Croatia
Croatia is a small country with beautiful nature, interesting tradition and past, rich cultural heritage, diverse gastronomy…
Croatia has a favorable geographic position since it is situated in the southeast of Europe, where the Mediterranean, Middle Europe and Southeast Europe (the Balkans) meet.
With its 1.185 islands, islets and rocks, numerous bays, coves and beaches, Croatia has one of the most indented coasts in the Mediterranean and rightly deserves to be called the country with a thousand islands.
There are 8 national parks in Croatia, their untouched nature occupies almost 8% of Croatia's surface area.
The national parks are the following: Brijuni, Kornati, Krka, Mljet, Paklenica, Plitvice Lakes, Risnjak and North Velebit.
Croatia is the country with the biggest number of protected non-material cultural phenomena in Europe - Festa Sv. Vlaha (St.Blaise Celebration Day), lacemaking in Lepoglava and islands of Hvar and Pag, zvončari (bellmen) from the Kastav area, the cross procession, overtone singing and playing the Istrian scale, spring procession of Ljelje (queens) and traditional manufacturing of wooden toys from Hrvatsko zagorje.
UNESCO destinations in Croatia:
- Diocletian's Palace and medieval Split
- St. Jacob's Cathedral in Šibenik
- Plitvice Lakes National Park
- Historical nucleus of Trogir
- Early-Christian complex of the Euphrasius Basilica in Poreč
- Dubrovnik Old Town – town nucleus
- Starigrad Field on the island of Hvar
Some of the curiosities related to Croatia:
Tie is a Croatian invention from the 17th century. The biggest tie in the world, 808 meters long, was tied around Arena, Pula's amphitheatre.
Famous scientists: Nikola Tesla, Miroslav Radman, Ivan Đikić, Ruđer Bošković, Faust Vrančić, Željko Reiner, Korado Korlević, Slavoljub Eduard Penkala, Vladimir Prelog, Lavoslav Ružička, Ivan Lupis-Vukić, Dragutin Gorjanović Kramberger
Famous athletes: Janica and Ivica Kostelić, Blanka Vlašić, Krešimir Ćosić, Mate Parlov, Dražen Petrović, Toni Kukoč, Goran Ivanišević, Matija Ljubek, Ivano Balić, Davor Šuker, Slaven Bilić
Famous artists: Ivan Meštrović, Rade Šerbedžija, Goran Višnjić, Ivo Robić, Maksim Mrvica
Counties in Croatia:
The Republic of Croatia consists of 20 counties and the City of Zagreb which has the county status.
- Bjelovar-Bilogora County www.bbz.hr
- Brod-Posavina County www.bpz.hr
- Dubrovnik-Neretva County www.edubrovnik.org
- City of Zagreb www.zagreb.hr
- Istrian County www.istra-istria.hr
- Karlovac County
- Koprivnica-Križevci County www.kckzz.hr
- Krapina-Zagorje County
- Lika-Senj County www.lickosenjska.com
- Međimurje County www.medjimurska-zupanija.hr
- Osijek-Baranja County www.obz.hr/hr
- Požega-Slavonija County www.pszupanija.hr
- Primorje-Gorski Kotar County www.pgz.hr
- Sisak-Moslavina County www.smz.hr/site
- Split-Dalmatia County www.dalmacija.hr
- Šibenik-Knin County www.sibensko-kninska-zupanija.hr
- Varaždinska County www.varazdinska-zupanija.hr
- Virovitica-Podravina County
- Vukovar-Srijem County www.vukovarsko-srijemska-zupanija.hr
- Zadar County www.zadarska-zupanija.hr
- Zagreb County www.zagrebacka-zupanija.hr
Istrian County includes most of Istria – the biggest Croatian peninsula. The most western point of the Republic of Croatia is in the Istrian County (Bašanija, Lako Cape) at 45° north latitude.
The Istrian peninsula has 3.476 square kilometers of surface area. This area is divided by three states: Croatia, Slovenia and Italy. The largest part of the peninsula, i.e. 3.130 square kilometers (90% of the surface area), belongs to the Republic of Croatia. Most of the Croatian part of the peninsula belongs to the Istrian County, some 2.820 square kilometers, amounting to 4,98% of the overall surface area of the Republic of Croatia.
According to the 2001 census the total number of inhabitants in the Istrian County amounted to 206.344 which is about 4,65% of the population of the Republic of Croatia.
Average population density is 73 inhabitants per km2 from which 70,7% lives in towns.
The total number of tourist arrivals in 2011 in the Istrian County was 3.012.204, while the number of overnight stays amounted to 20.646.728.
