Trips to Croatia, which many have turned to over the past year, are an ideal opportunity to not only recharge our batteries, but also make us aware of the value of what we have. When discovering domestic destinations with "pedigree", you should definitely not miss the far east of Croatia, especially if you associate the travel experience with top-quality (and affordable) eno-gastronomy.

In Eastern Slavonia and Baranja - and this is not some local patriotic legend without cover - the experience of enjoying food and wine has been developing since ancient times. Even while Europe was debating whether the Earth was a flat plate, some Pannonian truths of the palate and "tibice" were indisputable. Just take kulen, a delicacy created by combining local raw materials and oriental spices (red pepper, and for the inhabitants of Baranja, white pepper). If it were in the hands of the Italians or the French, its at least four centuries long tradition would today be something like mortadella or gouda - a world-famous general gastro-noun. What can we say about the thousand-year-old Baranja vineyards and the famous Belje winery, which hides a half-millennium-old beauty in Kneževi Vinogradi - the largest historical wine cellar in Croatia? Nothing, except to afford the pleasure of getting to know them.

Exploring the expanses of Danube vineyards and grain fields, wedged between heaven and earth, you will discover a destination so different from the often banal image of "peasant", "backward", "depopulated" regions. It's a long story about the reasons why - and it's better to hear it on the spot, from a colorful host - but if you're looking for a top-quality wine and gastronomy experience in a top-quality rural setting in Croatia, Baranja and Podunavlje hide a number of locations that are an absolute must. Cellars, rustic households and restaurants of Suza and Zmajevac, Bilja and Vardarac, the Street of Forgotten Time in Karanac, the mystical Kotlina, the unrepeatable views of Batina and the landscapes of Draža... Somewhat downstream - if you head east from Osijek instead of north - the Erdut vineyard, another Danube region -gastro pearl. In addition to seeing the largest plantation vineyard in Croatia, here in the three-century-old winery you will have the opportunity to take a selfie with one of the largest wooden barrels in the world. Its 75,000 liters of volume seems like a decent one-room apartment!

In addition to the central winery and recognizable landmarks, there are, as in Baranja, a number of family households and small producers of great caliber and even greater heart. All of them make up a destination that pushes the boundaries of the tourist experience. Which turns the saying about wine as the drink of the gods from symbolism into reality. Where are the fantasies about slow food as not only quality food, but also a philosophy of life, a self-evident practice that has been passed down from generation to generation for centuries. So push your limits and discover the hedonistic east of Croatia - you won't regret it!