Osijek Off The Beaten Path

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Valpovo is another cute little town, about 20km from Osijek. It has colourful houses, a little river passing through the town, a nice castle, lots of cafes... It's a typical Slavonian plain town. There are even some oil fields around! Thorough information you can find on the website below, there is an English version as well.

This is a wonderful natural resort of intact nature and wildlife. Flora and fauna is so exuberant here. It's a sort of a marsh, with paddles, vegetation in abbundance, typical species of birds, wild animals... You can explore the websotes I indicated, there you will find a lot of information about this gorgeous place!
The photo is borrowed from there.

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Bizovac is a lovely little town 18km away from Osijek (just a bit over 15 minutes by car). It's famous for Bizovačke Toplice, a spa with hot springs, thermal water which is the hottest in the world, 96 C at the spring!
There is a nice church park and lots of lovely countryside sceneries. It's a very pretty, relaxing place.

What is this guy that has only four fingers on his left (?) hand doing here on the bank of Drava river? And why is he here?

It seems he just enjoys watching the people, the river and the landscape on the other side of the river.

I don't think there was any special connection between Picasso and Osijek, but Osijek obviously did not consider it necessary to look for any particular connection in order to erect a monument to the great artist.

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People of Osijek may wait in anticipation for the opening of the first mutiplex cinema in Osijek, but two old cinemas that stand on two opposite sides of the Sakuntala park are real beauties.

Kino Urania is a secession beauty that stands at the start of Europska avenija. It was built in 1912 by Osijek-based architect Viktor Axmann. It is definitely worth to peek inside, even if it is only to see the lobby.

On the other side of the park stands a pure beauty of the Modernist period - a cubic building of Kino Europa. The programme they show might be a bit outdated but these two buildings are definitely worth a look.

This is not exactly "Off the beaten track tip" as the building of the Savings Bank is situated on the main street leading eastwards from the main square.

But I am sure you won't find it in most tourist guides as people writing tourist guides seem to completely ignore the modern architecture. Which is a shame because Alfred Albini's Savings bank is worth a short stop and a look to clear and elegant lines of its facade.

This is also a building you won't find in any tourist guide, and in fact it will be hard to find it among the standard industrial buildings of Osijek suburbia on the road to Čepin.

This is a headquarters and a storage area of Tobacco Factory Rovinj in Osijek. A white wall splits the round building in half, separating the glass office part from the service and storage area.

I just love the way this building does not fit into the standard "box architecture" of the new industrial and service zone.