Croatia For Smokers

 

Our last comment on Croatia’s relationship with smokers was only a few months ago (Croatia Online - Smoking In Croatia) when we reported on the practical implementation of the smoking ban introduced in May 2009. For a country that has a higher proportion of smokers than many other parts of Europe and where cigarettes are still around £2 per packet, it was of some surprise that the ban had managed to stick quite well. However, with winter approaching and recessionary pressures still strong, the government has now bent to pressure from worried bar, cafe, restaurant and nightclub owners, and relaxed the rules a little. From now on, in most cases, designated smoking zones covering no more than a fifth of the premises will be allowed. Venues under 50 square meters will have to decide whether to be “smoking” or “non smoking”.

Non smokers will obviously feel this is a retrograde step but the decision has been met with a big sigh of relief from owners who have seen their taking go down considerably since the ban was introduced. That’s a similar story as elsewhere in Europe but Croatia shouldn’t be criticised too harshly for being practical in this way – don’t forget that England, amongst other western European countries went through a similar early compromise process and then reintroduced a more severe ban later on, after the brief reprieve. No doubt there’s a psychological process in force that will make inveterate Croatian smokers now more conscious and considerate of their non smoking compatriots and perhaps more open towards a total ban in indoor public places when EU pressures eventually win the day. 

Tribunj Revisited

We don’t have much to add to our last comprehensive review of Tribunj  in July 2008 – see Croatia Cruising Companion - July Update for nautical news and  Croatia Online – Tribunj for onshore news.

We did, however, check up on Villa Diana which had just changed ownership and was intending to refurbish and upgrade to improve on its already fairly harsh two star status. Villa Diana does now have a website of sorts – www.visitdalmatia.info – and the refurbishment program is gradual rather than drastic. However the young Russian owners are charming, they seem to have been discovered by the independent travel brigade, and you can be sure of a good clean room. Bear in mind it’s closed from mid November to early March.

Tribunj remains a charming unspoilt town on one side, and a classy marina on the other side though the two do seem to complement each other quite well.

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Today’s photo shows what we believe to be a reconstruction of a classic Dalmatian fishing boat in the foreground with the marina building in the background.

Exploring Croatia In The Summer – Itineraries, Travel Costs and Cost of Living

When we set out on our Croatian summer trip, we knew roughly what we had to cover but took our own advice (see previous posting) and didn’t plan the itinerary too rigidly. We were lucky enough to be able to make a base with friends on Čiovo Island, near Trogir, for the duration so explored much of the mainland from there and then bored our mates in the evening with all our new discoveries!

We chose to fly with Ryanair from Stansted to Zadar (see our earlier posting Getting There And Back) and though the basic cost of the ticket was only £59.99, by the time all the extras had been added (1 case check in, taxes, etc, the total cost was £145.73. In fact the flight is the cheapest part of the trip as the real expense on this sort of exploration is car hire at around £200 per week, and accommodation.

For the first few days we caught up with a few old friends and covered the mainland from Zadar to Šibenik and we’ve reported on most of that already in our previous postings. It could be said that some of this area (not of course Šibenik and Zadar themselves) is perhaps the least interesting part of Croatia’s coastline but, again we followed the tips in our previous posting and visited each destination with an open mind.

The next phase of our Croatian journey was to explore Hvar and Brač (or Hvach and Brar as they became after a couple of glasses of wine too many one evening!). With not even an idea of where we were going to stay, we got on the car ferry from Split to Stari Grad (cost 286 kunas for the car and 42 kunas for one person) and drove into Stari Grad (a long walk from the ferry – there’s a bus for foot passengers) where we spent some quality time with the Stari Grad tourist board Director. At that point we decided to make our base in Stari Grad on the grounds that the other main settlements on the islands were mostly in easy reach by car, Hvar Town would be way outside our budget, and Stari Grad is a comfortable size for a lone explorer. We’ll tell you more about these places in subsequent postings but we found a great double room in Stari Grad, with ensuite bathroom and private balcony, for €20 per night.

After two nights in Stari Grad, the days spent exploring Hvar town, Jelsa, Vrboska, and a few places inland, we drove the length of the island to lovely, photogenic Sučuraj. We toyed with the idea of getting the ferry back that evening, staying with our friends on Čiovo overnight and heading back to Split for the ferry to Brač the next day. However that seemed to be cheating and a bit of a waste of time so we had a half hearted look around Sučuraj for a room without much success and ended up in the one and only hotel. It didn’t look too promising from the outside, but the extremely helpful and friendly receptionist offered us a room and breakfast for the night for 220 kunas which seemed an even bigger bargain once we’d seen the large, clean and comfortable room.

The ferry next morning  from Sučuraj (95 kunas for the car and 13 kunas for one person) took us to the little known, and fast upcoming, holiday resort of Drvenik and we’ve got plenty of news to report on that. And from there we explored most of the Makarska Riviera, including Makarska itself, before getting another ferry from Makarska to the town of Sumartin on Brač (140 kunas car plus 30 kunas per person). Again we hadn’t really thought about accommodation but decided to head for Bol and make that our base. There’s almost too much accommodation to choose from in Bol but, by chance, we ended up stopping in one street behind the main town, full of apartments, and told the lady on the corner we were looking for a room. She tried (genuinely we think) to phone her friend next door but after waiting a few minutes said she had a studio apartment available for a couple of nights. Thinking this would be way outside our budget, we were even more convinced that it was when we saw it. A huge modern studio apartment with every mod con, it’s own terrace, luxurious bed and bathroom, etc. It was late, we were tired and ready to agree to anything reasonable. How much? €30 a night. Deal!

There were a couple of disappointments on Brač of which more when we get to them, and partly because one of them took up so much time, there are a few places that we didn’t get to see but already know well. Having said that, there were a couple of highlights too. In any event, three days later we were back on the ferry to Split from Supetar (140 kunas plus 30 kunas) and back with our friends ready to knock off a few remaining destinations – Trogir, Omis, Zadar and most things in between.

Cost of living comments? Not much has changed from our earlier reports - Croatia Online - Cost Of Living Update except for the ever diminishing rate of exchange. Hvar Town remains at least 50% more expensive than most other places but that’s the price of its celebrity status. We were pleasantly surprised by the reality of accommodation prices and the fact that room, villa and hotel owners appear to be far more flexible than of old in terms of letting for one or two days at a time. Food and drink are up just a little but the overall price depends on where you go. Also good was the fact that, on the whole, the ambience was good with those in the tourist industry somewhat relieved that the season had not been as bad as they feared.

The price of the first ferry ticket was a bit of a shock for some reason but after taking a few more, you realise what a wonderful ferry network Croatia has (state company Jadrolinija) . The ferries are mostly modern and spacious, reasonably priced (especially for foot passengers), pretty frequent and generally always on time. We were early for all of them (about an hour ahead of departure time) as the first ferry from Split turned a few cars away, but after that there was plenty of space. Above all, they’re very “easy” – well organised, cafes on most of them – and you could do worse than spending most of your time catching as many as possible to find new destinations. It’s a much better way to travel than by car on a steamy summer day!

Postings on the most exciting parts of our trip are yet to come so keep reading….

Exploring Croatia – How Independent Travellers Can Get the Best Out Of It

Croatia Online’s editor is living proof of how safe, easy and delightful it is to explore Croatia as a single independent traveller. Having just completed a nearly three week trip there, even as a seasoned Croatia lover, she’s still finding wonderful surprises and still feeling that however long she spends travelling around Croatia, it’s never long enough. There are a few rules however and below are ten of the best tips to help independent travellers get the most out of Croatia:

1. Don’t judge the book by its cover

We’ve heard so many people dismiss a certain destination because they drove past it on the way to somewhere else and it didn’t look very appealing. Many of Croatia’s best destinations don’t show themselves off at their best from the main road – in most cases the main road came along long after the destination developed. Before you dismiss anywhere, park the car near the city centre, amble around and discover a few secrets.

2. Make friends with a local

Even if you think you know somewhere quite well, take some time to chat to the locals and the destination will reveal several more layers. If you can’t find a friendly local, use the tourist boards – most of them are really helpful and delighted when visitors want to get under the skin of their home town.

3. Be flexible and don’t chase an itinerary

Preparation is important to get the most from your trip but don’t try to cram to much in and give yourself plenty of time at each place. With an open mind you’ll find plenty to interest you, even in the smallest of towns.

4. Leave your laptop behind and use internet cafés

They’re a great place for swapping travel notes and travelling without a laptop is liberating.

5. Get the best guide for your circumstances

If you’re backpacking it’s probably the Rough Guide or Lonely Planet, however Time Out’s Visitors Guide To Croatia is hard to beat for almost all independent travellers. Here we have to declare a vested interest as we write for them however, as objectively as possible, it scores high on keeping up with the trends, identifying the best restaurants, hotels, bars and clubs for visitors and locals alike, being bang up to date, and is written by people who live in the destinations they cover. If you’re a sailor or a landlubber travelling around the more remote Dalmatian islands then you’re unlikely to find much to compare with the Croatia Cruising Companion (vested interest again but we aren’t aware of any other book that covers this subject in so much depth).

6. Make use of the Croatia Tourist Board

We’ve already mentioned the local tourist boards above but many people just aren’t aware of what a wealth of information the main tourist board has. Whilst a few of the local offices seem to have almost no information at all, many, even in the smallest villages, have fascinating literature on things you might otherwise never discover. It seems that the proactivity of each local tourist board depends very much on its leader and who you talk to on the day so, as in 1 above, don’t be put off if you get the cold shoulder at the odd one or two. If you persist you will encounter encyclopaedic resources! And finally on this note, we were told by one enlightened local tourist board that it is not their practice to recommend or book accommodation – as part of the state run agency, they take money from the local businesses towards marketing the destination and thus deem it unfair to “prefer” individual organisations. Instead they pointed us in the direction of a private agency. If you have time, raid the local office for all the free information you can get, READ IT, and then go back and ask some questions.

7. Make a base for a few days

Instead of travelling around from a to b on a daily basis (tiring, often more expensive, and you normally only scratch the surface) find a good base for a few days and explore from there. You’ll have a better chance of getting to know a few locals and one place in depth, it’s much more relaxing and you’ll live a little more like the locals do.

8. Rent a room or studio instead of staying in a hotel

There are some remarkably comfortable and luxurious rooms available these days if you steer clear of the less scrupulous widows in black who greet you from the ferry. You can get the best of both worlds here – privacy, comfort, and a budget that stretches further, as well as the chance to try and engage your landlord or landlady in conversation. Again, we shouldn’t generalise, especially about the widows in black, many of whom rely on renting out much of their house in the summer to eke a living, and most of whom have more moral fibre than most of their guests . Their rooms are mostly clean and comfortable so don’t discount them entirely but don’t be rushed into any decision until you have seen them and had a chance to think about it.

9. Try anything (almost – common sense and rules of safety apply!)

Go with the flow and, as long as you’re sure its safe and fairly priced, take any opportunities offered to you to try something new. If you’re looking for a specific konoba (family restaurant sometimes in a private house) in a quiet village, the person you ask for directions may frequently offer to take you there. If there’s a chance to visit a cave or try a new sport, try that as well – just bear in mind that the western obsession with health and safety has fortunately not pervaded Croatia yet. Common sense rules here as well though, refreshingly, Croatians are like we were before the days of health and safety – ready to have a little adventure and take measured risks.

10. Remember you can always come back

If you don’t get everywhere you’d planned to visit, just book yourself another trip to look forward too. Better to get under Croatia’s skin over a number of visits than keep scratching the surface and never quite fathom the magic of what makes it tick.

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We chose today’s photo as a great example of tips 1 and 2 above though we won’t be revealing all until a later posting. Driving through Omiš from Split, to Makarska or Dubrovnik, you’d be tempted to feel well shot of it. A busy road with a few market stalls, a small and not very appealing port, seems about all it has to offer through the passenger window. Step inside the old town and you’ll get an extremely pleasant surprise; sit down at a café in a square you’ve walked through a hundred times and you’re suddenly aware of the most fantastic view; spend an hour walking around with a local expert and you’ll live its colourful and unique history; visit during the annual klapa (multi part harmony singing) festival and see the place come alive as all the squares become “quartiers” for different groups of people and styles of music; drive along the Cetina river and discover another world….the list goes on and on. We thought we knew Omiš pretty well before we had the chance of a tour with a kind, generous and knowledgeable tourist board official. On top of everything else (and it also has a great city centre beach as well as a couple of great hotels) the pirate history of which we were already aware is even more fascinating when you get into the detail. Keep reading the postings on our summer trip – Omiš comes towards the end but it’s well worth waiting for. In our next posting we’ll give you a quick summary of our route so you have an idea what to expect.

Biograd – Gastronomy And Nightlife

Below, in italics, are extracts from the last review we did on Biograd for Time Out’s Visitors’ Guide to Croatia. You can read more about Sv Filip i Jacov (see La Habana, nightlife, below) on the Croatia Cruising Companion blog.

Since last year very little has changed except that Carpy More is now providing food – anything from a children’s menu of Macnuggets, or small veal escalope and fried potatoes (32 kunas), to green pepper steaks with croquets at 96 kunas. There’s also a meat platter for two at 195 kunas, a variety of pastas and pizzas, calamare, etc. We are told that the kitchen is open every day, in all seasons, from noon to 3pm and from 6pm to 11pm.

The restaurants we listed remain popular with locals and visitors alike and shine out amongst many more. However we were also told that Konoba Vapor, serving up classic Dalmatian food, is also well worth a try – Obala Kralja Petra Krešimira IV 24, 023 385 482, www.vapor.hr (website in Croatian only at the moment), open noon to midnight May to October.

 

Where to eat and drink

A handful of venues have year-round activity, including the Marina Kornati Restaurant (Šetalište kneza Branimira 1, 023 384 505) offering anything from full-blown formal dining to a quick snack; Konoba Barba (Frankopanska 2, 023 383 087), a characterful, good value locals’ haunt that majors on fish, especially sardines; Casa Vecchia (Kralj Koloman 30, 023 383 220), a service orientated pizzeria in a converted stone house with a delightful walled terrace; and Carpy More (Kralja Tvrtka 10, 091 300 2009/www.carpymore.hr), a Dalmatian Pub (no food) in a large, tastefully renovated stone building, with live music most Thursdays and Fridays. Konoba Bazilika (Ulica Sv Ivan 5, 023 384 451) is a cosy new restaurant, tucked away by the Basilica ruins, with an innovative menu that includes vegetarian dishes, salt cod pate, main meal salads and aromatic fig pancakes, and Konoba Cotonum (Josipa bana Jelačića 2, 091 520 6338) is newly refurbished with a Roman theme and lovely courtyard.

Summer highlights include Šangulin Kavana and Bar (Kraljice Jelene 3, 023 385 150), a crisp, chic seafront bar which also offers toast, croissants and ices; and Lavendar Bed Bar (Hotel Adriatic, Tina Ujevića 4, 023 290 700), where you can sip your cocktail from the comfort of a cool lilac bed surrounded by trees, flowers and sea views; or dine from a shortened version of Hotel Adriatic’s menu.

Nightlife

Pocco Locco (Dražica Beach, no phone) is the beach bar for serious partying. In Carribean style, with a few Chinese lanterns, the endless list of cocktails includes many which are sold by the metre. Hotel Adriatic’s pool complex has a live band or DJ at weekends but many locals head to La Habana (091 353 7332 mobile), a short taxi ride to the small village of Sv Filip i Jakov. Here there’s a large terrace and beach bar, cocktails, pizza by the slice, and a Cuban theme.

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Today’s photo is of Roman themed Konoba Cotonum.

Croatia’s Undiscovered Treasures In The City Museum In Biograd

Tucked away a little, just opposite Biograd’s ferry terminal is Croatia’s lovely City Museum. We first discovered it back in late 2006 when we were lucky enough to bump into Mirko Čekop, an archaeologist, who gave us the full story behind the Gnalić wreck. Below, in italics, is the original write up we did for the second edition (2007) of Time Out’s Visitors Guide to Croatia.

We looked up Mirko again a couple of weeks ago to get an update. Mirko tells us that, eventually, the glass from the Gnalić wreck will have its own museum in Biograd. This could take as long as five years but the plan is to build a museum near where the existing bus station is and move the bus station a little out of town to ease congestion. The current City Museum will be housed there too – it currently occupies one of the oldest buildings on the Riva, an 18th century building that was first used as a courthouse. Unfortunately the building is now too small to display anything but a small part of the treasures and many of them remain in store.

As you might expect, Mirko is a mine of information on many things and told us about the latest discoveries in Biograd, the most important of which is the excavation that took place around the Basilika area of the centre. The excavation was completed in 2008 and though the material is still being identified, there were some fascinating discoveries of 10th and 11th century life when Biograd enjoyed its heyday as a grand city that challenged Zadar and Split. The area has now become a city square with the remains of the site covered with stone slabs. There’s also a good new restaurant, Basilika, nearby which serves up dishes that are a little bit different from Dalmatia’s normal offering.

We couldn’t write fast enough to note down all the fascinating information that Mirko imparted to us but here are some interesting facts about Biograd and related matters.

1. The Monastery of St John reveals the first use of money in Croatia

2. Biograd’s current name derives from the word white, in local dialect “Bilo” – the same deriviation as Beograd in Serbia. However, until 1921, Biograd was called Zaravechia which means “old Zadar”. Apparently, when it was discovered in ruins following destruction by the Venetians in 1125 and again in the retreat from the Turks in 1646, it was assumed that nearby Zadar had been reconstructed in its place.

3. Latin, as opposed to Slavic influence on the Croatian language is apparently most evident in building and nautical vocabulary. Of the hundreds of words in everyday use amongst sailors and fisherman, it appears that only three have a Slavic origion - “brod” (boat), “jadro” (sail) and “cesta” (road), the latter we assume receiving a wider, land based, use later. Mirko also told us that the last Croatian using Latin as their mother tongue died, as recently as the end of the 19th century, on the island of Krk.

As for the Gnalić wreck, since our original report the glass has all been analysed and you can read more about that by following this link to the Sheffield University website.

As ever, many thanks to Mirko for his time and enthusiasm in bringing the region’s history to life for us.

Zavičajni Muzej (Regional Museum)

Krešimirova Obala 22(023 383 721). Open Summer 9am-noon, 8pm-11pm; winter 7am-2pm Mon-Sat. Admission 10 kn.

The rusting anchor outside the sea front premises signals some of the quirky delights inside. A collection of urns and bowls from roman and other eras warms you up for the story of Biograd, told in a collection of pictures, relics and reconstructions. The highlight is upstairs – parts of a 16^th century Venetian galley-ship sunk off the islet of Gnalić, south of Biograd in the entrance to the Pašman Canal. The ship was discovered in 1967 along with some of its treasures which include glassware, ceramics and textiles. Over 5,500 items of glassware were recovered, in the course of 6 diving operations, the last one in 1996, making it the largest collection of post Roman glass ever found from a single source. Only a small part of the glassware is currently on display here and most of it may end up in a purpose built museum in Zadar. It’s probably Murano glass but in 2005 a team of English and Slovene archaeologists undertook the first systematic analysis of it and, at the time of writing, ON Books were about to publish their findings - “Glass from the Gnalić Wreck” by Dr Hugh Willmott, Dr Caroline Jackson (University of Sheffield) & Dr Irena Lazar (University Primorska, Koper). The museum can be a little short of information in English but grab one of the helpful members of staff for a one to one tour if you can. The story of the wreck and its recovery is fascinating.

Croatia Online Celebrates 75,000 Hits

We’re interrupting our recent sequence of postings, covering our whirlwind tour round the summer hotspots of Croatia, to bring you a newsflash - Croatia Online has just celebrated its 75,000th hit. The big party comes when we get to 100,000 but in the meantime, here are links to earlier celebrations and landmarks:

First Posting 21st January 2006

10,000 Hits And First Birthday – 20th January 2007 

20,000 Hits – 2nd August 2007 (and a lovely photo)

30,000 Hits – 13th February 2008

50,000 Hits – 23rd November 2008

Our sister site, Croatia Cruising Companion, for nautical visitors to Croatia, and to accompany our book of the same name, launched on 21st October 2007 and is well on its way to its 10,000th hit.

Many thanks to all our readers, some of whom have become good friends, for their continuing interest and comments. Readership is becoming increasingly international with the last ten hits coming from Hungary, US, Sweden, Brazil, Turkey, Romania and of course the UK and Croatia. Visit number 75,000 was from the US.

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Today’s photo was taken waiting for the ferry in Supetar on Brač Island a couple of weeks ago. Fortunately we had a lovely sunset to entertain us, setting over the cemetery and it’s notable mausoleum of which more later.

Biograd – Hotel “IN” The Fastest Hotel Construction In Croatia?

Perhaps not a stunner from the outside, Hotel IN has been very nicely done out on the inside. It also has a great view over Biograd’s marina and surrounds which can best be admired from the sun terrace which sports a jacuzzi, a bar and a 360 degree panoramic view.

What really sets the hotel apart in our minds, is the speed at which it has gone from construction site to fully functioning 4 star hotel. We passed a half built concrete block when we visited the Biograd Boat Show last October and the Hotel was up and running by July this year. That’s surely something of a record as the fastest hotel construction in Croatia, given the delays that most projects of this kind experience due to bureaucracy and problems with permissions and licences.

We had a full tour of the hotel, which is already well booked and seems very professionally run. The Croatian interior designer has taken inspiration from the surrounds and a yacht theme runs through the decor and design – teak and blue all very tastefully mingled and occasionally interrupted by vividly coloured jigsaw patterned chairs. Our only criticism is the name which doesn’t work very well when googling in English or reading about the hotel - “New Hotel IN”…. demands the question “in where” or worse “New Hotel IN in Biograd” looks like a typo. So we’ve made sure to use the name in capitals as perhaps the owners decided upon for this very reason, once they translated their literature into English, and we’ve reproduced full contact details below.

Hotel IN

Setaliste Kneza Branimira 32, Biograd na Moru 23210, Croatia

Tel 023 385 700

Fax 023 385 710

Email info@hotelin-biograd.com

Web http://www.hotelin-biograd.com/

Thanks to Hotel IN for today’s photographs which should give you a good idea of the style.

 

View Full Album

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Our next posting on Croatia Online will be an update on Biograd’s lovely City Museum and some very special treasures.  On our Croatia Cruising Companion blog we’ll be reporting on the upcoming Biograd Boat Show.

Pakoštane, Near Zadar

Pakoštane, between Zadar and Šibenik, is another village we’ve been keeping an eye on but it’s not quite there yet as an upcoming seaside resort. The beach is good but facilities are underdeveloped and still somewhat geared to the low budget traveller of old. For the moment, the main attraction of the area is Lake Vrana (Vransko Jezero), Croatia’s biggest natural lake.

Declared a National Park in 1999, the park covers 57 square kilometres and the lake itself 30 square kilometres.  It’s a special ornithological reserve and a haven for several endangered species as well as providing the habitat for a vast number of different species. Apart from the diversity of flora and fauna, the area has a rich history, and there are some great cycling tracks. You can find out more about the park on  http://vransko-jezero.hr/cms/en/homepage, though unfortunately not all pages have been translated into English yet. Cyclists wanting more information on the routes click here or get a map from any of the tourist boards in the area.

For news on nearby Sv Filip i Jakov, have a look at this posting on the Croatia Cruising Companion website.

Seget Donji, Near Trogir – An Upcoming Croatian Destination?

Our latest posting on our  nautical tourism blog reports on a new marina that is finally open just outside Trogir in the sleepy village of Seget Donji. However, partly because of this and a few other recent developments, Seget may not remain sleepy for much longer.

Seget is actually three villages – Donji (lower), Gornji (upper, inland) and Vranjica – which have, to date, remained mostly outside the discerning tourist’s radar though Vranjica is a well to do residential area with some great apartments and villas, and Donji has a couple of good restaurants – Barba and Franki’s – which have been attracting locals and visitors in the know for some time.

Seget is off the beaten track as the main coast road from Split bypasses it. You have to head towards Trogir and, just before turning to take the bridge over to Trogir island, continue towards  Šibenik along a road that doesn’t inspire much of a desire to explore. However you will pass a number of notable establishments on the way to the heart of Seget Donji such as Barba, a good fish restaurant (on the right), a rare Chinese restaurant (of which we have very mixed experiences) on the left, Hotel Jadran and Hotel Astoria. The resort complex Medena, provides perhaps the most popular and closest beach for Trogir residents and we hear it has had a bit of a facelift. 

The compact old town of Seget Donji is still in something of a time warp, despite the new marina next door. You will find some locals and a very few tourists swimming off what can hardly be termed a beach next to the parking area, but generally there’s an air of quiet indifference. Frankie’s restaurant (pictured) is a popular haunt for business lunches and now there’s a new collection of apartments with a small swimming pool - Aqua Natural, not far from the centre and marina.

Seget seems yet to find it’s true identity – in particular the core itself seems to resist modern tourism offerings, leaving that to the sprawl that has developed around the road from the centre to Trogir. That may be no bad thing and the sea side of this sprawl reveals many pleasant surprises. We’ve heard consistently good reports of  Hotel Jadran as a good value family hotel, and friends of ours regularly choose the restaurant at Aparthotel Astoria for a more upmarket and less frenetic dining experience than might be available in Trogir.

Today’s picture shows Frankie’s  Restaurant and you can just see Trogir’s shipyard to the extreme right of the photo. Perhaps Seget’s true renaissance will come once the future of the shipyard is decided  and maybe the views improve.

Croatia Summer Of 2009 – Hit Or Miss?

Judging from our trip around the hotspots in late August and early September, the verdict seems to be that Croatia’s summer of 2009 has been a qualified hit. Most of those we talked to in the tourism industry judge that they have fared far better than expected given the doom and gloom all around. This seems particularly so for a number of historically package destinations that have gone up market such as Makarska and Biograd. Anecdotally, it also seems that small niche hotels and restaurants have done well – not necessarily the five star variety but those that provide value for money and care about their reputation, whatever budget bracket they are in.

By all accounts the shoulder season seemed to start late, perhaps a factor of the unusual amount of rain, with Omiš counting sixteen days in June. However, when we left the coast on 9th September, much of it was buzzing with tourists, the flights were full, and a number of establishments were keeping their doors open longer than they anticipated, to meet continuing demand. Refreshingly, several small operators seem to have embraced entrepreneurship. Where once, only a few years ago, we could have wandered round for hours trying to find an apartment to let for less than three days, and would have paid a premium, now there are deals to be done. We had a great room, complete with balcony and ensuite, in Stari Grad on Hvar Island for €20 for one night, and found an enormous, superbly equipped studio apartment, in Bol on Brač, for €30 a night. The best find was a hotel on Hvar Island – perhaps a little jaded architecturally but clean, spacious and extremely efficient and friendly – for just over €20 a night including breakfast.

We’re sorry to say that the only destination we are aware of that seems to have had a bit of a “miss” is our first “home” town of Trogir, and particularly Čiovo Island. Normally its sign of success is that there’s a regular traffic jam to get on and off the island to get to the beaches and back again. This year there’s hardly been any congestion at all. Perhaps word is spreading about the dubious practices at Big Daddy’s café on the Riva, and rogue parking fee collectors as Trogir is also the only place that we were blatantly ripped off on our short summer tour. We’ll be naming and shaming those involved in these short sighted, and thankfully rare, profiteering practices as we write up our travelogues over the next few weeks

Weather wise, we were lucky enough to arrive the day after the heat wave abated though 32 degrees is not exactly cool. Towards the end of our trip there was a strong Bora (north east wind) which is quite unusual in the summer but resulted in a drop in temperature and humidity, and produced  great visibility.

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We couldn’t start our travelogue with any other photo – Croatia’s iconic beach, Zlatni rat, in Bol on Brač island. Don’t be fooled by the relative lack of tourists as this photo was taken just after sunset in the first week in September. The water was as crystal clear as ever but we're sure that the small pebbles, which comprise most of the beach, are becoming more like the sand they look like!

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Croatia – Getting There And Back

We’ve now been back in the UK a couple of days from a real “visitors” trip to Croatia, unlike our normal wander around as a “nearly local”. That sort of a trip is a real joy – going with the flow, checking out all the hotspots, roaming from place to place with no fixed agenda, behaving like a tourist…., but more of that later. This posting is about getting there and back with Ryanair to and from Zadar Airport.

On the plus side, given the time of year (just after the high season) the flight was relatively cheap, we arrived at both ends more or less on time, the staff were delightful, and the departure and arrival processes were relatively painless. Weighing against that are:

1. The very strict and miserly baggage limits  - 15kg for hold luggage (for which you pay extra) and 10kg for hand luggage. Whilst you might get away with a few extra pounds in the hold, you will be swooped on at the gate if you have more than one piece of hand luggage. Duty free, laptops, newspapers, etc must all fit inside this one bag and all weigh under 10kg. We saw a number of people fall victim to this and, in Ryanair’s defence, they do make it very plain on booking emails, boarding cards, etc, but many of us are used to more flexibility and may not pay attention. We did but had to repack a number of times before leaving home and left our laptop behind (which had some benefits!), together with plenty of other work/travel paraphernalia. Gathering literature on the way as we do, we also had to post a number of parcels back to the UK en route. A number of others paid the excess and Ryanair wins in two ways - firstly it makes a little bit of extra money at the gate and secondly, there’s a strong incentive to buy your duty free on the plane rather than at the airport.

2. Zadar Airport, cosy at is, was struggling to cope with the number of passengers in departures with three Ryanair flights leaving within half an hour of each other. Many people queue as early as possible with Ryanair to get a good seat, otherwise it would have been difficult to sit down at the airport.

3. Smokers should get their cigarettes outside the airport. The Croatian brands such as Walter Wolf and Ronhill are around 18 kunas a packet, Croatian duty paid. The airport doesn’t seem to stock local brands and the cheapest duty free price was around 21 kunas a packet.

4. Don’t be alarmed to see blue flashing lights on the ground as you take off or land. The runway crosses a road which has to be closed for take offs and landings.

5. From Zadar, if you are brave enough, ignore the first yellow sign to the airport which takes you along the old road. The next one takes you on the newer faster road though it’s a bit unnerving to find yourself heading for the sea and then following a hairpin bend back inland.

6. If you’re hiring a car you won’t find a fuel station in the immediate vicinity of the airport so fill up in Zadar or on the motorway.

7.  Ryanair arrives in Zadar quite late at night so many people are looking for a one night stop nearby. Hotel Bastion is the main option in Zadar (see Croatia Online - Hotel Bastion, Zadar's Newest Hotel) but those travelling on a lower budget will find their money goes further in nearby Sukošan (again, more later).

8. Parking – it seems that Stansted parking (if you book ahead on the internet) is cheaper than Zadar!

9. Like at all airports, refreshments are not cheap at Zadar airport (18 kunas for a small beer compared with the normal 10 kunas) but probably cheaper than on the plane.

Hats off to Ryanair though for making Croatia affordable in the summer and adding to the choices, and to Zadar airport for coping relatively well with its new found popularity.

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Today’s photo is the departure lounge in Zadar airport. If you need to sit, either get there early or late!

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Coming up – our travels in all their detail – Dalmatian mainland, Hvar and Brač. However in our next posting we’ll try and give you a feel for the ambience this year and how Croatia seems to be faring amongst global economic doom and gloom.

Breaking News On Croatia

Readers may be reassured to know that they won't have to wait much longer to find out the hottest breaking news on Croatia.

We've been whizzing around the Dalmatian Coast and islands for the past couple of weeks and there's plenty to report. New hotels, restaurants and bars all over the place, plenty to be optimistic about in terms of tourist numbers, and a country that seems to be buzzing even though the high season is now officially over.

The weather has been great, apart from a fierce thunderstorm yesterday which produced hail the size of golfballs over our heads on Brać island. The cause of the storm was a battle between the Jugo (south east wind) and the Bora (north east wind). Fortunately the Bora won and the temperature is a little cooler today and the air certainly much fresher.

We'll be back at our desks next Friday, with a mountain of information and hundreds of photos to digest and distil to you in the coming weeks. Highlights include Škrip, Dol and Bol on Brać; Sućuraj, Jelsa and Stari Grad on Hvar; a rising star on the mainland - Drvenik; a new Gallery in Split; and much much more.

Croatia’s Gold Medal Winning Wines

Croatia’s discovery continues, with wine experts now realising what locals, and those in the know, have  been aware of for many years. The recent Decanter World Wine Awards gave eight gold medals to Croatian wines, whilst Argentina could only muster, seven and Chile four.

Read the full story in the Telegraph, go to  Decanter for a full list of winners and link to Croatia Online Visits Bibich Winery, Skradin for more information on some of Croatia’s wines.

Today’s photo is of the Bishop’s wine cellar in Đakovo, Slavonia - Croatia Online - Dakavo, Inland Croatia tells you a bit more about this and it’s interesting to note that nearly all the medal winning wines came from continental Croatia.

Croatia’s Griffon Vulture Centre Makes Top 20 For Sustainable Travel In The Mediterranean

The authors of Clean Breaks, a new rough Guide, picked their twenty favourite locations for sustainable travel in the Mediterranean, for yesterday’s Observer. Croatia featured twice – once for kayaking and once for the Caput Insulae Ecology Centre  on Cres Island, where you can join a volunteer holiday to help protect the rare griffon vulture.

We featured Croatia’s Griffon Vulture Centre in an article on bird watching, written for Time Out’s 2009 Magazine For Visitors To Croatia. Bird watching is a relatively new activity that runs alongside the centre’s protection programme and you can read more about that on this link Croatia Online - Bird Watching In Croatia.

For the full top 20 go to Guardian Travel - Sustainable Mediterranean Travel.

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Thanks to Eko-centre Caput Insulae Bell, Cres for today’s photo of a Griffon Vulture landing

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For followers of Croatia’s Nautical News, Sibenik’s IGY Marina Mandalina has just announced a third partner, the Turkish Group Dogus, in the project to develop a new dedicatated superyacht marina and resort. For more on that link to Croatia Cruising Companion.

Croatia Beaches And The Art of Picigin

Follow the game of Picigin and it will take you to some of Croatia’s best sandy beaches. As much an art form as a sport, it’s something like volleyball on water, but with a much smaller ball, and, at its best, in the style of a football player taking a spectacular professional dive. Though there’s much rivalry between areas, Split’s Bačvice beach is considered to be the true home of the game which is ideally played with five players and a “bald” tennis ball.

The object of Picigin is to keep the ball out of the water for as long as possible whilst batting it between players with the palm of either hand. Traditionally a non competitive sport, the artistry of the players is as important as keeping the ball dry. Hence a dazzling leap or dive to keep the balun on its journey will score well with the judges, as no doubt will plying them with a few drinks beforehand.

Bačvice makes a perfect Picigin stadium for two main reasons. Firstly its sandy, gently sloping, shallow beach allows optimum acrobatic performance whilst minimising the risk of injury - ideally, for speed and a cushioned fall, the water should be just above the ankles and well below the knees. Just as importantly it’s lined with a number of restaurants and bars so that players can strut their stuff to a relaxed and appreciative audience. Other beaches that also fit the bill include Sunj on Lopud island near Dubrovnik, Medulin, on the tip of the Istrian peninsula, Baška on the island of Krk and the banks of the Drava river in inland Osijek.

Non competitive it may be in its origins but Picigin is being taken increasingly seriously by its aficionados. Associations and competitions are growing up around it and the di(v)e hards insist on playing on New Year’s day. You can recognise seasoned and serious players off season by a distinctive limp caused by repeated big toe injuries and, in the summer, by the figure hugging speedos that are fast becoming the trademark uniform of the mostly young alpha males that are its chief exponents.

Related Postings And Links

Croatia Cruising Companion Front Cover – for a picture of Croatia’s most photogenic beach, Zlatni Rat, Bol, on Brač Island

Croatia Online - Croatia In August

Croatia Online - Beaches And Water Quality In Croatia

Picigin On Facebook – and thanks to them for today’s photo

Child Friendly Hotels In Croatia

Croatian children mostly thrive without the gadgets that seem essential for the amusement of their western European peers. A day on the beach provides all the fun kids need, and that’s how the family resorts and hotels have developed too – around beach activities. “Heritage” destinations, such as Dubrovnik and Hvar, tend to focus on upscale adult-orientated hotels, but the established resort destinations, with those long stretches of mostly pebble beaches, offer a staggering array of activities and facilities for all ages. You just have to accept the odd reminder of the package holiday era of old - the architecture for example.

The Borik area of Zadar provides some prime examples of child friendly hotels in Croatia. These are led in quality by Falkensteiner’s Club Funimation. This year, their Family Hotel Diadora, in the new Punta Skala resort in nearby Petrčane, with its adventure park and “Game Heaven”, could provide the ultimate in luxury family holidays. In Biograd, the Ilirija Group has achieved something similar, albeit on a smaller scale, with their three hotels and a vast, activity-packed, beach and woodland area which includes a large tennis centre and pool area. Olympia in Vodice and Azalea’s Zora in Primošten and are also good Dalmatian options, as is Blue Sun’s Hotel Elaphusa, in Bol on Brač, which has the advantage of one of Croatia’s best beaches on its doorstep.

Istria is perhaps the most established family resort destination in Croatia. In Poreč, Plava Laguna’s Hotel Laguna Park and Valamar’s Hotel Club Tamaris lead the way; in Rovinj it’s the Maistra group, particularly the Hotel Eden; and in Novigrad, Laguna Novigrad’s Hotel Maestral.

Most of the above offer modern four star facilities and organised activities for kids. On a tighter budget the options increase – the Solaris complex near Šibenik, for example, and a number along the Makarska Riviera and in Vrsar and Medulin in Istria. Wherever you go, it pays to check that the Children’s Clubs and activities are conducted in English rather than German or Italian. Also beware of confusing “family hotels” with “family run hotels” when doing your research. The latter is a government led initiative to encourage the development of small independent hotels. They may also be good for families, but not by definition.

This posting inspired us to consider the ins and outs of sailing Croatia for families and you can read about that on the Croatia Cruising Companion blog.

Meanwhile, below are links to some of Croatia’s best hotels for families with children of all ages. Croatia Online’s editor has visited most of them and just wishes she had a better excuse to try more of the facilities!

Falkensteiner, Borik near Zadar

Ilirija, Biograd

Azalea, Primosten

Olympia, Vodice

BlueSun, Brac

Plava Laguna, Istria

Valamar, Istria and Dubrovnik

Maistra, Istria

Laguna, Istria

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Today’s photo shows some of the fun provided by Ilirija in Biograd.

Flights To Croatia – Latest News

Peak season flight prices are a good indication of how tourism in standing up to global challenges so we thought now was  a good time for Croatia Online to discover the latest news on flights to Croatia. If nothing else, this posting has provided an ideal opportunity to provide comprehensive links to Croatia’s main airports and airlines in one concise posting, and we hope it will provide an easy source of reference to those looking for the most convenient cheap flights to Croatia.

First of all lets identify the main Croatian Airports and schedules by looking at the arrivals for today and the next few days:

Zagreb Airport is Croatia’s hub. If you can’t find a flight to the coastal town or city you want to get to then you’re pretty sure to get a connection, the same day, from Croatia’s inland capital Zagreb. International arrivals today, July 13th, at Zagreb include flights from Paris, Frankfurt, Brussels, Vienna, Prague, Bilbao, Budapest, Munich, Stuttgart, Skopje, Moscow, Rome, Istanbul, Sarajevo, Cologne, and London Heathrow. Most of them are Croatia Airways Flights but other airlines include Lufthansa, Malev and Air France though quite a few flights are “jointly operated” between Croatia Airlines and the local national carrier.

Dubrovnik Airport is the coastal airport that British Airways focuses on, having dabbled with Split for a while. Other international carriers include Iberia and Austrian Airways, and there are plenty of other operators flying in from around the world in an arrivals list almost as long as Zagreb’s. Competing with BA for UK traffic from Gatwick Airport is EasyJet, and Aer Lingus (EIN) has a flight in from Dublin.

Split Airport is arguably the most central of all Croatia’s airports but its cosy size provides limited room for expansion and that may be why its arrival list is shorter than the two above. Summer flights also tend to peak on Saturdays and Wednesdays to coincide with yacht charters and holiday deals, so maybe Monday is not an ideal day to pick. EasyJet and Croatia Airlines are the main operators of interest to UK travellers – see below.

Zadar Airport, further north and even “cosier” than Split, is coping admirably with the area’s increasing popularity. It’s Ryanair’s favourite Croatian Airport with regular flights from London Stansted, Edinburgh, Dublin and elsewhere.

Other Croatian Airports on the coast, with international flights,  include Pula (Thomson from Gatwick, Manchester and Birmingham , and Ryanair from Stansted) and Rijeka (mostly servicing Germany but with an occasional Croatia Airlines flight from London), both in Istria. Brac and  Mali Losinj airport are both on islands and are really only suitable for smaller charter planes. For those that prefer the attractions of inland continental Croatia (best to visit off season, ie outside July and August),  Osijek is now on the map with Ryanair.

As an interesting comparative exercise we thought we’d have a look at prices and availability for flights from London to coastal Croatia for the following dates – out 27th July, back Sunday 9th August (peak season). The dates were picked at random and the only stipulations were to fly out from one of the London airports to one of Croatia’s coastal airports.  Where the option was available, we said we could be flexible within 3 days or so. Note that currently £1 sterling (GBP) is worth about 8.54 kunas (HRK) and €1 (EUR) about 7.3 kunas, according to the currency conversion site  Oanda. Here are some examples.

Croatia Airlines, Croatia’s national airline, fly to most of the major Croatian coastal airports from a number of international destinations direct, but also connects many more international destinations via Zagreb, flying passengers on with domestic flights to the coast. The search comes up with a grid of prices depending on the exact day of travel. If you are truly flexible on dates, you could get a flight for around 1,600 HRK, or if not, up to around 4,000 HRK. The range for Split was a little more expensive, as was Zadar which had a more limited choice of fights.

British Airways only fly to Dubrovnik (and inland Zagreb) and offer a price of £255 for these dates – a return a day earlier or later gives a price of £323.

Ryanair still have plenty of cheap flights to Croatia, mainly to the northern Dalmatian destination of Zadar.  A return flight on the above two dates will cost around £180 including the extras for checking in a case etc but if you are flexible you may well be able to fly more cheaply. Frustratingly, with low cost flights you often end up pay more in taxes and extras than you do on the flights themselves.

Easyjet's return fare for these dates is nearly £300 but their user friendly website shows alternative cheap fares in the peak summer months that could get you a fortnight for considerably less.

And Thomsons are advertising a number of cheap flights to Pula in Istria.

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Above are the main carriers though there are scores of other charter companies and indirect options if you want to shop around. What the above research suggests is that its cheaper to fly to Croatia this summer, at relatively short notice, than it has been for a while. Let’s hope that the hotels are also equally competitive; certainly the sailing charter companies seem to be keen to compete for business – see sister site Croatia Cruising Companion (direct link below) for more information.

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And finally, here are a few earlier postings that may be of interest, or if you have more time just browse the site for plenty of insider tips on Croatia, destination reports, news, useful information and events:

Croatia Online - Cost Of Living

Croatia Online - Croatia In August

Croatia Cruising Companion - Sailing Holidays In Croatia

Croatia Online - Croatia's Island Gems

Croatia Cruising Companion – Recommended Reading!

Labin, Istria – Visual Theatre Festival

Istria and Kvarner probably don’t get the space they deserve on Croatia Online. We know them well but being based in Dalmatia, we go there less frequently but for greater lengths of time - when we cover them it’s normally en bloc!

Readers with long memories will remember we spent Christmas 2006 in inland Istria. There are so many gems, here and on the coast, that it’s difficult to pick favourites, but Labin was one of them. It lies just inland from Rabac, which is on the east coast of the Istrian peninsula, looking over Kvarner Bay. Labin itself is a medieval town on top of a hill and has a colourful history. It’s a great place to visit all year round, but it comes alive in the summer festival period to become, what the Croatian Tourist Board describes as, the Labin Art Republic.

Most Croatian towns have a festival to offer in July and August but Labin’s is a little different in a number of ways, and one of the highlights is the Visual Theatre Festival. Natasha Stanic, a visual theatre artist herself, is the organiser and visionary behind the concept, and she told us a little more about it: “Visual Theatre Festival Labin hosts theatre works in which the visual aspect of theatre has been emphasized, and in which the body speaks as eloquently as the voice. Every year at the beginning of August, Labin's Old Town becomes the inspiration for artists to transform areas into numerous site-specific theatre spaces. Our vision was to create an event where visitors can indulge themselves in contemporary visual theatre performances in the magical atmosphere of the medieval town of Labin.”

This year the Visual Theatre Festival takes place on the 7th, 8th and 9th August and there should shortly be a dedicated website to tell you more about it. As soon as it’s ready we’ll let you know.

In the meantime, for more information on Labin and Rabac, follow this link to the Tourist Board Site, and for more information on the vast number of summer festivals around Croatia, and other events, click here.

Many thanks to Natasha Stanic for today’s photo taken at last year’s festival.

Croatia In August – 2009 Update

As Croatia heads towards its peak summer season it’s a good time to review what Croatia has to offer in August.

Croatia Online  last reported on Croatia in August back in  August 2006 and re-reading that posting it’s surprising how little has changed. Here’s our update for August 2009.

Mediterranean Weather
In 2006 we were already referring to global warming but that’s a factor all over the Mediterranean to a greater or lesser degree. What’s changed since 2006 is the ever increasing number of venues with air-conditioning, even though Croatians are expert at building accommodation aimed at keeping the August heat at bay. Like any other Mediterranean country you’ll get the odd thunder storm and rain in August and, on some days it will be very hot. However you’re never very far from the cooling waters of the Adriatic, and if you want even more cooling waters, head to the banks of one of Croatia’s rivers, the Krka or Cetina for example. For a complete change of scenery and temperature, head inland over the mountains, perhaps to Livno or Kupres in Hercegovina, for the cooler air of higher altitudes.

The Islands

Since our last posting, Croatia’s islands, islets and reefs have been scientifically recounted and the official tally is now 1,246 instead of 1,185. That’s a result of greater scientific precision, rather than any new eruptions, since the last proper count back in the 19th century. Architect Nikola Bašić responsible for Zadar’s innovative public space installations – Sea Organ and Greeting To The Sun – has a new venture, The 1246 Project, which aims to plant a commemorative plaque on each one. Whatever the official count, Croatia has an island for everyone in easy reach – whether its the glitz of Hvar, the variety of Brač, the olive groves of Šolta, the parties of Pag, the stunning wilderness of the Kornati Islands, or the special history of the time warp that is Vis. Check out the Croatia Cruising Companion for one of the most comprehensive sources of information on all of Dalmatia’s islands.

The Sea and Scenery

No change there - the scenery is still breathtaking and relatively unspoilt. Unlike Spain and other eastern European destinations Croatia has controlled building along the coast quite tightly and the sea remains as crystal clear as ever. You’ll just find a few more facilities now.

Accommodation

Cities like Split, where there was once a shortage of good hotel accommodation, has now rectified that with plenty of good quality new hotels. Once just viewed as the gateway to the islands, Split has finally come to terms with its incredible cultural heritage and is now showing it off to the max. In Split you can get the best of both worlds – cosmopolitan city just a short trip away from relaxing islands. Holiday Apartments  can still provide a good and lower budget alternative but the same rules apply as in 2006. Generally, there’s a vast choice to suit all budgets.

Cost Of Living

We’ve covered Croatia’s cost of living on a periodic basis, most recently Croatia Online - Cost Of Living Update June 2009. As with elsewhere, accommodation and flights can be at their most expensive in August but Croatia still competes favourably with the competition in most areas.

The Roads

A major improvement since 2006 is the opening of most of the coastal motorway. This year a couple of bottlenecks should clear as two long tunnels become dual instead of single carriageway. However you can still expect jams on the main holiday weekends as Italians, Austrians and Germans flock backwards and forwards on their August holidays, and Croatia’s city dwellers reclaim their summer homes. The Croatian Motorways site is the best place to look for possible problems and most radio stations have regular traffic reports in English in the high summer.

Other than that our earlier posting stands the test of time pretty well. August is, of course, a popular month for holidays, and the beaches and main tourist resorts can be crowded, but in Croatia you’ll always find the ideal place to escape to if you look hard enough. Today’s photo is a prime example – just a 5 minute walk away is a  long and buzzing beach area (including a sandy part as a change from pebbles) with pools, water sports, bars, restaurants and all the beach activities you could imagine. You can get away from all that for a cocktail and a bit of relaxation at the Lavender Bed Bar, pictured, part of  The Ilirija Hotel Group, Biograd.

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Browse through our earlier postings to look for specific destinations and further information, or go to the Croatia Online Index Site for a more targeted search.

Croatia Online – Prime Minister Ivo Sanader Resigns

Croatia Online tries to steer clear of politics as far as possible. However it was with a certain degree of amazement that we read of Prime Minister Ivo Sanader’s resignation yesterday. It seems that even those close to the Croatian political world have been taken by surprise and, so far, the reasons seems vague to all. Whilst we track down further information, we thought it might be useful to readers to provide a few links to sites we discover on the way. It is tempting to speculate on the whys and wherefores but, at this stage, pending further facts, perhaps we should leave that to the experts:-

BBC News comment that the announcement came as a surprise and Mr Sanader was expected to run for the presidency next year

Javno explore the possible future scenarios and, on this Javno link, speculate on some possible reasons

Vlada, the government site, provides a detailed biography of Mr Sanader as well as his program platform and duties, plus, if you’re Croatian is up to it you can watch a video of the resignation speech

The initial press reaction seems to be a certain degree of disbelief, not to mention some frustration at the lack of any reasons of substance, or clues as to the timing. All very mysterious!

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The above post first went up yesterday morning 2.7.09. This update is made 3.7.09 at 5. 40 UK time

We are adding updates to this post by way of comments – see below – and hope readers will participate. In the meantime please note the following:

1. The Javno site is down, due to technical reasons, and expected to be fixed for Monday

2. Business New Europe has a good recent analysis as does the SE Times, where we felt obliged to open the comments!

Croatia Online – Wimbledon And Tennis In Croatia

 

As Andrew Murray treads his, so far, very convincing path into the fourth round of the Wimbledon Championship, it’s sad to see Croatia’s Marin Čilić go out to Germany’s Tommy Haas in the third round, after a very close run contest that went to five sets. Croatia, however, still has Ivo Karlović to support who will play Spain’s Verdasco in the fourth round. If he wins that it seems likely that he will meet favourite Roger Federer in the quarter finals. And amazingly, the weather has been so consistently good that Wimbledon has survived a whole week without having to test its the new roof!

Enthralling though Wimbledon invariably is, perhaps there will never again be the huge excitement that captivated everyone who watched the 2001 Championship when Croatia’s Goran Ivanišević went down in history for being the first (and so far last) player ever to win a Grand Slam title on a wild card entry. His home club, Firule in Split, were in the process of printing a book to celebrate their fiftieth birthday. They took it off the printing presses and watched in anticipation, and some disbelief, as their hero powered his way right though the tournament to win that memorable final and the Championship.

Talk to any Croatian and they will remember Goran’s homecoming (pictured – copyright Fjodor Klerić) as if it was yesterday – his arrival in Bernie Ecclestone’s private jet, Formula 1, a huge flotilla of boats in Kaštela and Split Bays, 150,000 fans waiting on Split’s waterfront Riva, parachutists, fireworks, parties and a striptease from the champion himself. Quiz night enthusiasts may also be interested to know that, according to the Daily Express, Goran Ivanišević is the only Wimbledon champion whose name is a strict alternation of vowels and consonants.

When asked just how Croatia managed to produce so many world class tennis players from such a small population and lack of resources, the Croatian Tennis Federation’s Executive Director, Marina Mihelić came up with a simple answer – “we’re a talented nation in sports with balls.” Handball, football, basketball, water polo and, of course tennis, are just a few of the sports where Croatia punches well above its weight. According to the Split Tourist Board, commenting on the launch of a Sports Hall of Fame in early 2008, Split has the highest number of internationally successful sportsmen and women per capita in the world.

For those that want to incorporate tennis into their Croatian holiday, either as spectators or participators, there are plenty of good facilities, some of which are noted below:

Tournaments

The Croatia Open takes place in Umag each year on clay courts. Dates for 2009 are 27^th July to 2nd Auguast. The players normally stay in the four star Sol Garden Istra but there’s plenty of other accommodation for spectators to choose from.

The PB Zagreb Indoors takes place in Januarry/February each year in the Dom Sportova, Zagreb.

Tennis Camps

JST Travel organise tennis camps in Umag and Poreč and offer a wide variety of other activities as well. The Umag holidays use the Umag tournament courts.

Sunshine World Croatia also offer camps in Umag with options ranging from individual lessons, through fun packages for kids and families, to the “Pro Package Luxury”.

Hotels With Tennis Facilities

Bluesun Hotels Elaphusa take advantage of the Zlatni Rat tennis centre on Bol, Brač, to offer a professional tennis school for adults and, for children, the Tennis Academy Mickey. The Zlatni Rat centre used to host a ladies international (WTA) championship and now stages the Bluesun Bol Ladies open in April each year. The centre has 25 clay courts including a show court accommodating 2000 spectators.

Ilirija Hotels occupy a vast area in Biograd, near Zadar, which includes three hotels, an open air swimming pool and beach bar, and a tennis complex with 14 floodlit clay courts, 6 hard courts, clubhouse, café and a resident professional.

Istraturist have four 4 star hotels in Umag, as well as a three and a two star. From these you can take advantage of the best tennis facilities in Croatia, available from the same courts that stage the annual Croatia Open and several other tournaments.

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Link to Croatia Online - Boat Show Special for a picture of Goran Ivanišević at the Croatia Boat Show in Split

Link to Croatia Cruising Companion - Rowing News for the latest Croatian achievements in nautical sports

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And finally…, we note that the Daily Mirror Survey last week voted Goran Ivanišević the tenth sexiest male player of all time. Croatian readers should try and understand the Mirror’s target audience and editorial policy when analysing the significance of this and how three UK tennis players – Murray, Henman and Rudsedski – made it higher on the list. Dalmatians don’t have the prerogative on sporting nationalism. Croatia Online’s editor would also like to know how Bjorn Borg managed to get a place and Ilie Nastase didn’t!

Croatia Online – Cost Of Living Update

The Eurasian Griffon Vulture, pictured,  has his own cost of living equation, no doubt. Lucky for him that the Protection Centre in Cres has given him a few more options in recent years. For us humans, the cost of living is traditionally measured in monetary terms.

We’ve reported quite regularly on the cost of living in Croatia and our last detailed posting on this -  Croatia Online Cost Of Living Update - July 2007 – seems remarkably up to date on everything except exchange rates.

Whilst in July 2007, £1 sterling was worth about 10.4 kunas, now it’s about 8.6 kunas and that’s had a serious impact for those relying on GBP earnings to finance their holidays or life in Croatia. It’s not entirely surprising to see that the Euro exchange rate for kunas has hardly wavered through the global economic storms. Those, including occasionally ourselves,  promoting the myth that Croatia is outside the Euro Zone, would do well to study Croatian economic policy in this respect and the actuality of how closely the kuna follows the Euro. Yes, Croatia is theoretically outside the Euro Zone, but it has long had the sense to link its currency to another one more “stable”  than our pound.

For American  citizens, $1 (one dollar) is worth about 5.2 Croatian kunas so $2 will buy just over a half pint of beer (mala piva) or a cappuccino.

Macro economics aside, the cost of living in Croatia continues to be competitive, what ever that means in current global speak!.

Croatia Online – Peka or Dalmatian Sunday Roast Dinner

When Dalmatian mothers discovered their city cousins using ovens, cooking “ispod peke” became the country version of baking meat, and the successor to boiling food or roasting it on the spit. The age of electricity came relatively late to rural Croatia, but still the popularity of this cooking method survives. In winter, traditionally, the wood fire would be prepared on a stone slab in the most multifunctional area of the house – the place to get warm over a chat – and above the fire would be an array of meats in the course of being smoked. Chickens and turkeys were early peka favourites but, with the advent of refrigeration and the first butchers, small cuts of lamb and veal were added to the repertoire. Cooking “ispod peke” is also credited as being the first appetising Dalmatian way of cooking octopus.

Polite but knowing smiles will greet you when you ask for the secret of a good peka – everyone has their own tips and special ingredients. Know thy peka also applies to the dome under which the meat is cooked. The fragile clay pekas were eventually replaced, in the early 20^th century, with more robust iron ones, and no two produce quite the same result. The distinctive succulent meat, delicious potatoes and all round juicy flavours are unique to this type of cooking and every bit as special as our English Sunday Roast dinners.

Once the wood has turned into burning ashes on the hot stone slab, the iron bell is covered with the ashes and the contents start cooking at a temperature of around 230 degrees centigrade, “cooling” to about 170 degrees when cooked. There are endless discussions about whether to turn the meat and when. The practicalities are that, with so many factors having an input into the cooking temperature, you can never be sure exactly when it will be perfect. Having a peak inside the peka about 20 minutes before time gives the opportunity to reassess the situation and perhaps turn the meat at the same time.

Peka dishes are a feature in many restaurants throughout Croatia but generally only available if pre ordered, and for at least 4 people.

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Thanks to Etnoland (see previous posting) for today’s photo and helping us out with some little known facts.

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Peka and Peke? – an example of Croatian grammar. Ispod means under and is followed by a noun in the genitive case. Peka is feminine and the genitive ending of a feminine noun is e.

Pekas? - an English translation abomination; the “true” Croatian plural is peke!

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As a PS to this blog, we’ve since noticed  a very interesting article on Secret Dalmatia’s blog about the peka cooking utensil itself and the traditions of blacksmiths in Croatia – follow this link to find out more  Secret Dalmatia - Blacksmith and Peka Traditions

Croatia Online – Smoking In Croatia

We last reported on smoking in Croatia back in July 2006, when political correctness in this respect was a very foreign concept. So much so, in fact, that the inspiration for the Croatia Online July 2006 posting  was a new “sailing edition” of one of the most popular brands, Ronhill. Now the inevitable has finally arrived in Croatia – smoking indoors in public areas was banned in May 2009 in the hope that spending summer outdoors would give Croatians time to adjust before the colder weather.

Unlike the rest of Europe, Croatians, especially Dalmatians, weren’t really prepared for this – it’s been tried before, somewhat half heartedly, and the Dalmatians don’t take too kindly about being told what to do in this respect. This time, however, it seems the authorities are serious – the fines are heavy and we understand that the ban is being enforced reasonably vigorously.

Café and restaurant owners are protesting vociferously about the effect on business, already suffering from the world recession, but it looks like the ban is here to stay. In a country where cigarette smoking is still the norm, rather than the exception, and where a packet of 20 still costs under £2, it will be interesting to see how the locals adjust.

The government did consider seriously upping the price of cigarettes but with so many open borders with Bosnia and Hercegovina, where cigarettes are even cheaper, that would have been a shot in the treasury foot. Stricter border controls are a key feature of EU  accession, for when Croatia becomes “frontline” to non EU countries, and no doubt this will also affect the price of cigarettes.

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Today’s photo shows smoking of a different sort. In the smoking room of Etnoland's Dalmatian village, our friends, Joško and Mičko, taught us the secret arts of Peka (cooking under a bell immersed in embers) and we’ll be giving you some more information on that in our next posting.

Croatia Online – Croatia’s Best Kept Secrets

Friends, relatives and readers often ask us how best to spend a week or two in Croatia – where to go, what to do, what to see….

That’s probably the toughest question we get – the more we find out about Croatia the more we discover “must see” places and activities, and the more we feel that the honest answer is that a week is just not long enough. However most people don’t have our luck at being able to explore Croatia all year round so here are a few insights into how to find Croatia’s best kept secrets.

1. Explore Coastal Croatia From The Sea 

As you’ll see from the sister site, accompanying our book, the Croatia Cruising Companion, coastal Croatia is designed to be explored from the sea. Charter holidays are more accessible and affordable than many people think, and cater for novice sailors as well as experts, so if you have the luxury of a two week holiday, why not make one of them a charter – see Croatia For All Sailors for more information, and Town Ports and Harbours In Croatia for some special places to go. The best months for sailing Croatia are May, June and September though you may find the sea a little fresh in May. July and August are the most popular months for obvious reasons but that comes with higher marina prices, more traffic and the need to find your overnight berth earlier in the day to be sure of a space.

2. Find A Theme

A hobby or theme will give you a reason to explore off the beaten track and find the real Croatia. Our last posting was on the subject of bird watching, another activity for which Croatia is just waiting to be discovered. Other areas where Croatia excels include wine making, olive oil, gastronomy, culture and history, fishing, rafting, folk music, and film festivals. The list is huge and there are just a few agencies that can put together the best that Croatia has to offer in many areas. Secret Dalmatia is one of them and if you have a look at their blog, you’ll find many more Croatian Secrets.

3. Don’t Try To “Do” All Of Croatia In A Short Space Of Time

The real joy of Croatia comes from the quality, rather than the quantity. If you have a short space of time then focus on a relatively small area. Visit the nearest big city and absorb all the culture and history, find one of the many National Parks and explore all that it has to offer, go inland and observe the difference in cultures and more unspoilt nature, find a local wine producer and try out his vintages, visit a local olive grove, take part in the summer festivals, and hop on a ferry to a nearby island. There’s a huge variety of things to do and see in easy reach of most of the main cities and if you choose you’re base wisely, you won’t be disappointed. You’ll also get a much better deal on accommodation if you choose just one base for the whole week.

4.  Try A Specialist Tour

Fortunately, for western Europeans, en masse coach trips are a thing of the past. Now it’s small high quality tours. We’ve mentioned Secret Dalmatia above, and it’s through them that we have discovered far more of Croatia’s Secrets than we would have found on our own – spectacular viewing points, amazing caves, Roman ruins, wine tasting trips, etc. If you know what you want but don’t know where to find it, then a high quality local agency will open doors for you that might otherwise remain closed. The best experiences are often the best value ones too – what could be better than dining on home produced food and wine, in the company of Dalmatians that can tell you more about Croatia in an evening than you might otherwise learn in a year?

5. Learn A Little Croatian

You don’t NEED to, as almost everyone speaks good English, but you will find a little effort goes a long way with the locals. It is quite a hard language to learn properly, mostly because of the grammar, but phonetically it’s pretty easy – pronunciation is consistent and the alphabet is almost the same. Mastering a few basic phrases isn’t too hard and you just need to be aware that any letters with an accent on have a soft pronunciation. For example, Brač is pronounced Bratch and Šibenik is pronounced Shibenik. Follow this link for an online phrase book - Croatian Language School. 

6. Prepare

Do a little homework and you will get much more out of your trip. There are a number of good websites around and plenty of guide books, though we’d recommend Time Out’s Visitors’ Guide To Croatia as being the best value for money  - it’s produced annually and focuses on features and reviews produced by contributors who live locally and are therefore “tapped into” the latest news events and trends. For sailors, of course, we’d recommend the Croatia Cruising Companion and would also humbly point out that for those that want to visit the smaller and less known islands by ferry, it’s hard to find another source that covers all the Dalmatian islands so comprehensively.

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And, to illustrate the type of secrets waiting to be shared, here’s an example of what an apparently lesser known destination, Sibenik, pictured, has to offer alongside its fascinating and compact historic town centre.

A UNESCO protected Cathedral

Croatia’s only falconry centre a ten minute drive away Croatia Online - Falconry Centre Makes World News

A variety of unspoilt islands

The Krka National Park, about twenty minutes drive away

Dalmatia’s first discovery park, Etnoland (and the website doesn’t do it justice!), about half an hour’s drive away

Bibich Winery, a local wine producer who has been exporting wines to the US successfully for a number of years

A new shopping centre

Two fine dining restaurants – Pelegrini and Peperoncino – as well as a number of good traditional Dalmatian konobas

Castles, Roman ruins, canyons, ……..

The one thing Šibenik doesn’t offer as yet is a good, city centre, hotel. Perhaps the best options are in the neighbouring tourist town of Vodice or next door  Tribunj, a lovely fishing village with a high class marina

Croatia Online – For Undiscovered Croatia, Follow The Birds

Croatia has been hailed as “undiscovered” and the “Mediterranean as it once was” for many years now. Those that visit Dubrovnik when there are five cruise ships in town, or Hvar in party season, may feel they have been misled. However there are still many great destinations, along the coast and on the islands, that haven’t fully hit the tourist radar yet, and even more spectacularly beautiful parts of the countryside lying just a little inland. What better judge of the word “undiscovered” than the world’s rarer birds?

We were lucky enough to get the job of researching and writing about bird watching in Croatia, for Time Out’s first feature on the subject, see posting below. However we did promise Croatia Online’s readers a few more details on it, back in February in Croatia Online - Croatia's Natural Splendour, so here they are.

Croatia is truly undiscovered for bird watching and yet, like in so many other activities, it probably has more to offer than some of the more established destinations. There are four distinct habitats - Continental, Pannonian, Alpine and Mediterranean. That provides for a vast diversity of species and an abundance of those species which may be rare in other parts of the world.

Eastern European birding expert, Gerard Gorman, author of “Birding in Eastern Europe” (2006, Wildsounds) is also a guide for tours in Croatia (Probirder). He told us us that Croatia has “arguably the most varied range of landscapes of all [11] countries in this book…and a huge diversity of avifauna [birds]” and believes the Rock Partridge to be one of Croatia’s best assets - “there aren't that many countries where it is common and easy to find.” He adds that Croatia has good numbers of several tempting species such as the Pallid Swift, Olive Tree Warbler, and Black Headed Bunting, and a number of species rare in the region such as the Yelkouin Shearwater and Cory.

But Croatia isn’t just a country waiting to be discovered by serious twitchers: it’s the ideal place for beginners and nature enthusiasts to chill out. We spent a day with Robert Crnković of Val Tours and Robert knows just where to go (and where not to go) to discover the best of Croatia’s natural splendour and wildlife. There’s much more to a bird watching trip in Croatia than sighting a few birds, nests and habitats. On our short trip we discovered spectacular waterfalls, the source of the river Cetina, a 9th Century church, a 19th century Napoleonic bridge, marshlands, castles and remote villages.

An alternative to an arranged birding tour is to visit one of the Nature Parks or protected areas which often have their own birding experts. The wetlands of Kopački Rit are a favourite, as is Lake Vrana, near Biograd. The island of Cres is another, special for its diverse terrain and for the Eurasian Griffon Vulture, one of Europe’s most endangered birds. Dr Goran Sušić has been fighting its cause for over 25 years and established a Special Ornithological Reserve on Cres in 1993. The centre encourages eco tourism and now has bird watching tours. Dr Sušić, founder of the Reserve, maintains that they can virtually guarantee sightings of tempting finds such as Golden Eagles, Short-toed Eagles and, of course, the Griffon Vulture.

Below are details of a few specialised trips though most offer a range of activities to suit beginners and professionals alike.

Val Tours, Biograd have a one week bird watching itinerary for €790 excluding flights but including everything else –3 star hotels, all meals, entrance tickets to national parks, airport transfers, professional guide, and all local travel arrangements. These tours are for between 4 and 8 people but they will organise shorter trips, or tailor made tours for 1 to 8 people, beginner to professional, on request.

Kopacki Rit Nature Park organise 6 or 12 hour trips for a maximum of 15 people in a group. Book in advance - the cost is 310kn or 610kn and includes guide, transport (boat and all terrain vehicles) and entry fee. Groups are divided into three categories of birdwatchers – recreational, amateur or professional.

Eko-centre Caput Insulae Bell, Cres  organise 7 day tours, from April to October. The cost of €700 per person includes accommodation at the Griffon Vulture centre in wooden huts, fitted out to high standards, as well as all boat and car transport, meals, and guide. Groups are limited to a maximum of 12 people.

Falco Tours, Split provide a range of kayak and canoe trips focused on birds. The short “Around Trogir” trip is designed for beginners, costs €34, and takes in the Pantan Marsh Reserve; or you can canoe the Drava River for 12 days at a cost of €1,300.

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Thanks again to Val Tours for the photos – yesterday’s posting featured Pygmy Cormorants; today it’s a Rock Partridge.

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For those of you who prefer to watch the birds from the sea, have a look at sister site Croatia Cruising Companion, for details of sailing holidays in Croatia, for beginners and experts alike.

Croatia Online – Blogging Technicalities

You may have noticed a slightly different look to the photo in our last posting. We’d like to think that when we did our first Croatia Online posting back in January 2006 we were reasonably ahead of the blogging and IT game. However things continue to change very quickly and, after a recent course on something entirely different, we decided to take some time out from blogging itself and invest it in better technology. So we downloaded the new version (8) of Internet Explorer and discovered we could no longer paste into our blogger posts – calamity!

Technicalities aside, we ventured onto the blogger help forum with some trepidation, sure that it was a silly question we were asking amongst a peer group much more technically up to date than ourselves. It wasn’t, they were, and the problem has been resolved, or at least we have found a way of working round it. Not just that, the “work around” is a fantastic discovery that makes many aspects of blogging on blogger a whole lot easier.

The solution? Windows Live Writer, with a little help from our friends at Blogger Help. That means we’re back to serious blogging with a vengeance and readers can expect ever better presented posts to accompany what we hope is the continuing high quality of Croatia Online's content, and that of its sister site The Croatia Cruising Companion

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Today’s photo is courtesy of Val Tours, Croatia, who offer a range of activities. Val Tours were a great help when we wrote a feature for Time Out Croatia on birdwatching, and we chose this photo for today’s posting as we felt a little like the pygmy cormorant on the right until blogger help came to the rescue!

Croatia Online – Croatia Takes Tourism To The Travellers

Anyone who doubted that Croatia takes its tourism industry very seriously indeed, need only look at the tourist board's new website. Mindful of the effects of the world recession and the continuing impact that could have on this year's tourist figures, the Croatian National Tourist Board is inviting help from existing aficionados. This is direct online marketing taken to a higher and quite ingenious level.

Why not win a holiday by inviting all your friends onto a website where they can complete a fun personality test and get some holiday suggestions tailor made for their preferences? And how do they get invited? You fill in the personality test and send them a postcard of some of your ideal places. Those that get the most number of email contacts onto the site can win a holiday. Those that don't quite make the holiday can, at least, take comfort in the fact that they have introduced a few more travellers to the delights of Croatia and helped sustain this year's tourism. It's clever stuff - a high quality mailing list of potential holiday makers automatically directed to the site where they can buy! And it all seems very well protected in terms of data collection and use.

Nonetheless, we're very protective towards our friends and contacts so won't be taking part in the competition, although we did do the personality test! Instead, we thought we'd do our bit for Croatia's tourism by spreading the word on Croatia Online. So head off to Welcome To Croatia for a number of ways in which you can discover more about Croatia and help others to do so too, including perhaps, a video on You Tube?

The Croatian Tourist Board Website will help you find a place in Croatia that suits you but if you are looking for some holidays and activities with a difference why not look at some of our earlier postings:

Croatia Online - Nature and Ancient Cities With Secret Dalmatia

Croatia Online - Falconry In Croatia

Croatia Online - Olive Oil Tour on Solta

Croatia Online - Caving In Croatia

This post has been 48 hours in the writing due to some interesting blogging discoveries which we will be reporting on soon!

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Today’s posting shows the path to the island of Vis from Šolta Island.

Croatia Online - Top 20 Island Gems, Guardian

Croatia is so full of island gems that the only surprise in today's article in the Guardian is that it only features two in its top 20 - Lopud, near Dubrovnik, and Sv Klement, near Hvar, both very deserving but it must have been a hard selection. Certainly Šolta is a very strong contender with its fabulous castle, Martinis Marchi, now tastefully refurbished into a luxury hotel. See Croatia Online - Solta for the start of a series of postings on this, so far, almost completely undiscovered island just a 40 minute ferry ride from Split.

In fact, with over 1,000 islands, islets and rocks to choose from, picking a top 20 just for Croatia is a challenge, let alone deciding which ones to incorporate in a more global context. Back in 2007, US magazine Travel and Leisure got round the selection problem by including the whole of the Dalmatian Islands at number seven in their World's Top Ten Island Destinations and you can read more about that by linking to Croatia Online - Dalmatian Islands In World Top Ten.

Of course the best way to discover Dalmatia's island gems is to sail around the Adriatic and what better resource than the Croatia Cruising Companion to help you find them. As far as we are aware it's the only book that covers every island in Dalmatia, onshore as well as at sea, so apart from being an indispensable navigational aid, it's a mine of information for those that want to island hop by ferry as well. And at just £17.49 from Amazon, for a full colour hardback, it's pretty good value too.

For the full story from The Guardian follow this link.

For a taster of some of the other island gems check out the following postings:

Croatia Cruising Companion - Kornati Islands

Croatia Cruising Companion Readers' Report - Vis, Hvar, Brac and Solta

Croatia Online - Vis Island

Croatia Online - Krapanj Island

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Today's photo is across the courtyard and swimming pool of hotel Martinis Marchi on Šolta. The tower in the centre of the picture contains just one luxury guest suite stretching over five floors!

Croatia Online - Time Out On Birds

Time Out's new Visitors' Guide To Croatia has now been out for a month and is featured regularly in the UK press. We were again delighted to have the opportunity to contribute to the magazine in a number of areas and have now had the time to have a good read. Setting aside any personal involvement, it's difficult to think of any publication that provides such up to date insight into what makes Croatia tick, and such comprehensive travel and visitors information.

We've already reported on the nautical feature on sister site Croatia Cruising Companion but we're particularly pleased that Time Out chose to publish the full text of a bird watching feature we wrote for them. Like so many aspects of Croatia, it's completely undiscovered for bird watching yet has one of the most diverse landscapes in Eastern Europe and several species of tempting birds. That and the beautiful unspoilt scenery means it's a potential twitchers paradise without the crowds. Even for beginners like us, the birdwatching theme provides an ideal excuse to explore Croatia's natural splendour at its best.

Croatia Online - Croatian Culture

Just to complete our trilogy of recent postings on Croatian culture, assisted by the Croatian Embassy in London, here's a book that may help you understand Croatia a little better. Unfortunately, this time, we were unable to attend the presentation at the Croatian Embassy last month, but have heard plenty of good things about it. Follow this link to see what Marcus Tanner had to say about it on the very informative website Balkan Insight

Croatia Online - King Henry VIII's Croatian Muse?

Croatia Online does not pretend to be an in depth cultural resource on Croatia. There are plenty of experts better suited to disseminate its considerable wealth in this respect. However we have learnt that when the Croatian Embassy in London organises a cultural event that coincides with a trip to the UK, it’s worth making an effort to attend.

Tonight’s enlightening symposium at the British Library was on the subject of Marko Marulić, commonly referred to as the father of Croatian Literature. He was certainly an eminent and prolific literary pioneer and, in a letter to his friend, Hieronymus de Cipcis (see below), he alludes to himself as the Slavonic Dante. Being the first Croatian to translate Dante from Latin this was perhaps a suggestion more based on knowledge than ego.

The symposium coincided with the British Library’s Henry VIII exhibition and we learnt that not only was Henry VIII one of the most intelligent and widely read monarchs of the Renaissance period, but that Marulić’s Evangelistarium is one of the most annotated books emanating from the King’s library, in the British Library collection. That suggests it was much consulted and a frequent source of reference.

In the late 1520’s and early 1530’s, Henry’s extensive library underwent something of a transformation as he researched and gathered evidence for his divorce from Catherine of Aragon and the eventual split from Rome. The book entered Henry’s library in 1529 and the notes, in the King’s own hand, focus on passages about vice, virtue, sin, morality, wisdom, faults of the clergy and many other subjects that might have informed the king in his path towards divorce and the formation of the doctrine of the new Church of England. Marulić may indeed have guided Henry in his future marital choices in the passages which relate to the virtues of marriage and how to choose a wife. Marulić suggests that a good choice of wife is neither too beautiful nor too ugly – acceptable to the eye of the husband but not too acceptable to the eyes of others!

Marulić was born in Split in 1450 and lived to the then ripe old age of 74. Regular readers will be aware, from our recent postings about the island of Šolta, that he also lived in Nečujam for a few years later on in life. The first son of a noble family, he never married and his body lies in Split’s Franciscan church. He is Croatia's most translated author and his books were written in Latin, Italian and Croatian. He is referred to as a humanist and Latinist and was originally best known for his work on morality and theology. Later discoveries of his more erotic work revealed a slightly darker side.

The British Library catalogue of Marko Marulić records 86 titles in its collection. Many of these have been discovered in the last twelve years though approximately 25% of Marulić’s work remains to be found. There are some interesting theories on whether some may yet be uncovered on Šolta or the island of Zirje, in the Šibenik archipelago.

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Marulić - The Slavonic Dante?

In his letter to Hieronymus de Cipcis, Marulić wrote "I have written a small piece of poetry in our mother tongue, divided in six books, depicting the history of Judith and Holofernes. I finished it last Lent and dedicated it to our dean. It is conceived in a poetic manner. Come and see it and you will say that the Slavonic language also has its Dante."

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The above brief notes do not do the symposium or the expert speakers justice, but it’s a start. Links between Croatia and the UK span many centuries and, it’s evident that many more are yet to be unveiled. Apart from the interest of the subject itself and the way in which it has been so thoroughly researched and put into context, tonight’s event was a great excuse for, embarrassingly, a first visit to the British Library and to sample, once more, the generous hospitality of the Croatian Embassy. Good to see a Croatian news TV crew there as well.

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Many thanks to Flora Turner, Cultural Ambassador of the Embassy of the Republic of Croatia, for organising the event with her usual aplomb. Also, of course, to the British Library for providing such an excellent venue and display, and to all the speakers:

Ronald Milne - Director of Scholarship and Collections, British Library

HE Dr Ivica Tomić - Ambassador of the Republic of Croatia

Milan Grba - Curator of Southeast European Collections, British Library

Flora Turner - Cultural Counsellor, Embassy of the Republic of Croatia

Neven Jovanović - Professor of Classical Philology, Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb

Iva Kurelac - Research Fellow of the Institute of the Historical and Social Sciences of the Croatian Academy in Zagreb

Andrea Clarke - Curator of Early Modern Historical Manuscripts, British Library

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Today’s photo is of just one of the British Library’s collection of Marulić’s books, a sample of which were displayed for us this evening.

Croatia Online - Sunday Times Best Sailing Holidays

Sister site Croatia Cruising Companion covers updates to our book, first hand accounts of cruising Croatia from our readers, and news, views and comments on nautical Croatia.

Today's Posting is about a feature in the latest Sunday Times singing Croatia's praise in a number of areas.

We said in our book that Croatia merits a high ranking place amongst the world's top cruising destinations and the word is well out! Hopefully the Croatia Cruising Companion will help you get the best out of Croatia's sailing heartland - the Dalmatian coast and islands.

Croatia Online - Split In All Centuries

It was something of a surreal experience travelling back on the London tube this evening carrying a “goody bag” from the Split tourist office. No less surreal was discovering some more secrets of Split within the very hospitable confines of the Croatian Embassy by Fitzroy square. Just to reinforce the many links between Croatia and the United Kingdom, we learnt that Fitzroy Square was Robert Adam’s next project, after he had finished discovering the Diocletian Palace, and hides a few fragments from Split.

Many thanks to the Croatian Embassy for an absorbing evening on what Split has to offer and a real insight as to how Split might continue to hold the rapt attention of visitors for many years to come. Here are just a few excerpts from tonight’s evening:

1. It appears that that many of the state of the art skills, particularly in stone masonry, expounded and led by those restoring the Peristil in Split, were inspired by training and education at Weymouth College In Dorset. The faithful restoration of the Peristil is still a work in progress and it seems there are many more treats to come before the summer of 2012, the ultimate deadline for all phases.

2. There is a fascinating and already well researched theory that Diocletian’s Palace may have been more of a factory for the production of imperial military uniforms, than a luxurious Emperor’s Palace. The most compelling evidence we heard, alongside plenty more, was the “productivity” of the aqueduct built to carry water from the river Jadro to the Palace. This was capable of carrying 130,000 cubic metres of water per day which would have served a residential population of 173,000, many times in excess of the population of a “normal” palace, but just about enough to meet the demands for the wool washing and dying required by the military.

3. Did Diocletian decide to be the first Emperor to choose early retirement or was retirement thrust upon him? Tonight was the first time we heard that he was anything other than an early “quality of life” merchant, rather than a victim of a the equivalent of a recession or political coup.

4. We learnt a little bit more about the details of the hold up on Split’s Riva reconstruction (see earlier postings) – we knew there were some new archaeological finds that temporarily stopped the clinical “refurbishment” of the sea front, but tonight we obtained just a little bit more insight into what they might have been, and wonder how the “modernisation” still managed to go ahead in a form that seems so out of kilter with the heart and spirit of Split. It appears that there was plenty of life and civilisation prior to the building of Diocletian’s Palace, and a thriving port directly in front of the palace where metallic “street furniture” and slippery, heat reflecting, paving stones now lie.

One of the most important and uplifting message of tonight’s evening, and one that has been resonating the more we have got to get to know Croatia and all its gems, is Split as a prime example of one of Croatia’s living historical cities. Croatia has seen many civilisations come and go, and Split is (mostly) a great example of making the best of its heritage available to permanent inhabitants and visitors alike. Refreshingly, the head of Split’s tourist board, conveyed a very honest and insightful image of a Split that is faithful to the best of its culture and history, but continues to reap the rewards of ever changing circumstances whilst ensuring that people are at the heart of Split’s continuing intrinsic wealth. Vedran Matošić seems to have the balance right and let’s hope that his vision of Split’s tourism – event led but faithful to, and protective of, its heritage – will ensure the continuing prosperity of a great city. That message, in conjunction with strong signs that Split is empowering the best of professional help it can get to uncover, preserve and share yet more of its history, is reassuring.

Croatia Online - Happy Easter

Easter is a very special time in Croatia, not least in the town of Vodice, near Šibenik, which stages a number of events, including a sailing regatta and the pageant pictured. Follow this link to the Vodice Tourist Board to find out more about this lively tourist town.

We take our lead from today's photo - a mix of religious and military images - to note that Croatia joined NATO this month. No mean achievement after much hard work, continuing strategic and political importance, and the hosting of major NATO exercises back in September 2007 - see our posting of the moment, Croatia Online - NATO in Croatia 2007, when quiet fishing villages and warships seemed to live in relative harmony, and hopefully will continue to do so for many years to come.

Sretan Uskrs (Happy Easter) to all our friends and readers.

Croatia Online - Driving To The UK

We've reported on the drive back to the UK a few times before - see Croatia By Car, August 2008 and Left Hand Drive Cars, December 2008. As long as you're not rushing and get in the right mind set it can be quite enjoyable - the time to clear your head and admire the scenery whilst changing cultures. It's a relatively easy trip from Split to London in 2 days and our benchmark is if we manage to get somewhere near Frankfurt on the evening of day one, a 4 pm ferry from Calais is easily achievable. We left at 5.30 am on day one, arrived 40 km short of Frankfurt by 7 pm and still found time for regular two hourly breaks. We left at 9 am the next morning and were back in London by 7 pm, building in the same regular stops. Total distance travelled 1850 kilometres; costs - petrol plus tolls plus vignettes (including the Slovenian rip off as per previous posting!) plus one night's hotel accommodation and ferry trip.

Changes since the last time - looks like the motorway through Slovenia is taking shape and may hopefully be open by the summer, if not before. Similarly the two currently single lane long tunnels on the Croatian motorway - Mala Kapela and Sveti Rok - have a fighting chance of being dual carriageways fairly soon from the look of them.

Croatia Online - Highlights & Soft Landings?

As we get ready for a trip back to the UK it's back breaking work loading up the car with (only the best of) the literature we've accumulated this time round.

When we first arrived in Croatia six years ago, there wasn't a lot of information on the web and blogging was as undiscovered as Croatia was. Now it's so much easier to find what you want on the internet but the tourist offices are still big on brochures and information. Sometimes, off season, in the more remote locations you have to dig it out a little but it's worth it and it's a travesty to throw it away until it is properly read and digested. Regular readers therefore have plenty of blogging to look forward to during the UK break, whilst we consolidate the information and catch up on the ones that temporarily got away whilst we were enjoying ourselves too much. Of course there's no substitute for exploring in person and talking to the locals, so we have plenty of notebooks to sift through as well!

There have been so many highlights, over the first few months of 2009, of a personal and professional nature, and a number of people who have found the time and made the effort to help us discover more of Croatia and still feel welcome and a small part of it. This is not the place for private or professional thank you's of a general nature but the least we can do is give a plug and a link to some of the websites that belong to those who have made a big difference, and just a short note on some of the things they do that we have seen in the last couple of months!

In alphabetical order:

Apartment Maris (Luxury Apartment, Split Centre)

Black Cat Bistro (Restaurant, Split)

Etnoland (Dalmatian Discovery Park)

Olynthia (Olive Oil Tours)

Sailing School Croatia (Sailing School!)

Secret Dalmatia (Roman Ruins, Caves, Special Views)

Sokolarski Centar (Falconry and Conservation)

Trinity Croatia (Croatian Property Experts)

Val Tours (Bird Watching with Expert Guide Robert)

Zara Adventure (Caving)

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Just a short plug as well for John Nash, co-author of the Croatia Cruising Companion. John runs Marina Facility Solutions from his base in Kaštela and you can read more about his recent successes, in an ongoing campaign to help Croatian Marinas keep the sea clean, by following this link MFS a Key Advisor In Croatia's First Integral Marina Pump Out Solution. To go straight to the latest issue of Euromarina that featured his work at Marina Preko, click here.

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Many thanks to Eko Centar Caput Insulae for today's photo of a Griffon Vulture Landing. Apart from their conservation work with this rare bird, they also arrange bird watching trips too and we'll tell you more about those soon.

Croatia Online - Natural Order

Olive trees and cross generational family standards thrive in Croatia - perhaps something to do with good roots and making the most of challenging terrains and frequent interlopers. We've recently learnt that olive trees respond well to natural hazards and threats if they have some space and care. They're amongs the longest lived of fauna and produce a fruit that is rightly revered for its efficacy.

Dalmatia is a land of "small holders" demonstrated very well by the scattering of its olive groves and the quality and distinctiveness that results - in a world of mass produced olive oil that doesn't quite have the kick, the taste, or the traceability of the best of its Croatian peers, its something to fete!

Similarly the world might again come round to the enduring ethics and traditions that have left Croatia perfectly poised to continue to carry on apparently regardless, but mindful of the chaos going on elsewhere and the need to find its rightful place on the 21st century political and geographical map.

Croatia, so strategically, and often precariously, situated between east and west, has a seasoned history of seeing many great powers come and go, and seems to grow stronger from it, and more faithful to its soul and roots.

There has been much talk in the western world about family values, now as if it were a fantasy, a decade or so ago as something really important to try and hang onto. Croatia, particularly Dalmatia, walks the talk. It's a secret a foreigner can't properly share but can continue to admire warts and all. The greater the discovery process, the greater the admiration and the understanding of the blemishes.

We wouldn't be surprised to learn, in a few years time, that the Olive tree wasn't in fact introduced by the Greeks and/or Romans to Croatia, but they just kept better records and so took the credit!

Croatia Online - Best Souvenirs of Croatia

As we think about getting ready for a month or so in the UK, it seems timely to consider what represents Croatia best in terms of quality gifts for English friends and relatives.

Unfortunately most of what is best about Croatia can't be packaged, bottled and taken away. The flavours, tastes sounds and smells can but are not always so easy to transport. Good on Croatia for not going too far down the route of tacky souvenirs and for staying true to its soul.

So what can you practically take back to England for an original and thoughtful present, representing the essence of your best experiences of Croatia? Here's our top five:

1. A small, well packaged, bottle of the best extra virgin olive oil and details of its history and origins. The gift recipients won't want to taste another olive oil. There are many organic producers with an eye for quality but only a few with websites so we're citing our most recent discovery - Olynthia.

2. A bottle of good Croatian wine - splash out a little in relative Croatian terms and your french friends may be surprised.

3. A jar of fig jam - we haven't discovered any small local entrepreneur producers yet so SMS is still our favourite.

4. A CD of Croatia's folk music - Klapa. Take some advice to get the best.

5. Honey - check the lables for the brands of exceptional taste and quality

A little more flippantly we'd suggest a copy of the Croatia Cruising Companion and a ticket to Croatia.

Croatia Online - Šolta, Martinis Marchi

We couldn't complete the latest run of postings on Šolta without a little more information on an outstanding hotel and restaurant, Martinis Marchi.

The castle in which both are housed was built by the Martinis brothers in the early 18th century to help protect Split's mainland and islands from pirate attack and to develop a community to work the land. Since then it was allowed to decay, and suffered a modest earlier renovation to serve a short life as a 50 bedroom hotel and occasional restaurant.

Now it's been returned to its fomer glory after massive time and investment by its relatively new owners under the guidance of local Croatian heritage architects and advisors. The six hotel suites vary in size and are individually designed and furnished, both to be true to the castle's original design and to offer the ultimate in quiet elegance and comfort. The reception rooms are equally impressive, the courtyard houses a heated open air swimming pool and there's a heliport in the extensive grounds that display equal care and nurturing. As if that wasn't enough, the restaurant terrace has great views over the bay and west facing Maslinica makes for the perfect location for a quiet cocktail at sunset.

Internet, heated bathroom floors, air conditioning, etc, are all of course standard in the suites. Four poster beds are a feature and the largest suite occupies the whole tower on five floors – ground for the main reception room, first for the office and music room, second for the vast bathroom and a wall of cupboards in the hall, top for the master bedroom, and the stone walled basement for the konoba/kitchen area. This one costs €1,500 a night but you can stay in equal comfort, with varying space, for €420 to €750, in the other suites. The bathrooms and bedrooms are all enormous, and the common areas are of the grandeur and functionality you would expect.

The test of the restoration is that the Šolta islanders are proud of it as well and 2009/10 should see the upgrading of Maslinica’s harbour to a marina of similar style.

Croatia Online - The Secret and Adventurous Art of Blogging on Croatia

Whilst Croatia Online has been living it up, working hard, and exploring Šolta out of season (see postings below) we notice that the best of the Croatian blogging world has also been prolific.

Šolta has provided a number of great learning experiences, not least of all is some insight on how to live life in a small community. Šolta may lie very close to the much bigger and more cosmopolitan community of Split but it's still essentially a very special kind of place where everyone knows their neighbours, and strangers out of season are welcomed with just a little curiosity but open arms. An illustrative example of the generosity of spirit was when we were walking round Donje Selo trying to follow up a hot tip. Our look may have been starry eyed but it might have been interpreted as lost (although getting lost is very difficult on Šolta). A car driver stopped to ask if he could help, we told him what we were looking for, and he gave us a lift to the family's house.

He knocked on the door, carried out an introduction, and we were invited in to sample a glass of the local Dobričić wine and given a few details on the family business - wine and olive product producers as well as providing authentic konoba dinners. To share a similar and perhaps more in depth experience with the Kaštelanać family (with or without the kindness of introductory strangers!), telephone 021 658 109 or mobile 098 385 376.

We digress - the subject of this posting is the art of blogging in Croatia, especially Dalmatia; we used Šolta as an introduction for four reasons:

1. It is very fresh in our minds

2. It will remain very special in our memories of Croatia

3. It's a small island with a number of even smaller villages

4. We were reminded that, especially in a close knit community, embracing the competition and the collective good is more important than self interest

The blogging world in Croatia is still small but it's a lot bigger than when Croatia Online started nearly 300 posts ago. Šolta provided a timely nudge to remember that what is good for the whole, is generally good for the best of its component parts. Whilst many Croatian blogs are now just regurgitating facts, often without due credit, from other blogs and websites, or vying to trick google with as many keywords as they can make fit a sentence, two are quite special for their unique and original first hand information and insights:

Lifejacket Adventures - who's latest postings include a Buddhist Centre in Split, current news on the renovation of their traditional wooden boat, and a new sandwich shop in Split who's name needs some explanation.

Secret Dalmatia - who have enlightened readers recently on Octopus lunches, the significance of the Bura wind in March and the Babić wine of Primošten.

Croatia is full of Catholic churches but may still need time to become catholic in the wider sense of the word - all embracing, broad minded and tolerant according to just some of the dictionary definition. However island life, as it is lived on Šolta, side by side with its visitors from Split and elsewhere, might have a lot to teach those of us who think we are experienced in world living.

Today's photo is of one of the reception rooms in Martinis Marchi in Maslenica. Given that we are widely told that the new owners have restored the castle, with great care and no mean investment, according to original plans, we'd like to think that the Martinis brothers used their dining room to stay in touch with their modest number of early neighbours drawn from all walks of life in the common interests of the day.

Croatia Online - Šolta In Pictures

After three days on Šolta we've already written a number of posting on this and sister site Croatia Cruising Companion. We will probably write many more but to give our readers a break here are just a few images that capture the diversity of Šolta, one of Croatia's smallest inhabited islands and just a short ferry trip from Split.

Croatia Online - Šolta The Island Of Olives

One of the most interesting parts of our trip to Šolta was a tour provided by Olynthia - various stops amidst their scattered olive groves near Donje Selo; along a track to the south side of the island for a spectacular view of the Adriatic and Vis island (see previous posting); and back to their olive oil processing plant for a tasting and to see how the fruits of one of the Mediterranean's hardiest and most versatile trees, turns into a liquid of exceptional quality that is good enough to drink, let alone drizzle over your food. In the summer season, or by arrangement, the tour also includes a cooling swim, lunch or dinner, and can start from Trogir or Split, or direct from Šolta. At around 350 kn including a feryy or boat trip from the mainland, it's a snip.

From the start to the end of the tour you will see that the best olive oil comes from a perfect combination of tradition and technology. Purists may question their own values - whilst it might be "quaint" to see olives being pressed in time honoured style, you will discover that doesn't make for the best elixir. Premium extra virgin olive oil comes from olives that are processed with minimum exposure to light, heat and air. Technology however is only the watchword in the processing of the olives; the growing and care of the trees and groves, to produce the best fruit, relies on traditional principles and expert knowledge, passed down the generations through centuries. That means extensive rather than intensive cultivation, no chemicals, preparing the ground properly to take out the rocks, careful pruning so that each branch has maximum exposure to sunlight, cutting the grass regularly around the trees, and watching out for any disease. The way olives are picked also has a bearing on the final quality of the oil - all of Olynthia's olives are hand picked, rather than shaken and collected off the ground and the picking is timed to get the fruit at its very best and process it as quickly as posible.

Native to Asia minor and perhaps the oldest known cultivated tree in the world, Šolta's olive trees were probably first planted by the Greeks in the 4th Century BC and thence started the legends and history that reflect their incredible attributes and significance. Olive trees don't demand the same care that grapevines do and they withstand Šolta's rocky terrain, droughts, winds and heat. More than that, the roots survive periodic wildfires and the longevity is renowned - see Croatia Online - Croatia's Oldest Olive Tree? for a picture on one of Dalmatia's oldest specimens.

Listen to afficionados and experts and you will believe that the best Croatian extra virgin olive oil can cure almost anything without any side effects. Pay attention to Olynthia and you will find out where, how and why, as well as getting an insight into Šolta's history and why the olive tree has played such an important role. If you're lucky, you'll also get to taste Šolta's local wine, Dobričić, now discovered to be the genetic forefather of Croatia and California's better known and acclaimed varieties - Plavac and Zinfandel.

To say much more would be to spoil the discoveries you will make on the tour. However, we were left so full of fascinating insights and information that it may be hard to resist another posting or two on the subject.

Thanks to Frane, Anja, Stipe and Robert for enabling this visit - certainly one to be remembered and hopefully to be repeated at another time in the olive tree's cycle. We've already done a little bit of picking and seen the end result - see Croatia Online - Olive Picking In Omis - it would be great to see the olive groves of Šolta in full harversting swing, but the time of year doesn't detract from the quality of the tour.

Today's photo is of the gourmet tasting provided for us at Olynthia and we were lucky enough to return with some of last year's nectar, bottled and packaged, as we waited, in award winning style.

Croatia Online - Šolta Island: Orientation

After six years exploring and writing about Croatia, even the most carefully chosen adjectives can start to sound clichéd, and sparingly used superlatives begin to feel well worn.

It's a relative luxury for us to spend three days on one of Dalmatia's islands, albeit with a working objective. Šolta, at just 19 kilometres long, and 4 metres across at its widest, may be one of Croatia's smaller inhabited islands but it has plenty to keep discerning visitors engaged, even outside the summer season.

Like most of Croatia's gems, Šolta has a fascinating and eclectic history, under a background of subservience to its masters in Split. It too has plenty to show from the seemingly never ending battles between the various great powers that have fought so hard for control over Croatia's precarious and strategic position between east and west.

Like many of its island and mainland neighbours, the oldest settlements and arguably the best of Šolta's heritage, is displayed in the inland towns of Grohote, Donje Selo, Gornje Selo and Sredne Selo. These grew up around the most fertile regions and, despite the never ending battle to clear the terrain of vast quantities of stone and rock, the small quantities of nutrient rich topsoil allowed agriculture to thrive. The olive tree has long been a hero of Šolta - it's one of the few species of flora that can thrive in the rocky terrain, mediterranean climate and on an island where there is nothing other than rain as a water supply - the porous limestone rock sees to that. You can read more about Šolta's liquid gold in our next posting.

Apart from the olive groves and abundance of rock, mostly neatly stacked in dry stone walls, inland Šolta will strike you with its old stone built houses, the smell of rosemary, a lush green vista of woods and bushes, settlements that appear tiny as you drive past them on the main road but hold a wealth of treasures in the narrow streets behind, and the magnificent views of the coast. The highest point, Vela Straža, at 237 metres, provides perhaps the best viewpoint of all.

For wow factor views, Maslinica is a strong contender. Facing west and looking out over a few small islets, the sunsets are hard to beat. Maslinica also has a very special man made asset - its Baroque castle now transformed into an elegant deluxe hotel, Martinis Marchi, after painstaking renovations that have brought it back to its original splendour and design. Here the latest technology required for modern and luxurious living, blends tastefully with an important part of Šolta's heritage, and here you can dine in style on the best of local and international cuisine.

There are no settlements on the south side of Šolta - the rugged and heavily indented coastline, doesn't make it an inviting place to live or prosper. However it hides some of the best and most deserted beaches, ideally reached by boat, but also through the olive groves, on tracks which aren't too hard on car tyres.

On the north side lies Rogač, the main ferry port, linking Šolta to Split four times a day in the winter, and with at least six services in the summer, more on demand. As Šolta is under-rated as an island, so Rogač is under stated as one of its coastal settlements.

Rogač is also the home of one of the islands leading local entrepreneurs, Ivo Bezić, who appears to have the only accommodation suited and open for all year round visitors, Villa Solta (English pages to follow). Ivo also owns one of only two restaurants we found on the island that was open last week, the other being Konoba Picerija Gajeta at the head of the bay in Maslenica. Ivo's hotel and restaurant are a short walk up the hill as you head out of Rogač. The reasonably priced modern accommodation includes large bathrooms, underfloor heating and internet access, and there's ample parking. It sleeps up to 24 in total, in a variety of rooms and apartments of various sizes, but when asked about larger groups, Ivo maintains that he can accomodate any number of people through friends in the village and elsewhere on the island. He's also planning to add another floor to the hotel accommodation when time and finances permit. The restaurant serves up the best of ingredients in traditional Dalmatian style and has a similar menu to the other part of Ivo's empire, Konoba Saskinja in Maslenica which is only open in the summer (for now!). Ivo has also just about completed the renovation and refit of his traditional boat which will accomodate 40 people and has an engine capable of getting to Brač and Hvar in good time, just as easily as pootling around Šolta on a fish picnic.

Elsewhere on the north coast there's Nečujam, once just a bay that was home to Emperor Diocletian's fish pool, with a couple of houses including the island retreat of Marko Marulic, the father of Croatian literature. Now it's rather overshadowed by an out of character resort development, Tourist Village Necujam Centar, complete with outdoor swimming pools and disco bar, though there is a lovely unspoilt bay next door which is a favourite for a swim on fish picnic tours from Trogir. There's also a small private hotel, Sv Petar, towards the end of the east side of bay. Nothing was open during last week's visit.

Stomorska also has its charms - the long narrow bay hosts a number of wooden cruise ships waiting for summer action, and is ringed by pizzerias and konobas about to be made ready for this year's tourists. Meanwhile Gornja Krušica and Donja Krušica, at opposite ends of the island's north coast, provide the base for a number of summer houses, some for let, around small bays and are, no doubt, just biding their time until the secrets of Šolta are truly discovered.

For visitors that need to be entertained, Šolta is probably not the island for you, though the short distances to Trogir, Split, Hvar, Brač, and even Vis, make it an ideal retreat for a day of rest from partying. For those that really do want to discover the Mediterranean as it once was, and take a break from the pace of 21st century living, it's hard to beat. If they enjoy style, comfort and luxury as well, Martinis Marchi is the ideal base. For those on a tighter budget, there's maybe not a wide choice but it's there.

Visitors by boat can read more about nautical matters on sister site
Croatia Cruising Companion

Today's photo is a rather giddy view showing the ubiquitous Šolta stones and rocks being put to good use yet again - this time they are marking the path to the island of Vis.

Croatia Online - Šolta Island

We were lucky enough to have several good reasons to spend some time on Šolta island this week. Even luckier that the weather was brilliant. The downside is that Šolta takes several days to get to know though it's only an island of some 19 kilometres long. We did our best and will be "cold pressing" or "centrifuging" the latest news as soon as we can!

Today's photo is the view from west facing Maslenica - Alfred Hitchcock might turn in his grave!

Croatia Online - Omiš: Photogenic Croatia Explored

Omiš didn't even get a mention in yesterday's posting on Croatia's ability to provide a picture postcard shot on almost all occasions and in all locations. It's not really on the new breed of tourist's radar yet and that just about sums up how undiscovered Croatia still is.

Omiš is the champion of Croatia's traditional Klapa folk music; has the spectacular gorge of the Cetina River running behind it; boasts a history of courageous pirates battling on, in Robin Hood style, with great ingenuity and resourcefulness, in the face of adversity; and has plenty of historic hilltop fortifications, a great boutique hotel, Villa Dvor, good beaches and some of the best opportunities for river rafting.

The high street may be a little reminiscent of the tourism of yesteryear but you don't have to look to hard to find the real Omiš, and the combination of the two could make for that perfect great value Mediterranean break.

Croatia Online - Šibenik in Spring

A marvellous spring day has energised us into not one but three postings on Croatia Online and our sister site Croatia Cruising Companion. In fact its impossible not to find new things to write about here, especially in Dalmatia, and a day like today just invites exploration and photo taking; and demands that we share Croatia's highlights with readers.

This blog, and our sailing book, the Croatia Cruising Companion, is peppered with references to Croatia's photogenic coastal and island cities, towns and villages. That's before we even start to think about inland Croatia.

Šibenik has to be one of the most photogenic mainland coastal cities amongst very worthy competition including Zadar, Split and Trogir. When you start thinking about villages and islands, where do you stop?! Vrsar and Sucuraj on Hvar Island, Primosten, near Šibenik, Korčula, Vis?

Inland, Varazdin, and a number of spots in Inland Istria are hard to beat.

That's enough....! What started as a celebration of a spring day, has turned into a trawl through our thousands of photos and hundreds of blog postings to try to illustrate and reference readers to Croatia's bounty. A timely reminder that there are still hundreds of places that we've been to but haven't blogged yet.

Whilst you're waiting for Croatia Online to get it's act together, at least you'll find a comprehensive report, including photos charts and detailed information, for all Dalmatia's cities, towns, villages and bays that can be reached from the Adriatic, in our Croatia Cruising Companion. This last link is to the book on Amazon's site with apologies to readers for trying to make it easier for them to buy! All other links are to postings on our blogs.

Today's photo is, of course, of Šibenik.

Croatia Online - Krka Estuary, Zaton

Today was a lovely early spring day, which we used to full advantage to get updates for our Croatia Cruising Companion. That meant exploring a bit more of the Krka estuary and Krka National Park and revisiting the towns of Zaton and Rasline. You can read more about these two towns on Croatia Cruising Companion - Krka Estuary Revisited

Today's photo is of what looks to be a brand new hotel, almost ready to open, in Zaton.

Croatia Online - Šibenik For Fine Dining?

Things started looking up for international cuisine in Šibenik with the opening of Pelegrini a couple of years ago. Whilst Peperoncino can’t compete with Pelegrini on location it’s certainly looks poised to give it a run for its money on menu. It’s very good news for Šibenik and seems likely, once it settles into its stride, to attract diners from much further afield.

Croatia Online - Spring Is In The Air

Lucky for us that we've made some good friends that have helped us to identify the early signs of spring.

Behind the coast the Almond trees are blossoming and Secret Dalmatia can tell you a little more about them.

Croatia Online - Secret Dalmatia

Yesterday, we had the privilege of a day out with Alan Mandić, the visionary behind Secret Dalmatia. In the course of six short hours we realised just how much we had been missing during the six years we have already spent exploring Croatia.

"Undiscovered" is a word that has frequently been applied to Croatia over the years. Visitors to the more popular tourist resorts now may question the adjective, but you only have to go just a few kilometres inland to realise that the coastal resorts and islands are just the icing on a very special gourmet cake. We sampled just a very small slice of it yesterday but here are two of the flavours.

1. Nature

All of a sudden, the almond trees have come into full bloom and adorn the landscape with their pink and white blossoms. Just after the snows of February it's a welcome herald to the joys of springtime Croatia. That was just the prelude to some of nature's other magnificent displays. Down an unmarked track, we gained a superb view of Croatia's second highest waterfall. And not just one waterfall but a series of the Krka river's cascades leading to it. Up another track, we climbed steadily to find a parking area, café and other facilities (closed outside the season). We took a short stroll along a laid path and saw an unbeatable vista of Croatia's best islands; one after another, sprouting out of the Adriatic. Our vantage point was the recently organised viewpoint behind Lake Vrana and, after all the years of climbing up various hills to look at the view, we'd find this panorama hard to beat.

2. Ancient Cities and Historic Ruins

Tucked away inland, behind Biograd, are Ottoman inns, Roman cities and roads, Medieval ruins and traditional stone built houses, all in various stages of discovery and preservation. Most of them are up unsigned roads and tracks that you'd never find without a local expert. Once you get there, prepare to be amazed by the scale of the ruins, the range of archaelogical discoveries and the stories behind them. It needs an expert to describe them properly, and even if we had managed to find them on our own, we'd have only experienced 20% of what they have to offer.

It's not just the wealth of local knowledge and expertise that makes Secret Dalmatia so special. The business is founded on three simple commercial tenets - quality of service, reliability and value for money - Croatia does the rest, for those that really do know it well, and have a passion for showing it off at its best.

The tours are designed to provide something that you really won't be able to find on your own - the clue is in the name - and the organisation only works with tried and tested long term partners who hold the same principles. Unusually Secret Dalmatia doesn't look to exploit these relationships by taking hefty commissions, but does expect its clients to get the very best of service.

If you're looking for luxury, you'll get to stay in the best hotels and eat in the best restaurants. If you want your own, tailor made tour, then just let them know what you like. The itineraries on the website will give you a better idea of the wide range that's on offer - gastronomy, culinary and wine tours, for example. For a taster of more of the secrets, keep an eye on the Secret Dalmatia Blog. Did you know, for example, that Von Trapp, of Sound of Music fame, was born in Zadar?

Regular readers will know that Croatia Online is written for fun, without any commercial aims or interest. Secret Dalmatia features regularly in it because of the intensity and variety of experiences it offers to uncover Croatia, and for its enthusiam and dedication to sharing it with others. We've not come across anything quite like it, and are convinced it will still be sharing new secrets successfully, with visitors to Croatia, for many years to come.

Today's photo is a small part of the panorama of the islands from the Lake Vrana viewpoint. It seems that the only thing that Secret Dalmatia is unable to organise, is perfect lighting and sunshine at that very moment when you need it most! Even that's not a problem though, when they saw our original photo, they very kindly sent us a sunset shot of their own which does the view infinitely better justice.

Thanks to Alan Mandić for giving up his Saturday for a busman's holiday and providing such an enriching, diverse and enjoyable experience. Alan obviously has a continuing passion for learning about his homeland, and preserving the best of its history and culture for all to enjoy. Lucky for us that Alan's existing base of knowledge is leagues ahead of most of the rest of us!

Croatia Online - Unparalleled Diversity In Croatia

A short but hectic two weeks of travelling around Croatia has provided yet another opportunity to reflect on its diversity and appeal. Our last two weeks has encompassed the Zagreb Boat Show, a flying visit to London, and the Sajam Gast in Split - an exhibition devoted to Croatia's gastronomy.

The Zagreb boat show is a very well organised tribute to the importance of Croatia's nautical tourism - history, growth and prominence. Not only does Croatia have one of the best cruising grounds in the world, but also a very successful boat building industry.

The flying vist to London served as a brief reminder that whatever problems Croatia has, they are very small in comparison to elsewhere.

Split's "Sajam Gast" shows that Croatia is still very focused on its tourism industry and has a very strong interest in making quality count. A visit to the Osijek tourist board's stand is also a prime illustator of Croatia's diversity. Osijek lies close to the border with Hungary, and is continental rather than Mediterranean. It has a huge amount to offer and may suffer somewhat from Croatia's "branding" as the Mediterranean that once was.

Croatia really does have it all - the sooner it realises it, the quicker it breaks away from its comfort zone, and away from familiar ties and "politics", the easier it will be for everyone to do good business and succeed.

For the latest news on the diversity of Croatia "from the sea" please go to our sister site Croatia Cruising Companion

Croatia Online - What Global Crisis?!

It was only a matter of time before the after shock of the west-led financial crisis hit Croatia. Though there's been a certain amount of anxiety since the more serious events unfolded, on the whole morale has been good till now. That seems about to change as the tourist season approaches - after a couple of bumper years, latest reports suggests bookings are 30% down. Now of all times is the moment for Croatians, particularly Dalmatians (most of whom have some interest in tourism), to keep their heads. Croatia has a lot going for it, it's still barely spring, and a bit of steel nerve, and a sensible strategy could reap huge rewards.

The UK newspapers are full of Croatia as a good value holiday destination. It's not in the Eurozone (but the Croatian kuna is strongly linked to the Euro), and it's just a two and a bit hour flight from the UK, with increasing numbers of low cost airlines choosing to provide routes. What's more there's a huge choice of destinations and a wide range of options to suit all budgets. OK, a new car or house might be shelved for a year or two but, in current times, people still need to cheer themselves up with a holiday, and in Croatia you can do it in style or on the cheap.

An article in the Sunday Mirror in January includes Croatia as one of the best budget breaks around and quotes the Post Office as saying it's one of the ten cheapest holiday destinations in the world. It's perhaps a little unfortunate that the new emphasis on value for money coincides with Croatia's focused drive to take its tourism offer upmarket. However the two are far from incompatible and the great thing about Croatia is there's something for everyone, if you know where to look and who to ask.

Top ten tips for budget travellers:

1. Avoid the already developed towns like Dubrovnik and Hvar - though they have plenty to recommend them, these two cities have largely gone for the upscale traveller and the cost of living can be 50% higher than neighbouring places.

2. Be flexible and open minded - you can have just as much fun in a small village, or perhaps inland by a river, than you might have in a developed resort.

3. Avoid the high season if you can.

4. Try going inland in Dalmatia - you're never that far away from the coast.

5. Go camping - Croatia has a good network of campsites - perhaps not the deluxe style that you'll get in France, for example, but it could be fun for a change.

6. Check out Slavonia - Osijek, Varaždin, Kopački rit, etc - it's a continental climate rather than a Mediterranean one, and can get very hot in the summer, but there's just as much to discover and it's fairly quiet as most of the inhabitants will be down on the coast.

7. Try a sailing holiday - if you weigh up the cost of accommodation and the other expenses of a land based holiday, and compare that to chartering a boat with a skipper, you might get a pleasant surprise, particularly if you can get together the right size of group. Or one of the wooden cruise ships.

8. Research carefully and shop around - a few phone calls could save you a fortune and you'll get a lot more information than you would by email.

9. Consider arriving on spec - you can drive a harder bargain if you stand outside an empty apartment to let with a wad of notes in your hand.

10. Make a local friend and find out where the best value restaurants and bars are.

Croatians have really only just come to terms with the resurgence of the country's popularity as a holiday destination and there are still just a few with their heads in the sand (or more accurately pebble). You will therefore find some very isolated cases of profiteering, but if you shop around they'll be quite easy to spot. On the whole, accomodation prices have remained quite stable over the last three years and several new apartments have been built which the owners will be anxious to fill. The long standing private tourist agencies are generally excellent and will help you find the right apartment for your budget as well as assisting with all your other needs.

Don't skimp on the summer cheer - you're money will go a long way in Croatia if you do your research properly.

Croatia Online - The Old Fashioned Joys Of Blogging

We started this blog on the 21st January 2006, for no other reason than to have a bit of fun and share our enjoyment of Croatia. At that time there wasn't too much relevant information on Croatia in the public domain and part of the joy of exploring "undiscovered Croatia" was getting feedback from people who enjoyed the blog for what it was worth.

It would be disingenuous of Croatia Online to say that it didn't take a certain amount of pride from the growth in hits and contacts derived from the blog. It's also flattering that a number of other, and subsequently much greater bloggers on Croatia, kindly claim to have taken a little bit of inspiration from Croatia Online. That's past history and good luck to them all.

Blogging and Croatia are both victims of their success. A blog is now seen as an essential part of many commercial websites and some blogs just seem to be a relatively skilful mix of keywords vying for that ever valuable google rating. Others just seem to provide daily regurgitations of news from other sites. Croatia however has mixed blessings from the fact that you can now uncover information on most things - yes it's more accessible but its less the undiscovered "Mediterranean as it once was".

Today's photo is courtesy of Val Tours, an early pioneer in service and information, and the leader on birdwatching in Croatia.

Croatia Online - Expats in Croatia

Ever changing and confusing rules on "aliens" in Croatia, don't make life easy.

However those of us that continue to choose to spend some time in Croatia, away from our homeland, have to take the rough with the smooth. And perhaps the rough isn't quite so unusually rough at all!

That fact was brought home to us after a short trip to England, visiting a relative in an upmarket care home, almost exclusively staffed by non UK carers. "Oh the bureaucracy" said one. "My friend is in exactly the same circumstances and got a completely different answer from the immigration officials" said another. Aged relative says "if they don't like it here why don't they go back home?" A simple, politically incorrect, question allowed from an 88 year old, who may not have remembered the short staffing before new countries came into the EU. But a good reminder for expats all around the world who occasionally feel moved to vent their frustrations.

The moral of the story is that it's not easy being an expat, wherever you are, wherever you are from, and whatever circumstances you are in. However, it's our firm belief that if you're a guest in someone else's country then you do your best to work with it and support whatever infrastructure you can, until you find that impossible and you "choose" to go home, or the decision is made for you. In between, you fight whatever battles you have to fight, in good faith, and according to the local customs and laws, as best you know and understand them. If you have a couple of good local friends to help you on the way then all the better!

Ex pats are an odd and varied bunch. Some are continually seeking something, some eternally escaping something, and some just find something so delightful, by accident, that they want to make more of it. We'd like to think that the small band of expats in Croatia falls into the last category, and good on Croatia for making it so hard on all of us, for the time being. As we've said before, many times, if it was easy everyone would want to live here!

In the light of current global challenges, a country like Croatia could do very well by spending some intelligent time to tap into the potential of its current and future ex pat resources. Those that have behaved in an exemplary fashion, trying to understand and meet the rules, and normally with the best to offer, have often been the hardest hit. Hiding under the radar still appears to pay.

It will be interesting to see if Croatia really is a dynamic transitional country that means business. It could do worse than offering an amnesty to current foreign residents, property owners, entrepreneurs and investors, on hard to understand residency and business visa rules, and spend a small amount of time tapping into the potential that this might reap.

Perhaps a little unfair on native entrepreneurs but it's a low investment, and easy short term step, for a long term goal. Tourism is a significant factor in Croatia's economy, and the small ex pat voice, wherever it comes from, has a history of being very loud around the world and can be the best or worst of ambassadors.

Today's photo is of Split Airport, a place for collecting all sorts of thoughts!

Croatia Online - Caves And Caving

Croatia is one of those beautifully frustrating places where you feel that, no matter how long you spend exploring it, you will only ever scratch the surface.

Today, thanks to our friends in Secret Dalmatia, a passing invitation to "go and have a look at a cave", turned into a very memorable experience which rendered us mostly speechless - a rare occurrence in itself!

Modrić Cave (Modrić Špilja) lies between Rovinsjka and the village of Modrić, about an hour's drive from Zadar. It was discovered in 1985 and, though there are several caves in the area, this one is special enough to deserve legal protection. Not only is it spectacular in its own geological right, but there are a number of archaeological and other finds that have yet to be fully researched.For someone that has only been caving once before, it's an experience not to forget.

The trip was made very easy and pleasurable by Marijan Buzov, an expert in speleogy who manages tours of the cave - due to its significance and safety factors, you can only visit it by arrangement (any time of year).The tour lasts about two hours but allow an extra half an hour for getting kitted out and a safety briefing - you'll get overalls to protect your clothes, an indestructible but lightweight helmet, complete with lamp and the small cannister that supplies the gas and water mixture to the lamp. You should wear comfortable clothes and a good pair of trainers/walking shoes. Inside the cave it's a constant and pleasant temperature of 17-19 degrees Celsius but it can be a little damp underfoot so you need some grip on your shoes.

It's a 10 minute walk from the cafe rendezvous to get to the cave and you can leave your bags at the entrance - you won't want to be carrying anything more than a camera with you.You don't need to be super fit and you will be helped all the way if you need it - there are a couple of smallish holes to get through but we're told a 120 kilo man made it through the smallest one.

The rest of the exploration just involves occasional head ducking and mild gradients, with plenty of foot and hand holds if you want some extra stability - but you won't be climbing in the true sense of the word - just walking with the very occasional easy "manoeuvre" that Marijan will painstakingly explain to you. Nearly all of it is big open spaces so those with a touch of claustrophobia needn’t worry either. Even the smallish holes are just that and not tunnels, with plenty of headspace at either end. Your lamps are so bright, and the vista so spectacular, that you just feel like your walking in the Santa's grotto of your childhood dreams, though without all the tacky presents!

Every now and then Marijan stops and tells you a little bit more about the formations and the history of the cave. For me, the biggest worry was seeing a "baby" stalagtite, a couple of inches long, that had "only" taken a few hundred years to form. You wouldn't want to be the one to wipe out a 2,000 year old one but there's no pressure there either.

The tour costs 180kn per person including all the kit. Children over 7 and under 10 have to be accompanied by a parent. It's a steal and a very unique morning or afternoon out! For more information go to Marijan's webite, Zara Adventure. Also on the menu are rafting, trekking and climbing.

Thanks to Alan Mandić at Secret Dalmatia for facilitating the experience - just one of the many special treats that he can organise for his clients - and a very warm thanks to Marijan for his care, patience, knowledge, generosity and enlightenment. You know you're going to be in safe and expert hands as soon as you meet him, and that gives you the confidence to get the best out of the experience and want to go back for more.

Croatia Online - Croatia's Natural Splendour

This week had many highlights, and two will go down as "bests" in the last six years of getting to know Croatia.

Sorry to tease our readers but the full story behind today's photo has to be reserved for the 2009/10 edition of Time Out's Magazine For Visitors' To Croatia, due out in April/May 2009. Suffice to say that we had a very good reason, and an excellent local guide, to help us discover all that is best and unspoilt about Croatia's natural splendour. If there isn't the space to do it full justice in Time Out, amidst all the other competing areas of interest, Croatia Online readers can be assured of many more postings on the subject later on in 2009.

The photo is of the source of the River Cetina, which flows to the sea at Omiš. The pool is around 100 metres deep and fed by the snow from the nearby mountains.

Croatia Online - Royal Visit

Her Royal Highness, Princess Anne, made an official visit to Croatia this week, taking in a number of functions and activities in Zagreb and Split.

According to the Croatian media, the visit seems to have been very well received.

To a Croatia loving Brit it's a source of great pride that "the powers that be" have organised a visit to Croatia from such a senior member of the Royal Family. It's also a matter of continuing amazement as to how the British Royal Family, in general, manage to fit so much into a short space of time, and still appear genuinely interested in everyone they meet and everything they see.

President Mešić’s present to the Princess Royal was also of some interest - a pair of earrings made from "Šibenik Buttons". These are very ornate traditional buttons, often used on Klapa singers' costumes, and revived as an original souvenir of Croatia.

You can see more about the visit on the following links:

http://ukincroatia.fco.gov.uk/en/newsroom/hrh-the-princess-royal/

http://www.javno.com/en/foto.php?id=22&rbr=11556&idrf=517722

http://www.croatiantimes.com/index.php?id=2624

Finally, for Royalty and Croatia lovers, below is an extract from a small book Croatia Online's editor wrote, on Croatia, for Boat International.

Royalty in Croatia

In the early 1100’s Biograd was the crowning place of Hungarian Kings, but fame gave way to devastation not once, but twice. The Venetians razed it to the ground in 1115 and it was demolished again in 1646 as the inhabitants retreated from the Turks.

British Royalty has many links with Croatia, starting with Richard the Lion Heart who was shipwrecked off the coast when he returned from the Crusades. Zadar’s Royal significance is by virtue of its Maraschino, the cherry liqueur made by Maraska. Queen Victoria and George IV sent warships for it and the Prince of Wales, later to become King George VI, made a personal visit to the distillery in 1887 to collect his. More recently Rab became notorious when King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson allegedly took full advantage of its naturist beaches in 1936, before the abdication.

Today's photo shows Princess Anne at the Regent Esplanade in Zagreb meeting Martina Žubčić, a Taekwondo Expert, accompanied by Tomislav Kaznačić of the British Embassy in Croatia - source www.javno.com:Pixsell.

Croatia Online - Croatia in 2009?

It may be a little late to wish readers a happy New Year in the traditional sense but the Chinese have only just celebrated their New Year and that's our excuse!

After a longer than normal trip to the UK for the Christmas break, and a couple of weeks back in Croatia to catch up on the news, it's good to find a refreshing buzz to Croatia compared with the doom and gloom of America and Western Europe.

Croatia's banks didn't go mad on the fringes of the financial systems - derivitatives, or excessive risky lending for example - like many of their global counter parts, and thus do not have a banking system crisis of their own. Croatia seems likely, however, to be dragged into recession soon. Forecasts on growth figures vary but the picture is far less dire than the UK for example. That's not to say that Croatia doesn't have it's own problems - government debt is high and, as GDP shrinks, repayments and interest will be harder to meet and debt may grow further still. Later in the year it will also, no doubt, be more affected by financial contagion - the fall out of western Europe's problems to those it trade's with. Plus, most of Croatia's banks have foreign banks as parent companies who will, of course, be looking to tap their more liquid subsidiaries for cash.

Tourism is a big factor in Croatia's economy and opinions vary as to what that holds for 2009. Astutely, the Croatia National Tourist Board has increased its marketing spend significantly, and the optimists believe that those who have had to defer big spending decisions - new houses, cars and yachts - will still want to cheer themselves up with a holiday. Value for money will be the watchwords but that doesn't necessarily mean that there will be a resurgence of low budget holidays at the expense of more upscale treats. Travellers will just need a little bit more convincing that they are placing their trust with a reputable travel company, hotel or agency, and that their allocated budget will be well spent. Experts suggest that, in times of crisis, spenders in the luxury markets stick to well established brands with a strong heritage, and quality marketing. Wise Croatian company's in the tourism industry will therefore pick their marketing outlets carefully and make sure they offer customers good value at all budget ranges. The tourist board is advising hotels to maintain prices at last year's levels unless there have been improvements in facilities, and let's hope this good advice is heeded.

Croatia has never been a country to be sucked wholesale into western european hype - whether it be massive consumerism, reckless borrowing or financial wheeler dealing. Yes, we witnessed an increase in personal borrowing last year - on new cars for example - but traditional principles are still strong and lets hope that one of them - living within your means, and saving when you can - is not punished here like it seems to be in the rest of the world, whilst the converse is rewarded.

On the streets, certainly the Dalmatians, appear to be out in numbers as before, enjoying their coffee, as soon as the sun shines. In a region where resourcefulness is a strong part of the national make up, and the simple pleasures have not been overwhelmed or overtaken by technological ones, life seems to go on happily as before. Let's hope that endures!

And finally, those that have deferred buying their new yacht but still fancy a cruise around one of the best sailing destinations in the world, might want to try a charter in Croatia this year. To whet your appetite, why not get a copy of our Croatia Cruising Companion, covering the Dalmatian Coast and Islands - more information on our sister site - www.croatiacruisingcompanion.blogspot.com!

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Today's photo is of the new street furniture on Split Riva, provided to mark the World Handball Championship taking place in Croatia. The final is today - Croatia v France. Hopefully the winter cheer in Croatia will be cemented by a home team victory!

Croatia Online - Left Hand Drive Cars

Regular readers may remember our last posting on sourcing left hand drive cars in the uk. It's clearly a great boon to have one if you are spending a lot of time in foreign countries that drive on the right. However there are a few drawbacks:

1. You have to drive to England once a year for an MOT if you want to keep up your English insurance and that means keeping the tax disc current as well. You can get 3rd party insurance relatively easily in Croatia but some companies will plead ignorance. Also, with the new residency rules (see below), Croatian insurance is only issued for 6 months rather than a year as before, and of course it's not valid in the UK though you can get a green card for eg Montenegro. However, surprisingly, it's issued on the car at a fixed rate so they don't seem to mind who drives the car or what their history is.

2. As we discovered a couple of months ago, the wing mirrors are the "wrong way round" which means to get a new one they have to be imported and that takes time and money.

3. Most fundamentally and the real subject of todays posting, beware the problem of the aim of the headlights' beam when you go for that all important MOT - more details below.

There's no controversy over the fact that the aim of headlights for a car that's driven on the right is not satisfactory when driving on the left and vice versa. If not "fixed" it can be very distracting for oncoming cars and not very helpful to the driver. Most of us will remember painstakingly putting pvc tape over the headlights when we first went to France and a now more sophisticated version of that is normal practice the world over. However, understandably, the UK MOT requires that the beam is right for the UK. Fortunately, common sense as well as safety prevails at VOSA, responsible for administration of the MOT system, who say that a masking kit is acceptable, if the aim given is correct, though ideally a more permanent solution is preferable.

A major garage who, for the moment, we will not name pending a formal response to our request for clarification, does not accept the official guidance! They insisted that the only way our car would pass was to have new headlamp lenses at a cost of around £4oo let alone the cost of reversing the operation to go back to Croatia. They were directed towards section 1.6 of the inspection guidance manual, they were informed of a detailed phone call the writer had with VOSA MOT standards helpline (the ultimate authority) but still they refused to budge. More frustrating still they dealt the killer blow 15 minutes before we were due to pick the car up, as agreed with them, 45 minutes after the "ready time". The car was therefore withdrawn from this garage the following day, after several attempts to discuss the issue pragmatically, and placed with another one who knew of the problem and the more appropriate solution. Looking at the 'net, it's clear this is not an isolated problem. So.....

a) be armed with section 1.6 of the manual before you book your MOT

b) ask the question before you are "cornered" by a recalcitrant (at best!) garage and an expired MOT, preferably before you book the test

c) preferably get your masking kit before you get to England - it's easier to source and you'll be prepared for night driving

You'll find more information on MOT administration, etc on http://www.vosa.gov.uk/ and follow this link for section 1.6 of the MOT inspection manual guidelines - http://www.motuk.co.uk/manual_160.htm

Today's picture is unfortunately not of the "offending vehicle" but one being prepared for a wedding during the Šibenik regatta on St Nicholas' Day. For more photos of that go to our sister site http://www.croatiacruisingcompanion.blogspot.com/

Croatia Online - Zagreb Airport Handy Hotel

It may look pretty functional on the outside but Hotel Stella is a good option for those wanting to stay somewhere close to the airport, or near to Zagreb's exhibition centre, without wanting to brave city centre traffic and prices. On the main road to the airport, there's not too much else around but a walk through the back streets reveals a couple of nice cafes and an old wooden church. The helpful staff will send out for a pizza or something similar as the hotel facilities do not run to a fully fledged restaurant and the nearest restaurant is a long walk away. There is a bar however, and a smoking area near reception to help Croatian guests get over the shock of non smoking rooms.

Wireless internet is available although the complexity of the pricing structure is a little offputting at first, as is how to use it. You have to go onto the hotel website ignoring all sorts of security notices, but it works and it's better to go for more time than you need rather than paying high rates for the odd hour.

The rooms are modern and very well equipped - driving from the south the signs show four stars; from the north three. The rooms are definitely 4 star but the lack of peripheral facilities tends towards the three. There's ample free car parking for guests and, when we were there, the hotel manager was kind enough to let us leave the car behind for a few days rather than parking at the airport at 70 kunas a day (taxi 100 kunas/10 minutes). Even better there was none of the normal disgruntlement on the return taxi journey that you would get from a London cabby on a short run from Heathrow.

It's not cheap at 540 kn for single use of a double room, and 790kn for a double, breakfast included, but, compared with city prices for the same degree of comfort, it's a snip. The first impression is a rather efficient and cold set up but we had the chance to spend a few days there and the ice soon melted!

Hotel Website - www.hotel-stella.hr.

Croatia Online - Zadar's Newest Hotel

Zadar has been waiting a long time for a city centre hotel and Hotel Bastion appears to be worth the wait. Open in June 2008, the Slovenian architect, Jani Vosel has interpreted the brief of blending the best of old and new with impeccable flair. The four star, boutique hotel has 23 rooms, 4 apartments and a luxury apartment as well as a state of the art video conferencing room, restaurant, bar, small cardio vascular gym, and wellness area. The original stone is featured throughout, particularly in the wellness area, where the end of the stone floor marks the boundary of the 13th century fortress on which the hotel is built. Inside and outside you’ll also find some of the original stone catapault balls used to defend the fortress. The 60 cover restaurant, has a menu based around the freshest of fish – not surprising as the owner, has a fish shop in the market. The menu will change every three months, in tune with the seasons, and the chef is a prodigé of one of the best healthy food restaurants in Croatia – Kukuriku in Rijeka.

We're told that the Garden and Arsenal, both innovative venues in their own right, make excellent neighbours and any potential noise problems are mitigated by their skilful sound design and Bastion's double glazing. Bastion also has a ready answer to any parking concerns with 20 dedicated parking spaces just by the hotel. Seems like they have thought about everything.

Thanks to Hotel Bastion for today's photo.