Do you ever have the feeling that you are caught in the same day over and over again? Does the day to day routine somehow give you déjà vu? It’s like that 1990’s film with Bill Murray, Groundhog Day, where he continually wakes up in the same day for weeks. I have that Groundhog Day feeling at the moment.

It could be the winter blues. Dubrovnik may be a hive of activity in the warmer months when the swallows arrive but let’s face it in the winter it is a little…well boring. Maybe it’s good to be bored a little. But I am not really the kind of person who has time for being bored normally. I looked at the event calendar on the Dubrovnik Tourist Board website the other week looking for some inspiration, only to be greeted with two events that week, two all week!

At the moment I feel like I am running on auto-pilot a little. But it seems I am not the only one running around in circles. I was flicking through the newspaper archives a week ago and many of the headlines and articles I came across from five years ago and exactly the same headlines that are being used today. Coincidence? Probably not. Many of the problems Dubrovnik had five years ago, ten years ago and two decades ago are exactly the same problems it has today. Coincidence? Probably not.

Instead of forward movement, there is stagnation. This could be due to a couple of reasons. Lack of willing to move forward and solve problems. Lack of adequate knowledge to be able to solve the problem. Or a lack of sight, so as to be blind to the actual problems. I would suggest that a combination of these three is the situation. Most people can get excited about the results, the finished product, but they dread the process of doing the actual work, so they don’t bother to try.

Many of the challenges that the city faced decades ago - infrastructure, social issues, cultural inadequacies, education, health, finance and even something as benign as sewerage and exactly the same today. We are stuck in a never-ending Groundhog Day.

I was with a businessman from the US last week and he was reminiscing about how he had visited Dubrovnik in the early 2000’s. “To be honest apart from the odd building facelift and a few new hotels nothing much has changed,” he said over his coffee. I was desperate to prove him wrong, to praise a new development, but I was left scratching my head. “Of course you have a few more tourists and cruise ships coming, but apart from that it seems like status quo,” he concluded. He was right, unfortunately. Is it a lack of creativity? We have all been blessed to live in such a unique city, but maybe we really need some unique ideas and unique people to go with the city, to breathe live back into all of us. Change your thoughts and you change your world.

We seem stuck to this routine of – work all day every day through the summer – hibernate in the winter. And we all conform to this pattern, to this way of life, not wanting to break the mould and start something new. Of course that’s the easy option. It’s much harder to be a non-conformist than a conformist, especially in a small town. So we go with the flow and not rock the boat. “What would you do if you were stuck in one place, and every day was exactly the same, and nothing that you did mattered?” said Bill Murray in the film.

And here we are in March already. Soon the flights will arrive, soon the city will be full again, soon we will all be working at top speed, and in that melee of madness we will all forget that winter was even here. The same old problems will arise again, the same old shouts for something to be done and the same old excuses that we have all heard. And, guess what, nothing will be done. The sun will melt our memories as an ice-cream on the beach and the life will go on in our Dubrovnik Groundhog Day. And then the colder days will be here again and once again we will hibernate and like an emu bury our heads in the sand. Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower, once said Steve Jobs.

Even though it is a beautiful and sunny day in Dubrovnik today, the first day of the weekend, it is about to get much wetter in Dubrovnik.

The Croatian Meteorological Office has issued a yellow warning for tomorrow for Dubrovnik and the whole region. Gale force southerly winds are forecast bringing with them overcast skies and rain.

The wind is expected to blow at over 40 km/h up to 65 km/h with plenty of rain. There is a chance that ferry services will not be operating tomorrow as high seas are also expected. The bad and unsettled weather is expected to continue until the middle of next week.

The kayak confusion in the Pile Bay of Dubrovnik looks like finding a solution this year. One of the most heavily criticised tourist attractions in the city, both from local and tourists, is the disorder and disorganisation of kayaks in the Pile area just a stone’s throw from the ancient Dubrovnik City Walls.

All 90 kayaks will be moved to the beach on Pile 

The main problem was, apart from it looking unpleasant, was the fact that tourists wishing to visit the Lovrjenac Fortress, which is popular with guests as it featured in the Game of Thrones serial, had problems passing the numerous kayaks beached on the public area. This year this will all change as the Dubrovnik City Council has decided to move the area for kayaks across the Pile Bay to the beach area.

There are a total of 6 kayak companies located in this area and altogether have a total of 90 kayaks between them.

After yesterday's very successful presentation of the Croatian tourist offer during the first day of the ITB travel fair in Berlin, numerous promotional activities and important meetings with key international partners were held today during the second day of the largest world tourism fair.

The Croatian delegation was led by the Minister of Tourism, Gari Cappelli, and with the Director of the Croatian Tourist Board Kristjan Staničić, and they met Sebastian Münzenmaier, the President of the German Bundestag Tourism Board, who visited the Croatian booth and praised the new design and concept of the Croatian Tourism Association and added that Croatia is a very popular and sought after destination among German tourists.

During the first two days of the fair, numerous meetings were held with key partners including Jet2com, TUI, Federal Tourism Association (BTW), Expedia, Olimar, Germania, Eurowings, Condor, Thomas Cook Germany and others.

Staničić pointed out that all of the key partners had concluded last year with excellent results, which is why they announced the extension of the 2018 program. "Croatia is a very sought-after destination in the German market, and in line with the plans presented by the largest partners in the German market, we expect to keep positive trends in 2018,” said the Director of the national tourist board.

Adding that airlines have a key role and announced that new flights from major airlines would be introduced as well as the increase of the rotation of existing flights. New flights to Zadar, Rijeka, Pula, Split and Dubrovnik have been announced by a number of airline companies such as easyJet, Eurowings, Ryanair, Lufthansa, Condor and many more. Minister Cappeli emphasized that tourism is the driver of the economic system because of the opportunities it creates for new investments and softening diplomatic ties. "Such events are a great opportunity for meeting different stakeholders in tourism, from tour operators and airlines to representatives of political institutions for tourism, as well as for holding meetings with interested foreign investors,” commented the Minister.

Jet2com's representatives stressed that they have more than 40 flights a week to Croatia, and that they have achieved excellent results and increased traffic over the past year to destinations such as Dubrovnik (+ 26%) and Split (+ 36%).

Condor's representatives presented new lines from Frankfurt to Zadar and Rijeka, and from Dusseldorf to Split, which will also connect with Hannover. Eurowings in the summer of 2018 will boost operations from Germany to Dubrovnik, from Düsseldorf, Hannover, Berlin, Cologne (Bonn), Munich and Stuttgart. There is easyJet's new line connecting Zadar and Berlin, and although they already have a line from Berlin's Schönefeld airport to Pula, they are introducing a new line linking Pula to another airport - Tegel.

Lufthansa announced a new line in Zadar - Frankfurt in 2018, as well as an increase in operations to Pula, while Ryanair has announced earlier three new lines from Frankfurt to Pula, Rijeka and Zadar and the Zadar - Bremen line.

The Dubrovnik Times has teamed up with the specialised Dubrovnik real estate agency Krešić Properties to bring you a selection of interesting properties in and the around the Dubrovnik region. Over the next few months we will feature a property every two-weeks, from stone cottages, seaside villas, apartments and luxury retreats. Whether you are after that Adriatic home of your dreams or looking to move into renting property this is the feature for you.

A traditional old stone house that has been lovingly renovated in the picturesque seaside destination of Cavtat. With spectacular views over the Adriatic Sea and the terracotta roofs of historic Cavtat this is an ideal opportunity to discover your place in the sun. The house was extensively renovated 10 years ago and could be an ideal holiday home or as a long-term base.

Close enough to Dubrovnik to be handy and yet far enough way to be tranquil during the summer months Cavtat is one of the most glorious coastal towns in the Dubrovnik region.

This charming stone home is spread out over 150 metre squared and contains three spacious bedrooms. Over two floors this fully air-conditioned house has three bedrooms, three bathrooms, a large open-plan kitchen with a roomy living and dining area. The interior design is warm and welcoming and includes many aspects and touches of Mediterranean life and culture.

And life “al fresco” is simple with a large outside terrace as well as a dedicated barbecue area on another terrace. The stone house also includes a garage and parking spaces.

It location is the key. With many restaurants and café bars within walking distance, as is the sea, the panoramic views over the turquoise Adriatic and its vicinity to the vibrant ancient city of Dubrovnik all provide for a home with style.

The series continues in two weeks’ time with another stunning Dubrovnik property.

Interested in more info on this property contact Krešić Properties

Key features
Location - Cavtat
Price - € 370,000.00
Living area - 150 m2
Number of bedrooms - 3

It might seem like a slightly harsh language, not as melodic as Italian or as soft as English, but it would seem that is also sexy. The website Dating Beyond Borders has produced a rather fun video entitled Sexiest Slavic Language and from the reactions it would appear that Croatian is surprisingly attractive.

The website gathered native speakers from Croatia, Serbia, Ukraine, Russia, Poland and the Czech Republic and Tony from Croatia bowled over the two ladies.

As he spoke Croatian the first lady answered “Wow, my god I’m getting Goosebumps,” and the second was just as impressed reacting with “I love you from the bottom of my heart.”

Check out this fun video

The high south winds that battered Dubrovnik yesterday caused a rather unfortunate accident in the parking of the Dubrovnik General Hospital yesterday.

A huge pine tree crashed down on two parked cars in the hospital grounds and inside one of the vehicles was a female passenger. The Dubrovnik Fire Brigade were called and three emergency vehicles arrived on the scene. The firemen managed to rescue the lady from her car and fortunately she didn’t suffer any injuries.

A German film crew has shocked Dubrovnik by filming half-naked erotic photos in a church in the centre of the historic Old City. According to reports the camera crew entered the open church and used the sacral building without authorisation.

A topless model then sexily posed in the middle of the church with holy monuments as her backdrop. Deutche Film und Fernsehakademie Berlin, the German Academy of Film and Television, was recording a student documentary film 'The Color Nude' in the city, and their team included the Dubrovnik photographer Stijepo Brbora.

Photo - Zeljko Tutnjevic 

“Shame of all shames. And after this our children will go to this church,” was one just one of the thousands of comments that the erotic photo shoot has attracted. The Bishop of Dubrovnik, Mate Uzinic, has also formally reacted, “I am deeply disappointed with the fact that today the openness of the Dubrovnik churches has been abused to capture inappropriate photographs under the guise of art, we will have to respond to this matter through legal channels.” And he added “Father, forgive them, they do not know what they are doing.”

As well as the church the crew also used locations in the Old City centre and on the Dubrovnik City Walls.