Croatia
Ilok, Croatia
Ilok: A Hilltop Castle Above the Danube
Ilok sits in a salient almost surrounded by Serbia, with the Danube marking the border on its northern side. It is known by the nicknames little Dubrovnik and the Dubrovnik of the east.
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Arriving in Ilok
River ships call at Ilok on the Croatian bank of the Danube. Your line will tell you where the ship ties up. The castle stands on a hill above the town center.
- About 3,900 people lived in the town itself at the 2021 census.
- Ilok lies in the Syrmia region, on the slopes of the Fruška Gora hills.
- The castle has views over the Danube and the Pannonian Plain.
Ilok on Your Own
Ilok is a small town, and an independent visit centers on the castle and its museum. The Franciscan church and friary, the old wine cellar, the Ottoman monuments and an old park fill out a walk.
- The castle and museum: Odescalchi Castle was first built in the 15th century and rebuilt in Baroque style in the 18th. It opened to visitors in 2010 after restoration, and the town museum occupies its lower two floors.
- The Franciscan church: The Church of the Assumption was built in 1349 and took its present neo-Gothic form in a renovation in the early 20th century. Saint John of Capistrano, the Franciscan preacher, died in Ilok in 1456.
- Ottoman traces: A türbe, the tomb of an Ottoman notable, and a hammam, a bathhouse, survive from the years of Ottoman rule.
- Wine: Ilok is the center of winegrowing on Fruška Gora, and its historic wine cellar is from the 15th century.
- The old park: An 18th-century park with rare trees is another place for a quiet walk.
- Getting back on time: All-aboard is usually about 30 minutes before sailing, and your ship posts the exact time. A ship will not wait for passengers touring on their own.
Tipping in Croatia
Croatia uses the euro. Service charges are not included in restaurant bills, so leaving a voluntary tip is customary, often by rounding up.
- Restaurants: A tip often takes the form of rounding up the bill.
- Taxis and hairdressers: It is somewhat customary to leave a small amount, in the manner of telling the driver to keep the change.
Culture and Local Life
Ilok is mostly Croatian, with Slovak and Serbian communities that each elect a minority council. The Slovak community, which grew from 1859 when Slovak Lutherans gained the right to settle here, keeps its own church and cultural association.
- Slovak Lutherans set up a parish in Ilok in 1864, with one building serving as church, school and teacher's home.
- The town's first tamburica society, formed in 1894, played at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900 in folk costume.
- The Hungarian name for the town is Újlak, meaning "new dwelling".
- The Franciscans have been in Ilok since at least the first half of the 14th century.
A Brief History
Ilok grew from a Roman fort into the medieval seat of the Iločki family, passed under Ottoman rule for well over a century and came to the Odescalchi family after the wars that ended it. In 1991, during the Croatian War of Independence, most of its people left under threat of force, and the area returned peacefully to Croatia in 1998.
- Cuccium: The Romans settled here in the 1st or 2nd century and built a fort on the Danube called Cuccium.
- Medieval Ilok: The town appears in documents of the 12th and 13th centuries under several names, among them Vylok. A Dubrovnik consul lived here in 1399.
- Nicholas of Ilok: The town's best-known lord, Nicholas of Ilok, who built the castle, was King of Bosnia from 1471 until his death in 1477.
- Saint John of Capistrano, 1456: The Franciscan preacher who had helped lift the Ottoman siege of Belgrade that summer died of plague in Ilok in 1456.
- Ottoman rule, from 1526: The Ottomans took Ilok in 1526, and for a time most of its people were Muslim. In 1669 the town had 1,160 houses and two mosques.
- The Odescalchi family: After the Habsburgs drove out the Ottomans at the end of the 17th century, Emperor Leopold I granted Ilok to Livio Odescalchi, nephew of Pope Innocent XI. The family owned the castle for about two centuries and rebuilt it in the 18th century.
- 1945: The Yugoslav authorities nationalized the castle.
- War, 1991: On 17 October 1991, under the threat of force from the Yugoslav People's Army, about 8,000 people left the town in a convoy. Those who stayed lived under occupation for six years.
- Reintegration, 1998: Under a United Nations transitional administration, the area returned peacefully to Croatia, a process completed on 15 January 1998.
- To learn more ashore: The Museum of the Town of Ilok, founded in 1952, has been housed in Odescalchi Castle since 1969 and holds archaeological, historical and ethnographic collections.
Ilok with Children
With children, Ilok is a castle visit and a walk on the hill. The castle and its views over the Danube are the main draw at every age.
- Younger children: The 18th-century park with its rare trees gives small children room to move between visits.
- School age: The castle on its hill, with the Danube and Serbia on the far bank below, makes a good place to talk about rivers as borders. The museum's archaeological collection adds the story of the people who lived here before the castle.
- Teenagers: The story of 1991, when most of the town left in a single convoy and began returning only in 1997, is recent history that older teenagers can connect with.
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