Santa Bikers rode through the regions of Konavle and Zupa yesterday. Members of the motorcycle clubs, “Two wheels,” and “Nomads,” donned Santa Claus outfits and distributed presents on their way. This, by now traditional, festive event is organized before Christmas and the bikers brought smiles to the faces of the children from kindergartens as they thundered past. They brought with them sweets and gift bags and handed them out to the children, in return the children sang Christmas carols.

After they had entertained the kindergarten children the bikers headed off to the Center for Rehabilitation “Josipovac,” where they were again greeted with smiling faces and Christmas wishes.

It’s a drum that I have been banging on for so long that I have forgotten the tune...and even why I started banging! “How long does it take to get to Podgorica?” came the question from an English friend down the phone. “It’s a good three hour drive…but why are you asking?” was my reply. I soon discovered that he had friends visiting him and they had found that the best, or should I say cheapest and only, way to get to Dubrovnik in winter was through the capital of Montenegro.

Of course this immediately raised my eyebrows and my suspicions. Why were English tourists flying to Podgorica to get to Dubrovnik? Some online research and I discovered that the most famous low cost airline in the world, Ryanair, was flying from London twice a week throughout the winter months and of course at ridiculously low prices. The drum that I have been banging is the winter tourism in Dubrovnik drum. It seems that every year we circle around with the same problems, the same complaints and more importantly the same lack of solutions. Not only that but with all this work and research we are actually going backwards. If people can’t get here then we are still at square one. As a good friend explained to me the other day, “with any event the very first step is to get the registration,” he was right. You can make the best event in the world but if the doors are bolted shut then you are basically organizing it for yourself. Why did I say we are going backwards? Well just a few years we had direct links to two important European hubs, London and Frankfurt.

Why are these important? It is clear that we can’t have links to fifty destinations as we do in the summer, so the next best thing is to have links to two of the busiest European hubs. By having London you are open to tourists from the West and from Frankfurt you have the East. We were somewhere near working to that solution. We had, and I emphasize the word had, flights with Croatia Airlines to Frankfurt in the winter and three flights a week to London with British Airways. Although this was far from perfect it was at least a start. We had the chance to get tourists in rooms and spend money. However this is all in the past. As of this winter we have no direct flights to Frankfurt…so we have lost the East….and British Airways have dropped to one flight a week through the winter with no flights at all in January or February…we have lost the West. When I tried to book flights with British Airways to London to go and see my parents for Christmas I was greeted with the message “You may have requested a route that we do not operate at that time of year.” And yet we are trumpeting the Dubrovnik Winter Festival as an event to attract tourists out of the summer months. Who? Why? When? Who do we expect to market this event to? Are we hoping that people will drive or walk to Dubrovnik? Maybe we should start to attract hitchhikers! Let’s make the Dubrovnik International Hitchhiking Winter Festival. Or maybe extend the length of the Dubrovnik International Half Marathon to be a 1,000 mile marathon, with a start in London and the finish line on the Stradun. Why actually make a winter festival? Really why, I don’t understand the reasons or the goals. And when, why wait so long before organizing such a festival. When we had “regular” winter flights to Frankfurt and London we didn’t have a winter festival, and now that we don’t have any flights we have started a winter festival.

The moment has gone, the horse has run off into the distance and yet we have just started printing the advertising posters. Our timing is terrible. I am not saying the winter festival is a bad idea, far from it, it’s just seems we are waving the flags after the parade has finished. “The right thing at the wrong time is the wrong thing,” said the author Joshua Harris. So this is how I came to be searching for flights with Ryanair from Podgorica this winter. I am living in one of the most visited, most recognized and most famous cities in this region and yet I am forced to take a three-hour drive to Montenegro. I would not define this as progress. If we are serious about attracting tourists in the winter then let’s get serious…if not let’s just hang up a “closed” sign on the door. Either option is viable, what isn’t viable is pretending we want winter tourism and I have to drive to Montenegro!

Text - Mark Thomas 

I just love the Elaphite islands! I’m guessing it’s probably because I’ve always had a great time when I visit them. It’s hard to say which one I like the most, they’ve all got their own special qualities. This week it’s all about the island of Lopud, a true island in the sun. If you are on the ferry from Dubrovnik then Lopud is the second largest island that you’ll pass. It’s a real green island; Mother Nature was having a good day when she passed over Lopud. A mere thirty minute ferry ride from the hustle and bustle of Dubrovnik and you’re a world away in an oasis.

A short ferry ride on the old workhorse Postira and we were miles away from the hustle and bustle of Dubrovnik. By the way if you thought you had a good IQ then try to understand the Jadrolinija timetable, I’m sure that they’ve gone out of their way to make the timetable as complicated as possible. The beautiful island of Lopud is situated northwest of the city Dubrovnik and is a part of the Elafiti islands. The Elafiti islands seen from Dubrovnik to the north are Daksa, Kolocep, Sv. Andrija, Lopud, Ruda, Sipan, Jakljan, Tajan and Olipa. Most of these islands are very small and uninhabited. The islands Kolocep, Lopud and Sipan are the only inhabited islands. Lopud lies between the other two islands and is, in our opinion, the most beautiful. Lopud has an area of 4,63 km2, the highest point is Polacica at 216 meters. According to the latest census Lopud has around 220 inhabitants. The village of Lopud lies on northwest side of the bay and has a view across to the island of Sipan. Two hills are connected by a beautiful valley where a footpath goes through to the bay called Sunj on the other side of the island. The Sunj bay is famous for its swimming pleasure and is certainly worth a visit. Sunj beach is one of the kind on the Adriatic, maybe even the whole Mediterranean.

One of the best beaches in the region
It is a sandy beach spreading across the whole bay with knee deep water reaching as far as 100 meters of the beach, ideal for children and for playing all sorts of water sports, mainly picigin, Dubrovnik's favorite summer sport. The sea in Sunj bay and other Lopud beaches, like in the whole of Dubrovnik Riviera, is Mediterranean warm and crystal clear, except on Sunj where it's a little warmer because it is a shallow sandy beach. The bay is almost round with a narrow entrance, totally filled with white sand and gets deeper only very slowly. This is an ideal spot for little children. At this side of the island there are enough possibilities to get something to eat or have a cool drink and there are also sun beds and beach umbrellas for hire. The northeast side of the island is not easy accessible by the rocks and steep cliffs. The island has a coastline of 11,5 km, of which 1,2 km are sandy beaches. Also, the village by the harbour has a sandy beach.

Flora and fauna
While the island annually has over 2584 hours of sun with its own freshwater wells it is covered by many verdure, trees, bushes and plants and many of palm trees. The park is very well known as a former garden of a villa from the 19th century, where plants collected from over the world such as bamboo and various types of cacti grow. The island has already been inhabited for thousands of years and you can find a lot of old Greek, Roman and old Slavic buildings and ruins. According to the Dubrovnik historian Razzi, in 16th century Lopud had 30 churches, a vast number of Dubrovnik aristocracy summer manors, several monasteries and greater population. Today on Lopud you can see numerous remains of early-medieval churches, summer manors and fortifications. You can also visit a Francisian monastery from 1483 with a cloister and a defence tower with walls. The monastery holds many valuable art works in its church of St. Mary of Spilica, with works of Pietra da Giovanni, Nikola Božidarević, Girolama da Santacroce, Bassana and many others. You can also visit the church of Our Lady of Sunj which is a cultural monument with many valuable paintings. Lopud next to Lokrum is Dubrovnik's most treasured and most visited tourist excursion destination. It is also very convenient to visit as ferries leave from the harbour of Gruž on a regular basis. Lopud is certainly well worth a visit, even just for a day trip, to see the day to day life on a typical Dubrovnik island, life in the slow lane.

Cookies in the shape of the iconic Dubrovnik City Walls, an ingenious idea and a very original souvenir, the best ideas are often the simplest. The brainchild behind these tasty treats is the Sardi family, yes it’s a local family business as well, and as well as the unique cookies they also have some very interesting test-tubes!

“The idea was created in collaboration with my son Antonio who works with 3D printers,” said Nina Sardi. “We came up with the idea of creating cake moulds in the shape of the Old City of Dubrovnik, my mother makes fantastic dough and our friend decorates the cookies. Thanks to the 3D printer we have created not only these cake moulds but also test tubes filled with honey which has names and objects inside. For example we have designed test tubes filled with honey with the names of newlyweds inside, as well as the date of the wedding, which they have then given to guests,” added Sardi.

Apart for honey the family business also fills these attractive tubes with twenty various spices. “I do not like the question of how we thought of packaging spices in test tubes, it just came to us. Even though we have been producing these spices for over ten years they are still very popular and attractive to people. Sage, rosemary, myrtle and many other herbs and spices look even more attractive in the tubes. We are often visited by tourists who have researched and found us, and once they find us they always come back which makes us all extremely happy,” adds Nina Sardi. She went on to say that when tourists visit her for the first time she always explains the spices and herbs, along with a tasting. During the summer season Nina delights tourists with her homemade yogurt and honey which she serves from her shop next to the Rupe Museum in the Old City.

Great ideas and wonderful authentic souvenirs from Dubrovnik.