The torrential rainfall that has fallen over the past few days all over Croatia has caused some dramatic scenes in one of the most visited national parks in the country, the Plitvice Lakes. In fact, the heavy rains caused the Upper and Lower lakes to be closed on Monday.

And the Great Plitvice waterfall has, thanks to the sheer amount of water, been hammering down in its full force these past few days causing visitors to marvel at the power of nature. According to the national park this amount of water flowing over the Great Waterfall is not a common sight and more proof of the pure strength of nature.

Check out this video of the waterfall in full flow on Monday.

The Croatian electric car company, Rimac, has signed a deal with Hyundai and Kia which will see around 80 million Euros jointly invested into the company. Rimac is certainly one of the bright stars of Croatian business and this latest investment will take the company to another level.

The cooperation agreement was signed at the headquarters of Rimac Automobili in Sveta Nedelja, just west of Zagreb, on Monday by the founder of Rimac Automobili, Mate Rimac, and the executive vice-chairman of Hyundai Motor Group, Euisun Chung, commented HINA. And it is believed the deal will see Hyundai invest 64 million and Kia 16 million.

"With the new collaboration underway, Hyundai Motor Group aims to speed up its transition towards Clean Mobility and position itself as a global leader in driving this change in the industry," the statement from Rimac added.

Rimac will work on developing an electric version of the Hyundai N sports car, as well as a high-performance electric fuel cell.
"Its start-up roots and abundant experience collaborating with automakers combined with technological prowess makes Rimac the ideal partner for us. We look forward to collaborating with Rimac on our road to Clean Mobility," commented Chung.

Clearly not everyone is in a relaxed and laid back mood when on holiday in Croatia, some tourists have a need for speed. A Ferrari was clocked doing an incredible 238.5 km/h on the A1 highway.

The speeding driver was caught on the 12th of May at 3:40pm. The Norwegian driver was clearly in a hurry to start his holiday; he has a souvenir of Croatia but probably not the one he wanted. He was fined for the driving offence and given a one-month ban from driving in the Republic of Croatia.

In the section of the A1 motorway where he was caught speeding the speed limit is 120 kilometres per hour, in other words he was almost doing twice the speed limit, and rather unsurprisingly he recorded the highest speed offence in the Dubrovnik area this week.   

The Mayor of Dubrovnik, Mato Frankovic, received an official visit from the Ambassador of Romania to the Republic of Croatia, Constantine-Mihail Grigorie, yesterday.

Ambassador Grigorie explained that Romania has very good relations with Croatia and that this year is the most intense and productive year in diplomatic relations between the two countries. He also expressed hope for the appointment of an honorary Romanian consul in Dubrovnik, and Mayor Frankovic said that this would be a great honour for the city as more and more Romanian citizens are visiting Dubrovnik.

Mayor Franković also stressed that Dubrovnik is interested in partnership and creating new connections, which is also proven by the excellent relations that Dubrovnik maintains and develops with all city friends.

The capital’s airport, Frano Tuđman Airport, welcomed its millionth passenger of 2019 yesterday, the earliest the airport has achieved this landmark in its entire history. In the 57-year history of the airport in Zagreb this million passenger mark hasn’t been reached quicker, proving that the capital is becoming one of Europe’s hot destinations.

In a statement the airport commented that “Congratulations to this year’s millionth passenger at Franjo Tuđman Airport, Jela Ravnjak, who arrived from Dublin on a Croatia Airlines flight. We are celebrating our earliest millionth passenger in the history of Zagreb airport, which confirms the continuous growth of passenger traffic.”

The Zagreb airport reached the millionth passenger mark a full 5 days before last year and this year the airport expects a 5 percent growth in passenger numbers annually.

Avengers: Endgame, the 22nd movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is breaking box-office records, from the highest opening weekend gross and the fastest cumulative grosses through $2 billion, but did you know that The Avengers actually have a Dubrovnik connection.

Costing an estimated $356 million to produce the latest Marvel superhero blockbuster draws to an end the battle between Ironman, Captain America, Thor, the Hulk and all the other superhero characters with the super villain Thanos. And one of these very superheroes has a Dubrovnik history.

The story of Captain America on the screen started back in 1944 with a black and white series and through the years this “all American” champion has appeared in many different guises, from cartoons to films.

In 1990 Marvel’s leading character flung his shield around the ancient stone walls of Dubrovnik as Captain America battled the villain Red Skull in Dubrovnik. Long before the Game of Thrones, Star Wars and Robin Hood used the stone façades as backdrops for blockbusters one of the Avengers was fighting evil on those same streets. Interestingly the final battle was recorded on the Lovrijenac Fortress, the same fort that acted as the Red Keep in Game of Thrones. 

Captain America in Dubrovnik 

Whereas the latest hit, Endgame cost $356 million the 1990 version of Captain America was considerably lighter with its budget, costing an estimated $10 million. And it isn’t only the budget that differs, the Dubrovnik Captain America was an absolute flop at the box-office, as opposed to the billions that Endgame is earning the 1990 flick saw a massive loss and only earned just over $10,000.

And the critics also panned it with the popular critic stating that “Lacking a script, budget, direction, or star capable of doing justice to its source material, this Captain America should have been left under the ice."

Whereas Chris Evans has brought millions to watch the adventures of Steve Rogers, the 1990 version starred Matt Salinger, and also starred Ronny Cox, more famous for his roles in Total Recall, Beverley Hills Cop and Deliverance, as the American President.

Captain America (Matt Salinger) and the American President (Ronny Cox) in Dubrovnik 

The Dubrovnik based superhero movie was a co-production between the Marvel Entertainment Group, Jadran Film and 21st Century Film Corporation.

Legendary British DJ Fatboy Slim had confirmed that he will perform in Dubrovnik this summer. Fatboy Slim, or Norman Quentin Cook, will perform in the iconic Dubrovnik club Culture Club Revelin on Tuesday the 23rd of July in what should be a spectacular gig. This isn’t the first time that this popular British DJ, who played at the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, has performed in Dubrovnik and the last time he was in the city he commented that “Dubrovnik is a fantastic place.”

Interestingly Fatboy Slim holds the Guinness World Record for the most top 40 hits under different names. He started his musical career as a bass player with “The Housemartins” and then went onto perform in various bands before going solo as Fatboy Slim.

The City of Dubrovnik as an investor has obtained the first building permit for the reconstruction and expansion of the Lapad coast. The investment is estimated at around 40 million Kuna, covering the area from the port of Batala to the Faculty of Economics.

The project ultimately foresees a two-way road on the Lapad coast, as opposed to the current one-way road. In addition to the reconstruction and extension of the road the project also includes a whole new drainage system as well as a new public lighting system and telecommunication network. Along the entire length of the road, on the left hand side, a new footpath will be installed, while the right hand side there will be a “green belt” and parking spaces.

Construction works are planned to start at the end of this year, and the whole project will be funded by the City of Dubrovnik and EU funds.