Local Democracy Agency Sisak
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Introduction “English woman and man in New York” are Creative Youth Laboratory Bit about Local Democracy Agency Sisak Facts about Sisak Beverages Food Other thing you can do in Sisak Places to visit around Sisak Contact
Publisher
Local Democracy Agency Sisak, Croatia
For publisher Paula Raužan
Authors
Frosina Stojanoska Manuel Pineiro Gonzales
Layout
MOSLERdizajn, Petrinja
Manika, Petrinja Published in 200 copies Published in 2013
This publication has been produced with the financial support of the Youth in Action Programme of the European Commission and by the Croatian Agency for Mobility and EU Programmes. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission and the Agency can not be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
INTRODUCTION
Hello everybody! We are Manuel Pineiro Gonzales (Spain) and Frosina Stojanoska (Macedonia) and this brochure is our personal project within our European voluntary service (EVS). We are EVS volunteers doing our service in Sisak as part of the “Creative Youth Laboratory” project of Local Democracy Agency Sisak (LDA Sisak). As we are “Englishmen in New York” we had our hard time finding the right places to go out so now we want to make it easier to other volunteers who find themselves in Sisak. So there you go and you are welcome
But first, let us tell you more about us, our motivation for volunteering, what we have been doing in Sisak (Frosina for 12 months and Manuel for 9 months), about our hosting organisation and then you can enjoy in our little “surviving guide” So there you go and you are welcome
Have fun!
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croatia
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sisak
A N I S O FR
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"English woman and man in New York" are: Bok Hrvatska! My name is Frosina, I’m 24 and I come from Skopje, Macedonia. The first reason why I wanted to become a volunteer was because I love challenge. And this was a challenge for me. The transition from a big city to a smaller one was not easy but I surely see a lot of positive things. Now I have a lot of time devoted to my personal development and doing what I really like to do. I like to learn new things and meet people whose background is slightly, or completely different from mine. I wanted to share part of my culture and myself with the rest of the world. Therefore, after finishing my official education it was time for me to do something I needed not to, but definitely wanted to do. Being independent was something I have not experienced and now I realize that I should have done it even sooner. The possibility to use my knowledge and experience in order to help others in need or just to know that I have been a part of some kind of an improvement is part of that challenge. Besides the challenge, another reason why I wanted to become a volunteer was the opportunity to gain some experience, develop my skills, improve my work ethics, strengthen my self confidence and involve myself in projects that I have never worked on before. Not to mention the sociable part of the volunteering when you get to know people and probably make friends that will stay in your life forever. Personally, my favourite part of being a volunteer is discovering how the visible differences in manner, behaviour, thinking and attitude have nothing to do with the way we can feel about each other.
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L E U
N A M
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My full name is Manuel Piñeiro González, I’m 25 years old and I come in Sisak from Cangas, my town, in Galicia, in the northwest of Spain, next to Portugal. The first and main reason why I decided to do a European Voluntary Service was because I was unemployed in my place. I could no longer stand, doing nothing, and couldn’t take it anymore and again hit the wall in which the labour market has become. It’s my truth ant the so many young people in Europe. I know how sad this cause. However, as the twentieth century Italian intellectual, Gramsci, said: ‘against the pessimism of the intellect, we have the optimism of the will “. In life, everybody always have obstacles, barriers, limits or boundaries that must be overcome to improve. Therefore, I looked for a new way to feel useful and show everything that I can contribute. In short, I think all toil dignifies us. This new way is the volunteering. Of course, I love travelling and knowing new people and new countries, new cultures and new language. “Knowledge doesn’t take place ever” is a motto for me that I try to follow. I’m open-minded, responsible, and forthcoming, with a high level of involvement and social skills. The European Voluntary Service gives me the opportunity to try everything I have learned during my training in recent years. I appreciate too much independence, being able to look after myself, sometimes hitting, missing others, but everything serves to improve.
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The project “Creative Youth Laboratory” is hosting two volunteers, one from Macedonia and one from Spain, between April 2012 and 2013. The volunteers are doing their European Voluntary Service in LDA Sisak host town, Sisak. The objectives of the project are to raise the awareness about voluntarism and to promote cultural diversity and European citizenship in the town of Sisak and its surroundings. The volunteers are working with young people from Sisak on daily basis and share cultures, experience and knowledge using non-formal and informal educational methodology. Moreover, they are actively in-
volved in the work of Volunteer Centre Sisak, functioning within the LDA Sisak. During the project volunteers are involved in several activities such as: 1. Local volunteering initiatives, 2. Youth information point, 3. European integration, 4. Other activities and office tasks and 5. Autonomous activities that volunteers developing with LDA Sisak support. The project is funded by the Youth in Action Programme of the European Commission and by the Croatian Agency for Mobility and EU Programmes.
The European Voluntary Service (EVS) provides young Europeans with the unique chance to express their personal commitment through unpaid and full-time voluntary activities in a foreign country within or outside the EU. In this way, it seeks to develop solidarity, mutual understanding and tolerance among young people, thus contributing to reinforcing social cohesion in the European Union and to promoting young people’s active citizenship. For more information visit http://ec.europa.eu/youth/youth-in-action-programme/european-voluntary-service_en.htm
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Europe Day - informing citizens about
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mobility opportunities
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Workshops in high schools - presenting students international and local volunteering and its benefits
Social games with the "Home for elderly and dependence persons" beneficiaries
Working on ecological exhibition and eco calendar with primary school students
Participating in Cross-border work camp "Golden fibula"
Free-of-charge lessons of Spanish and Portuguese language in cooperation with association "Novi svijet"
Bit about Local Democracy Agency Sisak
Local Democracy Agency Sisak (LDA Sisak) is nongovernmental and non-for-profit organisation established in 1996 by Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Council of Europe with aim to support local democratic processes and promote human rights and active citizenship. In our work we are using specific methodology of multilateral decentralised cooperation in partnership with local and regional selfgovernments and other nongovernmental organisation in and out of Croatia.
Our programmes: 1. Local democracy, 2. Culture and human rights, 3. Local economical development, 4. Education, networking and youth exchange, 5. European integration, 6. Local volunteers’ centre Sisak and 7. Capacity building and training.
Since 2006 we are working as a domestic organisation. LDA Sisak a statutory member of Association of the Local Democracy Agencies (ALDA), one of the biggest European network dealing with active citizenship, www.aldaeurope.eu
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Facts about Sisak
Sisak is a city in central Croatia. The city’s population in 2011 was 33.049, with a total of 49.699 in the administrative region and it is also the administrative centre of the Sisak-Moslavina county. Sisak is located at the confluence of the Kupa, Sava, and Odra rivers, 57 km southeast of the Croatian capital Zagreb. Prior to the invasion by the Roman Empire, 2.500 years ago, the region was Celtic and the city there was named Segestica. In German the town is known as Sissek, in Hungarian as Sziszek, Latin as Siscia, in Serbian Cyrillic as Сисак, and in Slovene as Sisek. Sisak is usually considered to be where the Posavina (Sava basin) begins, with an elevation of 99 m. Sisak is Croatia’s biggest river port and a centre of river shipping industry. Sisak lies on the main road towards Zagreb and the railroad Zagreb-Sisak-Sunja.
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Beverages
Voodoo
Fluid Would you like to take a coffee, relaxed, meanwhile you are reading a newspaper or a magazine, with or without company, in absolute tranquillity? This is your place, because they have a quiet ambient to spend your time in the brake or after your lunch.
Voodoo is a bar situated in the centre of Sisak, in the “second street”, where you can meet an amused ambient, with good music like classics of rock from the 80’s and 90’s. On Fridays and Saturday, local bands of several styles play in the local. It’s an ideal place to start the night and drinks a beer with your friends. Address: Rimska 4
Address: Ante Starcevica 1a
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Beverages
Falcon This is the most centric bar in Sisak; it’s also the most familiar, where you can meet lots of new people. It has good ambient and it guarantee having a nice time there, meanwhile you drink with your friends a beer, a glass of gamiest, wine or refreshment. This is its twentieth anniversary. It is a classic! Address: S. I A. Radica 9 Happy birthday falcon! We wish you many more years of great parties!
Siscia Jazz Club Podroom If you like listening hard rock in a youth ambient, you should go downstairs into this basement. Every evening is crowded and on Fridays and Saturdays, they program some concerts with local rock and metal bands. Address: S. I A. Radica 18
If you are a jazz lover we definitely recommend you to visit the jazz club by the river Kupa. The originality of the club located in the basement of an old house, with its red lights and dim atmosphere makes it identical to any other real jazz club, but yet completely different from the rest of the clubs in Sisak. You got to love all that jazz. Address: Rimska BB
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Neo Club Next to the train station, Neo Club is place if you want to have fun and get party on Saturday’s night after all the bars had closed. The Dj’s play electronic and commercial music. Address: S. I A. Radica 20
Other places we suggest are: Academia and Kelt right in the centre in the city a hip place for a hip population, River Pub and Mystic right next to each other so if you do not like the first one you can go and dance into the other one, Elephant to listen to some great live gig.
For the folk lovers, their little piece of heaven:
Dioniz Turbo-folk is one of the most popular music in Croatia and it has its place in Sisak. Dioniz is crowded every weekend and the Dj’s play this kind of music: a mix between traditional melodic songs and electronic music. Address: S.S Kranjcevica 10
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Food
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Bijela Lada If you choose to spend the night in a quiet atmosphere, good music and delicious food then your choice should be “Bijela Lađa” (White boat). Located on the bank of river Kupa, with the Old Bridge and the flourished trees as a part the beautiful spring compositions, ”Bijela Lađa” is a worthwhile (money-wise) experience. The restaurant is spacious, with smokers and non-smokers department so there will be no fear of someone breathing down your neck while you eat or complaining about the smoke. The service is fast, the waiters are polite and the food is excellent. Bon appetite! Address: Lađarska 9; Phone: + 385 44 530074
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Food
Cocktail Other fancy restaurant we should mention is Cocktail. This place fulfills everything needed for a classy restaurant excellent design, polite waiters, and good choice of music and pretentiously small portions of food. Not in a bad way. The food is very good but one does not get to taste a lot of it. And, we are on the Balkan, eating healthy (read: meat, meat, meat) is the trademark. So if you are really hungry maybe you should reconsider going to some other place. If you want to be elegant, fancy and squanderers for the night, provided you are not hungry, then visit Cocktail. Address: Ulica dr. Ante Starčevića 27, Phone: +385 44 549 137
Petica Now, let’s talk about food. While on Balkan, act Balkan or something like that. This is about real, huge amounts of food that can feed you like a real man or woman. “Petica”. The name itself says that this place is going to be awesome (“petica”, means “five” and is used to describe something excellent). Located near the railroad on an unpaved road it gives you a feeling that you are somewhere in a desert. If you want to eat barbecue Balkan-style this is your place. Do not be fooled by the small laminated menu because the portions are everything but small. The real Balkan way. If you don’t feel like going out but still want to mingle around and feel the weekend energy then you should visit some of the places located in the centre of Sisak. Address: Kralja Zvonimira 7 Other place when you can try the best čevapčići in town is “Naso” located in Ivana Kukuljevića Sakcinskog 5
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Gema For a classic friends night out we recommend the all-time best: PIZZA! As pizza-eaters, we made sure to try all the places that serve pizzas and here is the result: The first place goes to (drum-rolls): GEMA. YES. Why? Only cause the have the best pizza ever. Whatever you order the quality is there. From the soft bakery, exquisite sauce and the melting cheese on your fingers it makes you want to lick…well, your fingers. For a cool, relaxed night with pizza and beer go to bistro Gema located on the “first street”. Address: Rimska bb.
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Food
Journal The second place goes to: Journal. Journal is a pizzeria with a night club set in its basement. But later about that. The place is comfortable, the waiters are prepared and ready to go in a second. The pizza is good and you can eat it in inside garden. Address: Frankopanska 9
Fast food If you feel like a quick bite, but caloric one, fast food Dora (S.S Kranjčevića 11) and Neo (S. I A. Radica 8a) are in the centre of the Sisak and they will satisfy your appetite. Whichever you choose you will not make a mistake. The first one has the best cheeseburger and the latter the best salad sandwich.
Of course, we have to mention the almighty, the fast food king McDonald’s (Zagrebačka 51). No comments needed. Small but tasty.
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Other thing you can do in Sisak
If you want to break away from the typical going out weekend there are some other things that are good for “kill time”.
You can visit the sport centre “Zibel” and go bowling with you friends or ice skating during winter.
As you may have notice Sisak is a small town but somehow it still manages to have small park on every corner.
In the hot summer you can chill yourself on the bathing resort “Zibel”. It is well used space near the river Kupa (the locals say it is good for swimming too) offering you place to play volleyball, basketball, you can make barbecue and you only have to take the food because the place has installed grills and a bar nearby.
So relaxing or strolling in one of these small parks or by the river is always a good idea and healthy too.
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Old Town
Other way to kill time is of course into the cinema. Unfortunately in Sisak you can only do it during the weekend in the afternoon. If you decide to go you can look up their web site for information: http://www.domkkv.hr/
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If you are a history person, you should visit the Old Town and see the place where the Turkish Empire was won over. Don’t forget to visit Sisak Town Museum to fully understand its rich history. www.muzej-sisak.hr
Other thing you can do in Sisak
For art lovers, we recommend paying a trip to one of the local gallery Striegl located on address: S. i A. Radića 6 (named by a famous
artist from Sisak, Slavo Striegl). You can visit their web page to see the upcoming exhibitions: http://www.galerija-striegl.hr
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Festivals
“Maslačak’, “Prolog”, “Fibula”, “SEFF”, “MUF”, “Ars Organi Sisciae” , “Days of Miroslava Miletića music”, “Quirinus poetic gatherings”, “Siscia open jazz & blues” are one of the traditional festivals held in Sisak. “Maslačak” is a festival of plays for children, played by children. On the festival “Prolog”, you can see the best plays as well as the premiers of plays from the regional theatres in Croatia. Quirinus poetic gatherings first started in 1997 in the honour of the Sisak’s protector saint Quirinus. Other interesting festival is SEFF (Sisak Eco Film Festival) the travelling film festival, where during 15 days the festival crew will go around 30 places in the Sisak-Moslavina County and Bosnia and Herzegovina and display selected short eco-documentaries. Another film festival is the Sisak documentaries’ review “Fibula” held in the middle of November.
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Sisak - Celtic nig
ht
One of the most important and the biggest urban event in Sisak is the Small urban fest or “Mali Urbani Fest” in the organisation of the club SKWHAT and the Youth association organisation. The festival is known across the borders as a multicultural festival for the young people and as a three days gathering of young musicians and other artists. If you want to hear the mystical sound of the old pipe organs the you should visit the International pipe organ festival “Ars Organi Sisciae” from 4th till 12th of May held in the Church of Sisak. “Siscia open jazz & blues festival” is a tradition that does not disappears and every July gathers respected jazz and blues artists on the riverside. “Days of Miroslava Miletića music” is festival dedicated to the famous compositor Miroslav Miletić. It is an annual festival that lasts three days and it is used as a “tool” for promoting contemporary classical music.
In Sisak, every year in the first days of September at the time of the new moon on the promenade of the River Kupa the touristhistorical spectacle Celtic night is held. It is
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one of the most important and most impressive tourist manifestations in the Sisak-Moslavina County. On the rafts, Sisak legends are played out, and druids and priestesses hand out a magical potion to the audience. With the light of torches and spotlights images from mysterious Sisak legends come
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out from the night. On the 4th September visitors will see fairies and warriors dancing to the rhythm of drums, Celts sailing their rafts on Kupa, tasting the magical druid potion and participating in the mystical rites of conjuring ancient warriors, beauties, bishops and their persecutors, warrior conquer-
Other thing you can do in Sisak
ors and defenders of life and freedom. On the rafts in front of visitors, scenes from the lives of Celts and Romans will be played out. This is a night where these rafts, moved only by the river, will show scenes from the history of Sisak and tell a three thousand year old story of wars, rebellion, and magnificent moments from the past, successes and battles won and the rises and falls of mighty empires. The people of Sisak, in this one hour show, remember how their city used to look like once. Celtic night was last year proclaimed the best tourist manifestation in continental Croatia. The Celts came to the Sisak area in the 4th century B.C. and conquered the old Illyrian tribes with whom they ethnically and culturally mixed and later formed the settlement Segestica. Illyrian – Celtic tribes managed to resist the pressures of the Romans up until 35. B.C., when Octavian conquered and tore apart Segestica with 12.000 soldiers, after a thirty day siege. From the initial military camp, the Roman Siscia soon rose and got
the status of a city with extremely strong military, transport and administration functions, developed trading and crafts and a famous mint that was used throughout the Roman Empire.
The town Sisak is located in the
southeast of Zagreb on the mouths of the Rivers Odra into Kupa and Kupa into Sava. Its geographical location and natural advantages influenced the development of the city, which beside the rich cultural-history offers its visitors many other interesting landmarks in its surroundings. Downstream from Sisak, along the left bank of Sava, stretches the nature park Lonjsko polje. In most part it is a flood area of the River Sava, with an extremely preserved plant and animal world and picturesque villages located along the river. Lonjsko polje is well known for its indigenous breed of horses and pigs and also one of the biggest hatcheries of fish.
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village Čigoć
The unique architecture of the wooden houses with many stork nests on them represents an extra attraction, while the village Čigoć has been named the European village of Storks. Here also is the archaeological park Siscia. Protective archaeological research resulted in the discovery of the urban complex of the Roman Siscia where visitors can see the city walls with the inner tower, a defensive moat
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and a part of the late Roman monumental building. Sisak experienced its glory days in the times of battles with the Turks and the highlight was a magnificent victory of the Christian army over the Turks in 1593. The news of the first big Turkish defeat after hundreds of years of military dominance, spread fast and Sisak became the centre of attention for a short period of time, through the whole of Europe.
Around Sisak
Zagreb (the capital of Croatia) is around 55km from Sisak so if you have the time you should definitely go on sightseeing and you can go there by bus or train (if you do not have a friend with a car). You can check the schedule on the links down. bus: http://www.akz.hr train: http://www.hznet.hr
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Lonjsko Polje is the largest wetland in Croatia. It is extended along the river Sava east from Sisak, the lower course of the river Lonja (thus the name), west to Nova Gradiska and along the river Veliki Strug. The park is important habitant for birds. Means of transport: car.
Hrvatska Kostajnica is a small town south of Sisak that got its name from “kesten” (a “chestnut”). Every year in the beginning of October (around 5th to 8th ) the city holds the event “Kestenijada”, festival for those who like to be a part of a tradition of collecting chestnuts, the taste of chestnuts, good food and different program, as well as for those who like walks along the dreamy town along Una. There are organized buses every year from Sisak to Hrvatska Kostajnica for this event.
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Wishing you great time in Sisak, same as we had... all the time!
Contact: Local Democracy Agency Sisak S. i A. Radića 2A 44000 Sisak Croatia Tel: +385 (0) 44 521 227, Fax: +385 (0) 44 521 231 www.Lda-sisak.hr