Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
enjoy views over its endlessly twisty coast, with cove after tranquil cove. Your guide will
impart bothdryfacts andeye-rolling legends while youputter past several intriguing sights,
periodically giving you a chance to get off the train and explore a few of them up close.
The tour's highlight is the
“Tito on Brijuni”
exhibit. Dating from 1984—four years
after his death, but before the end of Yugoslavia—this exhibit celebrates the cult of person-
ality surrounding the head of this now-deceased nation. The museum (with English descrip-
tions) features countless photos of Tito in every Brijuni context imaginable—strolling, sun-
bathing,skeetshooting,schmoozingwithworldleadersandmoviestars,inspectingmilitary
officers, playing with camels given to him by Muammar al-Gaddafi, and so on. (For more
on Tito, and why this former dictator remains so beloved in his former lands, see the side-
baron
here
.)Smallerside-exhibits includeataxidermycollection ofexoticanimalsgivento
Tito byforeign leaders fromaroundthe worldandphotosofPaul Kupelwieser,the Austrian
magnate who put Brijuni on the tourist map.
Another high point of the island tour is the
safari,
featuring a diverse menagerie of an-
imals(ortheirdescendants)broughthereforTitoasgiftsbyvisitingheadsofstate.Because
many of the non-aligned nations are in Africa, Asia, or other non-European regions, some
of these beasts are particularly exotic. Aside from the Istrian ox and Istria's trademark goat,
you'll see llamas, Somali sheep, Shetland ponies, chamois, and more. Your train may stop
for a visit with Sony and Lanka, a pair of Indian elephants given to Tito by Indira Gandhi,
the former prime minister of India. There once were camels, cheetahs, ostriches, monkeys,
bears,andbobcatsaswell,butmostofthesehavegonetothegreatnon-alignedsafariinthe
sky, and their bodies are now preserved at the “Tito on Brijuni” exhibit.
Other attractions you may see on Brijuni: an ancient, gnarled olive tree supposedly dat-
ing from the fourth century
A.D.
; the remains of a mostly first-century
A.D.
Roman
villa rus-
tica
(countryestate);theruinedstreetplanofaByzantinefort;a15th-centuryGothicchurch
with an exhibit on frescoes and Glagolitic (early Croatian) script; a Venetian summer house
that hosts an archaeology museum; an Austro-Hungarian naval fort (Brijuni was strategic-
ally important back when Pula was Austria's main naval base); and footprints left by a di-
nosaur who vacationed here 120 million years before Tito.
Birders can look for some of the 250 avian species that live on the island in the summer.
Gardeners may spot some exotic, non-native plant species (more gifts, to go along with
all those animals), such as Australian eucalyptus. And Republicans can drool over the golf
course, a reminder that Brijuni is attempting to cultivate a ritzy image. Your tour's lengthy
stop at the bar/gift shop is yet another indication that, while some remember Tito fondly,
good ol' capitalism is here to stay.
