The Republic of Croatia has only been an independent country since 1991, but the region has been inhabited since prehistoric times. More than 4 million people call Croatia home today, living in rural villages, coastal tourist destinations, and modern cities, where Roman ruins can stand side by side with medieval defenses and 21st-century architecture. Croatia’s dramatic coastline along the Adriatic Sea includes more than a thousand islands, and its mountains are riddled with fascinating caves and karst formations. Gathered here: some recent images of Croatia’s landscape, cities, parks, and shorelines.
An aerial view of Dubrovnik, Croatia, the old part of the city surrounded by a continuous defensive wall built mainly in the 14th and 15th centuries. The city has been the filming location for many scenes in the fictional King's Landing in the TV show Game of Thrones. See it mapped here.#
Ruins of the Glavaš-Dinarić Fortress, located in Dalmatia, Croatia. It was built to overlook a mountain pass in the 15th century, when the region was threatened by Turkish invasions.#
The Monument to the Uprising of the People of Kordun and Banija near Petrova Gora, photographed in April of 2016. A reminder of the former Yugoslavia's troubled history, this is one of many monuments built in regions of the now-defunct state starting in the 1960s, commemorating sites of WWII battles and concentration camps. See it mapped here.#
The source of the Cetina River, a spring in the foothills of the Dinara Mountains, named "Blue Eye" (Modro oko). Crystal-clear waters emerge from a cavern more than 100 meters deep. See it mapped here.#
Surgery at a teddy-bear hospital in Germany, a performance at the Eurovision Song Contest in Sweden, coyote pups at an animal park in France, and much more
The ruins of a mountain monastery in Turkey, tornado damage in Oklahoma, camel rides in a Chinese desert, fireflies on a forest trail in Taiwan, and much more
