Oct 5 - Osijek, Croatia

Our activity for today was a walking tour of Osijek (AH-see-eck) which is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of about 100,000. Our guide for today was Dora – she’s the best guide we’ve had so far. The drive was about 40 minutes. We remarked again at how incredibly flat the countryside is. Friends from Windsor say that it feels like home for them!

Our first stop was at a rather non-descript church, the Church of Our Lady. But inside, it is an explosion of Baroque design. Fortunately the church survived with only minor damage being sustained during the War of the Homeland in the early 1990s. We were treated to a short concert by a young lady, Martina, who played the piano and thrilled us with her exquisite voice.

A giant fortress was built in Osijek in the early 1700s by the Austrians. The fortress was like the Citadel in Halifax or the one in Quebec City, designed like a starburst with very thick walls. It had just four gates over a moat. The city sits on the Drava River, one of the main tributaries of the Danube River. The fortress would have held a small city of people within its walls.

Our tour concentrated on the part of Osijek located within what would have been the confines of the old fortress. It now holds a few residential buildings, but mainly high school and university buildings, administrative offices, museums, and lots of pubs and coffee houses.

Only one gate remains – the Water Gate – so named, because it was the one closest to the Drava River.

Trinity Square is surrounded by Baroque buildings in the nice, light colours that we have come to appreciate. The centre of the square is dominated by The Plague Column, a statue to the Holy Trinity, giving thanks for an end to the scourge. Turns out, that weasels (aka martens) finally killed off all the rats that were spreading the disease and that’s what brought about the end. No monuments to weasels.

We jumped back on the buses and went to Erdut where the war of independence finally concluded in 1995 with the signing of an agreement. We broke up into two groups for lunch. Our group enjoyed a lovely lunch made by Zlatica who runs a little restaurant and a B&B. She was widowed when she was just 46 years old. The property has been in the family for 350 years. They have been able to hang on to it despite all the political turmoil and fighting that the country has seen.

Lunch was fluffy rolls, garlic soup, noodles, chicken and chocolate cake, all washed down with wine, cherry brandy and Croation moonshine (slivovitz and wine).

Back to the ship – see the footprint about Aljmaš for the rest of the day.Read more