Mark Thomas - The editor and big chief of The Dubrovnik Times. Born in the UK he has been living and working in Dubrovnik since 1998, yes he is one of the rare “old hands.” A unique insight into both British and Croatian life and culture, Mark is often known as just “Englez” or Englishman. He is a traveller, a current affairs freak and a huge AFC Wimbledon fan.
Email: mark.thomas@dubrovnik-times.com
According to a new study carried out by the Ministry of Health the most commonly used drug in Croatia is cannabis and at least one if five Croatians have used drugs at some point in their lives.
"In 2017, a total of 7,157 people were treated for drug abuse by the health care system, or slightly up by 0.7 percent, from 2016," commented Tomislav Dublibic, a senior official in the Ministry of Heath when presenting the findings. Programmes to treat addiction in long time users involved 957 patients in 2017, which was 24 percent up from 2016.
The night sky in Župa glowed red last night as a forest fire broke out at around 9.00pm. The fire, which occurred in grassland above the village of Soline, burned for around an hour before the 31 firefighters, who were on the scene quickly, extinguished it.
According to information from the Dubrovnik Fire Brigade the fire broke out in low grassland and no homes were at danger.
The cause of the fire is not yet known, however as it was close to a busy road the possibility of a driver throwing a cigarette butt out of the window can’t be ignored.
Croatia’s industry finished 2018 on a low note as industrial output was one of the lowest across the whole of the European Union, according to Eurostat.
Across the whole of the European Union industrial output dropped by 2.7 percent, and one of the biggest losers was Croatia. In December 2018 Croatia saw a 6.6 percent drop in industrial output compared to the same month from 2017. Inside the European Union only Spain and Ireland experienced bigger drops in December 2018.
On the other side of the coin Denmark with a massive 14.3 percent increase, Hungary with a 5.8 percent increase and Estonia with a 5.7 percent increase were the biggest winners.
Industrial production figures published by Eurostat are used to measure changes in the volume of output of the industrial sector, which includes all manufacturing, mining, and utilities.
One of the largest and most prestigious department stores in the UK is either preparing for Brexit by showing their geographical ignorance or is in serious need of an atlas, Google maps or Wikipedia. Dubrovnik has once again inspired a brand, this time a designer swimsuit which is sure to be a hit this summer across the beaches of Europe, however the marketing is more than a little disappointing.
Selfridges have advertised a new line of swimwear designed by one of the UK’s leading bikini creators, Heidi Klein, and have made rather an embarrassing mistake with the description of one particular swimsuit. Named “Dubrovnik lace-up striped swimsuit,” (yes, even swimsuits are being named after Dubrovnik now) the swimsuit looks stylish and classic. But the description leads a lot to be desired as Selfridges clearly state that Dubrovnik, and not Zagreb, is the capital of Croatia.
Here is the description from the Selfridges website in full on the Dubrovnik lace-up stripped swimsuit - As the name suggests, Croatia’s capital inspires the maritime mood of Heidi Klein’s Dubrovnik swimsuit. A classic combination of nautical stripes explores life on the ocean waves in a softly textured, super-lightweight fabric. Neat lace-up details at the reverse are signatures of the label and ones that bring playfulness to the sea-faring look. Grab one of this summer’s basket bags and it’s all aboard the jet ski.
And as the Dubrovnik inspired swimsuit, which will probably be all the rage this summer on the beaches, will set you back a whopping £220.00 you would have thought the marketing department would have enough left over to invest in an atlas…globe…or just an internet connection and Wikipedia.
And yes we did check if Selfridges deliver to Croatia, to the real capital Zagreb and to Dubrovnik 660 kilometres from the actual capital. And they stated that delivery to Croatia is possible, let’s just hope their delivery department is better at geography than the marketing one. Delivery to Croatia takes around 4 days and “here are no import taxes, duties or charges when shipping to the European Union. You will never have to pay any additional fees when your order arrives.” Another text that might need attention after Brexit.
The first ever IKEA delivery centre opened in Dubrovnik today. Located in the Spiona Centre in Župa, on the second floor, the new delivery centre will make it easier for IKEA customers to collect their goods. The Swedish furniture and home furnishings chain has a mega store on the outskirts of Zagreb as well as other delivery centres dotted around the country.
The Dubrovnik IKEA officially opened for business today and from now on IKEA customers in the wider Dubrovnik region will be able to order online, or in fact directly at the store in Zagreb, and have their order delivered to Dubrovnik. The delivery cost of an order up to 30 Kilos is 39.00 Kuna and up to 1 ton 99.00 Kuna. Once ordered online the delivery takes around 3 to 4 days to arrive in Dubrovnik and customers will receive an email and SMS that their items have reached Dubrovnik. Or IKEA will deliver directly to your door for 299.00 Kuna.
The IKEA delivery centre in Dubrovnik is open on weekdays from middy to 8.00pm and on Saturdays from 8.00am to 4.00pm and is closed on Sundays.
And with so many private apartments in the wider Dubrovnik region that rent to foreign tourists throughout the summer this is a great opportunity to furnish your apartment at reasonable prices.
“Through the opening of delivery centre in Dubrovnik, IKEA wants to additionally approach its products and solutions to the customers in Croatia and enable them savings. The delivery centres at the coast, in Rijeka and Split, followed by the one in Osijek, were opened earlier. IKEA continues now to explore the ways through which it can make its offer even more accessible to the many people in Croatia,” stated IKEA to The Dubrovnik Times.
The island of Brač will have direct flights from Ukraine this summer with the Ukrainian airline SkyUp Airlines announcing flights twice a week. According to the airline the flights will start on the 1st of June and last until September and will connect Brač with Kiev. These twice weekly flights mark a new market for the island of Brač.
“After local business owners on Brač and Split went to Ukraine last year in search of workers for the upcoming tourist season the opportunity for direct flights opened up,” commented the director of the Brač Airport, Tonči Peović to The Dubrovnik Times. “We still don’t have the exact details from the Ukrainian airline but if all goes to plan then we look forward to once again developing the tourism of the island of Brač with this new operation,” added Peović.
SkyUp airline received a license to fly to European union countries in October of last year and is clearly looking for more destinations in Croatia. When they received the all clear from the European Union SkyUp commented on their social media page that “We are pleased to announce that SkyUp has passed the TCO procedure, having received permission to fly to European countries! Now the sky of Europe is open for us.” In 2016, SkyUp became a registered company in Kyiv, Ukraine and the company began charter flights from the end of May 2018.
SkyUp has three Boeing 737-800’s and one B737-700, and has plans to increase the number of aircraft in their fleet.
This will be the first time that Brač has had direct flights to the Ukraine and in a statement the airport added that "We hope that sales will be satisfactory and we look forward to our first flights from Ukraine."
With its relatively close proximity to Split and the island of Hvar the airport on Brač has seen a solid growth in passenger numbers in recent years and with the opening of new destinations, such as Ukraine, this year should be just as impressive.
Croatia’s marriage rate is higher than the European Union average. Across the EU the average number of married couples per 1,000 inhabitants was 4.3, whilst in Croatia that number is slightly higher at 4.9.
The highest figure inside the European Union was Lithuania which in 2017 saw 7.5 marriages per 1,000 inhabitants, followed by Romania with 7.3 and Cyprus and Latvia both with 6.8, according to figures published by Eurostat.
At the other end of the scale the countries with the lowest marriage rates were Slovenia with only 3.1 marriages per 1,00 inhabitants and Luxembourg with 3.2, followed by Portugal with 3.3. And although the marriage rate in Croatia was higher than the EU average it was placed only 14th of the complete EU list.
The Catholic Church in Croatia is under pressure to release their financial records. The non-governmental transparency watchdog Gong has stated that all of the financial records of the Catholic Church should be public, just as any other non-profit organisation in the country. Although it is law for all non-profit organisations to release their financial details the Catholic Church has still yet to comply.
Gong said that by refusing to review a series of treaties signed with the Holy See in the 1990s, the Croatian government has missed the opportunity to raise the issue of the financing for the Catholic Church, which is entirely funded from the state budget.
"There is no precise data on Church financing which is funded from the state budget. According to figures provided by the government, the Church gets around 600 million Kuna (€80.8 million) every year from the state budget, although no data for spending at the local level is available. When donations received from believers, and also allocations from abroad, are added in, the total amount is much higher, but not specified anywhere," said Gong in a press release.
And Gong added that although all non-profit organisations are required to release their financial details religious organisations are not required to release their revenue or even keep financial records.
Dubrovnik is one of the only diocese that actually publish their financial details, the Bishop of Dubrovnik, Mate Uzinic, was pointed out by Gong as a positive example of transparency.
And not only do the state greatly fund the Catholic Church but they also pay for various other religious obligations, such as Catholic chaplains in the military. In 1996 and again in 1998 the then government, which was made up of the Croatian Democratic Union, signed agreements to fund Catholic religious education at primary and secondary schools and also to pay the salaries of teachers for this subject.
All this means that they government is spending around 900 million Kuna of taxpayers’ money every year on the church and other religious costs. However, apart from the Dubrovnik Diocese, the actual financial reports are still hidden from the taxpayer.