Couple of days ago The Guardian has published a list of the top 10 best alternative city breaks in Europe for 2016 and Dubrovnik found its place on the list too with cities like Valetta, Marseille and even Sarajevo.

The Guardian beautifully describes why you should visit Dubrovnik:
- A picturesque city – and the main shooting location for King’s Landing in HBO’s Game Of Thrones – Dubrovnik’s terracotta rooftops tumble down to the blue Adriatic. Among them there’s lots to enjoy, from drinking fresh pilsner in the bars of the old town to a visit to an ancient (still working) apothecary at the Dubrovnik monastery. For history, it’s also worth visiting the Homeland War Museum, which you can combine with a cable car ride to the top of Mount Srd Also, the Museum of Modern Art is excellent – writes The Guardian and adds that Dubrovnik isn't short of accommodation choices but having your own apartment to go back to as an escape from the tourist bustle of the old town is a good choice.

Victoria Sparrow and Ocean Jangda are the young students of Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). Victoria came to Dubrovnik from Rochester, New York, while Ocean comes from Alaska. Since their Dubrovnik adventure came to the end, they shared their experiences and impressions about the town, as well how it is to study in the country completely different than places that they come from, with many more interesting details.  
Why did you decide to come to Dubrovnik?
Ocean: I’m passionate about travel. I was looking for opportunity to travel while taking classes. RIT bends over backwards to help their students from Rochester to come to Dubrovnik to have that experience, because it really gives you a competitive advantage when you graduate. I was able to work with my advisor to make it happen. Since I was a kid I really wanted to come to Mediterranean, the Adriatic region. I grew up in Alaska and the water there is very cold so we don’t do very much swimming, we don’t have much nautical culture. I was always into boats, so coming to Dubrovnik, the heart of boating, was amazing. Specifically I came for geography and the way the geography was included into culture and history trough here. And because we had a campus here it was like win-win.
Victoria: I really wanted to come to Dubrovnik since my first year. My department really pushes people towards here, they offer a lot of funding, a lot of help. When I first took a tour of my department, they show you around and when you walk in there are pictures of Dubrovnik all over the floor. It looks so amazing. I’ve never heard of Croatia, as sad as it is, I didn’t know Croatia was a country before I came to RIT. Seeing this place seemed magical to me, I needed to know more about it. I knew I wanted to study abroad and when I was thinking of places to go I was like ‘I could go to Spain, Italy, Germany’ but those are places that people go frequently, that is something that everyone talks about and I wanted to have more of an unique experience. This was exactly what I was looking for!

How did your family react to your decision?
Victoria: First day was so exciting to me seeing all those photos and I was talking to my mum, I was 17 at that point, and she got so nervous. I’m the oldest in my family and the idea of me being so away was kind of new. My mum said that she tried to put a brave face, but that night she had a nightmare that I got sick and something bad happened to me and nobody was there to take care of me and she told me about that years later. She said: ‘I’m trying to brave, but I am nervous, I am afraid’. My family had these notions about Croatia and they were afraid for me and I didn’t have those kind of fears. I’m lucky that they didn’t transfer that to me, so I didn’t second guess it or question it. It was easier for me than it was for them, definitely.
Ocean: My family reacted in a very different way. I grew up in Alaska and we’ve traveled a lot while I was growing up. Travel was always important to my family. After I’ve graduated high school, I’ve took a year off and I’ve traveled to Australia and that was my first adventure of traveling internationally by my own. So I did have experienced doing that before coming here. My mother traveled a lot while she was young as well, so she was very encouraging. She said: ‘If you can do it, do it!’ We’ve always had a very symbiotic relationship, in terms of encouraging each other to travel and experience new things, which is really cool.
How was your Dubrovnik experience?
Ocean: I tried to go into it with no expectations, because I think that’s a really good way to travel. As soon you have expectations you hold yourself to certain things which maybe would limit your experience here. When I came here I was like ‘Whatever works, whatever works’. When I got here it turns out that our mentor Andela Petra Cvitanovic, student of the third year of the RIT Croatia in Dubrovnik, was super cool, very knowledgeable. Our apartments are beautiful and they are so conveniently located. It was an amazing learning experience. I didn’t come here with much knowledge about Croatia, or with Dubrovnik specifically so the culture classes that we were taking with professor Domagoj Nikolic were incredibly enlightening. It’s a class with no required attendance and no homework but we come, have an interesting conversation, learn things. So enlightening to speak about culture, about the people and go out and experience it all.
Victoria: I was, again, very opposite of Ocean. I have been told a lot of stories of lot of people that have been to Dubrovnik and I’ve seen pictures, I had this notion of what it would be like. For me it was odd, because usually several people for my department come at the same time and they bond as a group and explore, they experience Dubrovnik together. And now – it was just me. Initially I was very discouraged by this but then I thought: ‘You know what? I’m not going to let other people dictate what I’m going to do with my experience’. The way that they were talking about Dubrovnik showed it as a party, four month vacation, you don’t have to do anything. I was thinking that there’s got to be more to it than just that. I came thinking that it would be like a party scene. We talked a lot about this before at culture classes, it’s not quite like that way. It took a long time for me to adjust, first few months here was like an adjustment period, letting go and relaxing and experiencing this on my own. That was the hardest part for me, being by myself. Once I’ve adjusted to that, I was able to enjoy it and now I feel much more comfortable here. It took some time, but I’ve got there.

What do you think about people here, did they accept you?
Victoria: Yes, for the most part they were really wonderful. I’ve only had maybe one or two cases where people were not very kind, but that’s definitely an exception. Our mentor was great when we met her, making it comfortable to talk with her and other Croatians, getting to know the students. The classes were great because the other students got to know you. Once you gain that kind of confidence it’s much easier to interact with other locals. It was really a network, it started with just one and built up my confidence so I could talk with anybody.
Ocean: I’ve made some really good friends. Obviously it’s a short period to get close to people, especially for me, I’m very independent. I really like my privacy and my space. As much I came here for friendships, I also came here for a lot of introspection and self development because that’s important to me. Making relationships with students here was a very unique experience from all the travel experiences I’ve had. Croatian people are very culturally introverted. They definitely prefer to stay within their national comfort zone, in terms of the culture and language. One of the most challenging things was just the language itself because it’s very challenging to learn. I’ve learnt a few words, but in terms of having a conversation in Croatian – it’s very hard.
Victoria: It took me a long time before I could even hear the sounds that people were saying. It sounded like… Nothing. I couldn’t even think what letters they are saying.
Ocean: I think that made some types of social interactions more challenging. For example, I’m that kind of person that will get to know a person when going out to the town and having some drinks with them. In a situation when you are doing that as an American student they will generally prefer to speak Croatian, rather than having entire group switch to English. In lot of situations that was a barrier to becoming more close. It really requires a lot of effort on a Croatian part to get to know me as well. More challenging than traveling to Australia, where everyone speak English. In addition, I think there is a lot of pro American propaganda in the educational system around here. We talked a lot about that. I think having that in the educational system, in the formal manner, makes the Croatians less naturally curios about American people. Unfortunately, I think that all of that propaganda doesn’t necessarily reflect reality in America, it’s definitely not a promise land, it’s very diverse. That’s an additional barrier.
I must ask you Ocean, how do people react to your name?
Ocean: It’s hard getting now somebody sometimes, because their initial enthrallment with my name is a barrier to be genuine in interacting with people. I’ve heard all the jokes, so if you come up with a new one I’ll shake your hand. My older brother’s name is River, so there is kind of a theme going around in my family. My mother is really inspired by nature and she wanted us to be connected to it. Kind of a hippie thing! (laughs)
Victoria: He looks like an Ocean.
What’s difference in lifestyle?
Victoria: To me there’s a vast difference in terms how I lived my life in New York. I was very, very, very busy person. I worked three different jobs and then I was constantly on the run. I didn’t have a moment to sit down and relax, sit by the ocean and have a coffee. The fact that people have coffee here for two, three hours stunned me. First time I went I thought it was going to be like a half an hour, but we were there for two hours and but it was a cathartic experience. It felt wonderful to sit back and relax, not being constantly rushing and I really enjoyed that. The feeling of just no having to be stressed all the time, I look at it as a bonus. And there is also a feeling of a community, everybody help each other around here. People are friendly and if somebody needs help, he is able to reach for help within the community. I was able to watch this because I look like an outsider, but over time people have mistaken me for Croatians for few times. Old people tried to talk to me, other people were very friendly and I couldn’t respond but I got a genuine, relaxed community kind of feeling.
Ocean: My original lifestyle in America was very different from Victoria’s. I did stay very busy but having learned from the experiences of my older brother with him going through college and then starting a business, running a business in Las Vegas, it was a chaotic business atmosphere. The experience that he had with stress in his life made me very decisive about where I’m reducing stress in my lifestyle. It’s a constant challenge but I think it’s definitely worthy of the attempt. Stress is no good on any level. Coming here I felt like I was home. I was chilled out. I personally can’t do the two hour coffee, I tried it when I came. I’ll sit down with you for coffee for a ten minutes or so. I’m not as social, it didn’t work with my personality.
What was your favorite thing in Dubrovnik?
Victoria: I think the thing that I enjoyed the most was being so close to water. I’ve never lived in a town like this where you can walk out and there’s the Adriatic. That was so nice for me. For once I’ve felt like I could take a break and enjoy that. I’m going to miss that when I go home because we don’t have the same kind of scenery from where I’m from so it was nice to me to see a different landscape.
Ocean: It’s similar to me. I grew up in Alaska, surrounded by mountains and living by the coast, and I loved that. I grew up hiking and camping and in Rochester there’s not much of that lifestyle. Coming here, seeing the mountains again, being on the coast again was really cool for me.

What are your future plans, is there a chance of coming back to Dubrovnik?
Victoria: I don’t think I could stay away, honestly! I don’t know if I would spend as much time in Dubrovnik. One of the questions that we were asked was ‘Would you do the same study abroad experience again?’ and I’ve enjoyed my time here but I want to see the rest of the Balkans. I definitely want to come back.
Ocean: I wouldn’t do the study abroad in Dubrovnik as well, because why do the same twice if you can have another experience? It has a very little to do with a city itself, but with the fact that I want to explore the world and see as many places as I can. I definitely want to come back to Dubrovnik for vacation. Once I can afford to rent a yacht and eat in some nice restaurants – there’s no better place for that kind of lifestyle than Croatia.

Every Sunday our resident "Style Guru" will be scanning the streets of Dubrovnik for the latest and greatest in fashion. 

Banje Beach was rocking this afternoon as the sun washed over the Adriatic Sea. With temperatures pushing into the mid twenties and endless blue skies tourists and locals cooled off in the waves. The whole weekend in Dubrovnik was warm and sunny, the summer season has really started with a bang.

The Banje Beach is one of the most iconic beaches in Dubrovnik with views over the historic Old City of Dubrovnik as well as the island of Lokrum.

Check out of Banje Beach photo gallery.

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Tag your holiday snaps with #MyKindOfCroatia and have the chance to win an 8-day cruise along the Croatian Adriatic. The Dubrovnik travel operator, Gulliver Travel, is currently running a photo competition through their social media channels, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and is offering a cruise as the top prize.

The competition began on the 1st of May but you still have a chance of snapping up the star prize as the photo contest runs until the 20th of July. And you can enter multiple times, making your odds of winning even better.

And if you don’t win the cruise you can still pick up some valuable prizes, as Gulliver Travel stated “Our panel will choose a winner among the top 10 liked photos. The main prize is an 8-day cruise Pearls of the South Adriatic, second is one day rental of Yamaha Midnight Star motorcycle, and the third is a one-day excursion for two.”

Follow this link for more info on how to win a cruise this summer with Gulliver Travel, and don’t forget the hashtag #MyKindOfCroatia

“We have a new project and was wondering if you could help us?” came the Scottish accent down the phone line. “I will try my best, what is it?” I replied. “We are making a special application for the travel company Expedia about Dubrovnik, it’s called Hidden Dubrovnik and we need to find at least ten hidden secrets for tourists in the city,” he answered. Two things immediately flashed through my mind, a) this man has never been to Dubrovnik and b) I hope he doesn’t mean only the Old City.

It turned out that I was right on the first point and right on the second point. This was going to be a battle.

I knew that my Scottish friend had never been to Dubrovnik before; if he had he wouldn’t have assumed that there are ten hidden places inside the Old City Walls. I had to add “You do realise that over 2 million people visit Dubrovnik every year and that almost every single centimetre has been photographed by tourists, as well as the pages of foreign newspapers.”

But I have never been one to turn down a challenge. As the famous English entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson once said, “If somebody offers you an amazing opportunity but you are not sure you can do it, say yes – then learn how to do it later!” Well it wasn’t exactly an amazing opportunity, at least not what Sir Richard would call amazing, but it was an opportunity to promote Dubrovnik, how could I say no. Now I would have to rack my brain a little.

The mission was to find ten hidden places inside, or very near, the Old City Walls. Now the word hidden could have lots of meanings. It could be physically hidden, yes but that one was going to be tough. It could be hidden in terms of being just difficult to get to...hmmm that one is close to being physically hidden. OK, this was going to be a challenge. I could have put Pero’s toilet on the list, that was hidden, but I am guessing that potential tourists wouldn’t want to read about that. Hidden yet interesting, if they were interesting they wouldn’t be hidden!

I got onto social media for some suggestions but was met with a wall of silence or places so unhidden that they had neon signs that could be seen from Mars. So I walked, I walked around the city, street to street, corner to corner. OK, I admit that I had few ideas in my head before I set off, but they were very flexible.

A couple of days later and the UK journalists arrived in Dubrovnik ready for me to uncover Dubrovnik for them. Just as my Scottish friend they had never been to Dubrovnik before, the challenge was getting harder. But armed with a camera, a video camera and a Dictaphone we set off for the Old City. I had found some new sights and some old more familiar ones. It was a little like what a bride should wear on her big day, I had something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue. I also didn’t want to give away too many Dubrovnik secrets. You know those special tucked away places that we all know about but are reluctant to tell anyone about in fear that they’ll lose that special exclusive feeling.

“We will make ten such hidden guides of cities in Europe and Dubrovnik is the first,” said the reporter. I am guessing that they were working on an alphabetical order and they weren’t doing Athens, Berlin or Cannes. I could be wrong. And so the journey began and within a day and a half we had covered most of the stones in the city. They seemed pleased with my choices; I even managed to find a few on the way which added to the list. I had to be creative but it had worked, hidden Dubrovnik was completed.

One thing I must say publically is that in every, and I mean every, place that we went we were greeted with open arms. The hospitality we met was unparalleled. These places might have been “hidden” but the friendliness we all received was far from being hidden. And I am guessing that after this list comes out in front of millions of people around the world that these places will not remain off the radar. “I have been to Venice before and was expecting a similar destination but I must say that Dubrovnik has a really special vibe about it,” commented the seasoned travel writer in front of me. “Do you think the people who live here know what they have?” she asked.

If you were wondering what made it onto my list you’ll have to wait for Expedia to announce it. As the great author Roald Dahl once wrote, “And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it.”

The summer has finally arrived in Dubrovnik after a wet and windy start to May. Today the temperatures in the city pushed into the mid twenties, with 25 degrees recorded in Dubrovnik and 26 degrees in Cavtat.

If you were thinking of cooling off a little in the Adriatic Sea then you might be in for a shock, whereas the temperature of the sea would normally be around 22 degrees at this time of year today in Dubrovnik the temperature was measured at 19 degrees.

The forecast for Sunday is for warmer weather and sunshine with temperatures expected to reach 26 degrees in Dubrovnik. However Monday could see some unsettled weather with even the odd shower throughout the day.

After several weeks of speculation Turkish Airlines has finally confirmed interest in its counterpart in Croatia. According to the words of Mr Abuldkerim Cay the airline's Chief Human Resources Officer Turkish Airline has seen an equity investment in Croatia Airlines as a very good business opportunity and benefit for both sides. This confirmation came just a few days after the Croatian government had removed Croatia Airlines from a list of strategically important companies and made it eligible for a sale. Over the weekend Mr Ahmet Tuta Turkey's Ambassador to Croatia confirmed the words of Mr Cay from Turkish Airlines. He also added that both companies cooperated as Star Alliance members and that there was interest in a list of companies the Croatian government had announced for sale.

Whereas Turkey is not an EU member it could acquire up to 49% of Croatia Airlines.

A few weeks ago Mr Krešimir Kučko CEO of Croatia Airlines denied claims that Turkish Airline showed interest in the state company adding that a strategic partner through recapitalisation would accelerate the carrier's development and fleet expansion. He also said that good business results made the airline more appealing than ever before and hoped to have success in finding a strategic partner.

Mr Tonči Peović, who has managed both Zagreb and Dubrovnik airports and is seen as a possible candidate for Mr Kučko replacement said, ''If the government sells Croatia Airlines without recapitalisation requirements, then the most likely buyer would be Alitalia, owned by Etihad. This would give Air Serbia, through its part-owner, access to Croatia Airlines’ valuable airport slots and a leading position in the Balkans''.

He also added that the only guarantee for survival would be a strategic recapitalisation through a process of programmed bankruptcy, by a non-European company, which would compete against Etihad and Lufthansa and have a strategy to develop the EU market through a hub-and-spoke network. ''Otherwise, the takeover will be hostile, which has been the case with a number of companies in Croatia'', said Mr Peović.