If the Adriatic Coast is the face of Croatia most familiar to outsiders then Slavonia represents its flip side; a green slice of Central Europe dominated by great plains and grand rivers, its towns and cities shaped by the Austrian Baroque.

Slavonia’s chief city Osijek was once the Austrian Empire’s main base in the southeast and retains a unique fortress-suburb built in the last Baroque era.

Vukovar, further south, notoriously subjected to siege and massacre by Serbian forces during the Homeland War of 1991-5, is a pleasant riverside town close to the spectacular museum of prehistory at Vučedol.

Much of Slavonia is fertile agricultural land although there is one area of breathtaking natural wilderness in the shape of Kopački rit, site of semi-sunken forests caused by seasonal flooding.

Food & drink

Wherever you are in Slavonia you will come across a distinctive cuisine, shaped in large part by the local crop of paprika. Čobanac is a meat stew flavoured, rather like goulash, with lashings of red spice; equally piquant is fish paprikaš, a red stew featuring freshwater fish from the Danube, Drava and Sava rivers.

It is also a major wine-producing region with vineyards cloaking every available slope in the low hills north of Osijek and around Ilok to the south.