Balkan Highlights with Halal Comfort: Croatia, Slovenia & Bosnia

Zagreb-An Old City with a Young Soul

Zagreb is the Croatian capital and largest city in Croatia by population. Historically, the city of Zagreb has grown from two neighboring settlements, Gradec and Kaptol, which form the core of today's Zagreb, its historical center. According to the legend, Zagreb got its name when an old ancient ban, tired and thirsty, made the girl Manda bring water from the spring. Ban said: "Mando, dear, zagrabi!“ (zagrabi – grabs) 

Zagreb is the administrative, economic, cultural, and scientific center of Croatia. By its position, Zagreb belongs to the cities of Central Europe. Zagreb is situated in continental central Croatia, on the southern slopes of Medvednica and on the banks of the Sava River. Its favorable geographic position in the southwestern corner of the Pannonian Basin, between Alpine, Dinaric, Adriatic, and Pannonian regions, the cause is the fact that Zagreb is the transport hub between Central and Southeastern Europe and the Adriatic Sea. Due to its history and significance, Zagreb is rich in monuments and architecture. The center of Zagreb are considered a historic district Upper Town and Kaptol, and Donji Grad, which has an exceptional diversity of architecture from Baroque to the present day. The center is surrounded on the north side with residential neighborhoods with higher levels of housing, and to the south of the former working-class neighborhoods that are experiencing strong reurbanisation. Appearance and arrangement, Zagreb is a typical Central European city.

Zagreb is the largest cultural center of Croatia. The town has several institutions that traditionally have great prestige. In music, it is the Lisinski Concert Hall, in the world of theater, ballet, and opera Croatian National Theatre, and among libraries National and University Library. Among many quality museums and galleries, the cultural echo exhibitions maybe the most prominent Klović Palace. Zagreb also hosts several significant festivals, such as Animafest - World Festival of Animated Film, which takes place every even year, INmusic - one of the largest open-air festivals in Croatia, International Folklore Festival, theater festival Eurokaz, and Festival of contemporary dance. Zagreb has a film festival, „Zagreb Film Festival“, and is particularly interesting, ZagrebDox, a documentary film festival.

From important exhibitions of recent visual expression, there is Zagreb Salon. From music festivals, there is Zagrebfest, one of the oldest events of Croatian pop music, an avant-garde music festival, then Music Biennale Zagreb every odd year, and the Festival of the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra. Since 1996, the streets of downtown Zagreb maintains Cest is dBest, an international multimedia festival of street performers. In the summer, there are also open-air concerts, mostly in the Upper Town (Summer in the Upper Town).

Dubrovnik - a popular film destination

Popularity of Dubrovnik greatly helped Hollywood movies filmed on its historical streets. The last such project was the series "Game of Thrones" that Dubrovnik lifted high on Hollywood sets. There is no doubt that this popular series has opened many doors for this small town on the Adriatic. Tourism and film industry go hand in hand to each other, so that the future of this city certainly can only further flourish. Fans of this popular series travel miles and miles to see and feel all the locations where their favorite series were filmed to experience the scene from a small screen.

Dubrovnik is a city in southern Croatia, administrative center of Dubrovnik-Neretva County and one of the most historic Croatian tourist destination. It is 25 km distant from the international airport of Dubrovnik, regularly connected with most of European cities, and the 90 km distant from the highway, which connects Croatia with Europe. In addition to a very good air and land connections, Dubrovnik boasts excellent maritime connection. Dubrovnik port is one of the most visited in the Mediterranean. It is the first point maritime route from east to west on entering in the Adriatic Sea, it is protected with islands and the Neretva valley is the fastest communication with the interior. Recent archaeological research found that a settlement on the site of the city existed in the 6th century, and probably before. Dubrovnik expanded with the arrival of the Croats after the ancient Epidaurus (today's Cavtat) in the 7th century.

Of the many manifestations of Dubrovnik, one should emphasize the Dubrovnik Summer Festival, which was founded in 1949. The unique ambience of the closed and open stages of the Renaissance and Baroque city of Dubrovnik in the period from 10 July to 25 August held numerous music, drama and dance performances. The backbone of the festival are works of Marin Držić, Gundulić Ivan, Ivo Vojnovic, William Shakespeare, Carlo Goldoni, the Greek tragedians and others. The musical part of the program presents the best local composers, soloists and orchestras, and their foreign guests. Display even operas, particularly comic. Libertas Film Festival started in 2005 with the idea that the festival cultural offer should be expanded with the film offer. The festival takes place during the summer and on a repertory are films and documentary films from independent productions dedicated to the promotion of freedom in countries around the world. Movies rated best by the audience receives a special audience award.

Plitvice Lakes consist of 16 lakes located between Mala Kapela and Plješivica in Lika. According to the legend, the Plitvice lakes were created after a long drought. People, animals and lakes craved for water. The people prayed and prayed. Then in the valley the Black Queen appeared with her magnificent retinue; she took pity on the people and by the strong wind and thunder, the rain finally start to fall. It was raining so long, until the water level has not grown enough to create the Lakes. 

Lakes receive water from numerous rivers and streams, and they are connected by cascades and waterfalls. Travertine barriers, which occurred over a period of ten thousand years, are one of the fundamental features of the park. Vast forest areas, exceptional lakes and waterfalls, flora and fauna, mountain air, contrasting autumn colors, trails and wooden bridges and more are unique area that UNESCO declared it World Natural Heritage in 1979, among the first in the world. The park is divided on narrower and extended zone according to the degree of protection. It is settled in two counties, 91% of the park is in Lika-and 9% in Karlovac County. The National Park consists of 16 lakes, which are stepwise and descend into each other in a series of 5460 m as the crow flies (airline). Lakes are divided on Upper lakes and Bottom Lakes. Top lakes are: Prošćansko jezero, Ciginovac, Okrugljak, Batinovac, Veliko jezero, Malo jezero, Vir, Galovac, Milino jezero, Gradinsko jezero, Veliki Burget i Kozjak. Bottom lakes are: Milanovac, Gavanovac, Kaluđerovac i Novakovića Brod. Lakes soak waters of the Black and White River from the tributaries and Rječica and its tributaries. There are many sources where water abundant springs. These are typical karst springs formed on the faults of permeable and impermeable geological formations. The largest lake is Kozjak with 81.5 hectares, it is also the deepest with 47 m. Prošćansko lake is the second largest and stretches from south to north in length of 2.5 km.

On the Upper Lakes geological structure is mainly dolomite, and on the bottom of the limestone. There are about 30 caves. Travertine barriers, which share one lake from another are from limestone deposited from water. Structure of travertine barriers is very sensitive and fragile and requires a high level of protection. The three main elements: an abundance of water, tufa and travertine. Without water, there would be no lakes nor falls nor lush vegetation. Tufa are plants that produce limestone rocks and change the shape of the lake and lake beds. Travertine barriers are the biological phenomenon of exceptional beauty. One of the most beautiful waterfalls in Plitvice - Waterfall between Milanovac and Gavanovac is called the "waterfall Milka Trnina" after Croatian opera prima donna.

Forests and waters are connected to each other and one without the other can not survive. Forest reserves, preserves and purify large amounts of water. There is a large area in park of high quality forests, including rain forests, which are superior habitat for wildlife. Forests of Plitvica lakes are habitat to three large European carnivores: brown bear, wolf and lynx. Numerous types of woodpeckers and forest owl testify to the high quality and naturalness of the habitat. The forests are the habitat for numerous wildlife. A layer of leaves is one of the richest microhabitats for wildlife in the world. It is home to lizards, insects, various fungi and bacteria. Interesting is endemic insect Molops plitvicensis, who lives in the birch forests only in Plitvice. The park has registered 321 species of butterflies, 157 species of birds and 20 species of bats. Already in 1883, the belt of forests surrounding the lakes and sources was declared a separate zone, where deforestation was banned. They are part of the National Ecological Network and the European project to protect natural heritage NATURA 2000 program.

Mostar is a city in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is located on the banks of the Neretva River and is the cultural and economic center of Herzegovina, as well as the largest city in Herzegovina. Mostar is the administrative seat of Herzegovina-Neretva County and the university, cultural, economic and political center of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The city got its name from the bridge guards (mostari) on the banks of the Neretva River. It is considered one of the most beautiful cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Neretva is bridged by the Old Bridge, which together with the old town has been on the UNESCO list of protected cultural heritage since 2005. Some of the sights of Mostar are: Old Town - the historic quarter of the city with the Old Bridge and a number of other contents from the city's rich history, the Karađoz-beg Mosque, Bišćevića Street, Trg Musala, Trg hrvatski velikana, Španjolski Square, the Catholic Cross on Hum Hill above Mostar, called the Millennium Cross...

Ljubljana is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center of the country. The architecture of the city is a mixture of architectural styles. Despite the appearance of large buildings, especially on the edge of the city, the historic core of Ljubljana remains intact. Although the oldest architecture has been preserved from the Roman period, the center of Ljubljana took its shape in the Middle Ages. After the 1511 earthquake, it was rebuilt in the Baroque style according to Italian, especially Venetian models. After the earthquake of 1895, it was rebuilt again, this time in the Viennese Art Nouveau style, which today is contrasted with the earlier Baroque buildings that have remained. Large sectors built in the interwar period often include the personal stamp of architects Joža Plečnik and Ivan Vurnik. In the second half of the 20th century, parts of Ljubljana were redesigned by Edvard Ravnikar.

The central square in Ljubljana is Prešernov trg (Prešernov trg), where the Franciscan Church of the Annunciation is located. Ljubljanski grad (Ljubljanski grad) is a medieval castle with Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance architectural elements, located on top of Castle Hill, which dominates the city center. The City Hall (Mestna hiša, Magistrat), located on the City Square, is the headquarters of the City Municipality of Ljubljana. A skyscraper (pronounced [nɛbɔtiːtʃniːk], "skyscraper") is a thirteen-story building rising to a height of 70.35 m (231 ft). It combines elements of neoclassical and art-deco architecture. For a while it was the tallest residential building in Europe.