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
The American YouTube channel American Eye has released an interesting video entitled ‘’Strange Places in Croatia’’.
American Eye selected twelve strange locations in Croatia that most people probably have never heard of such as a small place near Dubrovnik called Kupari, the Daksa Island, and the Podgarić monument in the Moslavina region or the Haludovo Palace Hotel on the island of Krk.
Apart from popular tourist spots, some of these strange places are mainly remnants from the former state of Yugoslavia or reminders of the Homeland War for the Croatian Independence in the 1990s.
The popular American YouTube channel listed twelve strange locations in Croatia as it follows:
1. Haludovo Palace Hotel on Krk
2. Mirogoj Cemetery
3. Podgarić monument
4. The minefields
5. Pula Arena
6. Brod Fortress in Slavonski Brod
7. Stone Flower monument in Jasenovac
8. Island of Vis
9. Daksa Island
10. Kupari near Dubrovnik
11. King’s Landing (Dubrovnik)
12. Blue Cave of Biševo near Vis.
We invite you to check this interesting video and discover all these places by yourself this summer!
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, the sequel to Universal's movie hit Mamma Mia, has been filmed on the Croatian island of Vis during the September and October and it made a great fuss. After first look trailer published in December, here comes another one, showing the beauty of Croatian beautiful island.
The filming of the Croatian part of a new sequel of the popular romantic comedy hit from 2008, engaged more than 270 filmmakers and statists from Croatia. ‘’Mamma Mia’’ producers were extremely satisfied with their experience of filming in Croatia.
The Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again premiere is announced for summer 2018 with the original film crew - Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgård, Julie Walters, Christine Baranski, Amanda Seyfried and Dominic Cooper as well as with Lily James, Josh Dylan, Jeremy Irvine, Alexa Davies and Jessica Keenan Wynn.
Everybody are more than excited to see the movie and recognize the beautiful island of Vis, with which all the crew members were enchanted.
Paying for your bus ticket with a credit card could soon be a reality in Dubrovnik. The public bus company, Libertas, are considering introducing credit card payment systems in their main bus station in Gruz.
The director of Libertas, Ante Vojnovdić, commented that "the bus station is looking for a solution for paying with credit cards.”
Until now this payment option hasn’t been accepted which has proved frustrating, especially for tourists in the city.
"It is absurd that in a city like Dubrovnik, a city full of tourists, that credit cards can’t be used to pay for tickets. The main obstacle, until now, has been the high rates of card commissions which are even higher than the profit margin of the company,” added Vojnovdić.
It is to be expected that soon, after the latest EU regulation limiting credit card margins, that the bus station will allow payment with credit cards.
The Polish market is very important for Croatian tourism thus a two-digit rise of overnight stays of Polish tourists is expected this year, as pointed out at the Business Workshop of the Croatian National Tourist Board (HTZ) in Warsaw a few days ago that gathered representatives of 50 Polish and 26 Croatian businesses.
According to data, more than 970,000 arrivals and 6,3 million overnight stays were realized from the Polish market in Croatia last year or 20 percent more in comparison to the previous year making the Polish market the fourth highest ranked tourism market in 2017, stated HTZ.
The director of HTZ Kristjan Staničić emphasized that tourists from Poland most often opt for destinations in Dalmatia and prefer family accommodation in which more than 4 million overnight stays were realized last year.
As HTZ stated, representatives of the largest Polish tour operators and agencies including TUI, Neckermann and Rainbow Tours confirmed great tourist announcements for 2018 at the latest workshop in Warsaw. In talks held with the director of the HTZ branch office in Poland Agnieszka Anna Puszczewicz, they commented that demand of Polish tourists for Croatian destinations is on the constant rise.
The 27th of January 1416 will always be remembered in the chapters of Dubrovnik’s rich history. For on this day the Republic of Dubrovnik banned the slave trade, centuries before most of the countries in the Western world.
At a meeting of the Grand Chamber of the Republic of Dubrovnik on the 27th of January 1416 a total of 75 councillors of 78 in the council voted to ban slavery in the Republic. The very next day the vote and the decision came into effect and slavery was banned forever.
The decision stated that "none of our nationals or foreigners, and everyone who considers himself or herself from Dubrovnik, can in any way or under any pretext to buy or sell slaves or female servant or be a mediator in such trade.”
With this decision the Republic of Dubrovnik was among the first countries in Europe and in the world to ban the buying and selling of slaves.
For example, Great Britain banned the trading of slaves 391 years later, and the USA banned the slave trade 450 years after Dubrovnik on the 18th of December 1865.
It might still officially be winter time, not even spring yet, but the last Saturday in January felt anything like winter today.
The sun poured down onto the Old City and it was time to drink coffee al fresco, catch up with friends and walk the dog. If the last weekend in January is anything to go by then we could be in for a very hot summer this year.
Check out the photo gallery from today by Niksa Duper
The Croatian Team Tesla is participating in an adventure of a lifetime – the Budapest-Bamako Rally, the largest amateur rally in the world.
After they set off on their pioneering adventure on the 12th of January 2018, Saša Cvetojević, an entrepreneur, investor and electric cars fan, Oleg Maštruko, an author, travel writer, photographer and editor of IT media Bug and Mreža as well as Tomas Konvička from the Czech Republic, are continuing toward the finishing line attracting attention with their incredible venture – driving an electric car across the Sahara.
The Team overcame numerous obstacles and problems on the road and successfully crossed the world’s largest desert and entered Senegal.
‘’As far as we know, no one has ever crossed the Sahara driving a completely electric car. We do not claim that our data is correct, but we also applied this project for the Guinness Book of Records, so we are waiting for the results. We have photos, GPS tracks and signatures of witnesses’’, commented Saša Cvetojević.
Driving the Tesla Model X electric car, the first electric car that participates in any African rally, this adventurous trio is continuing the journey through Senegal and Gambia to the Gambian capital of Banjul where they are expected to finish the journey on the 28th of January.
The Budapest-Bamako or Great African Run is a low-budget version of the Dakar Rally, and goes from Budapest, Hungary to Bamako, Mali through the Sahara. It passes through Hungary, Austria or Slovenia, Italy, France, Spain, Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania and Mali. The Budapest-Bamako was inspired by the Paris-Dakar Rally. There are few entry restrictions: as long as a vehicle is street legal, it can join the event. The event also raises money and supplies for local communities and charities in Mali.
There are so many ways to enjoy the views in Dubrovnik but this must be one of the most dangerous.
A tourist was spotted taking his life into his own hands when he climbed up onto the ancient walls of the city, quite possibly looking to get the most outrageous holiday photo.
This is not to be recommended and there are plenty of signs around the walls instructing visitors not to climb up onto the walls. He certainly caught the eye of passers-by with his holiday stunt.