlo vach), we stopped by this open-air war museum. This part of Croatia suffered one of the toughest battles of the former Yugoslavia War. Consequently Karlovac became a symbol of Croatian resistance against the Serbian army. The museum serves as a painful memory of this tragic conflict.
Zagreb is the capital of Croatia and the largest city with a metropolitan population over 1 million. Dating back to the Roman times, Zagreb displays its cultural heritage in 28 museums and 79 galleries and art collections. It is also blessed with green parks, fountains and avenues of trees and flowers. A very busy city with many vehicles, Zagreb does offer rail and bus transportation systems. Of note, we stayed at the Hotel Dubrovnik, which is in the heart of old town next to a pedestrian mall offering walking distance to historical sites, shopping, bars and restaurants.
Trakoscan (track o scan) is a castle located in northern Croatia that dates back to the 13th century. It has been meticulously maintained and is currently one of the best preserved historic buildings in the country. In the 18th it was abandoned and fell quickly into disrepair. Then in the middle of the 19th century Juraj (yuwh rie) Draskovic (Dras co vitch) turned the castle into a residential manor house and the surrounding park into a Romanticist pleasure grounds. After the family was forced to emigrate to Austria, the castle and grounds became nationalized.
Overlooking beautiful green hills, we were treated to lunch at this scenic 30-acre estate in the Hrvatsko Zagorje (za gorie) region, another beautiful area of Croatia. This restaurant and its surroundings represent the vision and creative expression of its owners, the Vuglec (vug lich) family.
Just over 100 years ago, my maternal grandfather and grandmother immigrated to Chicago from the village of Dubranec (du bra nich) some 19 miles south of Zagreb. Since we had a free day on the last day of the Croatian tour, I arranged for our Croatian genealogist Sonja (san ya) to escort us to the small village in an attempt to uncover any more information about my family that she hadn’t already reported in her 2008 research. Unfortunately the church was locked and the Catholic priest was nowhere to be seen, Sanja asked several villagers about my family with the surname of Kos. The villagers didn’t seem to know anything about the Kos family. We scoured the church cemetery for any grave markers with the Kos name. Although we found some graves with Kos surnames, we do not believe they are related to my ancestors.
| Name | Comment | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Frank Pecarich | Well done Frank. Thanks for the memories. | Nov 21, 2014 |
| Gerald Quast | Really enjoyed this wonderful video -- felt like i was watching a professionally prepared/filmed history lesson -- it was great. | Nov 1, 2014 |
| Andrew Norris | Charming video which we hope will be a permanent reminder for all those who came on Robert's 2014 tour of this special country. Greetings from your friends in Gornje Bukovlje. Andrew and Jasna | Oct 27, 2014 |
| Gloria Dixon | Wonderful recount of a wonderful trip! | Oct 26, 2014 |
| Cookie Novosel | Very nice and very well written. | Oct 26, 2014 |