When it comes to all sort of lists connected to travel destinations, Dubrovnik has the luck to be on most of them. However, the latest list that included our city is not so flattery.

CNN Travel published an article with 12 destinations that travelers might want to avoid this year.

-Tourism backlash has been in full effect over the last 12 months, with several destinations announcing they'd had enough of foreign visitors flooding their streets or disrupting their fragile ecosystems. Unsurprisingly, this has posed a a dilemma for mindful travelers planning their next vacation – writes CNN, adding that their list bring places that concious tourists might want to think twice about visiting in 2018.

And there it is – Dubrovnik. Located (on purpose or randomly, we don't know) on the third place of the list, just after Isle of Skye (Scotland) and Barcelona (Spain).

-With UNESCO threatening to take away its World Heritage status due to extreme overcrowding, Dubrovnik has decided to take drastic measures in order to cut tourist numbers.The city is capping the number of people who can scale its 15th century ramparts at 4,000 a day -- 10,388 did so in one day alone bay in August 2016, many drawn by the city's starring role in "Game of Thrones'' – writes CNN. They also add the plan of the Dubrovnik Mayor to cut the number of cruise ships.
Their suggestion is – if you really want to go – to travel independently and spend freely at local businesses that often miss out on money from those on cruisers.

They also give a hint to stay in Cavtat, ''which has a picturesque old town and empty beaches, perfect for escaping the crowds''.

TUI Airlines, the airline of the TUI tourist group, will introduce three new lines for Dubrovnik coming from French cities, Deauville, Lyons and Nantes in the summer of 2018 – Avioradar reports. 

The Dubrovnik-Deauville line will only operate in the pre-season, in May, once a week every Saturday, from April 28th to June 2nd.

The second line, from Lyon, will fly the route Lyon - Podgorica - Dubrovnik - Lyon. It will also operate once a week, every Saturday from May 12nd to October 13th.

The third route, Nantes - Podgorica - Dubrovnik - Nantes, will also operate once a week, every Thursday, from May 24th to October 11th.

TUI lines from Lyon, Nantes, Paris and Toulouse for Split will be same as last year. The only change will be on the Lille line. This line will be connected with Podgorica, so the Boeing 737-700 aircraft will fly on a new route Lille - Podgorica - Split - Lille once a week every Sunday, from May 20th to October 14th . Other lines for Split remain unchanged.

Also, Deauville - Brac line will operate during this summer too, but will be in traffic every Saturday instead of Tuesdays and will continue to opearte when the Deauville line ends for Dubrovnik, or more precisely – from June 16th to October 6th.

The jubilee 10th edition of theThe Ligue Européenne de Natation (LEN) Awards features the greatest European stars of the aquatic disciplines who enjoyed another outstanding year. And we are proud to say that one of them is from Dubrovnik! 

The Croatian Water Polo Team and Jug goalkeeper Marko Bijac is the best water polo player in 2017. The only Croat who has so far won the Water Polo Award of the Year was Miho Boskovic back in 2012.

-Marko Bijac played a pivotal role in Croatia’s World Championships triumph (and he came second with Jug Dubrovnik in the Champions League) – it's stated at the LEN official website.

Bijac is the second goalkeeper in the history of this election who received the award (the first Italian is Stefano Tempesti) and this year he’s the only Croatian.

The Ligue Européenne de Natation (LEN) was founded in Budapest in 1926. It is the oldest continental federation governing and coordinating the aquatic sports.

                                        Photo by Tonci Vlasic

Real estate prices in the European Union slightly accelerated in the third quarter of 2017, in comparison to the same period the year before, whilst their growth slowed slightly in Croatia, shows data from the European Statistical Office (Eurostat).

According to Eurostat data for the third quarter of last year, real estate prices in the EU increased by 4,6 percent compared to the same period of 2016, whilst in Croatia they increased by 3,8 percent compared to the same period of 2016.

Furthermore, among the EU member countries, the highest growth in real estate prices at the annual level was recorded in the Czech Republic (12,3%), followed by Ireland (12%) and Portugal (10,4%).

A decline in real estate prices was recorded only in Italy, 0,9 percent in comparison to the third quarter of 2016.
Croatia’s real estate prices in the third quarter of 2017 increased by 0,6 percent in comparison to the previous quarter when they increased by 3,7 percent, said the Eurostat report.

In the period from July to September 2017, lower real estate prices on a quarterly basis recorded only Romania (1,6%), Finland and Italy (0,5%) and Cyprus (0,3%).

High blood pressure or hypertension is one the sneakiest diseases in the world today. Some studies show that this disease causes one of eight deaths in the world.

According to a survey published by The Economist from the notable scientific magazine Lancet, Croatia is among the countries with the highest number of high blood pressure patients.

Dr Nediljko Pivac, a cardiologist from Split, commented that in Croatia men aged 40 to 50 years suffer from hypertension. When it comes to Croatian women, when they enter the period of menopause, the risk of suffering from high blood pressure increases, thus, women aged 65 years and older suffer from disease more than Croatian men.

‘’Around 47,5 percent of all deaths in Croatia are caused by cardiovascular diseases’’, said Dr Pivac.

According to the latest survey, the highest number of hypertension cases was recorded in Slavonia, followed by Dalmatia, which was quite unexpected given the fact that Dalmatian cuisine is one of the healthiest in the world. It seems that more and more people are buckling under the pressure of the fast lifestyle of today.

‘’A silent killer’’ as is usually attributed to hypertension, affects between 16 and 37 percent of the population globally. In 2010 hypertension was believed to have been a factor in 18 percent of all deaths (9,4 million globally).

According to the popular German automobile club ADAC, Croatia is the third on the list of favourite camping destinations among Germans.

The Croatian region of Istria is the most desirable regional destination among German motorists for the eighth year in a row. The popularity of Istria increased by 1 percent in comparison to last year, to a 13 percent of the share. Way behind Istria is Lago di Garda in Italy (5,2% share) and Dalmatia (5% share), whilst Italian camping spots Veneto and Friuli placed in the fourth place with 3,9 percent share.

Every year ADAC carries out a survey on travelling by car to a vacation among 170,000 routes made by ADAC’s experts for its members. The survey covers data on the use of the ADAC Maps Routenplaner for marking itineraries from Germany to destinations where Germans spend their holiday.

Out of a sample of 1,3 million inquiries made by ADAC Maps Routenplaner users, around 13 percent of them referred to Istria as the most sought after region.

In the category of countries, Croatia placed as the third auto destination with a 7,6 percent share, behind Germany leading the way with a 27,6 share and Italy with 18,1 percent share, but ahead of countries such as Austria (6,8 % share) and Turkey (6,2 % share).

Croatia was also ranked third of the list of favourite German camping destinations, after Italy and Germany, and ahead of France and Spain.

Day of Saint Blaise, the patron saint of Dubrovnik, is one of the most important events in the city od Dubrovnik. Thousands of citizens and their guests rush to the Old City on the February 3rd in order to participate in this traditional and beautiful day. 

That's why it's good to know that just today Mayor of Dubrovnik, Mato Frankovic, sent a notice that all the buses that drive to the historical city of Dubrovnik will be free of charge on February 2nd from 2pm and during the day St. Blaise Festivity and the Day of the City, February 3rd.

If you want to discover more about Dubrovnik patron saint, be sure to check Five things you didn’t know about St. Blaise.

It certainly isn’t every day that the BBC writes about “fjaka,” in fact we doubt that they have ever written about it before. But in an article entitled “Dalmatia’s Fjaka State of Mind” they have broken the mould. For those of you who were still wondering a fjaka is basically an afternoon nap or a siesta, and it is extremely popular in the summer months in laid back Dubrovnik.

The writer Kristin Vuković explains in his article for the BBC that a fjaka is “a sublime state in which a human aspires for nothing.” This recent article on the BBC Travel section has certainly received lots of feedback.

Check out the full article here