4 Best Sights in Slavonia, Croatia

High on a hill above the border where Croatia meets Hungary and Serbia is this striking monument, dedicated to the 2,000 members of the Red Army who died in the Battle of Batina, one of the largest battles of World War II in Yugoslavia. It was built in 1946, three years after the battle, by Croatian sculptor Antun Augustinčić. The monument itself—topped by an 89-foot-high obelisk—is quite impressive, but the views of the Danube, forests, and three countries below are the best part of the visit.

This unusual monument, located a few blocks away from Tvrđa, commemorates an iconic act of defiance that happened in Osijek in 1991. As Yugoslav army tanks rolled into the city, one man parked his little red Fiat (fićo) in the middle of the road in front of them. The man escaped safely, his car was run over by the tank, and it was all captured on television (check out the clip online). The event became a symbol of the strength and resistance of the local people. In this monument, the little red car is rolling over the tank: the victor this time around.

This Franciscan church and monastery overlooking the Danube, first constructed in 1349, holds the remains of St. John of Capistrano, a Franciscan friar and Catholic priest. In 1456, at age 70, he led a successful battle against the Ottomans, which earned him the nickname "Soldier Priest." He died three months later in Ilok of the bubonic plague but was said to have performed miracles even on his deathbed. The church—which also holds the remains of Nicholas and Lawrence of Ilok, both of whom made expansions to the monastery complex during their reign—was given a 20th-century neo-Gothic facelift by Hermann Bollé, the same architect who helped design the cathedrals in Đakovo and Zagreb, as well as Zagreb's Mirogoj Cemetery. The tourist information center is next door; if the church is closed, contact them to arrange a visit.

Đakovo's centerpiece is its majestic red-brick neo-Gothic cathedral, which towers above the city and is a stunning first sight as you arrive into town. Commissioned by the Bishop of Đakovo, Josip Juraj Strossmayer (1815–1905) and consecrated in 1882 after two decades of construction, the cathedral was called the "most beautiful church between Venice and Constantinople" by Pope John XXIII.