Ilok

Ilok stands on a loess bluff above the Danube at the eastern end of Croatia, walled, with the Odescalchi manor and the fifteenth century church of St John Capistrano inside the fortifications. Wine has been made here since Roman times and the cellars beneath the manor were dug in the fifteenth century; the Ilok traminac has a long export record, including a documented delivery for the coronation of Elizabeth II in 1953. The manor has been restored and now holds the town museum.

History

People lived at Ilok from the Neolithic and Bronze Age, and a Scordisci site of the late La Tène period was excavated here in the 1970s and 1980s. The Romans built Cuccium in the 1st or 2nd century, the first border fort on this stretch of the Danube, and Slavs settled in the 6th century. Documents of the 12th and 13th centuries name the market town as Iwnlak, Vylok and other forms; at the end of the 13th century the castle went to the Csák family, and Ugrin Csák made Ilok the capital of his semi-independent Upper Syrmia. After 1354 it belonged to the Garay family and then to the Újlaki, or Iločki, family: Nicholas Iločki was Ban of Slavonia from 1457 to 1463, and his son Lawrence Duke of Syrmia from 1477 to 1524. Ottoman from 1526, Ilok was a district centre with two mosques and 1,160 houses by 1669; the Habsburgs took it for good in 1697, after which it became the seat of the Lordship of Ilok (Wikipedia, Ilok).

Highlights

• A bluff over the Danube - the easternmost town in Croatia.
• Cellars dug in the fifteenth century - beneath the Odescalchi manor.
• Traminac with an export record - including a 1953 coronation delivery.
• A restored manor and museum - repaired after the 1990s.

When to go

May to October, with the harvest and wine events in September. Half a day.

Good to know

The war is recent history here and is present in the town's own account of itself. It is a long drive from anywhere on the tourist routes. Cellar visits and tastings need booking. Services are limited.

Nearby

Vukovar is west along the Danube; Osijek is further north-west.

Key facts