Plitvice Lakes

Plitvice Lakes are one of the most beautiful national parks in the world. UNESCO pearl Plitvice Lakes complex is a whole of beautiful forests, meadows, rocks and drop-down lake whose water countless cascades and waterfalls tumble and overflow through 16 beautiful stepwise, blue lake to the river Korana, which runs deep and rocky canyon in the karst, forming a special attraction for tourists. River Korana can be seen from the promenade, or cultural-historic fortress Dreznik City (which fought against Ottoman conquerors for centuries).
There are also Barac caves located near the village of Rakovica in which was established the first Croatian government. River Korana and underground caves are connection between Plitvice Lakes National Park and Rastoke (mill town). Plitvice Lakes National Park is the origin of Winnetou, which again can be seen in the nearby Winnetoulandu. Added to this bike path, climb, ski resort and other recreational facilities as well as indigenous Škripavac cheese, plum brandy, bread, and lamb under a baking lid, there is no end of satisfaction.Plitvice Lakes are one of the most beautiful national parks in the world. UNESCO pearl Plitvice Lakes complex is a whole of beautiful forests, meadows, rocks and drop-down lake whose water countless cascades and waterfalls tumble and overflow through 16 beautiful stepwise, blue lake to the river Korana, which runs deep and rocky canyon in the karst, forming a special attraction for tourists. River Korana can be seen from the promenade, or cultural-historic fortress Dreznik City (which fought against Ottoman conquerors for centuries).
There are also Barac caves located near the village of Rakovica in which was established the first Croatian government. River Korana and underground caves are connection between Plitvice Lakes National Park and Rastoke (mill town). Plitvice Lakes National Park is the origin of Winnetou, which again can be seen in the nearby Winnetoulandu. Added to this bike path, climb, ski resort and other recreational facilities as well as indigenous Škripavac cheese, plum brandy, bread, and lamb under a baking lid, there is no end of satisfaction.

from:http://www.plitvicelakes.com/

Penny

Trogir, Croatia

Trogir is located in southern Croatia on the Adriatic Sea. It was first settled by Greek colonists in the 3rd century BC and it developed into a major port until the Roman period.

Trogir has a fascinating 2300 years of continuous urban tradition. Its rich culture was created under the influence of old Greeks, Romans, and Venetians. Trogir has a high concentration of palaces, churches, and towers, as well as a fortress on a small island.

The orthogonal street plan of this island settlement dates back to the time of the Greeks and it was embellished by successive rulers with many fine public and domestic buildings and fortifications. Its beautiful Romanesque churches are complemented by the outstanding Rennaisance and Baroque buildings from the Venetian period. Trogir is the best-preserved Romanesque-Gothic complex not only in the Adriatic Sea, but in all of Central Europe. Trogir's medieval core, surrounded by walls, comprises a preserved castle and tower and a series of dwellings and palaces from the Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque periods.

Sourced from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trogir

-Teacher Karl

Croatia

Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Southeast Europe, at the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean Sea. Its capital (and largest city) is Zagreb. Croatia borders Slovenia and Hungary to the north, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the so utheast, and Serbia and Montenegro to the east. The Croats arrived in the early seventh century in what is Croatia today. They organized the state into two dukedoms. The first king, Tomislav I was crowned in AD 925 and Croatia was elevated into a kingdom. The Kingdom of Croatia retained its sovereignty for almost two centuries, reaching its peak during the rule of Kings Petar Krešimir IV and Zvonimir. Croatia entered a personal union with Hungary in 1102. In 1526, the Croatian Parliament elected Ferdinand from the House of Habsburg to the Croatian throne. In 1918, Croatia declared independence from Austria–Hungary and co-founded the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. After the Second World War, Croatia became a founding member of Second Yugoslavia. On 25 June 1991, Croatia declared independence and beca me a sovereign state. Situated in a secluded place, on the southern coast of Brac, Bol is the oldest town of Brac and one of the most famous seaside resorts of the Adriatic. Apart from cultural monuments, Bol also features a number of natural beauties. East and west of Bol are numerous shores, beautiful beaches; the most famous - and probably the most beautiful on the Adriatic is Zlatni Rat.
Joey

Budapest Bath Houses

If you spend time in Budapest, at least a part of it should be at the soothing thermal spring baths. The Romans reaped the health benefits of hot springs here, but it was during the 16th- and 17th- century Turkish occupation that the bath culture was developed. Some of these spas are still in operation today.

But there is an array of baths from more recent Hungarian times, such as the wonderful Art Nouveau Gellért Baths at the luxurious Gellért Hotel. And the Lavish Széchenyi Baths in the City Park. You will also find plenty of thermal hot springs and wells throughout Hungary. There are nearly 1,000 of them in the country, spewing in towns such as Bük, Balf, Gyula and Hajdúszoboszló.

The Romans first developed the baths of Budapest, and the Turks and Habsburgs followed suit. The thermal lake at Heviz is probably Hungary’s most impressive spa , though public thermal pools at Budapest, Eger, Gyor, Harkany and Szeged.

Budapest is a major spa centre with numerous thermal baths that are open to the public. Here the Danube follows the geological fault separating the Buda Hills from the Great Plain and over 40 million litres of warm mineral water gush forth daily from more than 100 thermal springs.

Taken from: http://www.budapesthotels.com/touristguide/ThermalBaths.asp

-Teacher Karl

Danube

The Danube is the longest river in the European Union and Europe's second longest river after the Volga.
The river originates in the Black Forest in Germany as the much smaller Brigach and Breg rivers which join at the German town Donaueschingen, after which it is known as the Danube and flows eastwards for a distance of some 2850 km (1771 miles), passing through four Central and Eastern European capitals, before emptying into the Black Sea via the Danube Delta in Romania and Ukraine.
Known to history as one of the long-standing frontiers of the Roman Empire, the river flows through—or forms a part of the borders of—ten countries: Germany (7.5%), Austria (10.3%), Slovakia (5.8%), Hungary (11.7%), Croatia (4.5%), Serbia (10.3%), Romania (28.9%), Bulgaria (5.2%), Moldova (1.7%), and Ukraine (3.8%).[citation needed

fromhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danube

Alice

Caves of Aggtelek Karst and Slovak Karst

Hungary Slovakia
Date of Inscription: 1995

Extension: 2000

Minor modification inscribed year: 2008

Criteria: (viii)

Property : 56650.5700 ha

Buffer zone: 86797.3300 ha

Districts of Rožnava and Spišská Nová Ves, Region of Košice (SK)N48 28 32.628 E20 29 12.732

Ref: 725ter

Brief Description
The variety of formations and the fact that they are concentrated in a restricted area means that the 712 caves currently identified make up a typical temperate-zone karstic system. Because they display an extremely rare combination of tropical and glacial climatic effects, they make it possible to study geological history over tens of millions of years.

info from:http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/725

Penny

Hungary

Hungary, in English officially the Republic of Hungary, is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia. Its capital is Budapest. Hungary is a member of OECD, NATO, EU, V4 and is a Schengen state. The official language is Hungarian, which is part of the Finno-Ugric family, thus one of the four official languages of the European Union that are not of Indo-European origin. Following a Celtic (after c. 450 BC) and a Roman period, the foundation of Hungary was laid in the late 9th century by the Hungarian ruler Árpád, whose great-grandson Stephen I of Hungary was crowned with a crown sent from Rome by the pope in 1000. After being recognized as a kingdom, Hungary remained a monarchy for 946 years, and at various points was regarded as one of the cultural centers of the Western world, Matthias I, Lajos Kossuth,. A significant power until the end of World War I, Hungary lost over 70% of its territory, along with 3.3 million people of Hungarian ethnicity, under the Treaty of Trianon, the terms of which have been considered humiliating by Hungarians. The kingdom was succeeded by a Communist era (1947–1989) during which Hungary gained widespread international attention regarding the Revolution of 1956 and the seminal move of opening its border with Austria in 1989, thus accelerating the collapse of the Eastern Bloc. The present form of government is a parliamentary republic (since 1989). Today, Hungary is a high-income economy, and a regional leader regarding certain markers. Its current goal is to become a developed country by IMF standards. In the past decade, Hungary was listed as one of the 15 most popular tourist destinations in the world. The country is home to the largest thermal water cave system and the second largest thermal lake in the world, the largest lake in Central Europe, and the largest natural grassland in Europe.
Joey