Dubrovnik’s water polo club “Jug” are, for the fourth time, champions of Europe. Jug beat Olympiakos from Greece in a closely fought final - 6: 4. After losing three finals in the strongest water polo club competition in the world, Jug won the fourth. The match was played in front of a full house in the centre of Budapest.

This is the first time in the clubs history that they have won four trophies in one season, the Croatian Cup, the Regional League, the Croatian Championship and he icing of the cake, the European title.

Congratulations to the pride of Dubrovnik – JUG!

FINAL Jug CO - Olympiakos 6: 4

JUG Champions of Europe! 

A themed cruise with a difference is on its way to Dubrovnik in 2017, the world’s first sex cruise, the Desire Cruise! Naked frolics, erotic playrooms and couples workshops will all be onboard the cruise, sounds like the idea of the Love Boat has been taken to another level.

The sex cruise will call at three Croatia destinations, Split, Zadar and Dubrovnik in the summer of 2017.

The cruise is organised by the Mexican adult hospitality company Original Group and will set sail from Venice in Italy, or as advertised by the company – Venice Foreplay. Speaking to the Miami Herald the CEO of Original Group, Rodrigo de la Peña, said “We’re thrilled to bring to the sea our more than 30 years of experience in creating the perfect sensual atmosphere for adults, and we have no doubt that the Desire Cruise experience will be life-changing for our passengers and will become the sensual way to get away.”

According to the ships schedule the sex cruise will dock in Dubrovnik on the 29th of September 2017 carrying a capacity of 690 passengers. The Azamara Quest from Royal Caribbean Cruises, has been charted for this inaugural cruise.

The cruise is a “couples-only” trip offers all of the facilities that you would expect from a normal cruise voyage, and many you wouldn’t! Pumping Pool Parties, Intense Icebreakers and Spicy Signature Theme Nights are just three provocative titles that will raise eyebrows, and temperatures. And the pool deck of the ship could prove a centre point as it is one of the “clothing optional” areas of the ship.

This is not an orgy at sea, as the company goes to lengths to point out, members of staff on the ship are strictly off limits, and the noise must be kept down after midnight. The eight-day Mediterranean cruise includes Italy, Croatia and Slovenia and prices start at around $3,000 per person.

“Do you think it is dangerous,” I asked my wife as we looked down in horror at a snake slithering through the grass towards our front door. “I don’t know, I am no snake expert, but I don’t think so,” she answered reaching for her mobile phone. Of course in these modern times if you are unsure of something you simply ask Google. This search engine has replaced our brains; it is our external hard drive, yes you can argue it has made us lazy, even dumb, but it is the easy option.

So with a few photos of the wiggly intruder we asked the online community of Facebook. The answers ranged from “It isn’t poisonous, the dangerous ones aren’t that long,” – “if it was on my doorstep I'd have a heart attack!” and my personal favourite “The way you two have started you will probably adopt it.”

I am neither a fan nor afraid of snakes. I have to be honest the first experience I had of actually seeing a snake up close and personal was in Dubrovnik, the fields of England aren’t really ripe with poisonous snakes. The very first one I saw wasn’t that scary, mainly because it was squashed in the middle of the road.

Then I saw a monster glavor, basically a lizard that has lost its legs over generations! How was I to know that it wasn’t a killer? It was a real monster; I thought it was some python or boa constrictor. As it slithered through the grass you could see all the blades of grass waving under its weight. When I discovered it was basically a legless lizard I wouldn’t be afraid to pick it up. Maybe it is because of their seemingly slow speed, I always think that I could outrun a snake, that I am not afraid.

Of course seeing one on your doorstep it never pleasant, but this one seemed relaxed. About the most dangerous animal that I came across in England in the wild was a hedgehog, and they aren’t known for their attack abilities, although I guess they will give you a nasty prick if you pick one up.

“Do you think it is hungry,” my wife asked me. I knew it; we were going to have another pet! “What do they eat anyway,” she continued. I am not sure what they eat, but I do know what they bite. I had visions of her feeding the snake with dog biscuits or cat Whiskers, would the snake sleep on our bed as well?

And then I saw it had a slippery friend, maybe a distant cousin. This time the rustling sound seemed much louder. Blimey, although this first snake was small, about the size of a large shoe lace, was it possible that it had a bigger friend, even a mother or father. The grass continued to shake; a snake earthquake was coming our way. We could have sold tickets to our snake farm.
“Oh, that is alright, it is my friend,” said my Dr. Doolittle wife. “You have a snake as a friend,” came the answer. A glavor, as thick as my arm, appeared from the long grass. Blimey we were having a snake party. This was a real whopper of a glavor, an adult that looked like he wasn’t hungry.

“How is that thing your friend,” was the obvious question. “Anytime I have leftovers from fruit I throw it to him to eat,” she answered. That solved the question why this glavor was a monster, a Loch Ness monster sized leg-less lizard. Not only were we about to have a snake as a pet, we were on the verge of having a pair!

But wait, where had the little one gone...oh no! “Can you see the other snake,” I asked with a slightly raised voice. A shake of the head was all I got in return. I then looked around to see that the front door of the house was still open. Was the snake already waiting for us one the bed?

The glavor moved on its way, slowly but surely pulling its belly of fresh fruit through the undergrowth. Its little friend was nowhere to be seen. Now I know I told you that I am not afraid of snakes, however finding one curled up under my pillow was not a thought that filled me with pleasure. The messages were still coming on Facebook, “Be careful, Boba. This looks like a copperhead. It is poisonous but mostly not life threatening.” Oh, that’s OK then, mostly not life threatening.

Then I saw the answer to all our problems, and the beginning of the snake’s problems – our cat! She had already hunted down the intruder and, well lets be diplomatic, dealt with our problem. “That’s one less mouth for us to feed,” was what I felt like saying...I held my tongue.

The popular taxi service Uber has arrived in Dubrovnik! With a opening cost of nine Kuna, a five Kuna per kilometre charge and a minimum price of fifteen Kuna, Uber will certainly shake up the taxi scene in Dubrovnik.

And to celebrate the opening of Uber in Dubrovnik the company is offering free rides this weekend. According to a statement from the company “All customers will this weekend be able to request up to two free taxi rides with Uber to the value of 75 Kuna. To take advantage of this special offer all you need to do is use the Uber App and in the promotional field enter the code BESPLATNIVIKEND.

Uber first entered Croatia in the capital Zagreb and are slowly spreading their net over the tourist destinations along the Adriatic. At the same weekend that they opened operations in Dubrovnik they also started in Split. Uber taxi prices are generally 20 to 50 percent cheaper than normal taxi services.

The promotional video from the Dubrovnik Tourist Board, “Dubrovnik and Time,” continues to pick up awards all over the world. The latest prize to come Dubrovnik’s way is from Azerbaijan. The video won the main prize at the Baku International Tourism Film Festival, with the second prize going all to Croatia to the Istria Tourist Board.

This promotional film is proving an excellent advertisement for the city and the tourism attractions. “Dubrovnik and Time,” has picked up an amazing six awards from five different festivals from all over the world.

The latest award was presented by the Minister of Culture and Tourism of Azerbaijan Abdulfas Garayev to the film’s producer and director.

Ever wanted to visit the glorious islands of Hvar, Brac and Korcula on a day-trip from Dubrovnik, well from the 1st of July you will have just that opportunity.

From the 1st of July until the 11th of September the ferry company “Jadrolinija” will introduce a new catamaran ferry service between Dubrovnik, Korcula, Hvar and Bol on Brac.

The line is designed as a daily excursion line that will allow guests of Dubrovnik in one day visit the attractive island locations such as Korcula, Hvar and Bol. The line will be operated by the catamaran "Novalja" which has a capacity of 324 passengers.

For more information on sailing schedule and prices can be found on the website ofJadrolinija

The most popular low-cost airline in the world could soon be landing at Dubrovnik Airport. The City of Dubrovnik opened discussions with representatives of Ryanair yesterday. The meeting was attended by the mayor of Dubrovnik, Andro Vlahusic, the director of the Dubrovnik Tourist Board, Romana Vlasic, the deputy director of Dubrovnik Airport, Frano Luetic, and the representative of Ryanair, Luis Fernandez.

The mayor opened the meeting by pointing out the desire of the City of Dubrovnik to make Dubrovnik a year-round destination and that we wanted the city to be connected to more international and European destinations. Fernandez replied by saying that Ryanair flies to 194 destinations and has a fleet of 300 aircraft, this year it is expected that the budget airline will transport 116 million passengers, the highest number of any European company.

Ryanair have an interest in operating flights to Dubrovnik and have expressed a desire to sign a 5 to 10 year agreement. Fernandez added that he believed Dubrovnik would be a perfect city break destination, especially in the winter months, as now it was a destination open to all EU citizens.

Vlahušić noted that in comparison with the prices of other airlines Ryanair's prices were favourable and expressed his readiness to sign a multi-year contract, possibly up to 2024. It was agreed that the Dubrovnik Airport and Ryanair would continue talks in a month at which the first draft of the contract would be presented.

Meeting between the City of Dubrovnik and Ryanair goes well 

Following the rallies all around Europe the biggest protest ever was held in Croatia, yesterday. Under the slogan ''Croatia Can Do Better'' more than 40,000 people throughout Croatia and from abroad protested at 6pm on the 1st of June supporting the reform of the education system.

The city squares in Zagreb and in a dozen other Croatian cities were flooded with people who protested against primitivism and interfering of the politics in the education system.

Croatia has long planned to carry out reform of its education system in order to bring it in line with the EU standards but little progress has been made since 2013 when it became the EU member.

Mr Jokic the leader of an expert team in charge of the education reform resigned recently due to the pressure from the conservative government. Many protesters in Zagreb said that education was essential for the future of their children and the country as a whole and that they didn't want to be hostages of incompetent and irresponsible political elite.