The second oldest cruise ship in the world docked in the Port of Dubrovnik this morning, the MV Astoria. Constructed back in 1944 and launched in 1946 Astoria has had an eventful history; passing through several owners and now under the control of the UK based company Cruise & Maritime Voyages (CMV).

During seven decades of services Astoria has been renamed seven times and sailing under the name Stockholm she collided with the Andrea Doria which resulted with the Andrea Doria sinking at 46 passengers and crew losing their lives.

When she was originally launched in the Astoria was the largest ship ever built in Sweden and operated the North Atlantic route between the USA and the UK. Sadly this is cruise to Dubrovnik could be one of the last for the Astoria as it was announced that the final cruise with CMV would be on the 27 April 2017 from London.

At its meeting held on Tuesday, the 20th of September 2016, the City Council of the city of Sibenik adopted the complete amendments to the General Urban Plan (GUP) of the city area of Sibenik.

With these amendments the area of the Zablace peninsula, the location recently visited by the Hollywood actor Brad Pitt, was marked as a site for a mixed construction of accommodation facilities, reported RTL News.

''At the Zablace peninsula, more precisely at the location from the Mala Solina lake towards the sea, these new amendments to the GUP allow the construction of a hotel and apartment complex as well as the construction of villas with all the supporting infrastructure. The area includes about 50 hectares of land and is expected to be turned into a new ''tourist city'', said Madlena Rosa Dulibic, the head of the Urban Planning Department of the city of Sibenik.

During Brad Pitt’s recent visit to Zablace, accompanied by representatives of a Swiss holding company, it was quite certain that the popular actor was very much interested to become a co-investor, together with his business partners from Switzerland, in the construction of the ’’tourist city”, which value is estimated at nearly two billion Euros.

Thanks to the record breaking figures of Croatian airports this year, more new air carriers with new flights will be over Croatian skies in the near future.

Eurowings, a low cost subsidiary of Lufthansa, has announced the launching of new flights from its new base in Salzburg, Austria to Dubrovnik and Split for the summer season 2017. Flights will be operated twice a week on both routes starting from the 27th of March to Dubrovnik, and a day later to Split i.e. on the 28th of March 2017.

On the other hand, the Irish air carrier Aer Lingus, a subsidiary of International Airlines Group (IAG), has announced its plans to operate flights to Dubrovnik throughout the year. Dubrovnik Airport has already confirmed that the Irish airline, which maintains seasonal flights to Dubrovnik, will operate flights from Dublin throughout the winter.

Apart from local holidaymakers, the Irish carrier has carried a significant number of transfer passengers on the route Dublin-Dubrovnik throughout the whole summer primarily from and to the United States.

These new winter flights will be good news for the Croatian Diaspora in Ireland. As a result, Dubrovnik will become Aer Lingus’s only year-round destination in the country.

EduCentar, the Croatian website specializing in the promotion of educational programs, carried out a survey about reading habits of Croatian citizens in a period of one year.

Around 42 percent of survey participants read more than ten books in one year. Among their favourite genres were political literature, psychology and sociology.

''My goal is to read one book a month, but sometimes I read two'', said one of the survey participants, whilst others said that they read a lot more. ''Rarely a week goes by without reading at least one book'', said book lovers, whilst some of them improved their reading skills to perfection and they read three books a week.

''On average I read three books a month and I think that reading is very important for the development of vocabulary and one's education as well as general knowledge. Those who do not read really don't know what they are missing'', concluded one of the survey participants.

Around 19 percent of the respondents emphasized that they usually read ten books a year or two books a month on average, whilst 12 percent of them read around five books a year just for fun even though they ''would love to have more time for reading''.

A small number of respondents (14%) confessed that they read only three books in one year and stated that ''it is really a devastating figure, but that's the way things are''. One of the respondents commented, ''Let's be honest, I've read only two books in a year while I was on the beach during my summer vacation''.

On the other hand, some of the survey participants stated that they hadn't read any books within a year and that they generally didn't like reading. They consider it ''a waste of time'' because ''nowadays everything can be found on the internet''.

''The vocabulary can be developed in so many other ways, such as communicating with other people'', concluded book non lovers.

The seventh annual Dubrovnik Foreign Circle (DFC) second hand sale will be held on the weekend of the 1st and 2nd of October in the Lazareti complex just outside of the eastern entrance to the Old City of Dubrovnik.

The second hand sale, which is being organised in partnership with the Lazareti Art Workshop, always has a humanitarian character and this year the beneficiary will be for “Dva Skalina” an association for children with special needs. The DFC plans to raise funds to assist in purchasing an outdoor wheelchair swing.
Donation collection dates are:
Wednesday, September 28, from 10 am to 6 pm
Thursday, September 29, from 10 am to 6 pm
Friday, September 30, from 10 am to 6 pm
Drop off location is Lazareti and pick ups are available via phone appointment on Wednesday and Thursday only from 10 am to 1 pm. You need to give a call to 091-784-2777 to arrange a pick up.

As the DFC said in a statement “We accept adult, children and baby winter and/or summer clothing, shoes, accessories (jewellery, hats, bags etc.), household items (dishes, glasses, vases, paintings, small appliances etc.) As always, items must be in good condition and working order.”

The Dubrovnik Foreign Circle’s mission and vision is to actively serve the community by providing services that contribute to the health and vitality of the greater Dubrovnik Region. The organization’s goal is to provide friendship and understanding between its members and the Dubrovnik community at large by organizing cultural and social events. The Dubrovnik Foreign Circle engages in fundraising activities for the benefit of its community projects.

Foreign media have been full of news that Jamie Dornan, currently really popular because of his role of Christian Grey in Fifty Shades of Grey, will probably join the new Robin Hood: Origins crew. For a few months is been know that Jamie Foxx will play The Little John, but it seems that cast will be richer for a new superstar now, writes Movieweb.

Apparently, Jamie Dornan is in negotiations to play Will Scarlett, a prominent member of Robin Hood's Merry Men in the new Robin Hood movie. It is supposed to start filming in January in Budapest and should continue in Dubrovnik, at least that was said by the Mayor of Dubrovnik Andro Vlahusic few months ago.

- One thing that we can definitely confirm is that Robin Hood will come to Dubrovnik, in January and February next year we will see Robin Hood on the Stradun – said Vlahusic on one press conference, adding that it will be the biggest film production in Dubrovnik, and the “significantly more expensive than the Star Wars filming.” He also confirmed that more than a hundred people will be involved in the production.
It is rumored that Dubrovnik will be the location for Nottingham Castle; however exact dates of filming and locations have yet to be confirmed. The lead role of Robin Hood will be played by Welsh actor Taron Egerton, famous for his role in Kingsman: The Secret Service. His partner, Maid Marion, will be played by Irish actress Eve Hewson, who is the daughter of Bono from U2. Robin Hood: Origins will be directed by Otto Bathurst and produced by Leonardo di Caprio.

For Fifthy Shades of Grey fans these are the great news, because they might see ''Mister Grey'' in Dubrovnik right before they see him on the big screens in Fifthy Shades Darker, which hits the theatres February 10, 2017.

Guests that had a chance to enjoy the cruise ship journey can leave their opinions about the cruising destinations on the website Cruise critic and when it comes to Top-Rated Eastern Mediterranean destinations Dubrovnik has been on the second place. According to the cruisers' choice, Venice is on the first, and the rest are: Kotor, Mykonos and Istanbul. All rankings are based on member review ratings for ports from sailings taken August 1, 2015 to July 31, 2016.
Dubrovnik has more than 700 reviews which are mostly positive and that's why it's so high on the list. Since there are many cruisers coming during the year – we would be disappointed if there was any different result.

The Croatian government has recently approved the National Park on the island of Mljet to sign contracts worth almost 10 million Kunas for the construction of three tourist electric boats as environmentally friendly means of transport.

The boats will be built by the Zagreb company iCat in cooperation with the Riva company from Sibenik in order to help transport passengers on the Veliko Jezero and Malo Jezero (Big Lake and Small Lake) on the island of Mljet. Also these electric boats will not emit any gases harmful to the environment.

Tomislav Uroda, the director and co-owner of the Zagreb company iCat, said that the first boat would be delivered within one year after signing the contract, whilst the other two would be delivered the following year. He also explained that the boats were intended primarily for navigation in protected waters and that a 7,5 kW solar power plant integrated in the boat roof would provide eight hours of sailing at operating speed of five knots during the summer months. ''These electric boats will also have a built-in battery that will provide additional range of more than seven hours of sailing per day. They will be able to accommodate 54 passengers’’, concluded Tomislav Uroda.

Marta Srsen Strazicic, the director of the Mljet National Park commented that the electric boats for the National Park Mljet were just one more proof of their goal to make the national park as well as the entire island an area with minimal CO2 emissions. They already use electric and hybrid cars, and two electric tourist trains on the island.