Brijuni
Brijuni, Travel Guide with travel tips for holidays in Brijuni, Croatia
Once controlled by Venice in the Middle Ages and influenced by the Romans, the Brijuni islands complete Croatia’s Brijuni National Park. These Croatian islands are found in the Adriatic Sea across from Italy. In 1815 the Austrian Empire, later Austria-Hungary, grabbed hold of the islands and built a naval base in Pula’s harbor leading to an impressive fortress. It was in this time that the islands produced stone for Vienna and Berlin. Black Friday brought forward economic crisis and the islands lost its Austrian heritage after WW1 in 1930 when the Italians took control. The end of WWII sent Brijuni to be included in Yugoslavia where Josip Tito, communist state leader, had a Slovene architect design for him a pavilion, at the time and still a popular spot to visit.
The islands hand-switching history affected its beautiful structures and traces of several cultures. One may take a boat to Brijuni from Fazana’s port as the fourteen islands and islets sit south-west of Istria. Included in the national park are the Gaz, Saint Mark, Vanga, Pusti, Supinic, Okrugljak, Supin, Grunj, Kozada, Saint Jerome and Vrsar islands.
The majority of historical monuments are found on Great Brioni (Veliki Brijun). Otherwise the islands exhibit open fields, pastures and meadows, and parks. None of the very small islands house parks, excluding the Small Brioni (Mali Brijun) whose lands cover 20 acres. In order to visit local wildlife one needs to go to the Safari Park, with Istrian oxen, sheep, donkeys, goats, elephants, guinea, zebras, cattle, lamas, and more. There are animals from other locations making up the park’s exotic portion such as Blue Antelope from India, Marsh Antelope from Zambia, and Somalian sheep from Ethiopia. The Ethno Park consists of the local wildlife whereas the Safari Park has the more exotic animals. Sites to see would be the Roman Villa in the Vergie Bay found on the western side of the island with its 1 BC architectural style.
Hill Fort has a Bronze Age look from 14 century BC with well preserved entrances, walls and necropolis. St Mary’s Church is an ancient church from the 5th century in excellent structural condition. Dig around a former Roman Empire at Castrum where several finds were made. Charter companies on the sea front of Pula offer trips to the park and travel agencies provide guided tours and excursions. The entrance by boat coasts 70 kunas, about 12 USD or 9 Euros. The tickets for admission to the parks are reasonably priced. The two most popular restaurants are Neptun that seats 140 and Venera with 80.
