|
|
| CROATIA RALLY: GET TO KNOW THE RALLY, GET TO KNOW A WONDERFUL COUNTRY
The second round of the 2011 FIA European Rally Championship is ready and on schedule, from May 19th to 21st: for those coming from abroad it will be worth taking some extra days as it will be a precious occasion to discover a young nation though rich in energy and truly enviable natural beauties. If Croatia Rally will have as its epicentre the city of Rijeka (the third in the country after the capital Zagreb - which clearly stands out with its 800,000 inhabitants - and Split which has just over 200,000, against the 160,000 inhabitants of Rijeka), the race will mainly unfold in the northern part of the country on a tarmac route of 500 km, 250 of which being timed, divided in 15 special stages one of which is the 'superspecial' near Rijeka on Friday evening at the end of the second leg. Some information about Croatia. It is a Republic with a president, Ivo Josipovic from February 2010, among other things he is expected in Rijeka during the rally. The Republic of Croatia has about 4,5 million inhabitants spread over an area of 56.542 sq. km. It is bordered to the north by Slovenia, to north-east with Hungary, to east with Serbia, to the south with Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro, while to the west it faces the Adriatic sea where there are several beautiful islands which are part of its territory. Some famous tourist places are Dubrovnik (Ragusa) and Pula (Pola). The official language is Croatian. The Istrian region, comprising most of Istria, has officially adopted bilingualism (Italian and Croatian), but its implementation varies at municipal level. Until 1991 Croatia was part of Yugoslavia. Croatia joined the NATO on April 4th 2009 and currently is front of EU accession. The country boasts protected areas for a total of the 6,07% of the full surface, and 9,40% of the mainland. There are eight national parks and ten nature reserves (including the Plitvice national lakes park which comprises the Plitvice Lakes which are included in the UNESCO World Heritage sites, and there are also many other protected areas. |