National park Brijuni, an archipelago of 14 islands, is situated on the northern part of Croatia’s coastline. Today’s borders of this “heaven on Earth” were established in 1999 and cover around 33 km2 (13 mile2). Due to its antique remains and green lowland surface, it was declared a national park.
Brijuni has an interesting history dating from the third millennium before Christ when the islands were inhabited with people of unknown ethnicity — farmers, cattle breeders, fishermen… In the first millennium before Christ, Illyrian tribe Histri, came to Brijuni and settled down. Croats came much later, in the 6th and 7th centuries.
During World War 2, Brijuni became Tito’s personal summer residence, and heaps of famous people — Elizabeth Taylor, Sophia Loren, Richard Burton and many more — came to visit him and his heaven on Earth. Tito died back in 1980 and three years later, Brijuni was declared a national park of Yugoslavia. Since 1983 and even earlier, until today, Brijuni has been a popular destination.
Apart from the green land which is not very common among Croatian islands, Brijuni is special for its fauna. Some of the species have been brought in and adjusted very well due to Mediterranean climate. One of the things that you should not miss is Safari park established back in 1978 on the northern part of the island Veliki Brijun. It consists of elephants, llamas, zebras, antelopes, Indian holy cows and other animals. Outside the park, a variety of species run freely — deer, rabbits, mouflons…
Beside the nature, Brijuni is distinguished for the archaeological and geological sites such as Castrum, Saint Mary’s church, Roman villa, Hill fort, Pogledalo, Ploče, Vidikovac, Brion’s Cretaceous Park. They all fulfill this national park giving it its everlasting charm.
Brijuni seems to be very suitable for different sports. You can play golf, tennis, see how good you are at archery, you can ride a bike… Polo used to be very popular in the ’20s.
The Polo tournament which was first held in Brijuni in 1924 wasn’t held there for almost 80 years, and finally came back to the archipelago in 2004.