Football mania has officialy started in Dulcic Masle Pulitika Gallery last night, just one more day before Fifa World Cup starting in Russia. It's called 'Football in Croatian Painting' and this is the first exhibition to show how much painters have been inspired by football; so-called "second most important thing in the world".

In the period of one month, from June 13th to July 8th, in the Dulcic Masle Pulitika Gallery all interested will be able to see 25 works of 17 Croatian painters: from classics of Ivo Dulcic, Ljubo Babic and Omer Mujadzic to contemporary authors such as Tomislav Buntak, Boris Svaljek, Boris Bucan, Josko Eterovic and Grgur Akrap.

The ball and its simple circular shape with magical power attract millions of views of all skin colors: yellow, black, white; by wiping out every racial, social and national specificity, and playing football is a kind of social phenomenon pervaded by numerous emotional and psychological components. These strong emotional reactions attracted a number of fine artists.

Photo by Zeljko Tutnjevic

Croatian Tourist Board organized the Golden Pen for the 14th year in the row, where they gave awards and recognition to foreign journalists and bloggers. This year's award ceremony was held in Osijek, and the entire program, including a three-day study tour of 32 foreign journalists and bloggers, from 12th to 15th of June, includes a tour of Osijek, Dalj, Erdut, Kopacki rit, Dakovo and numerous other tourist attractive Slavonian localities. In addition to the Croatian Tourist Board as the holder and the main organizer, this year is partner and host is the Tourist Board of Osijek-Baranja County.

-Croatia is nowadays positioned as a very attractive tourist destination where everyone can find content for themselves. Our goal is to keep the position of the popular destination, helping us to provide quality, professional and objective articles and reviews from foreign journalists and bloggers. With these awards, we want to acknowledge their work and emphasize the importance of media releases that for many are a significant source of information when choosing their destinations. We have been targeting Osijek and Slavonia this year because we want to give special emphasis to promoting the Croatian continental tourist offer, which has great potential in realizing all-year tourism – said Croatian Tourist Board director Kristjan Staničić.

The nominations by category for Golden Pen, for materials from 2017, were received from the Croatian Tourist Board's offices abroad, and that are the entries in the category for best publication in the press, online edition, TV publication, radio announcement and blog post. Nominations have come from a number of European markets such as Germany, Slovenia, Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland, Italy, France, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands, Hungary, Slovakia, Sweden, Estonia, Russia and Ukraine and from the United States. This year, 29 nominations were received, 11 in the category for publication in the press, 3 for online publication, 7 for blog posting, 7 for TV publishing and 1 for radio announcement nominations. 32 delegates from foreign media participated in the ceremony and on the study trip around Slavonia and Baranja.

However, as every year, the most important award is the Grand Prix, which is awarded in three categories: the best media reportage (magazines, newspapers), the best electronic media report (TV, radio or online material) and the best blog post (bloggers). This year's winners of the Grand Prix Prize for best media reportage are Christine Hinkofer and Beate Winterer of Germany's Münchner Merkur, who last year participated in a study trip through Slavonia, which resulted in three reports on Slavonia, which is presented to German readers in as "The Most Beautiful Croatian Secret." The series continued with a reportage called "Slawonien und die Glücksformel" (Slavonia and the Prescription of Happiness), which came out in April 2017 and the reportage "Kroatien für Entdecker" (Croatia for Researchers), published in October 2017.

The Grand Prix for the best electronic media report goes to Slovenia. Mojca Mavec and Jan Vasiljevic from the national Slovenian television RTV SLO won the award with five-sequel series presented in the "Good morning" show, which featured the destinations of Vukovar-Vinkovci-Ilok-Zupanija and Bjelovar-Bilogora, Medimurje, Krapina-Zagorje and Karlovac County.

The winner of the award for the best blog post was Nina Ragusa from Great Britain, who visited Croatia in June 2017. The result of the trip is the publication of a detailed seven-day guide through Croatia covering the areas of Pula and Plitvice Lakes to Split, Omis and Makarska. In addition to the guide, she also published an article focusing on proposals for the adventurers in Split and Omis. She also made quality photographs that had very positive reactions of her followers. Nina won the award for a blog called Architecture to Adventure, or for the release of "An Epic One-Week Road Trip Croatia Itinerary".

Busy day is expected in Dubrovnik, , according to the cruisers schedule published on the official page of Port Dubrovnik. This Thursday is marked with red colour, which means that over 7500 passengers are expected.

According to the schedule, four cruise ships will arrive to Dubrovnik – MSC LIRICA, AIDAblu, OOSTERDAM, and MSC SINFONIA. First two already arrived around 6 am, OOSTERDAM is expected at 8, while MSC SINFONIA is supposed to come at 1 pm.

During the days like this, it’s normal to expect traffic jams and big crowds in the Old City. However, because of the works of the City Government, days like this are more bearable than before.

If you want to avoid the crowds, Sunday might be perfect for visiting the Old City. Friday and Saturday are marked with yellow colour, which means that between 3500 and 7500 cruise ship passengers are expected, Sunday is green with less than 3500 passengers expected, while the next red day is – next Thursday.

Drivers were really surprised to see one weird car accident in Zupa Dubrovacka today. The photo that was sent by reader to Dubrovacki Vjesnik is really bizarre – car standing vertically against the wall, just as it tried going up and failed.

However, according to the Police, it seems that the car brake went off and it went down, all through the protective fence, left hanging on the wall.

It's easier to laugh at photo when we know that there was only material damage and luckily no one was injured – car was empty and it didn't hit any other cars on the road.

Whenever we feel like we need some beauty in our life, we take a walk through the streets of Dubrovnik, visit one of the beaches or – search for beautiful videos on Youtube.

One of the newest Dubrovnik drone videos caught our eye. Made by Marco Nieuwenhuis and DJI Mavic Pro drone, it shows different shots of Dubrovnik from the air.

It's always amazing to see Dubrovnik that way, but what really enchanted us it the clear, blue sea. What a beautiful way to remind ourselves about the beauty that surrounds us and to share it with all of you. Enjoy!

Consumption of cocaine in Croatia is growing, but there is also a problem with the growth in the number of new psychoactive drugs, for which is not still sure what kind of consequences they have on health - the head of the Government Drugs Prevention Office Zeljko Petkovic said before the thematic session of the Parliamentary Committee on Health and Social Policy, at which the European Drugs Report for 2018 will be presented – Jutarnji.hr reports. 

. As in the European Union, there has been an increase in cocaine consumption in Croatia, which is unfortunately much clearer and clearer. In the last two to three years, there has been record production and market bombing with new cocaine quantities - Petkovic said, adding that in recent years there was an increase in opium production in Afghanistan, as well as an increase in raw opium processing in Europe.

With the increase in production, availability also increases, and the problem is also online market.

As a problem, Petkovic has also extracted new psychoactive drugs whose number is growing and whose prevalence according to the latest data is about 7 percent. -About 650 different substances are currently being monitored in Europe, and the biggest problem is that no one knows the consequences of consumption – Petkovic said.

As for marijuana, he said, it is the most prominent drug in the European market, and over 70 percent of the European drug market is related to that drug.

Chairman of the Health and Social Policy Committee Ines Strenja Linic pointed out that the drug market is very complex and requires an interdisciplinary approach.

-In 2016, compared to 2015, the number of drug seizures increased by 25 percent in Croatia, saying that this is something we have to fight and face - she said, Jutarnji.hr reports.

Emergency call center 112 recieved a call from the citizen of United Kingdom on Monday around 1 pm. 61 year old tourist was lost on the hill of Goricina above Kupari.

The caller found himself on the unobtrusive field and couldn't get down, so he asked for help.

Croatian Mountain Rescue Service reacted quickly and nine members were sent to help the lost tourist. At 1:55 pm, just around hour after the call, they found the lost British tourist and handed im over to emergency medical help.

It's time for summer holidays and while some have their vacations planned already, some are waiting for the very last moment to choose their destination. Since we all connect summer with beach, sea and sun (sometimes cocktails), the greatest way to choose a perfect holiday might be seeing which beaches made it to the top 10 of the best beaches in Europe. 

Express has recently shared a list made by the hotel search engine Hotelscan.com and in the top of the 10 of the best beaches in Europe – two of them are in Croatia. And what makes us really happy – one is in Dubrovnik!

The choice is here – Zlatni Rat Beach, located on the island of Brac and Banje Beach in Dubrovnik.

- The tip of the tongue-shaped beach often changes shape and direction thanks to wind and sea The white beach is popular with adventure seekers who windsurf and boat in the region, so watersports fans can easily spend the day – writes Express about Zlatni Rat.

And when it comes to Banje Beach, they say:

-As the closest beach to the old town, it is a popular choice for people staying in Dubrovnik. While often very busy, it is a welcome escape from the built-up streets for the day.

Are you packing your bags for Croatia already?