Batina Croatia
Frequently Asked Questions
At one of the smallest cruise landings on the Danube, below a village of about a thousand people. Long before docking you can make out the memorial's outline: a tall stone column topped by a bronze figure with outspread wings.
The village sits on a bend of the Danube where three countries face one another: Croatia on this bank, Serbia opposite, Hungary a few kilometres upstream. On a clear day, from the hill, the eye travels freely from one country to the next.
One of the most important battles of the Danube front, in November 1944, when Soviet forces and Yugoslav partisans crossed the river against the German army. The memorial raised after the war honours the thousands of soldiers who fell in that crossing.
Yes, in about fifteen minutes from the village. From up there the view stretches over the Pannonian plain: the Danube unrolls its sandbanks and floodplain forests billow to the horizon.
A triangle of farmland squeezed between the Drava and the Danube, with Batina as its gateway. It is a preserved pocket of countryside marked by Hungarian influences, which the ship's excursions set out to explore.
A group of old farmhouses with steep roofs, about twenty kilometres away, where workshops, carriages and everyday objects of the past can be visited. Locals keep up a generous cuisine there: paprika kulen, long-simmered stews and regional white wines.
Cellars dug straight into the loess hills, lining entire lanes. Winemakers receive groups there over a chilled graševina and a plate of cured meats; several river lines include this stop in their afternoon programme.
One of Europe's largest inland marshes, half an hour's drive away, often nicknamed the European Amazon. It occupies the confluence zone of the Drava and the Danube: a labyrinth of ponds, reedbeds and flooded forest where nearly 300 bird species nest.
From the wooden walkways or on a boat trip: herons, cormorants and, with luck, the heavy flight of a white-tailed eagle. Deer and wild boar frequent the undergrowth. For nature lovers, this excursion alone justifies the stop at Batina.
The euro, which Croatia has adopted; keep cash for the cellars and small shops. The Danube cruise season runs from April to October, with spring the best time for birdwatching at Kopački rit.
