Total Croatia News Ivankovo is located in Vukovar-Srijem County along a busy road that has passed through that area since prehistoric times The design reminds of a typical traditional Slavonian village; the houses are located on long narrow plots and the background is used for agricultural purposes which are also part of the Ivankovo Municipality its geographical and traffic location connects cities like Đakovo the municipality of Ivankovo was always highly populated (unusual for villages in Eastern Croatia) with 1,263 residents in village Retkovci and 549 residents in Prkovci the 2021 census showed that the emigration of people Only Vukovar-Srijem County has 19 percent fewer people than ten years prior These devastating numbers only show how much this part of the country suffered since the Homeland War and the possible potential Eastern Croatia can offer was neglected for decades Croatia joined the European Union on the 1st of July 2013 and opened its borders to new opportunities which was partly a curse if we consider the emigration but Euro funds all of a sudden became available and small communities and districts like Ivankovo saw the opportunity to use its resources to develop their infrastructure After the change of the government in 2017 One of the first obstacles elected officials had to face were decrepit institution buildings (school financial transactions pointlessly directed at projects that did not make any sense and keeping young residents and their potential families in the district of Ivankovo but with the available European funds and fixes in municipalities’ budgets projects of developing neglected villages finally started The first big project happened at the Industrial Zone Ivankovo finally put into function and allowed local entrepreneurs to invest and develop their own establishments of which 70 percent needed to be from the Municipality of Ivankovo.  Local utilities also needed a massive upgrade so a communal society was formed and today employs 26 people from the Municipality who take care of the village’s environment every day.  Public spaces like children’s playgrounds part of the Revitalization plan included planting 300 trees across the Municipality and the sewer system finally connected with households across the villages of Ivankovo Waste management is still a huge problem across Croatia but the local government of Ivankovo enabled the construction of a recycling yard which highlights the need for sorting and recycling the waste foto: Facebook/Marko Miličević – načelnik Općine Ivankovo Social incentives: co-financing the purchase of houses for young families and other perks of the demographic policy all came into fruition since 2017 and it helped residents of Ivankovo immensely This is only a drop in the ocean that shows if people put in a little effort and genuinely care about the development of the community in which they reside When asked about these achievements and progress the Municipality went through the last few years Mayor Marko Miličević says that “this is only the beginning we had to fix a lot of issues that were rooted here for years but with the help of my colleagues and finding resources to finance our goals of development of this region we started something that we can only continue to build on.” He continues: “The most important part was listening to people getting to know them again and recognizing their needs because before they weren’t being listened to.” Plans seem ambitious as well: “This Municipality has so much potential and highly educated people with more than 100 faculty students every year who are studying economics which are all the fields that are the future of this country.” he says Furthermore: “We have numerous development projects in works that we want to be finished in the next few years: further development of Entrepreneurial Zone Ivankovo Mayor Miličević ends on a hopeful note: “We have achieved the future of development in the Municipality of Ivankovo  Winter Joys During Christmas Holidays the inclusion of young people in said events and more only shows that the district of Ivankovo finally livened up and restored a little bit of life that resided here 30 – 40 years ago Multiple “parasites” wormed themselves in the core of Slavonia and slowly but surely exhausted the region to the limit People settled for what was enough for them and some of them left because they couldn’t see their future here Generations of high schoolers heard every day that there isn’t a place for them here in Slavonia that there are many people like them who never found themselves here and had to leave because of it and that they need to leave as well.  The hope for Slavonians has been stepped on for years a village like Ivankovo can only be an example of how much power its residents have and use their potential to make For more, check out our dedicatedlifestyle section. and website in this browser for the next time I comment  (Updated:  May 6, 2025 6:22 am)Ukraine's drones target Moscow second night in a row, Russian official claims. Debris from one of the drones reportedly fell on the Kashirskoye Highway The reported attack comes just days before Russia's Victory Day parade and three-day "truce." A Russian drone attack on Odesa Oblast on May 5 killed one and caused damage to local infrastructure "We appreciate that Germany plays a pivotal role in supporting Ukraine throughout the years of war Ukraine is also grateful for your personal commitment," President Volodymyr Zelensky said MPs will be able to ask questions and learn more about the details of the agreement in meetings with Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko May 6-7 MP Serhii Sobolev told the news outlet Suspilne The ratification vote is scheduled for May 8 Attacks against the border villages of Bilopillia and Vorozhba damaged civilian infrastructure and triggered emergency evacuations the regional military administration reported "I look forward to working with President Erdogan on getting the ridiculous war between Russia and Ukraine ended — now!" U.S Putin's Victory Day truce "doesn't sound like much if you know where we started from," Trump told reporters at the White House on May 5 Far-right Euroskeptic candidate George Simion head of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan placed second with 20.99% of the vote and the candidate from the ruling coalition "It requires the continuation of contacts between Moscow and Washington which have been launched and are now ongoing," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said set to operate within the Council of Europe will focus on Russia's political and military leaders up to 20 Russian soldiers were killed and their equipment destroyed by Natalia DatskevychFirefighters put out a fire in the museum of Ukraine's poet and philosopher Hryhoriy Skovoroda after Russia's missile attack on May 7 (State Emergency Service in Kharkiv Oblast/Facebook)In 1937 widely acknowledged as one of the greatest painters in history said after visiting an exhibition in Paris: “I bow down before the artistic miracle of this brilliant Ukrainian.” He was talking about the folk painter Maria Prymachenko and her paintings in the “naive art” genre a collection of 25 of her works almost burned up when the Russian military fired on a museum in the village of Ivankovo in Kyiv Oblast such as works of the Ukrainian embroiderer Hanna Veres “Putin wants to destroy European heritage and culture, wipe them off the face of the earth,” Ukraine's Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko said in early March Almost 100 days into the Kremlin's large-scale invasion of Ukraine hundreds of cultural heritage sites in the country have been destroyed and thousands of rare historical artifacts have been stolen As of May 27, the Culture Ministry has documented 367 war crimes against Ukraine's cultural heritage “Russians have the precise aim of destroying our culture as part of our identity, something that distinguishes Ukraine from Russia,” Bloomberg quoted Olha Honchar co-founder of Ukraine's Museum Crisis Center “It has become quite clear now for the whole world that Russia bombs museums The destruction of the museum in Ivankovo was just the beginning Russia's barbaric bombing barrage has wrecked many iconic artifacts of the nation's storied past every fourth crime against Ukraine's cultural heritage was recorded there the regional capital and Ukraine's second-largest city a Russian fire smashed the windows of the Kharkiv Art Museum which housed 25,000 masterpieces by Ukrainian and world artists A version of the famous painting “Cossacks Write a Letter to the Turkish Sultan” by Ukrainian-born artist Ilya Repin was evacuated from the museum The main version of the painting is in a museum in Russia like many artworks created by Ukrainians during the Russian Empire times the state of many other rare and old paintings displayed in the museum can only be assessed after the war Museum workers had to remove them from the walls in a rush Russian missiles hit the museum and historic home of Ukraine’s famous poet and philosopher Hryhoriy Skovoroda located in the village of Skovorodynivka in Kharkiv Oblast and a number of valuable exhibits were buried under the rubble “Not every terrorist will even think about targeted missile strikes on museums,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said in response to the destruction “And this is the kind of army that is fighting against us.” A month later, the city council reported that Russian occupiers had looted a unique 700-piece collection of coins and medals from a local museum in Mariupol They allegedly transported the collection to the Russian-occupied part of Donetsk Oblast a famous Mariupol-born landscape painter of Pontic Greek descent On April 27, invaders took all valuable exhibits from the museum including three Kuindzhi paintings and “Near the Shores of the Caucasus,” an original painting by famed marine artist Ivan Aivazovsky The looted Kuindzhi piece called “Red Sunset,” painted over 115 years ago “What I hid (in the basement of the museum), it survived,” Buli told the BBC everything was handed over to the occupiers.” Russian media reported that more than 2,000 exhibits were taken out of Mariupol museums for “temporary storage” in occupied Donetsk and Luhansk – the ministry recorded almost 160 war crime cases against historical heritage the Russian military destroyed the former museum of Ukrainian antiquities a 19th-century building built in the Gothic Revival style “The building survived shelling by the Bolsheviks in 1918 and 1919 and World War II under the bombs of the German Nazis,” wrote Serhiy Laevsky the director of the history museum in Chernihiv “The Moscow Nazi horde came and ruined a monument of local history.” the mayor of the occupied city of Melitopol in Zaporizhzhia Oblast reported another shocking news: Russian invaders stole a “unique and priceless” collection of 2,300-years-old Scythian gold from the local history museum in Melitopol Gold artifacts were discovered in massive burial mounds, known as kurgans, by archaeologists in the 1950s. In all, the occupiers stole 198 items, including floral ornaments and breastplates, according to the Crimean Tatar Resource Center like 48 pieces of historical weaponry from the 17th through the 20th centuries as well as 76 items made at least 1,500 years ago “This is one of the largest and most expensive collections in Ukraine,” said Fedorov While Russian forces are to blame for the destruction of so much of Ukraine's cultural heritage some Ukrainian experts believe the country hasn't done enough to protect its art and history before the escalation Eight days before Russia's invasion of Ukraine art historian Konstantin Akinsha was horrified at what might happen to museums if war broke out “In a full-scale Russian invasion, practically all significant museum collections would be in danger,” Akinsha wrote in his column for the Wall Street Journal “The majority of museums have miserable budgets and would not even be able to afford the necessary crates,” he said Underfunding has made the notion of evacuating exhibits to safer facilities under guard even hazier the Culture Ministry had not prepared any plans for the centralized evacuation of museum exhibits or instructions on how to act during a war chief curator of the Kharkiv Literary Museum The decision to save the collections fell on the shoulders of each museum separately where many directors heroically spent the first two weeks of the war,” said Yana Barinova the head of Kyiv City Council’s cultural department The highest levels of government made no other publicly-known efforts to preserve the museum collections in the days leading up to the war Barinova believes the protection of museum collections was not a top priority for the government It was “part of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s efforts to prevent panic,” Akinsha believes Natalia Datskevych is a business reporter at the Kyiv Independent she worked as business reporter for the Kyiv Post She studied economic theory at Kyiv National Economic University and holds a Ph.D in economic science Official photo.Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has poured cold water on the latest claims that the head of Chechnya footage of Kadyrov was circulated online showing him discussing the alleged ‘successful’ capture of an orphanage close to Kyiv with ethnic-Chechen soldiers Peskov said that they had ‘no information’ about Kadyrov’s presence on the territory of Ukraine ‘The Kremlin has no information that he is there. No, there is no such information’, Peskov said He said that Kadyrov had himself not directly claimed to be in Ukraine despite his having done so in an exchange with Ukrainian officials an adviser at the Ukrainian Interior Ministry ‘You shouldn’t sit in a basement in distant Ivankovo. Sit on a tank — storm Kyiv. Show yourself Ramzan, and don’t hide like a rat in basements!’, Gerashchenko wrote on Telegram Oleksiy Arestovich, an adviser to the Head of the President’s Office, also issued a statement saying they were verifying if Kadyrov was truely in Ukraine or not ‘There is information that he was seen yesterday in Grozny’ Kadyrov replied to Arestovich on his Telegram channel and turned also on Zelensky later attaching a video of Chechen fighters of the National Guard and Adam Delimkhanov deputy chair of the Government of Chechnya allegedly filmed in Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast Have you not seen the video or should I knock on your door?’ ‘And now an appeal personally to Zelensky and his gang The footage has been met with sckepticism from many social media commentators as it is not the first video claiming to show the head of Chechnya in Ukraine since the start of the war a Chechen public movement that runs a popular Telegram channel critical of the authorities told OC Media that according to their informants in Chechnya he tries to promote himself as much as possible.’ was previously published on 22 February by a national guard commander ‘That fake news that allegedly Kadyrov flew to Ukraine was also exposed.’  ‘All this information is thrown out there by Kadyrov’s propaganda arm headed by the Minister of Press and Information Akhmed Dudayev’ 1ADAT said They said the aim of such publications was to establish a ‘masculine’ image of Kadyrov ‘Because they do everything they can to show Kadyrov as some kind of warrior you have no idea the kind of Bollywood films Kadyrov’s propaganda would be filming there.’ On 25 February, when asked by Russian state news agency RIA Kadyrov said he could not reveal if he was in Ukraine as it was secret ‘I am a general of the Russian Guard and cannot declassify information Luiza has years of experience writing about the North Caucasus and has been an integral part of OC Media since 2021 Words of War is carried by a strong leading performance from Maxine Peake who does credit to Anna Politkovskaya’s fearlessness as a reporter His body remains discarded near a rubbish site at the local police station Adam Kadyrov’s appointment as Secretary of the Security Council was not previously announced The city of Moscow in Russia operates one of the world’s fastest and most efficient transport systems a secret system known as the Metro-2 parallels the metro-1 system and was built during the time of Joseph Stalin It is operated by the Ministry of Defence and Directorate of Special Programmes in Russia Metro-2 is said to be a secret transport channel that links underground military bunkers - connecting the Federal Security Service headquarters with Kremlin Three lines of the Metro-2 include the D6 line Russia is hailed as home to the world’s longest single railway It starts in Moscow and goes through seven time zones A non-stop journey from Moscow to Vladivostok takes 152 hours and an additional 27 minutes The railway was built from 1891-1916 and goes through several cities such as Omsk The Volga River is regarded as Europe’s longest river and the national river of Russia It drains into the Caspian Sea and possesses some of the world’s largest reservoirs like the Saratov The rivers that feed Volga River include rivers Oka The area covered by the river is approximately 1,350,000 square kilometers it covers 5.1 million km2 of Russia which is about 77% of its total area Siberia’s topography varies from one geographic zone to the other Siberia is surrounded by mountain ranges called the Altai Mountains Siberia is known for its extremely cold temperatures which get as low as -47 degrees celsius Vegetation in Siberia is one of three kinds: tundra Russia is the world's seventh most populated country after China 77% live in a part of Russia commonly referred to as European Russia Around 25% of Russia is in Europe and 75% is in Asia The population of Russia is 144 million people 110 million of which are found in the European part of Eurasia There are approximately 10 million more women than men in Russia The large difference is attributed to the huge number of men who died during World War II statistics show that 25% of males in Russia die before attaining the age of 55 This statistics is made worse by the decline in new borns in Russia Other theories for as to why men die early include risky habits such as smoking or heavy drinking It is also called the “Pole of Cold.” Oymyakon city has a population of only 500 inhabitants It is located in Oymyakonsky District in Sakha republic Temperatures in January are normally -50 degrees celsius and the lowest temperature ever recorded in the city is -71.2 degrees celsius During such times nothing grows and mobile phones do not work it is so cold that people have to keep their cars running all day long The explanation for this is that cars may refuse to start if the engines are turned off The lake is surrounded by many hiking paths which are famously known as “the Great Baikal Trail.” There are also high snow-capped mountains around the lake causing it to beam with the radiance of unmatched beauty Lake Baikal is made up of 20% of the world’s unfrozen fresh water The amount of water that it holds is much more than the amounts held by all the Great Lakes in North America Lake Baikal is also the oldest lake in the world since it has been in existence for over 30 million years old The siege of Leningrad took place in present day St It occurred when the Nazis attacked the Soviet Union and a German Army besieged the city of Leningrad The siege took place between 1941 and 1944 Hitler’s strategy was to strangle and starve the city of food supplies until it surrendered to the Nazis The siege was so horrific that the citizens had to be evacuated across Lake Ladoga which was ice cold and hazardous The cities oil and coal supplies were exhausted and civilians suffered very cold temperatures Food supplies ran out and people resorted to eating dogs A total of one million civilians and 300,000 Soviet soldiers lost their lives during the siege According to Forbes Moscow is inhabited by 60 billionaires whose combined net worth is $217.6 billion The city is made up of more billionaires than any other city in the world The number of billionaires has significantly increased from the year 2002 when the city had only five billionaires Billionaires are usually attracted to cities which have favorable tax breaks and world-class restaurants and night clubs The billionaires often flaunt their wealth through fashion and lavish lifestyles other cities of billionaires include New York photos and original descriptions © 2025 worldatlas.com They also highlight the extended travel which was caused by worn-out railways which can’t withstand newer locomotive trains and that impact can be especially seen on Vinkovci – Zagreb line the consequences were inevitable and the most loyal passengers switched to other types of transport.  Ivankovo being so close to Vinkovci benefited a lot in terms of connectivity and availability of lines and trains for traveling Every hour there would be a train transporting to a specific destination It is my favorite type of public transportation by far and still a huge part of life not only mine but of every other resident of the Ivankovo district.  My friend from Osijek and I decided to visit a mutual friend who lives in Zdenci and the only time we could go was Saturday which is a doomed day for public transportation in Croatia – lack of lines in all available public transportation I decided to come a day earlier to my friend’s place sleep there and catch a morning train to Zdenci – Orahovica That was the only train in the morning that traveled for an hour and a half to our destination the line is originally going to the city of Virovitica and it stops in the city of Našice where it stays for almost an hour? we didn’t realize why we stopped for almost half an hour in a village called Koška. God only knows why we waited because of the other train that was coming back on the same railway the station’s location isn’t in the city of Orahovica or the village of Zdenci we shrugged that possibility off and decided on a taxi which isn’t even in Orahovica or Zdenci – it’s in the village of Čačinci another name of the place that even made our heads spin I can only imagine the person reading this and drove us finally to our friend’s house It was a great moment; we haven’t seen each other for over a year because of the pandemic and life in general and hung out like the old times but the lack of public transportation had to cut our time together short There was only one train available to Osijek around 3 pm that we couldn’t miss because of my transportation home from Osijek to Vinkovci and friends’ other plans I traveled two days for two hours of socializing After slow travel to Osijek and finally coming to Vinkovci and realizing there isn’t any public transportation to Ivankovo after 3 pm not even a bus (which is a discussion for another time) I came home and my mother told me: “You traveled for two days to a place that takes an hour and a half by car and hung out with your friends for two hours? not 2020s.” And I looked at her and realized she was right The amount of money I spent going to Zdenci by train discount flight to another country or go to Dubrovnik or Split by plane we were literally going to another Slavonian place takes around an hour and a half (82,4 kilometers) it takes an hour without traffic (around 70 kilometers) and the railway has the same route as the roads and it took four hours more How can we travel longer in 2022 than in the 1980s Slavonia always lived on railway infrastructure – most of the people still work there It’s still a huge factor in our lives and not everyone has the possibility to own a car and drive it wherever The lack of passengers led to fewer railway lines but lack of investment and nonsense renovating led to fewer of those same passengers. After thinking about everything my friend and I went through to see our friend for two hours; I came to this conclusion: get money for a drivers’ license and buy a car the future brings positive changes; the old love for train travel comes back with passengers that spent their youths traveling in them and future youth start bringing back the reputation this part of Croatia always had – one of the most important railway hubs in Europe For more on travel in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page. 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Please upgrade your browser and get all benefits of browsing the new JINR site You can also use the previous version of the JINR site The first day of the Lipnya-2024 School began with the Science Speed Dating teambuilding exercise during which participants engaged in brief conversations designed to foster communication who were going to spend several days together were given limited time to exchange scientific ideas and get to know each other which aroused great interest and lively discussions that continued during the subsequent coffee break An excellent conclusion to the first eventful day was a quiz covering a wide range of topics: from the sights of Dubna and its surroundings to the nuances of research conducted at JINR An experiment of this year’s school was the last round of the intellectual competition the young researchers who chose to reside in tents decorated them to participate in the competition for the most cosy and inviting tent illuminating Lipnya with fairy lights and travel lanterns One of the goals of the AYSS School at the JINR Lipnya Tourist Resort is to give young people the opportunity to communicate in a less formal setting, make new acquaintances outside the laboratory, and network with colleagues from other organizations. One of the participants, an FLNP JINR senior researcher Pavel Prusachenko noted: “I like the idea of a school for young researchers this is quite a rare thing for Russian scientific institutions but I feel they are increasingly uncommon these days And the AYSS JINR successfully holds lots of them I will be happy to come here next year!” The school participants started the next morning with group trainings on stand-up paddleboarding Young scientists had a chance to enjoy active recreation on water and get ready for a productive day An LRB JINR researcher Ivan Gordeev started the lecture part of the second day of the school His talk was devoted to the application of Monte Carlo methods and radiation transfer modelling programs to solve problems of dosimetry and radiation safety I wish for the scale of this prominent event to grow with more and more people participating each year,” Ivan Gordeev noted Head of an FLNP Sector Grigory Arzumanyan reported on the Institute’s cutting-edge research using highly sensitive Raman spectroscopy The importance of photodetectors in modern research was explained by Head of a DLNP Sector Nikolay Anfimov Head of the JINR Development of Digital Services Department Mikhail Vasiliev read the final lecture He gave a detailed overview about the key projects of his department and status of the implementation of a marketplace project for the Institute The Saturday afternoon marked one of the key events of the annual School, a round table with representatives of the JINR Directorate, departments, and the Medical Unit No. 9 They answered the participants’ questions and discussed plans for the development of the Institute and the city JINR Assistant Director for the Development of Biomedical Projects, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) Grigory Shirkov gave an introductory speech noting the importance of the annual AYSS Round Table and the opportunities that this meeting provides for the participants Head of the Medical Unit No. 9 of the Federal Medical and Biological Agency of Russia Irina Larionova shared plans for the improvement of medical infrastructure in Dubna and cooperation with JINR She took part in a Q&A session with the young researchers providing an update on the progress of the Family Health and Reproduction Centre and the creation of an Endoscopy Centre at the Medical Unit and the work carried out to attract medical specialists to Dubna Activities of the Unit’s Vascular Centre were discussed by its Head Vitaly Andreev The Centre provides emergency and planned medical care to patients with cardiovascular diseases actively improves high-tech surgical treatment methods and plans to develop scientific areas together with JINR Vitaly Andreev highlighted the large number of young doctors working at the centre and spoke about the creation of a Youth Council at the Medical Unit No It consists of about 35 employees under 35 The AYSS JINR Council supported the proposal to establish cooperation with the Unit’s Youth Council Director of the JINR Property Complex Development Department Sergey Sokolov spoke in detail about the results of the Unit’s work and answered a number of questions related to the development of infrastructure and improvement of the sites of DLNP and VBLHEP at JINR The participants noted that the Lipnya Tourist Resort has seen continuous progress in recent years The employees’ dedication is evident in visible improvements in the beach area and the many works that are underway right now One of the topics for discussion was the activities of the Committee on Infrastructure Development at the JINR sites AYSS Council Chair Vladislav Rozhkov highlighted that the AYSS members are interested in participating in the Commitee’s work making proposals on behalf of the JINR youth “At the AYSS meeting at the Alushta-2024 conference the members of the Association already discussed proposals to improve the JINR sites The active young people are willing to advance not only science but also the conditions in which they do it Given the opportunity to voice their opinions and realise their potential they will become the Institute’s cornerstone!” Vladislav Rozhkov commented RAS Academician Victor Matveev answered the question about the creation of the Institute’s new scientific journal He informed the participants of the decision to make the new journal exclusively digital and completely free for both authors and readers Its first issue is planned to be published this year The day finished with a celebratory dinner, prepared by the school participants together with employees of the JINR Hotel and Restaurant Complex Management The outdoor picnic provided an opportunity for the young researchers to talk to the participants of the round table and the guests of the island in an informal setting the School’s participants spent time competing in board games This created the warm inviting atmosphere that the AYSS events are known and appreciated for Osijek Ferivi Half Marathon (Photo Osječki Ferivi Polumaraton/Facebook) 18th Osijek Ferivi Half marathon – 9th of April 2022  Craft Beer Festival in Osijek (Photo: Osijek CRAFT BEER Festival/Facebook) Craft Beer Festival – sometime in May (to be determined)  If you’re interested in breweries in Osijek, check an article from our intern Toni we go further East and present cities of Vinkovci and Vukovar Two historical Slavonian cities have a lot to offer with the support of surrounding small towns and their own events that enrich the lives of locals in Vukovar – Srijem County Flower Festival in Vukovar (Photo: Miroslav Slafhauzer/Turistička zajednica grada Vukovara) Flower Festival – end of the April  Flower Festivals are a common event in Slavonia (we already had one in Osijek during Women’s Day) a Flower Festival is held in the center of Vukovar which brings together local and regional plant growers and lovers of flowers and ornamental plants The Fair has sort of an exhibition and sales character which gives a completely different This event is also an overture for marking City Day Svi zaJedno Hrvatsko Naj Festival in 2019 (Photo: svizajedno.eu/Galerija) Svi zaJedno hrvatsko naj – cultural and tourist event – part of Vukovar City Day “Motorijada” in 2021 (Moto Klub Županja/Facebook) Motorijada by Moto Club Županja – 10th of April  Logo of the Festival (photo: Festival Glumca/Facebook) Actor’s Festival – all cities of Vukovar – Srijem County  Petrovačko Zvono event few years ago (photo: savezrusina.hr) There are a lot more events that need mentioning TCN will bring you stories from some of these events and part two of places to visit in Eastern Slavonia is already on the way Make sure to check out our dedicated travel section. most of the residents in Vukovar – Srijem County think about how can they “escape” the unbearable Slavonian heat and relax on the beautiful Adriatic coast with no obligation to anything people who are unable to afford the trip to the coast stay in and brainstorm what to do to “kill” time Summer sports events became one of them and stayed relevant even today How have these tournaments become so integral for residents of small Slavonian communities My father preparing for the football tournament in the early 70s According to Bijelić (2008) and his article The Beginning of Playing Football in Đakovo stayed in the cities that did not abound that much entertainment for young people was supposed to enrich the social life of the place expand the possibilities of creative expression and in socially acceptable way articulate the accumulated youthful energy.” There weren’t dressing rooms where participants could get changed in sports gear or leave their personal stuff Growing up in a Slavonian village during the 90s and 00s had its pros and cons but the biggest advantage was definitely sports tournaments that took place during summer school holidays The anticipation could always be felt near the end of the school semester Teams participating would be revealed and speculation would begin: Who is playing for which team Some guy from another village who was a professional athlete It seems silly to the outsiders but for us a village fair celebrating a local saint (in this case St an amusement park that entertained kids during the day and it continued until the evening when the summer tournament was about to start It didn’t have a particularly fancy venue; a playing field made out of concrete suited for handball and bleachers which were made out of the same material An old concrete field that was used for handball and football in the late 80s “Rukometni klub u Ivankovu 1966 – 2016” book by Handball club “Cestorad” Ivankovo The organization consisted of three main segments: the staff that kept the score and records of participants The whole village of Ivankovo would participate in the event and support their own favorite teams The supporting crowd would take out their own sirens that firefighters would use in their interventions and the atmosphere would seem like there was a huge national football cup game going on Parents would drink their beers and nibble the seeds with their children while the older folks would loudly comment on everything happening on the field It was a picture-perfect small-town atmosphere that we (now young adults) think fondly of “Lutajuća srca” after winning the summer tournament Looking through the old photos reminded me why I started loving sport in the first place My father was constantly participating in villages sports tournaments where he would have his own team competing for the title of the best in the village His team was called “Lutajuća srca” (Wandering hearts) and has won multiple tournaments over the years One of the best feelings in my life was carrying that trophy across the field after excruciating penalties and the sound of the fellow villagers clapping and cheering Football wasn’t the only sport Ivankovo had to offer handball always had and still has a big impact on sports fauna in this part of Slavonia When the sports arena in Ivankovo was built children and senior players finally had a venue where they could play their league games every Sunday morning people would go to the games and root for their team Generations of families were always part of sports teams (including my brothers) and it stayed like that even today The annual summer tournament in Ivankovo maybe doesn’t have that charm it had 20-30 years ago but it’s still happening to this day Sports games as a part of the “Summer in Ivankovo” are still going strong with other surrounding villages having their own traditional events This only just shows that nothing in this country is taken for granted; if we love it then we truly love it with all our hearts and souls  The crowd at a sports event during “Summer in Ivankovo” To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page.