Trip to Vukovar

Vukovar is about a three-hour bus ride from Zagreb. It is located right on the Danube River, which is also the Croatian-Serbian boarder. Even during the time of Yugoslavia, it was one of the most ethnically mixed cities, and had one of the highest rates of inter-ethnic marriages. In 1991 when it was attacked, the town was about 47% Croat and 32% Serbian. Vukovar was one of the first towns invaded by the Yugoslav People’s Army when Croatia announced its independence from Yugoslavia. The town was under siege from August 1991 until it fell (or was liberated, depending on your point of view) on November 18. During this time, the Yugoslav People’s Army (or JNA) shelled the city constantly, while its citizens hid in basements. Croatia, not yet even a recognized nation attempted to form an army to defend Vukovar, and were successful for a period of time. When the city fell, about 80% of the buildings in the town were destroyed. The citizens that had camped in basements for three months finally came above ground to see their city ripped apart by bullets, rockets, bombs and fires. Woman and children were sent away from the city in buses. Croat soldiers were sent to concentration camps, where most were killed.

As you can imagine, the city’s scars are still very visible. Some people say that Vukovar hasn’t been completely rebuilt or recovered in order to serve as a reminder of the war. However, the biggest reminders of this ethnic war aren’t the bullet hole-riddled buildings or prominent memorials and graveyards, but the segregation that still remains between the Croat and Serb population. Children go to either Croatian or Serbian schools; cafes are exclusively Croatian or Serbian; people ignore acquaintances of a different ethnicity. It is not a physically separated city, but there is a barrier there.

We left for Vukovar early on Thursday morning. My train was late, so I was late and I think the bus almost left without me. We arrived and checked in to our hotel, Hotel Dunav. My Frommer’s Guide to Croatia told me it was “built as a package hotel and despite several updates, it still is. Rooms and public spaces still have that dark, socialist aura.” The hotel was clean, had a restaurant and bar and rooms with views overlooking the Danube, but does NOT come recommended by our group (especially me). All of our rooms were crawling with, as our guide called them, “stink bugs.” Big, brown and buzzy, they smell like really bad B.O. when you stomp them, and apparently come in through the windows. Of course, the room I stayed in had the most, and although we spent some time catching them,  they still flew around our room and crawled all over everything all night. Along with the heat due to our closed windows, the situation did not allow for much sleep. I was not a happy camper. Okay, but I tried not to let the horrible rooming situation ruin my Vukovar experience.

 We had free time for lunch, and with few options around the hotel, we tried some “fast food,” aka, ćevapi. We’ve had ćevapi before; it is some sort of spiced sausage on a thing, buttery bun. This was definitely better than the ćevapiwe had in Zagreb, but I think we were all pretty nauseated by the whole situation. After lunch, we had a lecture with our “tour guide,” who was born in Vukovar, but left before the war and has done a lot of research concerning the war. We then took tours of Croatian and Serbian memorial cemeteries. The Croatian one is huge and beautiful (please see my other pictures on Shutterfly). However, the Serbian one is very small, and is actually in a courtyard of local Croat homes. You can see in the pictures how different they look and how much wear and disrepair the Serbian cemetery shows. Serbs have always been the minority in Vukovar, and since they were seen as the aggressors in the war, their fallen soldiers are not celebrated or honored by the locals.

We had dinner at a small restaurant that I cannot remember the name of, unfortunately, because we are apparently going to be pictured on their website! We had a great dinner with a variety of dishes, including crepes with chocolate for dessert. And then home to a horrible night’s sleep…

Today (Friday), we had a lecture with a man who works for an NGO which is working to create an integrated school in Vukovar, as well as improving other facets of Vukovar’s segregation. He also showed us a documentary his group made concerning inter-ethnic relationships made during the war to work towards peace, rather than against it. We then had some free time to explore the city.We made friends with an adorable puppy (as you can see in the pictures), ate lunch at a place where we had many troubles explaining what we wanted to eat and took in the scenery of Vukovar. 


There are a lot of things to process about this town, and all the things we saw.