Osijek, Tvrda - Agricultural panhandle, interior. Peace and War

Osijek, Croatia

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Osijek, Croatia
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1.  Osijek area and city
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This is the biggest city in Eastern Croatia, see http://www.inyourpocket.com/croatia/osijek,  a lovely area of parks, greenery.  Osijek is capital of the region known as Slavonia, Croatia. 

Names may be similar, but this area is different from Slovenia, the country that once was part of the old Yugoslavia; or another country, that once was part of the old Czechoslovakia, Slovakia.  See its location at http://mapcarta.com/Slavonia
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Osijek is at the far eastern end of Croatia, toward Belgrade. There is a large agricultural plain between Zagreb and Osijek - that extends to the Hungarian border, and their agricultural plain beyond. Many invasions. Flat. No place to hide.
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Our hotel was at the center of the old city. There was a walkway from the main hotel to the apartments behind. It faced a wall - and someone had put in a full store-front shallow display window right on the wall, with a little room all furnished and lit up. Martha Stewart idea. All this is outside, a decorative idea to light your way to your rooms in the secondary building beyond.

Outdoor promenade, Osijek, Croatia. Room like a full-sized shadow-box.






The cathedral's brick steeple is lit at night.

Osijek Cathedral, Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, Osijek, Croatia
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On the flatter lands, there is little big rock - so brick is the construction material used often. Brick means less height, and none of the wildly lacy flying buttresses of high Gothic elsewhere.
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But that is not a matter of skill, it is the material. We saw no stone walls around, as though there are no rocky areas where frost from winter fields throws them up in the winter, as in New England. Less rock, less easy to build forts and fences, no handy weapon to pick up and pelt at your neighbor. Easier pickings, as the Turks and other invaders found out, whizzing through on horseback.



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2.  The Citadel.

This area is a fort, with Baroque buildings, from the era of the Habsburgs.  It how houses several museums.  The past is not far behind: Bullet holes from the devastation of the 1990's.  .

Citadel, or Tvrda, Osijek, Croatia
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On the outskirts is an old baroque fort area, known as Tvrda. See Tvrda World Heritage.

See the evidence of the devastation of the 1990's wars, in patterns of gunfire. See the sprays. Many buildings are still burnt out and bombed.

People have moved back into Tvrda, and it is being restored. Cafes are active, and evening is an excellent time to visit.