Croatia adopts the Euro today.

[MickB]

As of the 1st. January 2023, Croatians have only 15 days left to spend their Kuna's. The banks will accept them for exchange for Euros up until the 31st. December 2023.

Also today Croatia enter the Schengen zone, which makes crossing similar borders easier.

Over the years I've chucked into a pot the coins that I didn't put back into circulation as it's more hassle than it was worth because of the small denominations. As 1 Kuna was equivalent to 12 pence sterling, 100 Lipa was equivalent to 1 Kuna. I tried to get hold of 100 x 1 Lipa coins but only ever managed to get one of them in my change along with only 1 x 2 Lipe coin. These were quite rare to find in your change. Imagine having to count out 100 x 1 Lipa coins to buy a few sweets! The brass coloured 5 & 10 Lipa coins were quite commonly seen discarded in the streets.

The range of coins were; 1 Lipa, 2 Lipe, 5 Lipa, 10 Lipa, 20 Lipa, 50 Lipa, 1 Kuna, 2 Kune, 5 Kuna. There's also a 25 Kuna coin but it was mainly released for commemorative reasons.

It will be sad to see the Kuna currency go but the Euro will make it easier when popping over the borders.

[LawrenceChard]

2 hours ago, MickB said:

As of the 1st. January 2023, Croatians have only 15 days left to spend their Kuna's. The banks will accept them for exchange for Euros up until the 31st. December 2023.

Also today Croatia enter the Schengen zone, which makes crossing similar borders easier.

Over the years I've chucked into a pot the coins that I didn't put back into circulation as it's more hassle than it was worth because of the small denominations. As 1 Kuna was equivalent to 12 pence sterling, 100 Lipa was equivalent to 1 Kuna. I tried to get hold of 100 x 1 Lipa coins but only ever managed to get one of them in my change along with only 1 x 2 Lipe coin. These were quite rare to find in your change. Imagine having to count out 100 x 1 Lipa coins to buy a few sweets! The brass coloured 5 & 10 Lipa coins were quite commonly seen discarded in the streets.

The range of coins were; 1 Lipa, 2 Lipe, 5 Lipa, 10 Lipa, 20 Lipa, 50 Lipa, 1 Kuna, 2 Kune, 5 Kuna. There's also a 25 Kuna coin but it was mainly released for commemorative reasons.

It will be sad to see the Kuna currency go but the Euro will make it easier when popping over the borders.

I look forward to our next visit to Vrsar, and buying our ice creams in euros!

And it should reduce the queue to cross the border at Border police station Secovlje Mejni prehod Sečovlje (SLO) - Plovanija (HR), going from Portoroz into Croatia, and back.

😎

[MickB]

59 minutes ago, LawrenceChard said:

I look forward to our next visit to Vrsar, and buying our ice creams in euros!

And it should reduce the queue to cross the border at Border police station Secovlje Mejni prehod Sečovlje (SLO) - Plovanija (HR), going from Portoroz into Croatia, and back.

😎

The queue will be a distant memory. This means that I'll be able to drive from Croatia to Italy without any hassle. 

[flyingveepixie]

5 hours ago, MickB said:

As of the 1st. January 2023, Croatians have only 15 days left to spend their Kuna's. The banks will accept them for exchange for Euros up until the 31st. December 2023.

Also today Croatia enter the Schengen zone, which makes crossing similar borders easier.

Over the years I've chucked into a pot the coins that I didn't put back into circulation as it's more hassle than it was worth because of the small denominations. As 1 Kuna was equivalent to 12 pence sterling, 100 Lipa was equivalent to 1 Kuna. I tried to get hold of 100 x 1 Lipa coins but only ever managed to get one of them in my change along with only 1 x 2 Lipe coin. These were quite rare to find in your change. Imagine having to count out 100 x 1 Lipa coins to buy a few sweets! The brass coloured 5 & 10 Lipa coins were quite commonly seen discarded in the streets.

The range of coins were; 1 Lipa, 2 Lipe, 5 Lipa, 10 Lipa, 20 Lipa, 50 Lipa, 1 Kuna, 2 Kune, 5 Kuna. There's also a 25 Kuna coin but it was mainly released for commemorative reasons.

It will be sad to see the Kuna currency go but the Euro will make it easier when popping over the borders.

 

[flyingveepixie]

I thought I had some Kuna kicking around somewhere leftover from the couple of brief trips I made to Croatia when I was working with SFOR but all I could find when I looked was this old 5000 Dinar note.  I might have a few coins somewhere in my penny box..🤔

Edited January 1, 2023 by flyingveepixie

[MickB]

1 hour ago, flyingveepixie said:

I thought I had some Kuna kicking around somewhere leftover from the couple of brief trips I made to Croatia when I was working with SFOR but all I could find when I looked was this old 5000 Dinar note.  I might have a few coins somewhere in my penny box..🤔

Wow, those are from the early days!. My neighbour out there gave me some Kuna notes from WW2. I'll have to dig them out to see exactly which ones.

[MickB]

I bought these with my remaining Kuna notes at Zagreb Airport the other day. Only modern Kuna notes I now have are a couple of ten Kuna notes which aren't worth much. 

[flyingveepixie]

14 minutes ago, MickB said:

Wow, those are from the early days!. My neighbour out there gave me some Kuna notes from WW2. I'll have to dig them out to see exactly which ones.

I'm not sure of the history or chronology of the Croation currencies but that particular note has 1992 printed on it.  If they used Kuna during WWII, did they then change the currency to Dinars when Tito took control after WWII?  I presume it all changed and went back to Kuna when Tito died and Yugoslavia subsequently all fell apart which I think was around 1991 when Croatia declared it's independence if memory serves..🤔

Edited January 1, 2023 by flyingveepixie

[flyingveepixie]

3 minutes ago, MickB said:

I bought these with my remaining Kuna notes at Zagreb Airport the other day. Only modern Kuna notes I now have are a couple of ten Kuna notes which aren't worth much. 

They're interesting bottles. I've never seen that brand before.   

I once had a 4 hour layover at Zagreb Airport and I remember ordering a pizza which seemed to be particularly delicious at the time, although to be fair I was a zombie as I had been travelling for almost 14 hours at that point and was currently waiting for my third plane of the day to take me from Zagreb to Split via a stopover at Rijeka and was a bit of a jet lagged wreck.

[MickB]

1 minute ago, flyingveepixie said:

I'm not sure of the history or chronology of the Croation currencies but that particular note has 1992 printed on it.  If they used Kuna during WWII, did they then change the currency to Dinars when Tito took control after WWII?  I presume it all fell apart again and went back to Kuna when Yugoslavia all fell apart which I think was around 1991 if memory serves..🤔

Tito did get rid of the Kuna once he took control as it was demonetized in July 1945. These were printed in Germany at the time. They returned to the Kuna during the homeland war in 1991. I didn't manage to collect many recent notes as I wanted to spend them but next year after the bank no longer accepts them they should be easy and cheaper to pick up for a collection.

[flyingveepixie]

2 minutes ago, MickB said:

Tito did get rid of the Kuna once he took control as it was demonetized in July 1945. These were printed in Germany at the time. They returned to the Kuna during the homeland war in 1991. I didn't manage to collect many recent notes as I wanted to spend them but next year after the bank no longer accepts them they should be easy and cheaper to pick up for a collection.

You might be able to find some on ebay...I was disappointed to find on my arrival in Bosnia back in the day that they were using the Deutschmark and didn't actually have their own currency.  And of course they went straight over to the euro when it was introduced.

Edited January 1, 2023 by flyingveepixie

[MickB]

2 minutes ago, flyingveepixie said:

They're interesting bottles. I've never seen that brand before.   

I once had a 4 hour layover at Zagreb Airport and I remember ordering a pizza which seemed to be particularly delicious at the time, although to be fair I was a zombie as I had been travelling for almost 14 hours at that point and was currently waiting for my third plane of the day to take me from Zagreb to Split via a stopover at Rijeka and was a bit of a jet lagged wreck.

Bloody hell, that's a bit of a trek on the planes!

The Old Pilot's gin & vodka are both gold award winners. I gave my dad the gin bottle the other night & my eldest stepson had a smaller bottle, which he said was excellent. It's highly rated apparently.

[MickB]

1 minute ago, flyingveepixie said:

You might be able to find some on ebay...

They'll be cheaper from Croatia as I refuse to pay ebay prices. No doubt they'll be available at the flea markets in the future.

[flyingveepixie]

5 minutes ago, MickB said:

Bloody hell, that's a bit of a trek on the planes!

Aye it was a hard 24 hours. Teeside-Heathrow, Heathrow-Zagreb, Zagreb-Split,  Set off from home at 4.30am and arrived in Split well after midnight, then up again at 6am to catch a Czech Airforce flight up to Banja Luka.

I'll look out for a bottle of that gin if I can find one, but not till March as I'm on Dry January and February for my sins...😂

Edited January 1, 2023 by flyingveepixie

[MickB]

2 minutes ago, flyingveepixie said:

Aye it was a hard 24 hours. Teeside-Heathrow, Heathrow-Zagreb, Zagreb-Split,  Set off from home at 4.30am and arrived in Split well after midnight, then up again at 6am to catch a Czech Airforce flight up to Banja Luka.

I drove across the border to visit Banja Luka ten years ago for a day out. Had a meal at the Yachting Club restaurant on the Vrbas river. Nice food and it was pretty cheap but I couldn't help notice how the people there obeyed the road crossings and moved around in silence. Wouldn't mind going back to have a better look around.