..Vukovar..
Our visit to Croatia was very short. Due to a lack of accommodation in Serbia on that stretch of the Danube, we made the detour to Vukovar, crossing the Danube in Erdut and riding down to Vukovar along the mostly quiet main road.
..Vukovar Water Tower..
The next morning, we visited the Vukovar Water Tower which acts as a symbol of the suffering of the city during the Croatian War of Independence (1991 – 95), when the city was largely destroyed by Serbian forces.
The water tower was built in the late 1960’s and during the Homeland War and the Battle of Vukovar it was intentionally hit by 640 missile attacks but never actually collapsed.
With traces of the war still evident, it now acts as a museum, café and offers fantastic views over the city.
..Victim of Homeland War Memorial..
Just on the outskirts of the eastern side of town, we passed the National Memorial Cemetery of The Victims of Homeland War in Vukovar, the largest mass grave in Croatia and Europe after the Second World War.
938 bodies were exhumed at the cemetery and 938 white crosses were placed on that spot. A monument by Đurđa Ostoja was erected in the central part of the cemetery on August 5, 2000 . The monument is made of patinated bronze, it is four meters high, and in the middle is an "air" cross and an Eternal Flame. Two crosses were also set up at the cemetery, one for the youngest victim of the Croatian War of Independence, Ivan Kljajić, who was only six months old, and for the oldest victim of the Homeland War, a woman who was 104 years old.
Source: Wiki
..Another War Memorial..
After this interesting and mind bogging experience we also stopped next to the cemetery at the memorial for the 1027 fallen Bulgarian soldiers who fought on the side of the
anti-Hitler coalition during WWII and died in 1944/45.
DESENDANTS, BOW YOUR HEADS
the inscription says on the simple marbled stone plate in front of the wing shaped sculpture which has all the names of the fallen heros on it.
..The view of the War from a young, local Man..
As we were trying to make some sense of all the war history in front of our eyes, we got approached by a couple of young Croatian lads who are part of the maintenance team at the cemetery. They were just about to raise the flags for a memorial service the next day to mark the date of the end of the Second World War.
One in particular was very much interested in our journey and is hoping to do something similar in the future. ‘I always approach long distance cyclist when they stop here because I am interested in their story!’ he said.
We got chatting and apart from some good tips for our journey, he expressed some interesting views he and probably a lot of other young Croatians, Serbs and Bosnians have.
“Vukovar is only famous for the battlefields, cemetery and the history of war which has been created here. There is nothing else Vukovar has to offer and our whole tourism industry is based on the past and on wars!”
“Therefore we live in the past and can’t really move forward easily. The Serbs, the Bosnians and us Croats are all so similar in principal and still, because we are so similar the politicians decided to fight each other!”
There was no hatred or animosity in this young man’s voice towards any of the neighbouring countries Croatia was in war with, just disappointment in manhood…
..Last but not Least..
As our visit to Vukovar wasn’t overwhelming enough already, he bit us farewell by saying:
“It is in our blood that we Croatians like to drink and we also like to drive. Drink driving is very common here! Be careful!”
High-vis jackets out, lights on, and we continued our journey out of Vukovar!
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