{"id":2636,"date":"2019-10-31T10:28:18","date_gmt":"2019-10-31T10:28:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=2636"},"modified":"2019-11-01T22:26:59","modified_gmt":"2019-11-01T22:26:59","slug":"12-more-frenemies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=2636","title":{"rendered":"12. MORE FRENEMIES"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is this really our last but one day of the trip?\u00a0 Today we get to hear the Croatian view of the world.\u00a0 We have docked in Vukovar, Croatia’s largest river port, located at the confluence of the River Vuka and the Danube.<\/p>\n

There is immediate and dramatic evidence of a brutal war – the Croatian War of Independence.\u00a0 A totally wrecked building that used to be a hotel faces the dock. The Vokovar Hilton?\u00a0 Plans exist to convert it into university student accommodation.<\/p>\n

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In the distance, the iconic 42 metre tall water tower which sustained an incredible 600 direct hits (although I don’t expect counting to have been too accurate at the time!).\u00a0 It will be retained in its current state as a reminder of the horrors of war.<\/p>\n

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Sadly, that was the best photo I got.\u00a0 However – borrowed from the internet…<\/p>\n

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We set off walking past the “Hilton” across broken ground.\u00a0 But it soon became obvious that a lot of restoration had taken place and was continuing.\u00a0 I’m guessing a lot of EU money is being spent here.\u00a0 The buildings are looking much smarter than in other places we’ve visited recently.<\/p>\n

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The old reflected in the new.\u00a0 To be fair, while the “old” has been lovingly restored on the outside, internally it’s still a wreck.\u00a0 I think it used to be the town hall (or equivalent).\u00a0 I’m sure the “new” will be a bank!<\/p>\n

The roads and pavements are being improved.\u00a0 There was generally a happy feel about the place.\u00a0 The locals looked more enthusiastic.<\/p>\n

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We were told of the significance of the red and white borders to their clothes.\u00a0 That’s why I took the photo.\u00a0 But for the life of me, I can’t remember what it was!\u00a0 Sorry!<\/p>\n

Franjo Tudjman was the first president of Croatia after the Croatian War of Independence.\u00a0 He is commemorated in a statue just off the main square.<\/p>\n

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The city’s population of 45,000 before the war was ethnically very mixed.\u00a0 Serbs and Croatians lived side by side.\u00a0 There were many mixed marriages.\u00a0 Many “inter-racial” friendships existed.<\/p>\n

President Tito kept the six “countries” + Kosovo together as Yugoslavia.\u00a0 Everyone was employed. They had enough money to take, for example, an annual holiday to the Adriatic coast.\u00a0 Not so now.\u00a0 Under Tito people were paid 78% (now 38%) of their salary in retirement!\u00a0 When he “nationalised” land, farmers were allowed to keep 10 – 15 hectares for their own use. Tito was known as the “Benevolent Dictator”.<\/p>\n

So it wasn’t all bad.\u00a0 He stood up to Stalin and gained some respect for that.\u00a0 Allegedly, Stalin sent many assassins to try to bump him off – but they all failed.\u00a0 In the end, Tito warned Stalin that he would send an assassin back and that he wouldn’t need to send a second one!<\/p>\n

After galloping inflation, 100m Dinar not enough to buy a loaf of bread.\u00a0 Everything was rationed – either that or just totally unavailable.\u00a0 Cars could only be used on alternate days.\u00a0 Presumably those registered with odd numbers could be driven on odd numbered days of the month and even on even.\u00a0 I suppose cars with odd numbered registration plates were more valuable because, by my reckoning, they could be driven for two (or occasionally three) more days a year than even numbered cars!<\/p>\n

Anyway, back to the potted history of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia… The leaders of the various states took turns at being president of the whole country.\u00a0 Slobodan Milo\u0161evi\u0107 (Serbian) was the last and rather infamous president.<\/p>\n

In 1991 Croatia voted for Independence (sort of Croexit!).\u00a0 No one thought a war would ensue.\u00a0 However, on 25 August the first bombs started falling.\u00a0 50,000 soldiers attacked the city of Vukovar which was defended by a force of just 1,800 of whom 1,200 were civilians!\u00a0 This small, heroic band held off the invading forces for three months.\u00a0 This gave the rest of the country time to organise and raise a proper army.\u00a0 Apparently, about 10,000 shells landed on the city every single day.\u00a0 On 18 November Vukovar was over-run and occupied.\u00a0 Our guide escaped the city with his mother on the night the city fell.\u00a0 They were amongst the very last to escape.\u00a0 They travelled by car cross-country and fled to Germany for the duration of the war.\u00a0 It sounded like they had been incredibly lucky to survive.\u00a0 And lucky they had an even numbered car!<\/span><\/p>\n

In January 1998 he returned to Vukovar. Unsurprisingly, he found racial tensions were extreme.\u00a0 It was not until 2003 that the first “mixed marriage” occurred.\u00a0 Now, officially, the city has 147 Croatian-Serbian married couples.\u00a0 In Vukovar segregation is now totally finished.\u00a0 \u00a0Except, would you believe, in schools.\u00a0 In this city, schools remain COMPLETELY segregated to the present day.\u00a0 Serbian children go to Serbian schools and Croatian kids to Croatian institutes.\u00a0 No Serbian can teach or work in a “Croatian school” and vice versa.<\/p>\n

Allegedly there are still 50,000 hectares of unmapped and uncleared minefields in Croatia.\u00a0 (To put that into perspective, that’s about 50,000 international rugby pitches.\u00a0 Not far off the size of Dartmoor.)\u00a0 These are largely in swampy areas – so rugby is probably a fairly safe game to play in Croatia.\u00a0 Mine clearance personnel were paid the same as road sweepers until they went on strike.\u00a0 Now they are paid a little more.\u00a0 But not much more!<\/p>\n

Now back on the buses for a trip to the fortified town of Osijek.\u00a0 The town had about 108,000 inhabitants but since 2013, the brain-drain to the Western EU countries has reduced this by a staggering 20% to about 85,000.<\/p>\n

Apart from the fort, the main event in town is the university with its 19 faculties and 20,000 students.\u00a0 I understand the teaching is mainly done in English and German.\u00a0 There is also a little church – the Church of St Anthony and a monastery\u00a0 – I’ll come back to them in a minute.\u00a0 Very signicantly, on the edge of town there are three large factories making soap, beer and chocolate respectively.<\/p>\n

I was overruled, but I had voted to skip the tour of the fort and hit the M&M factory!\u00a0 (By the way, did you know that\u00a0 “M&M” stands for “Mars & Murrie”?\u00a0 In 1941 Forrest Mars of the Mars Candy Company joined forces with William Murrie, the then president of the Hershey Company. They wanted to make a sweet with a hard shell and chocolate in the middle.\u00a0 Stick with me and you’ll learn lots of stuff – mainly useless! \u00a0The rumour that M&Ms are made in town is one that I started!\u00a0 \u00a0I just wanted to get that factlet in!)<\/span><\/p>\n

So, the fort was next on our agenda!\u00a0 No chocolate!\u00a0 \u00a0It used to look like this relief model …<\/p>\n

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… but much of the walls have been lost to the ravages of time and wars.\u00a0 Walking through the town streets there was lots of evidence of small arm fire…<\/p>\n

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Leaving the fort by the last remaining gate beside the River, aptly named the Water Gate, we got an impression of what the walls used to look like all round.<\/p>\n

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We then ducked into the Franciscan monastery by one of the back doors.\u00a0 A big place …<\/p>\n

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… with memorials to the hundreds of Jews murdered in the town.<\/p>\n

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Within the monastery the Church of Raising the Holy Cross is spectacular …<\/p>\n

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Now we are off through the town on our way to another much smaller church.\u00a0 St. Anthony’s.\u00a0 But on the way we passed through some restored areas and through the square with its compulsory memorial to the plague victims.\u00a0 The Holy Trinity Column.<\/p>\n

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We heard stories of pine martens being introduced to the town to control rats.\u00a0 This was an attempt to stop the transmission of the plague.\u00a0 The alternative name of the pine mart marten is the Kuna.\u00a0 This is also the unit of the national currency.\u00a0 The marten became the Croatian national emblem in 1941 and so it appears in coat of arms on the national flag.<\/p>\n

Before we got to our target church I took this photo.\u00a0 It’s the only photo I have of our Cruise Concierge.\u00a0 Andras’ right hand man.\u00a0 I captured his better side!<\/p>\n

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OK.\u00a0 So now the unlikely story of the church of St. Anthony of Padua.\u00a0 It was built by the Franciscan monks in 1732.<\/p>\n

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St. Anthony’s Feast happens every year on June 13.\u00a0 On this day thousands of believers flock to the area for the confessions and to see the church.\u00a0 This pilgrimage is one of the biggest events in Osijek.\u00a0 Up to 30,000 people cram into the town and church – in shifts, obviously.\u00a0 Holy Mass begins at 3 o’clock in the morning and continues in eleven separate services until the evening with last mass at 9 pm.<\/p>\n

St Anthony is the patron saint of lost property and lost causes.\u00a0 Which is handy because with all that lot, I bet there are plenty of lost umbrellas etc.\u00a0 Amazingly, the church escaped damage in three successive wars (apart from broken glass windows).<\/p>\n

On the drive back to the ship our guide gave us another insight into Croatian life.\u00a0 Weddings.\u00a0 Big things Croatian weddings\u00a0 Starter-sized ones might typically have 300 guests while large events can easily have more than 1,000 invitees!\u00a0 They are often three day events.\u00a0 The stag (and hen?) party on day one (Friday).\u00a0 Fun and games on day two with music and parades through the town.\u00a0 At about 6 pm the wedding ceremony takes place.\u00a0 This is followed by a party running into the third day (usually the Sunday). Weddings can easily cost 16,000 Euros!\u00a0 Eloping doesn’t work – all your friends will be furious!\u00a0 Good story!<\/p>\n

A final thought for the day…\u00a0 An official survey concluded that Croatia has most corrupt government in Europe.\u00a0 Apparently, Romanians are disputing this!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is this really our last but one day of the trip?\u00a0 Today we get to hear the Croatian view of the world.\u00a0 We have docked in Vukovar, Croatia’s largest river port, located at the confluence of the River Vuka and… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-danube-2019"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2636"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2636\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2662,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2636\/revisions\/2662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}