The Soul of Croatia: Delving into Slavonija's Essence

SLAVONIJA, BARANJA AND SRIJEM, a historical-geographic area in the eastern part of Croatia. It spreads between the Sava and Drava Rivers from the Ilova River in the west and the Hungarian border in the north, to the Serbian border in the east. It is the most fertile part of Croatia which, in addition to its agricultural values, also offers diverse tourism attractions – numerous hunting grounds, fishing in the rivers and fish ponds, famous wines (Kutjevo, Đakovo, Ilok) and famous delicacies (kulen, a type of spicy sausage).
Climate: continental.

Slavonija-Posavina region, the area between the Sava and Drava Rivers is the Croatian granary. It is characterized by forests of the famous Slavonian oak, the central mountain wreath around the Požega basin and the plains of Srijem, which end in the slopes of Fruška gora.
Cultural and religious centres: Osijek (colleges, museums, galleries, monasteries, festival), Požega (diocese, museum, monastery, festival), Đakovo (diocese, religious schools, museum, monastery, festival), Vukovar (museum, gallery, monastery), Ilok (museum, monastery), Slavonski Brod (museum, gallery, monastery, festival), Vinkovci (museum, monastery, festival), Županja (museum, festival).
Main tourism centres: Osijek, Bizovac, Daruvar, Požega, Đakovačka Breznica.
Important cultural and monumental heritage: Osijek – castle, cathedral; Ilok – city whole; Đakovo – cathedral; Požega – Baroque whole; Vučedol – archaeological finding; Medieval fortresses – Ružica, Šarengrad, Velika, Kaptol; castles – Ilok, Vukovar, Osijek, Valpovo, Našice, Donji Miholjac.
The most famous natural heritage: Spačvanske forests, Požega basin.
Tourism options available: medicinal, economic, excursions, hunting, sports, and rural tourism
Baranja, the eastern Croatian plain is bounded by the triangle of the Hungarian border, the Drava and Danube Rivers. This is an agricultural area with possibilities for hunting and fishing tourism and rural tourism
Main tourism centre: Kopački rit
The most famous natural heritage: Kopački rit (wetland nature park); the backwaters of the Danube and Drava Rivers. Tourism options available: hunting, transit, excursions, and rural tourism.

Slavonia, namely the eastern part of Croatia, is the region of thermal springs, castles, wine and wheat, where people traditionally live from agriculture and therefore many public festivities and customs are related to the natural rhythm of growth and the annual schedule of works in the fields. The extent to which human effort is persistent and fruitful in creating can be seen and tasted in Kutjevo, the region famous for its vineyards as well as its wines and winegrowers, where one can taste valuable and archival local sorts in the old wine cellars.

It is also the area of many castles, summer residences, and chapels of wealthy families of old. In Virovitica, the town that obtained the status of a free king’s town in the same year as Zagreb, a castle was erected in the Baroque and Classical style around which the trenches and the park bears witness to unstable times in which the need for beauty nevertheless existed. Not far from Virovitica, in Suhopolje, the mausoleum of the Janković family is situated in a beautiful park, and in Našice one can enjoy the beautiful, oak tree park surrounding the Pejačević family castle with its towers in front. Sometimes, such as in Valpovo, the castles arose out of the reconstruction of medieval fortresses, in this case, the entire defensive tower was preserved. Upstream of the Drava River is Donji Miholjac, where a picturesque castle in the English style was preserved. Bizovac is an interesting place due to the fact that at one time, a hot water spring was discovered there during an oil drilling, and a medicinal weekend resort was built at that spot. Not far from Bizovac, in Brođanci, the Olympic Games of Old Sports take place every August, which today presents a unique opportunity to show the tradition of competing in skill and games.

Slavonic plain

The largest town of this region is Osijek, which was inhabited as early as Roman times and assumed its present appearance in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries with the construction of the Great Castle, today almost completely restored. The Upper and Lower town, built at the same time, were later merged into one modern town with many secessionist buildings of the local bourgeois during the transition from the nineteenth to twentieth century. History is expressed, in an equally interesting manner, in the present appearance of Slavonski Brod which used to be a suburb in the Roman times while the present day town developed around the castle that had been under construction from the 15th century.

Slavonic plain

The town of Đakovo

The town of Đakovo, with the view of a neo-Romanesque cathedral from the 19th century, offers the pleasure of tasting mass wines of the Đakovo diocese. In Vinkovci, there was the Roman colony Cibalae, near to where the Emperor Constantine defeated Litinius at the beginning of the 4th century. The entire Vinkovci region is full of historical remnants, particularly from the Middle Ages, while contemporary life, customs, and the gastronomical culture are famous throughout Croatia, particularly the folklore festival Vinkovci Autumns. The situation is similar in Vukovar, the town on the bank of the Danube River where prehistoric culture, as well as the traditions of the aristocratic and civil life of the later centuries were acquired equally. The most eastern town in Croatia is Ilok, situated on a picturesque spot by the Danube River with a Franciscan monastery and a Baroque castle in the idyllic landscape. The experience of the visit to Ilok is completed by the high quality wines that are grown on the sandy soils by the riverbank.