The list of attractions or activities that you should visit or participate in can be endless, so we have selected ten things that we think are the most interesting, starting from enjoying the beauty of the landscape to enjoying the wines of this climate.

1. Taste Kulen

Kulen is a Pannonian cured meat delicacy that is created when a pig's appendix filled with a mixture of minced meat from a pig specially raised for making kulen and a mixture of spices dominated by ground pepper is dried in the smoke. If the same mixture is filled into the colon instead of the appendix, a kulen's seka or kulenica is formed. The word kulen itself comes from the Greek word kolum – appendix!

The drying process is necessary for preservation and allows the meat to preserve its nutritional properties for a longer period of time, and it also gives it new organoleptic properties, which are manifested in a specific smell, taste and color. Drying takes about ninety days. After smoking, it is left in the smokehouse or stored in the attic.

Kulen was included in the List of Protected Cultural Properties of the Republic of Croatia due to its exceptional importance for Pannonian Croatia, Slavonia, Baranja and Srijem. Kulen is part of not only the gastronomic, but also the historical and cultural heritage of eastern Croatia. The biggest manifestation dedicated to kulen is the "kulinijada" in Jagodnjak, which takes place every year on the feast of Saint Spasovo according to the Julian calendar.

2. Taste the brandy

Plum brandy, cherry brandy, raspberry brandy, honey brandy, walnut brandy, quince brandy, apricot brandy, it's hard to decide which one is better with a good bite.

Brandy is a drink that is drunk on special occasions. Brandy is until recently a despised nectar that has recently experienced its renaissance and full affirmation. Unlike some other spirits that are made from grains, brandy is produced by distilling fermented fruit, so we have plum brandy, grape brandy, apple brandy, apricot brandy, quince brandy, pear brandy...

Additions are often added to brandy, so we have brandies with cherries, walnuts, honey or herbs.

Although rakija is not exclusively the Croatian national drink, it is most widespread in Croatia itself, precisely in Slavonia and Baranja.

In addition to the traditional home-made production, there are more and more producers who market their brandies. Đanić, Pavičić, Jedna, Bijeli Gusak i UPRIV are the most important commercial brandy producers are in Slavonia and Baranja.

3. Try river fish specialties in one of Baranja's restaurants

In Slavonia and Baranja, there is a large concentration of water bodies and therefore river fish dishes in the traditional diet of the local population, as well as the growing number of tourists who arrive in this region and want to taste something authentic.

The most famous freshwater fish specialties are fish stew, carp on forks, catfish perkelt. Smoked river fish, fish sausage and fish on talandara are not so ubiquitous, but they attract the attention of true gourmets. The first association with river fish dishes is certainly fish stew. River fish enriched with ground paprika is a delight for everyone's palate.

In the vast majority of restaurants that nurture traditional cuisine, you can taste fish stew, and we leave the decision of which is the best to you!

4. Visit the state stud farm in Đakovo

The Đakovo stud farm was founded way back in 1506. year, which ranks it among the oldest stables in Europe. The long tradition of horse breeding represents an inestimable value and significance for the city of Đakovo, Slavonia and the entire Republic of Croatia. Lipizzaner horses were bred at the stud farm at the beginning of the 19th century.

The state stud farm Đakovo uses two locations for breeding horses - Pastuharna, located in the heart of Đakovo, and Ivandvor, in the immediate vicinity of the town. In addition to breeding and selection, Ergela is also involved in horse training, the quality of which is confirmed at numerous competitions in the country and abroad.

In addition to its basic activity of preserving the genetic potential of the Lipizzaner breed, the stud farm's tourist activity is of great importance, and due to its attractiveness, it has become an indispensable destination for tourist visits to Đakovo, Slavonia, and Croatia.

5. Visit the Prandau Normann castle in Valpovo

Today's castle in Valpovo was built during the first half of the 18th century by the reconstruction and extension of the medieval fortress, from which parts of the outer ramparts, the foundations and walls of the late Gothic chapel and the round defensive tower, built at the beginning of the 15th century, have been preserved. century.

Valpovo feudal lordship at the end In the 14th century, it came into the possession of the noble family of the Ban of Mačva, Ivan Morović, who at the very beginning In the 15th century, on the site of today's castle, he built a fort surrounded by deep defensive moats, filled with water from the nearby Karašica river, the so-called lowland Wasserburg. The ground plan of the fortress in the shape of an irregular elongated triangle and several meters thick external walls dictated all later partitions and remained, although partially covered with a baroque mantle, almost entirely preserved to this day. The ground plan of the fortress in the shape of an irregular elongated triangle and several meters thick external walls dictated all later partitions and remained, although partially covered with a baroque mantle, almost entirely preserved to this day.

6. Visit the Kopački rit Nature Park

The unique internal delta of the Danube, the natural triangle of the Danube and the Drava, also known as the "European Amazon". Kopački rit Nature Park was founded in 1976. and is the oldest declared nature park in Croatia. Between the Danube in the east and the Drava in the south, Kopački rit covers 231 square kilometers. The area of the special zoological reserve is about 70 square kilometers. This nature park is included in the list of ornithologically important areas - IBA (Important Bird Area). Ramsar Convention in 1993. was declared an internationally significant protected area. In 2012, UNESCO declared the cross-border Mura-Drava-Danube biosphere reserve, and Kopački rit is an extremely valuable part of it.

Kopački rit is a wetland home to more than 2,300 biological species, especially birds (140 species), which never look the same; the largest breeding ground and hatchery of freshwater fish in the Danube region; one of the largest fluvial-marsh plains in Europe; the name of the Park comes from the Hungarian words kapocs, which means buckle, and ret, translated from Hungarian meadow. The link, the clip, among the marshy meadows today are wooden bridges that allow the visitor to enter deep into the moor - a natural phenomenon of biodiversity; in the Nature Park there is a very interesting piece of country architecture - the Tikveš Castle complex, also known as "Tito's Castle".

Kopački rit Nature Park offers tourists the possibility of a tour by tourist boat, boat or canoe accompanied by expert guides, which is ideal for birdwatching. A tour by bicycle or tourist train is also interesting, and it is also possible to tour Rit through a network of wooden bridges through which sedges and marsh plants peek out. At the entrance to the nature park, there is an interpretation center, together with catering facilities. The world-endangered bald eagle here freely spreads its wings, which are almost two and a half meters long.

7. Visit the Šokačka House in Topolje

Šokačka kuća in Topolje is the name of the original farm in the heart of the Danube village of Topolje in Baranja, where the material and spiritual culture of the local Šokač population is displayed in situ, that is, in the place where it originated.

The project was designed by the Society of Friends of Baranja Antiquities "Ižip" with the desire to preserve the spiritual and material traditional heritage of this region. Are you interested in what life was like for an Ižipe family in the first half of the twentieth century?

Enter their house where they gathered around the bank in the evenings after a hard day's work; listen to the rustling of reeds in the barn attic or sit under an apple tree.

Today, these spaces tell that, not so long ago, story - and not only them: older members of the Association lived that life themselves, like grandmother Manda Kovačev, who lived here until she was nine years old and whose childhood days in this farm are her stories and memories. key elements of the reconstruction of life and customs that disappeared in the last half century.

8. Visit Zmajevac, the wine capital of Baranja

Baranja is the mother of wine, and its wine capital is Zmajevac, formerly Vörösmart, ancient Ad novas.

Baranja has everything! In the extreme southeastern part of the Danube and Drava rivers, they created the Kopački rit marshes. There is a fertile plain on the outer parts, and Bansko brdo is in the central part. The wine-growing region that the Germans called Goldberg (golden hill), and the Romans Mons aures (sunny hill). There is a high level of insolation in that locality, that's why top wine creations are made here! There are as many as eight wine roads on Banski Brdo, and the most wineries are in Zmajevac. For this reason, Zmajevac proudly bears the title of the capital of the Mother of Wine...because they are all indescribably nice there.

Surduci, steep and deeply cut roads, were formed by the action of water torrents from the slopes of Bansko Brdo. In Surduci, residents traditionally make cellars and storage rooms hollowed out in the flagstone and call them gators. Surduci and gators, along with ground pepper, vineyards, wastelands, marshes, wild game and rare birds are one of the trademarks of Baranja. In Zmajevac, wineries are located in three low surduks. Cute rows of wine cellars lazily climbing the slopes of Bansko brdo. In Ružina Ulica, there are winemakers Čočić, Guštin, Majorić and Varga - known for their blend of red wines called Zmajevačka viagra and for some varieties that are rarely represented in our country, such as blue kadarka. Čokot čarda, restaurant and winery Josić and cellars Kusić and Zajec are located in the Catholic surduk.

The most widespread variety of wine is Graševina. Strong, drinkable and refreshing, it is the starting point of every wine tasting. Then sauvignons and chardonnays, rosés and powerful merlots and cabernet sauvignons. It is difficult to single out the best variety because they all do equally well. The restaurant of the Josić winery is one of the most famous restaurants in Eastern Croatia, and for most people from the rest of Croatia, the first association is with Zmajevac and Baranja. It is characterized by good food and a well-thought-out concept of interior decoration and label design, which resulted in a pleasant, warm and homely atmosphere.

In the Reformation or deak surduk, which starts from the Calvinist church, there are the gators Anđal, Đerfi, Kovač, Kromer, Martinov and Pavlović. In old Hungarian, deak means student, this street used to lead to the Zmajevac gymnasium, which was built in the 17th century. century was known all over Europe, that's why it's also called Đačka Street). Zmajevac has about twenty wineries, a wine shop and a museum, the restaurant of the Josić and Sunjog čarda wineries, and the Monjoroš hunting lodge. That is why it is called the wine capital of the Mother of Wine. The wine capital of Baranja.

This place has thousands of years of history and tradition. Zmajevac grew out of the Roman colony Ad novas, and was first mentioned in 1246. year under the name Verusmorth, and there are remains of a fortress near the village on Varheđ hill. Zmajevac was once a town, and until about a hundred years ago its name was Vörösmart.

Vörösmart means Red Martha in Hungarian. According to legend, Red Marta was a cruel feudal ruler who charged a gold coin for crossing the Danube. Those who could not pay were forced to work in her vineyards. Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus is known in Hungarian fairy tales for dressing up as a peasant and hiding his identity. When he heard that Marta was charging for the use of the scaffolding, he came to Baranja dressed as a peasant and dug the vineyard all day, throwing his gold coins in the vineyard. When he returned to Buda, he sent a letter with an ultimatum to Red Martha: if she did not stop charging for the use of the computer, then his soldiers would cut one pound (0.453 kg) of meat from her thigh and give it to the dogs. However, Red Marta ignored the ultimatum, so the king sent a punitive expedition. Upon learning this, Crvena Marta with her hoarded gold coins headed towards a steep cliff in a cart and threw herself into the Danube with her carriage. The carriage stopped only near Zmajevac, hence the old name of the village. Her whip was found near Batina, hence the name of the village Batina.

9. Take a walk along Osijek's promenade and pedestrian bridge

Architect and urban planner Radovan Miščević designed and implemented a unique urban model of a river in a city instead of a city on a river. Osijek truly lives along the Drava River. If you look at the map, the city has a specific elongated shape along the Drava River (more than ten kilometers), and the distance from the Drava to Osijek's southern ring road is only about three kilometers. Along the Drava River in Osijek is the most beautiful and attractive river promenade in Croatia - the Promenade. There is also a pedestrian bridge on the Promenade that connects the left and right banks of the Drava, that is, Slavonia and Baranja. This bridge stands in the place where Sulejman the Magnificent's bridge used to be, which connected Darda with Osijek across the Baranja swamps.

10. Ride a bike along the Pannonian Peace Path

A bicycle path that connects Osijek and Sombor, Slavonia, Baranja and Bačka. The Pannonian Way of Peace (Via pacis pannoniae) goes from Osijek towards Bilje to the gate of Kopački rit - Kopačevo, a village where once the majority of the population was professionally engaged in fishing and which, in addition to Kopački rit, is also known for the Fishermen's Days event. It then passes through Baranja's wastelands: Podunavlje (where the Kormoran restaurant is located), Kozjak, Sokolovac and Mirkovac.

We are talking about specific work-social communities where numerous economic and social functions were located in one place, in a planned and deliberate manner. In its golden age, the wastelands were an exemplary example of how to combine production, housing and administrative functions with quality. After the wasteland, the road goes to the village of Suza, which is located at the foot of the Bansko brdo. From Suza via Zmajevac – the wine capital of Baranja, the Pannonian Peace Path leads to Batina, and after crossing the state border to Sombor.

There is also an alternative route where, after the Kozjak wasteland, you turn right towards the Zlatna Greda wasteland, where the first adrenaline park in eastern Croatia is located, and then you take an unpaved road, the Danube embankment that passes right next to the island of Gornja Siga, more recently known as Liberland, to asphalt road towards Batina. Gornja Siga is a Serbian island located on the Croatian side of the Danube, and Liberland is the source of numerous controversies. For some, it is an attack on the state sovereignty of the Republic of Croatia, for others it is a story with great tourist potential, such as the British Principality of Sealand or Fristaden Christiania in Copenhagen.

This alternative path is somewhat more demanding, but therefore also more attractive. Complexes of centuries-old forests, flooded meadows that change their appearance according to the water level of the Danube, rare and protected specimens of birds... There is also an option to cross the section from Bilje to Kozjak via Vardarac and Lug instead of via Kopačevo and Podunavlje.