Vukovar (Croatia)

It is always an unsettling experience visiting a city recently damaged and virtually destroyed by bombing (1991). When I was in Croatia, and by the time of my visit to Vukovar, the city had already largely recovered from these terrible events. There were some buildings that were still closed and showed visible signs of the shelling that occurred, but most had been renovated. The city has taken the conscious decision, however, to retain some of the marks left by the shelling as a permanent reminder of what took place.

All the buildings and monuments to visit and see in Vukovar, such as the museum and the cemetery (where I was warned not to stray from the path due to the fact that there are still landmines in the surrounding countryside), are associated with the war in some way. However, it was the hospital that had the greatest effect on me: this is where part of the population was massacred by the Serbs when they captured the city. Visiting it was a very sad and moving experience.

Once you have come as far as this, you might as well also stay a bit longer so you can spend some time exploring the area around Vukovar, particularly the towns of Ilok and Đakovo.