Interesting facts about Croatia

croatia flag

Croatia is a country situated in Southeast Europe.

It is to the east side of the Adriatic Sea, to the east of Italy. It is also bordered by Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the north, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the southeast, Serbia in the east, and Montenegro to the south.

Croatia official name is Republic of Croatia.

Official language is Croatian.

As of 1 January 2016, the population of Croatia was estimated to be 4,254,642 people.

Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia.

zagreb

Other major cities are: Split, Rijeka, Osjek and Zadar.

Croatia’s appeal is grounded in its spectacular naturewaterfalls, forests, mountains and the dazzling Adriatic coast.

Dinara at 1831 meters (6,007 feet) is highest Croatian mountain and summit.

dinara

One-third of Croatia is covered in forest.

Croatia have 8 national parks, 2 strict reserves and 11 nature parks.

The most famous protected area and the oldest national park in Croatia is the Plitvice Lakes National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

plitvice lakes

Kopački rit Nature park in eastern Croatia is Europe’s largest and best preserved wetlands and floodplain forests.

Croatia’s Adriatic Sea mainland coast is 1,777.3 kilometers (1,104.4 miles) long, while its 1,246 islands and islets encompass a further 4,058 kilometers (2,522 miles) of coastline—the most indented coastline in the Mediterranean.

croatia islands

The most famous beach in Croatia is in Bol, which is on the island of Brac.

bol beach croatia

The English poet Lord Byron called Dubrovnik “the pearl of the Adriatic”.

dubrovnik

Built in 1296, Dubrovnik still has in use today one of the first medieval sewage systems.

Hum in Croatia is known as the smallest town in the world.It has a population of 30 as per the 2011
census, but is officially a town.

hum smallest town in the world

The Pula Arena is the name of the amphitheatre located in Pula, Croatia.It was constructed in 27 BC – 68 AD and is among the 6 largest surviving Roman arenas in the World.

pula arena

Diocletian’s Palace is an ancient palace built by the Roman emperor Diocletian at the turn of the 4th century AD, that today forms about half the old town and city center of Split, in Croatia.

diocletian palace

Twelve sphinxes were brought to Split after Diocletian put down a rebellion in Egypt somewhere around the year 297. Unfortunately, only one survived and is now standing at the Peristyle. The sphinx on the Peristyle is made of black granite. It dates back to the period of pharaoh Tuthmosis III who lived from 1479 until 1425 BC.

sphinx in split

Palaeolithic site on Hušnjakovo near Krapina, counted among the largest and richest sites in the world where Neanderthal remains have been found.

Croatia has 7 UNESCO World Heritage sites.

The Dalmatian is a breed of large dog, noted for its unique black or liver spotted coat and mainly used as a carriage dog in its early days. Its roots trace back to Croatia and its historical region of Dalmatia.

dalmatian

Two winners of the Nobel Prize in chemistry came from Croatia – Lavoslav Ruzicka (1939) and Vladimir Prelog (1975)

The Mag Light was invented by a Croatian named Maglica.

Croatian Slavoljub Penkala invented a mechanical pencil, the Penkala in 1906.Today we call it “pen”.

pen

Janica Kostelic, one of the best female skiers of all times, is Croatian.

It may be that the loveliest inscription of Zadar’s exceptional sunset was written by the famous Alfred Hitchcock.

There is a Museum of Broken Relationships in Zagreb, where people display their memories of past relationships.

Croatians invented a tie. Originally worn by Croat soldiers, they were adopted by the French army in the 17th Century and soon became fashionable. Croatians mark Cravat Day on 18 October.

tie

Croatian currency is known as the Kuna, which is the Croatian word for marten. A marten was a forest rodent whose highly prized skin was used to pay taxes in the Roman provinces of eastern Croatia.

The kuna is divided into 100 lipa, which is the Croatian name of the linden lime tree.

Wine has been made in Croatia since it was introduced by Greek settlers 2,500 years ago – original vineyards are still intact on Stari Grad Plain on Hvar island. Today, Croatia has more than 300 wine regions, 17,000 producers and 2,500 (mostly white) wines.

glass of white wine

Zinfandel grape variety comes from Croatia.

Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night was staged in Illyria an ancient region of the Western Balkans whose coast covered modern day Croatia (and also Slovenia, Montenegro and Albania).

Way back in the 1960s, Paklenica National Park, doubled as the American Wild West in 11 movies filmed onsite about the fictional Native American hero Winnetou.

The hit HBO series Game of Thrones was filmed on the Dalmatian coast in Split and Dubrovnik.