Mark Paget Skelin

@UKinCroatia @CroatiaBusiness Čestitke Iva!

Čestitke! 👏🇬🇧🇭🇷

Just wondering if anyone else has had poor treatment from @InsureandGo in respect of lack of medical support whilst on holiday and then refusal to reimburse expenses as a result? Asking for a friend… #travelinsurance

@fiago7 It’s excellent - and much better than Nutella. The milk variety is probably the best.

For the Croatians here, is this stuff actually good or is Luka Modrić lying to me?

@NutritionWatch Ah. They must all be built on the same model because that could be the same in Split. Random floor and room numbering, no logic anywhere.

@markskelin No. Zagreb - officially Draškovićeva - except the entrance is around the corner on another street 🤣 (naravno)

Nothing promotes mental & emotional wellbeing in Croatia like a few hours in the warm & welcoming embrace of the Matični Ured - seeking the right person behind the right door on the right floor of the right building - bliss!

@CroatianSoccer Yep, Perišić was on fire tonight. Played with an intensity and agility like he was 26, not 36.

🇭🇷The boys showed out today vs. Gibraltar in their first match of World Cup qualifying… Who were your players of the match? Ours are Perišić and Ivanović, for obvious reasons😎 #croatia #hrvatska #worldcup

Thought of The Day.

@CroatiaFooty Vukovar deserve it for so many reasons from recent history. They also have some of the best shirts in all of Croatian football.

@lijukic Agreed. An excellent book.

If you’re interested in the former and don’t know much about it I can’t recommend Gerwarth’s book enough. Does a phenomenal job of capturing the narrative spirit of the years in a very concise manner.

1918-1922 and 1945-1948 are such underrated historical periods in European history. It’s easy to take for granted the momentous consequences of the world wars and assume they were predetermined and not the products of chaotic and unpredictable events, decisions, and expectations

@StefanZL98 It might have survived as a smaller state perhaps if at least one of Russia, Prussia or Austria had remained weak. And if it ditched the luberum veto which paralysed any attempts at modernisation

What is your opinion on the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth🇵🇱🇱🇹 and did it have a chance to survive, or was it destined to be divided into three parts between Russia, Prussia, and Austria? 🤔⚖️ Short history: The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, formed in 1569 by the Union of Lublin, was a political entity that combined the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It became one of the largest and most powerful countries in Europe, covering territories from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea. 🌍⚔️ However, the Commonwealth gradually weakened due to political conflicts and the inefficiency of central power. The Polish nobility held excessive power, making it difficult to govern effectively. Internally, the political system, known as "Golden Liberty," allowed the nobility to block decisions, further weakening royal authority. ⚡👑 External pressures, especially from Russia, Prussia, and Austria, grew stronger over time. Through several partitions (1772, 1793, 1795), these three powers divided the territory of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, ultimately erasing the state from the political map. 🌍✂️

@StefanZL98 It depends whether Franz Ferdinand also survives in your scenario. If he’d still been killed, then no it would have split apart as the fractures between the nationalities widen. If FF had lived, then maybe it could have evolved into a federal Austria-Hungary-Slavia

Do you think Austria-Hungary could have survived if World War I hadn't happened? 🤔🇦🇹🇭🇺 A brief historical overview: The Austro-Hungarian Empire was a complex multinational state with numerous internal challenges but also significant economic and cultural potential. Before World War I, the empire successfully balanced modernization with tradition, boasting a strong industrial base in Austrian and Czech lands and agricultural wealth in Hungary. However, national tensions between Slavs, Hungarians, and Germans threatened its unity. If the war had not occurred, it is possible that the empire could have implemented reforms, such as federalization, granting greater autonomy to various ethnic groups and potentially prolonging its existence. What do you think? Could reforms have saved the empire, or was its fall inevitable? 🏰⏳

@hiddenEurope I agree, it has to be Trieste. Although Riga, Lviv and Wroclaw come close.

Okay, so after more than two decades of hidden europe, what is our favourite European city? Our votes goes for Trieste. And you?

@CroatianSoccer Kulenović doesn’t seem to be that consistent so the jury’s still out on him. But calling him up would cement him playing for us, not BiH which I think he’d also be able to play for - so maybe yes in that case.

Should Sandro Kulenović be called up to the National Team next time around?? Seems like Dalić is still riding on Matanović’s stellar preseason. He likely won’t break out in Germany until next season, given that Frankfurt’s strikers will probably transfer elsewhere. We think yes

@lijukic There were more railways in Dalmatia in 1913 than in 2024. The closure of the Sinj to Split line and the network around Dubrovnik particularly sad.

Obsessed with this colorful modernist Austro-Hungarian railway map from 1913

@Deana_Croatia Agreed. He always looks to remain humble and aware of his roots and of what made him. It will be a sad day when Luka eventually retires, the end of a glorious and wonderful era.

@EuropeByRail I unearthed an old former Yugoslavia railway, bus and ferry timetable book from 1971 at the London Transport Depot Friends’ shop in London recently. Hours of happy and contented reading - and so many surprise routes I never knew had existed

Who else enjoys old timetables? Thomas Cook European Timetable from May-June 1989… #EuropebyRail

@slipperytom @hoyer_kat The Soviets kept the cathedral because it contains Kant’s tomb. Communism approves of Kant’s philosophy so the tomb and the ruined cathedral survived 1945

@hoyer_kat I am surprised the cathedral w German inscriptions inside is still there. Thought they wanted to erase all traces of it.

Spent the evening at the Reform Club, London, listening to a talk about the East Prussian city of Königsberg which was erased during and after WWII and replaced by Kaliningrad, Russia. Almost out of living memory, the ghost of Königsberg continues to haunt people's imagination.

Hrvatski sokol iz Drniša, 1908. 🇭🇷

@Deana_Croatia Your dad looks just like my father when he was young. Croatian genetics perhaps!

@BastonBorders It’s a super book. Wishing you a speedy recovery

Recovery from my neurosurgery operation is arduous and disorientating. But something that cheers me up is when I hear about people who have enjoyed ‘Borderlines’.