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Croatian Railways on the BBC

Railway enthusiasts and viewers of a certain age (an age I now am, I must add) delight in the gentle travel programmes Greatest British Railway Journeys and Great Continental Railway Journeys on BBC2, both hosted by former politician Michael Portillo. This past week, viewers may have been pleasantly surprised when the new series – number eight of Great Continental Railway Journeys, no less – featured Croatia! And not just Croatia, but mostly the Croatian coast! How did Michael manage the trains and railway journeys on the Croatian coast to make a whole (half) series based in Croatia?

Well, it turns out, that the actually travelling by train part of the episodes is perhaps a little thin on the ground. Indeed, some parts of the Croatian adventure – one that starts in Pula in Istria and ends in Dubrovnik, via Opatija, Rijeka, Zadar, Sibenik, Split and Sarajevo and Mostar in Bosnia – are clearly very much not undertaken by train. (And I know what you’re all thinking – Dubrovnik doesn’t even have a train station!)

Croatian Railways - Michael Portillo in a train

The programme is definitely worth a watch nevertheless, and it’s always lovely to see Croatia’s most stunning self on television – BBC or otherwise! It’s a fairly whistlestop tour that covers a good amount of ground, with some locations featured just for a minute or two.

This travel series is definitely not just a travel series as keen historian Michael often also takes a look back in history. In fact, as Secretary of State for Defence for the UK government from 1995 to 1997, Michael Portillo would have been involved in negotiations regarding the wars in the former Yugoslavia, which he references in the show. It’s no surprise to see elements of Croatia’s history – from the ancient past to 20th-century events – often mentioned throughout each episode.

Part 1: A Roman start in Istria

Istria is Michael’s starting point, with Pula the first stop on his train journey. (He actually starts the episode on a train, although it’s not shown where from!)

A visit to the Arena in Pula is a must, of course, and Michael joins in with a gladiatorial mock fight that looks a little too real at times. But it’s the start of looking back at Pula and Istria in Roman times, which includes an intensive look at olive trees and olive growing, a practice which has taken place in Istria over the centuries and certainly undertaken by the Romans.

The Arena in Pula - Croatian Railways on the BBC
The Arena in Pula

My favourite part of this episode takes place in Vodnjan train station – first opened in 1876 – and is a true look at Croatian railways. Michael dresses up like a Croatian railway stationmaster and learns more about the workings of the station and some of its rather archaic but still functioning kit. He even telephones the next station to confirm the departure of a train – as the real stationmasters do.

Somewhat surprisingly for a train travel programme, the Brijuni islands – which are of course reached by boat – are also featured. (There is a small tourist “train” on the islands, I suppose they could have shown that!) The islands are shown to their full gorgeousness, including a glimpse of the Roman ruins and the safari park. There’s a fairly lengthy part on Tito – for the islands were the base for his holiday home and lucky Michael even gets a ride in Tito’s Cadillac.

Train tracks in Istria, near Vodnjan - Croatian Railways on the BBC
Train tracks in Istria, near Vodnjan

Part 2: Truffles and the birthplace of tourism, and cheese

If you’re in Istria, you must experience truffles in some way and there’s no exception at the beginning of this episode. Michael is joined by adorable labrador Lela (who apparently gets angry by not going truffle hunting two or three times a day!) and her human (of Karlic Tartufi). The gnocchi truffle dish he cooks with his hosts looks amazing!

Crossing over into the Kvarner region, a larger electric train is introduced with a view from the driver’s cab given a show. It’s on to Opatija to explore the birthplace of tourism in Croatia, as the town was established as a holiday and health resort for the well-to-do in Austro-Hungarian society in the late 19th century. A journey to Rijeka follows to explore its rather unusual early 20th-century history. The city existed as a free state led by Italian Gabriele D’Annunzio after World War I and then as an independent city-state – the Free State of Fiume – for four years from 1920 to 1924 before being taken over by Italy. Much of this part of the programme in fact focuses on this Italian connection and the Italian history of Rijeka.

Rijeka
The view of Rijeka from Trsat Castle

It’s unclear how the leap to Prizna further down the coast is made (not by train, I would imagine) but from here the action moves to the island of Pag. Which is excellent, both for a glimpse of its highly unusual landscape but also to be able to witness something the island is most famous for – its sheep’s cheese.

Part 3: Moving on to central Dalmatia

Zadar is shown in all of its glory – just look at those glorious rooftops! But it’s a focus on maraschino liqueur made from locally grown Marasca cherries – a drink invented by Venetian Francesco Drioli at a time when Zadar was part of the Venetian Empire – that brings Michael to Zadar. He then proceeds to have not one but two maraschino drinks. Well, why not?!

Next comes something I must admit I know little about – the Krka Hydroelectric Power Plant close to Krka National Park which was first put into operation as long ago as 1895. This plant allowed nearby Sibenik to be one of the first towns in the world with electric street lighting! The plant closed in the early part of the 20th century, but its successor – the Jaruga Hydroelectric Power Plant – is still in operation today.

Stunning Trogir is shown as the destination – a brief stop to explore some traditional, and very beautiful Croatian tailoring.

Split rounds off the end of this episode, as you may imagine. Michael does much to extol the amazing fact that Diocletian’s Palace, the retirement home for this Roman emperor, is at the centre of the city. What remains of the Palace is not merely a pile of ruins in some far-flung corner, no – the Palace is at the very heart of the city and is still “in use” today. The Cathedral of St Domnius, one of the oldest Catholic cathedrals in the world, is the site for a discussion on religion in Croatia and the wider region.

Part 4: Sarajevo and Mostar

Michael mysteriously crosses the border into Bosnia and Hercegovina but good news – he’s immediately on a train! He arrives at Sarajevo’s grand main train station and heads to the Old Quarter of the city to explore one of the main mosques there. It’s no surprise to listen to him talking quite extensively about the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in 1914, as many travel programmes based in Sarajevo do.

Croatian Railways on the BBC - Sarajevo
Sarajevo

Perhaps more relevant to the show’s main subject matter is the exploration of the railway expansion of Yugoslavia – and Bosnia in particular – after World War II, helped in large part by the youth work brigades of the country. Rail travel of sorts continues as he travels on the cable car up Trebevic Mountain as well as embarking on a short trip on a tram which takes him to the home of a Sarajevo local who cooks a typical Bosnian dish.

Part 5: On to Dubrovnik

Michael then travels on what he calls one of the most scenic railway journeys in Europe, the route from Sarajevo to Mostar. This 129-kilometre journey travels over 48 bridges and through more than 90 tunnels. One part involves a series of sharp hairpin bends to account for a very steep descent. The scenery of this part of the programme will surely will entice many a railway enthusiast onto this same journey. And what’s this – cevapcici can be bought as a snack on the train? Heaven!

Heading back into Croatia, there’s a spot about the Peljesac Bridge, with Michael praising the newish bridge which opened in 2022. He even climbs inside the bridge – you’ll see what I mean if you watch the show – to learn more about how the bridge was constructed.

Croatian Railways on the BBC - The Peljesac Bridge
The Peljesac Bridge

The final stop, the city of Dubrovnik, beckons and here is somewhere Michael claims he first visited on holiday in the 1960s. Of course, Dubrovnik’s highly fascinating history is explained, before a final experience of some traditional culture of Dubrovnik and Croatia is experienced – with the dance and music of the Lindjo folklore band as they perform in front of the Church of St Blaise.

Sightseeing in Dubrovnik - Church of St Blaise
The Church of St Blaise

More info

Whilst the episodes were broadcast daily on BBC the week beginning 10th March 2025, all episodes can be viewed on iPlayer online – at Great Continental Railway Journeys – or on your smart device or through the iPlayer app.

If Michael Portillo has inspired you to make more train journeys in Croatia, take a look at our guide to Trains in Croatia.

Celebrity Race Across The World

Celebrity Race Across the World in Croatia

Tonight’s episode of Celebrity Race Across The World (Wednesdays on BBC1) featured the four celebrity teams making a dash across central/southern Europe from Zermatt in Switzerland to Sarajevo in Bosnia and Hercegovina. There’s no two ways about it – you don’t even need to consult a map – you have to go through Croatia if you make such a journey! And so, with delight (for this is one of Visit Croatia’s favourite TV programmes at the moment) a slice of beautiful Croatia filled TV screens across the UK on this autumnal midweek day.

Celebrity Race Across the World

Rain, rain go away

Well, let’s backtrack a little… Croatia was sadly not as spectacularly beautiful as it normally is. This episode showed it to be more like…very rainy. And even quite stormy at times. It’s unknown when this TV programme was filmed, but I suspect that it must have been at some point in late autumn or early winter last year judging by the light snowfall in Switzerland, the teams wearing warm jackets in most episodes and an apparent lack of tourists in the portions filmed in Croatia.

The four teams – Harry Judd from noughties band McFly and his mum Emma, Mel Blatt from 90s all-girl group All Saints and her mum Helene, weather presenter Alex Beresford and his dad Noel and racing driver/TV presenter Billy Monger and his sister Bonnie – all seemed to encounter and be rather bogged down by weather that’s not typical for most travellers to Croatia.

Each episode of the show sees the teams race (of course!) from one checkpoint to another as quickly as possible whilst also sometimes stopping to work to top up their funds or to take in an “experience”. Whilst Harry and his mother Emma did work in Split by cleaning a luxury yacht, no teams sadly enjoyed any kind of experience in the country.

Two of the teams did however enjoy a little downtime (and work) in Slovenia. Alex and Noel cleaned boats on Lake Bled and then enjoyed a free boat trip, admiring the cleanliness of the water. Billy and his sister Bonnie cleaned the famous Lippizan horses and stables in Lipica, then enjoying what looked to be rather swanky accommodation. (Lucky them!)

Harry and Emma took a direct but surely incredibly tiring 19-hour bus journey from Innsbruck in Austria to Split, even enduring a blown tyre at one point. After a job and an overnight stay, they then took a direct bus from Split to Sarajevo. Here’s a little clip of their “tyring” experience (excuse the pun):

Billy and Bonnie made their way from Slovenia to Zagreb, sadly (apparently) only enjoying the bus station there before making their way to Sarajevo by bus. And Alex and Noel made the same journey too – literally in fact, given they were on the same bus to Bosnia’s capital.

Mel and Helene hopped from Trieste in Italy to Rijeka, staying a night there, to Zadar before choosing this point to make their way over to Sarajevo. Lucky for them, a helpful waiter seemed to plan their journey by summoning up a taxi for €350. (A taxi! From Zadar to Sarajevo! €350!) We wouldn’t recommend you copy them.

Alternative routes the celebrities could have used

The whole point of the show is that the celebrities – and the “normos” featured in the non-celebrity version too, of course – have no access to smartphones or the Internet in any way. So they can’t just bring up a list of bus timetables in roughly five seconds flat as per normal.

The teams travelling from Slovenia to Zagreb to Sarajevo were onto the right idea, as was Harry and his poor tired mum Emma by making the not exactly short hop from Split to Sarajevo. (Although I don’t envy their aforementioned 19-hour bus journey in getting to Split.)

Rijeka
The view of Rijeka from Trsat Castle

Mel and Helene however seemed to waste time going to Zadar (where Mel seemed to think she would hit the beach). They could have in fact taken a bus directly from Rijeka to Sarajevo, although there is only one a day (and it may not necessarily have worked to their timings) and, in fact, only operates 4 hours a week. Taking 10 hours and 45 minutes and costing just €53, it’s a more economical journey than their €350 (normally €500) cab from Zadar to Sarajevo.

M

Despite the teams enjoying some cheap and speedy trains in Italy and scenic mountain trains in Switzerland and Austria in the previous leg and earlier in this one, trains wouldn’t have helped the racers in Croatia. So thankfully, no one attempted to take a train.

Speaking of trains, my initial reaction on the idea of travelling from Zermatt to Sarajavo (via Split) was “ooh – they should get a ferry over from Ancona!”. To attempt this, they would have first had to travel to Milan in northern Italy. The Die Bahn website tells me the shortest option from Zermatt to Milan takes 3 hours 15 minutes and involves a train, a bus, a train and then another train – so, not particularly straightforward.

But once they had reached Milan, it would have been a straightforward 3 hour 21 minute direct train to Ancona. From here, Jadrolinija have an overnight ferry to Split, which arrives at 7am. The teams could have easily got another cheap ferry ticket and slept on the floor! (As they’ve done in previous episodes.) And then made the onward bus journey from Split to Sarajevo.

Of course, the ferry only operates 2/3 times a week in winter and may not have worked to the teams’ schedule. Perhaps a kindly BBC producer was guiding them away from this option to avoid them getting stuck in Ancona for a few days.

Croatia again?

The next leg of the race sees the teams heading up to Berlin, so no doubt the teams will return to Croatia to then make the journey up to Germany.

More info

You can find out more about Celebrity Race Across the World at www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001qnk8. You can also watch tonight’s episode (and previous episodes) there.

Photos of Croatia - Dubrovnik

Game of Thrones Tour in Dubrovnik

There’s been quite a bit of press recently about an exclusive new guided tour that’s being offered in Dubrovnik – one that is sure to thrill fans of a certain hit TV series and popular set of novels. US-based tours company Viator are offering a new ‘Game of Thrones’ Walking Tour of Dubrovnik that takes in many of the locations used during the filming of the show, including the sights that double up as King’s Landing and Blackwater Bay. There’s obviously plenty of Dubrovnik’s main sights to see as well – taking advantage of viewpoints from where you can look over and imagine yourself in King’s Landing, such as from Dubrovnik’s wonderful Old Town walls or Lovrijenac Fortress. So whilst you enjoy taking in and imagining everything as it looks like in the TV series, you’re also experiencing the wonderfully historic sights of Dubrovnik, one of the most beautiful and most popular places to visit in Croatia. The tour also teaches participants a little more about the Targaryens, Baratheons, Starks and other noble families featured in Game of Thrones. And maybe, just maybe, it’s a way to comfort yourself after a recent unexpected and violent plot in the TV show!

Photos of Croatia - Dubrovnik
Looking out to Lovrijenac Fortress from the Old Town Walls

This walking tour is clearly a must for any Game of Thrones fans that are visiting beautiful Dubrovnik, but we can imagine that it would be plenty of fun for those that aren’t even that well acquainted with the show. Join the tour and make your friends jealous at having seen the “real” locations from Game of Thrones!

Viator’s tour takes three hours and departs at 10.15am. It includes entrance fees (for the town walls and Lovrijenac Fortress) as well as the facilities of a local guide. Hotel pick-up and drop-off isn’t included, but since it’s so easy to get around Dubrovnik’s Old Town and Dubrovnik itself, that’s hardly needed!

As mentioned, this tour is exclusive to Viator so can’t be found anywhere else! It takes place daily and costs £47.33/$72.66/€55.00 for adults or £23.67/$36.33/€27.50 for children aged 4 to 11. Children under 4 go free.

Viator

To find out more details about the tour or to book a place, please see Viator Exclusive: ‘Game of Thrones’ Walking Tour of Dubrovnik.

Check out the following press reports on the Game of Thrones tours:

New Split - Brac - Hvar - Korcula - Dubrovnik catamaran line

A bunch of nobodies visit Croatia

Croatia. A country for everyone – big spenders, the budget-conscious, adventure seekers, sun-worshippers, families, party-animals, culture-vultures…the list is endless. But it has now also been discovered that it’s a very suitable holiday destination for those whom the term “celebrity” is coined very, very loosely.

Channel 4’s Celebrity Coach Trip (don’t lie, we know you watch it too!) features a bunch of “celebrities” making their way across Europe on a coach holiday, taking part in a series of tasks in each destination they visit whilst also generally messing around/getting on each others’ nerves/trying to remind people of their glory days and why they were famous in the first place.

In the most recent series, the gang were lucky enough to enjoy four days (well, four episodes worth of filming) in Croatia, taking in the capital city Zagreb, the Plitvice Lakes National Park environs, the lovely town of Zadar and bustling Split. From judo to a cookery lesson in Samobor, a survival course to glass blowing and klapa singing, the group had a busy time and Croatia served as a very pretty backdrop (bar some rainy conditions in Zadar) – with some very friendly and well presented teachers and guides – throughout the shows.

Split, Croatia
Hilarity ensued in Split (no, really)

You can watch the episodes via Channel 4 On Demand – here’s the site’s Coach Trip page (viewable in the UK and Ireland only) or on YouTube.

In answer to the question I can hear on the tip of your lips – no, I don’t know what Croatia did to deserve Nikki from Big Brother.

Three Men Go To Venice…via Croatia

Croatia was nicely featured in a BBC2 broadcast of the first episode of a new series last night, the latest in the Three Men In A Boat set of documentary shows. Featuring comedians Dara O Briain, Rory McGrath and Griff Rhys Jones, previous programmes have seen them take part in various japes – on boats – in Britain and Ireland. This particular series sees the trio start their journey in Montenegro, making their way up the Adriatic – via various Croatian towns and islands – with the aim of reaching Venice to take part in a gondola race there. (I suppose they could have just gone straight to Venice for water escapades there, but that probably wouldn’t fill two 1-hour episodes. Having said that, Griff Rhys Jones revealed that the original title of the show was supposed to be Three Go To The Balkans, but that was apparently deemed unappealing sounding.)

The Croatian section of last night’s episode (with more of Croatia featured next week) showed them in Dubrovnik, Korčula and Vis. Having sailed into Dubrovnik in rather stormy weather, on a boat that was part of a holiday flotilla, they awake to glorious sunshine and there’s a comedy-sketch-like scene where Rory McGrath returns with breakfast for all of them – including some kind of pig’s ear – only for the other two to have decamped to a local cafe.

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