osijek

16 NightlifeWhat to see17So you are out to boogie all night long and in Osijek, youreally have two major locations. The biggest crowdscongregate at the Promenade along the Drava River andat the Tvrđa, especially in winter. Either way, both venuesproduce a great atmosphere and ought to warm yourhearty disco desires.BarsAmsterdam E-2, Radićeva 18. Of all the bars alongRadićeva this is the classiest and the cosiest. Subduedlighting, wooden furnishings, the basement location and anunobtrusive musical soundtrack make it very easy to settlein here for a quick drink and not get up again for hours. Goodrange of bottled beers behind the bar. QOpen 08:00 - 24:00.PBXBrooklyn E-2, Šetalište kardinala F.Šepera 8F. Oneof the fine bars set along the Drava Riverfront next to theOsijek Hotel. It has modern, minimalistic furniture but moreimportantly, the two terraces are perfectly positioned facingthe Drava River and provide some cool views. QOpen 07:30- 24:00. PBXWExcalibur F-2, Franje Krežme 22. The name says it all,walk into this medieval dungeon which is packed with novelgoodies dating back to the times when chivalry was honor.Take the time to order a drink whilst relishing the swords,shields, flails and other items on the walls. Iron chandeliers,wooden floors and doors add to the ambiance. Rock musicis the go here and it’s a good place for warm-up drinks beforecontinuing your night out! QOpen 07:00 - 24:00, Sat 09:00 -24:00, Sun 16:00 - 24:00. BGeneral von Becker’s F-2, Franje Kuhača 13. Lovelybarrel-vaulted space on Tvrđa’s central square. Thereproduction Baroque prints on the walls make it somethingof a museum to Habsburg-era nostalgia, although mostpatrons are too busy slugging back bottles of Karlovačko tonotice. QOpen 07:00 - 24:00, Thu, Fri 07:00 - 01:00, Sat07:30 - 04:00, Sun 09:30 - 24:00. BK E-3, Kardinala Alojzija Stepinca 38a, tel. (+385-) 09884 30 78. Rather than fuss with choosing a new name afterchanging locations, Osijek’s famous Kesten Bar whittled itsname down to a single letter. The location close to the trainstation hasn’t interfered with the normal regimen of relaxedrockers hanging around the bar ‘til around 23:00, when theyventure out for some wilder nightlife around the city. QOpen08:00 - 23:00, Thu, Fri, Sat 08:00 - 24:00. PNBXPandur Kuhačeva 5. A night bar /club in Tvrđa with aninterior of wood and bricks. Depending on your mood, choosethe upper level which is ideal for relaxing and sipping drinksor venture down to the cellar transformed into a club whereyou can listen to mostly commercial and mainstream music.QOpen Thu, Fri, Sat 22:00 - 04:00. BXSiesta E-2, Petra Preradovića 3. Positioned right acrossthe Preradovićeva Promenade and inside an old buildingwith high ceilings, this café bar is decorated in the moreclassical style. Take a seat in the cosy leather armchairswhere besides sipping on coffee you can enjoy the jazznights, poetry nights or even short theatre shows which areorganized from time to time. QOpen 07:00 - 24:00, Sat, Sun08:00 - 24:00. EBAutomat ClubsAutomat klub Osijek II G-3, Martina Divalta 84,tel. (+385-31) 58 23 77, www.lutrija.hr. QOpen09:00 - 01:00.Merkur Automat Klub E-2, Ribarska 4 (EssekerCentre), tel. (+385-31) 63 60 57. QOpen 00:00 -24:00. JZanzibar E-3, Gundulićeva 14. A specific interior withAfrican ornaments, wooden furniture, a big spacious cosyterrace, popular music, a favourite spot for young peopleespecially when going out on Friday nights. QOpen 08:00 -23:00, Fri 08:00 - 03:00. Closed Sat, Sun. PNBXClubsBastion F-2, Trg Vatroslava Lisinskog bb, nightclub.bastion@gmail.com, www.we-love-music.hr. And so youenter a club and just like any other you listen to music or evensee a DJ perform. But Bastion has an added bonus: as it islocated in one of the Tvrđa towers, it has an open summerterrace with great views of the Drava River. Its three barsand music tunes will have you dancing till dawn. Great vibe!Q Open Thu, Fri, Sat 21:00 - 05:00. BBig Ben F-2, Franje Markovića 1. It might not be Londonbut positioned on the main Tvrđa square, it’s a knockoutwhen it comes to relaxing and sipping a cup of coffee duringthe day or spending the night out! QOpen 07:00 - 24:00,Thu, Fri, Sat 07:00 - 04:00. PBXWKlub Mini Teatar F-2, Trg Vatroslava Lisinskog bb - VIIIBastion, Tvrđa, mini.teatar@gmail.com. The beer is cheapand the music is loud. It might be punk, it might be rock. QOpen Thu, Fri and Sat 18:00 - 02:00. EGOxygen Club A-1/2, Županijska 7. You do not need anoxygen tank or mask to get in dear readers but you do needsome enthusiasm and cheer. Located in the city centre,between the Croatian National Theatre and Ante StarčevićSquare, this is an ideal place for the mid 20’s and upper crowd.By the way, jazz music is on Wednesdays from 9 pm onwards.QOpen 08:00 - 22:00. Closed Sun. PJGBXTufna F-2, Franje Kuhača 10, tel. (+385-31) 21 50 20/(+385-) 098 55 34 44, intuit@os.t-com.hr, www.tufna.hr. This club recently made its debut at the site of the oldPosh club and despite its recent opening, you can rely on itto be one of the best night spots in the city. Provided youare more than 21 years of age, you can roll in to check outtwo floors of Osijek locals getting down to disco and top 40on the ground floor while digging the unique black and whitedécor, or the basement and its polychromatic color schemeand electro beats. Q Open Thu 22:00 - 04:00, Fri 22:00 -05:00, Sat 22:00 - 06:00. PAGPubsOld Bridge Pub F-2, Franje Kuhača 4, tel. (+385-31) 2116 11, info@oldbridgepub.hr. This is cleaner, brighter andposher than any of the old pubs we mis-spent our youths in,but the combination of classy brown furniture and stainedglasswindows create the right atmosphere in which to slurpdown handsome quantities of ale, with Erdinger, Stella,Kilkenny and Guiness on tap, and a fair few bottled beers too.Garners a healthy cross section of Osijek’s going-out crowd,with everyone from bohemians to business types cramminground the bar at weekends. Q Open 08:00 - 01:00, Thu,Fri, 08:00 - 03:00, Sat 10:00 - 03:00, Sun 10:00 - 01:00.PAGBXWSt Patrick’s Pub F-2, Kuhačeva 15, tel. (+385-31) 2052 02. Extremely agreeable café-bar-pub on the main Tvrđasquare, with comfy green leather booths, Irish beer advertsthat look charming rather than just plain predictable, and ahuge outdoor terrace that is the ideal place to sun yourselfonce the weather begins to warm up in spring. The amount ofChelsea FC memorabilia hanging beside the bar is alarminglyinexplicable, but everyone is entitled to their eccentricities.QOpen 07:00 - 24:00, Thu, Fri 07:00 - 01:00, Sat 08:00 -02:00, Sun 09:30 - 24:00. PABXWTourist informationiGornji Grad Tourist InformationCentre E-2, Županijska 2, tel.(+385-31) 20 37 55, grad-osijek@os.t-com.hr, www.tzosijek.hr. QOpen 08:00 - 20:00, Sat 08:00 - 12:00.Closed Sun. October - June 30 Open07:00 - 16:00, Sat 08:00 - 12:00. Closed Sun.Tvrđa Tourist Information Centre F-2, TrgSv.Trojstva 5, tel. (+385-31) 21 01 20. Every firstSaturday in the month open 09:00 -13:00. QOpen10:00 - 16:00. Closed Sun.Osijek-Baranja County Tourist Board E-2,Kapucinska 40, tel. (+385-31) 21 48 52, info@tzosbarzup.hr, www.tzosbarzup.hr. QOpen 07:00 -15:00. Closed Sat, Sun.Essential OsijekC o - c a t h e d r a l o fSt Peter and Paul(Konkatedrala sv.Petra i Pavla) A-2, TrgPape Ivana Pavla II, tel.(+385-31) 31 00 20,zupa@svpetaripavao.hr, www.svpetaripavao.hr. The multi-tiered 90-metre spire of this redbrickneo-Gothic beastprovides the city withits defining visual trademark.The church wasbuilt in the 1890s onthe initiative of energeticĐakovo-based BishopJosip Juraj Strossmayer,who reckoned that a 3000-capacity parish church was justwhat a growing town like Osijek needed. The church is enteredvia a small door to the right of the main portal, overlooked bya ferocious-looking trio of gargoyles. The interior is a treasuretrove of neo-gothic ornamentation, with a succession ofpinnacled altars overlooked by exuberant stained glasswindows. The interior was finished off in 1938-42 whenleading Croatian painter Mirko Rački covered the walls andceilings with brightly coloured frescoes illustrating episodesfrom the Old and New Testaments - most of which will beeasily identifiable to anyone who paid attention during Bibleclass. Holy masses are held daily at 07:00 and 18:30 and onSun at 06:30, 07:30, 08:30, 10:00, 11:30 and 18:30, July,August 18:30, Sun 06:30, 08:30, 10:00, 18:30. QOpen07:00 - 19:30, Mon 14:00 - 19:30.European Avenue (Europska avenija) E/F-2.The broad tree-lined boulevardthat streaks eastwards fromGornji Grad towards Tvrđa isfamed throughout Europe forharboring one of the bestpreserved ensembles of Ar tNouveau houses in this cornerof the continent. Ranked sideby side on the north side of theavenue (numbers 12 to 22), theywere commissioned by filthyrichindustrialists and hot-shotlawyers in the years just beforeWorld War II. Wilim Karl Hofbauer, Ante Slaviček and FranzWybird were the Osijek-based architects responsible formost of the work. Take a look at the twirly-haired goddessespeering down from no.22, or the gargoyle-like faces perusingpassers-by from the façade of no. 12, to get an idea of thefanciful decorative tastes of the era. On the opposite side ofthe road, the main post office (built in 1912) on the cornerof Europska Avenija and Kardinala Stepinca is an impressiveexample of the more functional, less frivolous architectureof the epoch.Museum of Slavonia(Muzej Slavonije) F-2,Trg Svetog Trojstva 6,Tvrđa, tel. (+385-31) 2507 30, muzej-slavonije@mso.hr, www.mso.hr.Housed in an eighteenthcenturymansion built forthe town magistrate, themuseum has a collectioncovering the period from prehistory to the present day, makingthis one of the most important museums in the country.Roman-era tombstones fill the ground-floor hallway. Severalrooms of clocks, muskets and other oddities await inspectionupstairs. QOpen 09:00 - 19:00, Thu 09:00 - 22:00, Sat17:00 - 21:00, Sun 10:00 - 14:00. Closed Mon. Admission10 - 18kn. Free entry on Sundays.Osijek Art Gallery (Galerija likovnih umjetnosti)F-2, Europska avenija 9, tel. (+385-31) 25 12 80; 2512 87/(+385-31) 25 12 88, gluo@gluo.hr, www.gluo.hr. This all-embracing collection of Slavonian art containssomething for everyone, kicking off with some imposingnineteenth-century portraits of local aristocrats. Moststriking of these is The Pejačević Family in the Park (1811)by German society painter Friedrich Johann Lieder, whichfills an entire wall and shows the landowning dynasty lollingaround in front of one of their many stately homes. If youwant to really impress the locals with your knowledge ofnineteenth-century Slavonian painting, then Adolf Waldinger(1843-1904) is the name to drop. Son of an Osijek winemerchant, Waldinger won a place at the Academy of FineArt in Vienna but failed to graduate, and struggled to earnmoney as an art teacher before dying penniless and largelyforgotten. He’s now considered one of Slavonia’s greatestlandscape painters - the moody, atmospheric canvases ondisplay here help to explain why. Things get more steamy asthe collection moves on to the early twentieth-century, whenmost local artists seemed bent on painting pictures of seminakedladies flouncing around in bedrooms. If you can bearto part company with these, a room or two of abstract worksby contemporary painters brings things up to date. QOpen10:00 - 18:00, Thu 10:00 - 20:00, Sat, Sun 10:00 - 13:00.Closed Mon. July 5 - September 5 Open 08:00 - 16:00. ClosedSat, Sun. Admission 5 - 10kn.ZlatovezOne of Slavonia’s most important artistic traditions iszlatovez, or gold embroidery, which gives the garmentsworn at folk festivals and events throughout the regiona bit of the Midas touch. Originally reserved for royaltyand prestigious members of the Church, the craft hasbeen practiced in Slavonia since before the 19th centuryand involves embroidering clothing with gold thread,creating intricate and beautiful costumes. The art takespart of the spotlight each year in Đakovo, at the annualĐakovački vezovi festival, which celebrates the numerousfolk traditions of the region.Osijek In Your Pocketosijek.inyourpocket.comosijek.inyourpocket.com2011 / 2012