Küstenparadies Kroatien

The Croatian Adriatic is one of the still little-discovered coastal landscapes in Europe. Around 1200 islands are strung together over 1800 kilometres, of which only 67 are inhabited. Their diversity is characteristic: rugged rocky reefs and gentle olive groves, karstic mountain ranges and an extremely mild climate. The series portrays people who face the challenges of their home by the sea with self-confidence and commitment. In Istria, a widely ramified coast meets the lush green of the hinterland with cypresses, laurel and holm oaks. The fertile peninsula was fought over for centuries. Many places were already settled in Roman times, and towns like Rovinj and Pula show their Venetian past. Even today, many of Istria's inhabitants speak Italian. The rich fishing grounds of the Adriatic Sea are still an important source of income for the local population. David Skoko has been going out to sea with his father since childhood. From the daily catch off the southernmost tip of Istria, the young master chef conjures up fish dishes that have attracted international attention. The artist Mirko Zrinscak has retreated to the seclusion of the Učka Mountains, which tower high above the sea on the eastern side of Istria. He makes breathtakingly delicate sculptures out of oak trunks. Only a stone's throw away is the old seaside resort of Opatija. As early as the nineteenth century, aristocrats and bohemians came to appreciate the mild climate and Mediterranean flair of the Croatian coast. Magnificent villas, luxurious hotels and the twelve-kilometre-long seaside promenade from the time of the Belle Epoque tell of a fashionable past and the current efforts to save this glamorous heritage from decay. Croatia's unique island labyrinth with its countless rugged bays and waterways begins directly in front of Opatija. Ships are an indispensable means of transport here and the Croatian navy is constantly in need of new recruits. Helena Bagaric is seventeen and one of the few girls training to be a captain at the country's oldest cadet school in Bakar. In the Kvarner Bay, around the archipelago of the large islands of Cres and Losinj, there is a world to discover away from the tourist attractions, where people seem immune to hectic and stress. The flower island of Ilovik, for example, has barely a hundred inhabitants, and there are no cars. The inhabitants, like the young mayor Jadranka Matas, are proud improvisation artists for whom life in seclusion demands a lot, but also gives them great freedom and independence.