Brijuni National Park

14 islands with altogether almost 7.5 square kilometres of land lie off the coast of Istria - better known as the Brijuni nature park. The park, founded in 1983 and opened to the public, covers 33.9 square kilometres including the surrounding water surface; the total coastline length amounts to over 45 km. On the two main islands Veliki Brijun and Mali Brijun in particular, visitors find, besides the typical rocky beaches, gravel and even sandy coves. The island landscape, which was separated from the mainland by the rising sea level about 10,000 years ago, consists mainly of brown and red clay soil, which provides a perfect base for the plants thriving here. And the marble-like structure of the deeper soil layers once attracted Romans, who in quarries drew the material for their splendid buildings on the mainland. With 2,350 hours of sunshine and an average temperature of 13.9 degrees Celsius, the islands represent a typical holiday paradise, and it is probably thanks only to their status as a national park that today hotel complexes do not shoot up here, but rather typical plants of the Croatian Adriatic, which have been arranged into beautiful park grounds in long-term projects. Dictator Tito did, admittedly, declare the islands his property and a protected area several decades ago - but in doing so had less the protection of nature as his aim than the keeping away of visitors. And he was not the only one to seal himself off here: to this day the summer residence of the Croatian presidents is located in the Brijuni park, so that a visit is possible exclusively with guided tours.

The entrance to the national park is located on the mainland in the coastal port of Fazana, seven kilometres from Pula. From here one reaches Veliki Brijun with a ferry boat within only 15 minutes. The places Rovinj and Rijeka also offer transfers. On the guided day excursions one explores the nature and culture of the main island Veliki Brijun with a panorama train ride through the forests, a visit to the pheasantry as well as a tour of the museum with its natural-scientific, archaeological and historical collection. Anyone wanting to visit the 13 further islands as well, on their own account in excursions lasting several days, should enquire with the park administration about the conditions for boat hire and about noteworthy regulations and restrictions. On request the park administration also offers dives, excursions to Mali Brijun or themed trips on forestry, dinosaurs, organic food or archaeology. One is completely autonomous on Veliki Brijun above all with one's own (hired) bicycle, with which one can ride to the sights and viewpoints as the mood takes one. Cars, by contrast, are permitted only in limited numbers for the park administration.

The Fazanski channel separating the islands from the mainland, only 12 metres deep, came into being less than ten thousand years ago. Before that the islands were thus the coastal mountains of Istria, so that here too the ground consists of almost horizontal chalk-limestone layers on which, in the higher levels, the red earth or the brown carbonate soil is deposited that gave the nearby mainland region "red Istria" its name. The relatively soft soil also leads to the strong fragmentation of the islands: when they were still the peaks of the Istrian mountains, wind and rain flows led to gullies and valleys; today the tides wash the bays out ever further. In total there are 46.4 km of coast in the Brijuni National Park, of which 26.6 km alone fall to the main island, Veliki Brijun. It is 555.77 square kilometres in size and reaches a height of 55 metres above sea level. Its little sister, Mali Brijun, has an area of 107.28 square kilometres and its highest point at 30 m. The remaining islands vary between almost 20 and less than one square kilometre; the flattest is a mere 5 metres high, the highest 18. On the islands of Verige, Kozlac, Javorika, Dobrika and Vanga there are particularly beautiful sand and gravel beaches, and on Veliki Brijun the high humidity and the mild climate of the islands have a particularly beautiful effect on the vegetation.