It is only winter if the calendar says so. After the freezing cold front that hit Dubrovnik only ten days ago, followed by torrential rain, it would seem that we have moved into the third season, summer.

The city has gone from temperatures of – 6 degrees to sunbathing on the beach in the matter of a few days. This weekend has seen temperatures rising and clear blue skies. Some people made the most of the sunshine to sunbath on the Banje Beach or work “al fresco” on their laptops.

Mimosa Day, national humanitarian action dedicated to the fight against cervical cancer has been marked today in the Old City by the Croatian League Against Cancer and League Against Cancer Dubrovnik. They organized traditional mimosas sale and distribution of the brochures on prevention of this malignant disease. In Croatia, 330 women a year get this type of cancer, while 120 of them die because of it. 

By purschasing mimosas locals expressed their solidarity and support to this humanitarian action, with a goal to raise money to improve oncology care in the Dubrovnik area and give support to those who are treated for malignant diseases who need help.

At the end of January this year elevent European Week of Cervical Cancer Prevention will be marked. That's the fourth most common cancer when it comes to women. Early detection and education are the best way to prevent cancer. Early detection increases the chances of successful treatment.

                                                                                                                                                   Photos by Zeljko Tutnjevic 

Conventa, a specialized fair of congress and incentive offers, was held in Ljubljana from the 18th to the 19th of January for Central and South-East Europe and there were 145 exhibitors and more than 300 organizers of business trips, of which 178 foreign organizers, from the European and American markets, and the rest were organizers of business travel in the region.

On Wednesday, the 18th of January there was an award ceremony for the best congress destinations, according to a survey by the professional congress magazine "Congress", in Cankarjev dom in Ljubljana. Dubrovnik was declared the best in the category of Top 10 regional congress centres, and overall, the best congress destinations were Prague, Istanbul and Budapest, while Dubrovnik, although a much smaller destination than its competitors, was positioned in fourth place.

The Marketing Director and Founder of the specialized fair Conventa, Gorazd Chad, said that this year the congress and incentive fair Conventa in Ljubljana gathered a record number of exhibitors and organizers of business travels, and that it is estimated that at the fair over 4,000 business meetings were held . Mr. Chad is sure that the Conventa fair will greatly affect the course of the upcoming conference season.

Congress mystery shoppers used various criteria in order to rate destinations, from natural factors, then transport infrastructure and also the tourist infrastructure as well as conference facilities. Subjective rates of the destinations were also important, as well as the marketing score. An important factor in evaluating was the quality of life index, and also the global peace index, which increasingly affects the overall assessment.

Dubrovnik has once again proved a successful world tourist destination, ranking in the top of the in the congress industry in Europe, and as the best in the region.

The final day of casting for the upcoming Robin Hood movie in Dubrovnik is underway. Casting began on Monday and will continue today, the last day, until 8.00pm. According to reports in the local media 600 extras had been accepted for the roles in the Robin Hood: Origins film by Wednesday. A total of 1,300 extras are required for the filming and the producers hope that by the end of today that number will be reached.

It is believed that filming of Robin Hood in Dubrovnik will begin on the 20th of February and last until the 5th of March. So far two locations inside the Old City walls have been prepared, the old harbor area and on the main street through the Old City the Stradun.

The Mayor of Dubrovnik announced that another “two or three locations in Dubrovnik” will be used as a backdrop for filming. And these are believed to be the St. Dominic Street, near the Dubrovnik Cathedral and the Minceta Fortress. Interestingly most of these locations were already used by the HBO serial Game of Thrones.

The Mayor of Dubrovnik has also announced that this production will be the biggest so far in the city with an estimated $100 million to be spent on promotion.

The Tourist Board of Dubrovnik-Neretva County participated in the FITUR fair in Madrid as a co-exhibitor at the stand of the Croatian Tourist Board. This important trade and travel fair is held from the 18th to 21st of January in the exhibition hall Fiera de Madrid.

The first day of the fair was intended exclusively for professionals in the tourism industry, while the other two days the fair was open to professionals and the general public. This was the tourist board’s third consecutive appearance at the show. The Dubrovnik-Neretva County has seen a steady increase in arrivals and overnight stays of tourists from Spain, and according to information from the tourist board a large number of visitors came to their stand during the fair.

Mediterranean Fair of Healthy Food, Medicinal Herbs and Green Entrepreneurship is coming to Dubrovnik for the 14th time. It will be held in the hotel Tirena on Babin kuk from 16th to 19th of March. 

All these years Mediterranean Fair is gathering exhibitors, experts, sponsors and enthusiasts to make joint efforts in order to present much of the ecological and traditional products which Croatia is full of.

This specialized manifestation has become the most important fair in the Republic of Croatia and Dubrovnik-Neretva County in the area of ecological and traditional agriculture as well as other green business.

This year's fair is aimed at expansion with new products, (hybrid, electric cars, eco-furniture and clothing from natural materials), the event ‘’Days of honey in Dubrovnik-Neretva County’’, raising the quality of exhibitors as well as improving the quality of organic and traditionally grown products. Of course, this year the Mediterranean Fair will continue with the promotion of local quality products, along with series of educational lectures, roundtables, presentations and much more.

The snow and ice that plagues Dubrovnik last week also brought with them traffic accidents on the roads of the Dubrovnik – Neretva County as driving proved hazardous.

A total of 19 traffic accidents were recorded last week, with the vast majority, 18 in total, recorded on the 11th and 12th of January when the snow storm was the worst. According to the police department there were 19 road traffic accidents last week of which 15 accidents were with material damage only and 4 in which people were injured.

The road traffic police also reported that last week there were 367 offences, of which 188 were for speeding, 53 for drivers not wearing seatbelts and 10 with drivers under the influence of alcohol.

Snow is falling on the island of Korčula! Several centimetres of snow have fallen in the central part of the island. Snow on this normally warm Adriatic island is extremely rare; the last time snow fell was 2009.

Snowploughs are out clearing the roads and there are no reports of the snow causing roads to be blocked as yet. Temperatures on Korčula are around zero degrees Celsius at the moment.

Photo by Dora Mikelic