What a difference a day makes! As predicted the weather took a turn for the worse today as the clouds closed in and the sun was blocked completely.

Temperatures plummeted to the low twenties and spots of rain are falling all over the county. The summer has been put on hold in Dubrovnik and the bad weather is predicted to last for around three days. These photos show the power of the clouds as they collected ominously over the city and the Adriatic.

A strong north wind is blowing and the days of relaxing on the beach are over. At least for the meantime.

The Ministry of Tourism has released a package of laws in the public debate that will directly address the activities of the tourist board system. After more than two decades, this huge system will undergo significant changes, and the intention is to make new laws more effective and to encourage smaller tourist communities to join together in accordance with common interests.

The task of tourist boards will no longer be just advertising and promotion, but they will have to develop products and create new motives for the arrival of guests. Ultimately, the concept of destination management should come to life, as this will be the principle of system reorganization.

Tourist boards that spend more than 30 percent of their income on wages are to be abolished and will no longer be chaired by the mayor or the head of the local self-government unit.

The Croatia government is set to spend a whopping 40 million Kunas, or around 5.3 million Euros, on updating and renovating of the fleet of cars used by the various state institutions. The framework for leasing a number of cars for a period of 60 months for 23 state institutions will cost the tax payer a healthy 40 million.

According to the Croatian newspaper Vecernji List the government is looking to procure 188 lower middle class cars, 69 middle class vehicles, and nine high-class class cars. There are also six SUV’s, three light-duty combo vehicles, four light-duty vehicles, seven vans and three combined vehicles for eight passengers.

The vehicles are to be procured for 14 different ministries, from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Ministry of Health. However, it isn’t only the ministers and ministries that are forking out for new vehicles, various other state institutions, from the National Geodetic Administration, the National Hydro Meteorological Institute, the State Metrology Institute and the Central Bureau of Statistics are also list on the list of institutions that will renew their fleet.

The prestigious World Meteorological Organisation’s 2019 calendar will feature two stunning photos from Croatia. This calendar is one of the most sought after as it features glorious weather and climate photos from all over the world.

And this year WMO received over 1,000 photos for their 2019 calendar which has the theme “The Sun, The Earth and The Weather.”

From the shortlist of 75 finalists two Croatians have found themselves in the final version of the calendar, which was chosen by the public voting online.

Ana Ricov and her “Vortex on Sea,” and Danijel Palčić with his “Shelf Cloud” have made it onto the final calendar and feature two breath-taking Croatia weather landscapes.

Mexican beauty and Playboy model, Celia Lora (34), has been holidaying in Dubrovnik and published a photo in the city that certainly grabs attention.

And with over a million followers on Instagram Lora has attracted lots of attention, although whether her fans were looking at the Adriatic Sea in the background or the busty model in the foreground is questionable.

The summer tourist season hasn’t even ended in Dubrovnik for this year but already one of the largest low-cost airlines in the world is advertising flights to the city for next year. EasyJet have opened flights for spring 2019 to Dubrovnik and have immediately started with some cheap deals to Dubrovnik with single tickets starting at 25 Euros!

Start planning your Easter break to Dubrovnik for 2019 and see the city before the summer crowds arrive, flights from three London airports, as well as Manchester and Bristol are all on offer. In fact, EasyJet will connect Dubrovnik to a total of ten European destinations next spring. The airline has put 14.4 million seats on sale for travel between the 31st of March and the 23rd of June.

Speaking to the UK newspaper The Mirror, Sophie Dekkers, easyJet’s UK Director, commented "We’re really pleased to be putting our flights for spring 2019 on sale today. Passengers can look forward to even more low fares to Europe’s best beach and city destinations. We have a number of exciting destinations to choose from for those looking to jet off on holiday and passengers travelling for business can also take advantage of our regular and convenient flight times to major city airports across our network."

Check out the flights on the EasyJet website

It might be officially autumn but the warm weather in Dubrovnik is showing no signs of slowing down. While most of the rest of northern Europe is wrapped in overcoats, and even Zagreb is relatively chilly, Dubrovnik and southern Croatia is still bathing in temperatures in the low thirties.

Whilst a cold snap is predicted for the beginning of next week it will only see temperatures fall to the low twenties for a few days. September is one of the best months to visit Dubrovnik, the crowds have eased off and the Adriatic Sea is just as warm as it has been all summer.

Zeljko Tutnjevic was out this weekend and once again brought us captivating images of the city

How did a ship from the Dubrovnik Republic change the English language and even had the great William Shakespeare using it in his play? Dubrovnik was a republic built around trade and maritime ventures. In the early days of the Republic in the 16th century the city could count on a fleet that held up to 200 ships, by the 18th century this had grown to 300 ships.

Such was the reputation of Dubrovnik as a city of sailors and shipbuilding that there was a phrase at the time top describe a ship constructed to last the ravages of time “Built in the Dubrovnik way.” There were even two sailors from the republic chosen to be part of the Columbus crew of 1492, Martin de Araguis and Pedro de Arague.

And by far the most famous ship to come out of the Dubrovnik shipyards was the so called Argosy. And here is where Shakespeare and the English influence comes into play. One of the Republics’ trade partners was Great Britain. Ships would dock in Margate, Southampton and Portsmouth and the ships were so much larger than the other ships in port that the locals would be impressed and used the word argosy, which is a distortion of the word Ragusa the original name of Dubrovnik.

The word became so well-used that over time it was used to describe a large merchant sailing ship. And in the Merchant of Venice Shakespeare used the same word to describe wide, wooden ships which would sail across the Mediterranean. The word had stuck in the English language. And still today the Oxford English Dictionary describes argosy as “A large merchant ship, originally one from Ragusa (now Dubrovnik) or Venice.”

Check out more from our series From the Archives

What’s in the name of Dubrovnik

Porporela stone with a story to tell

Complicated history of the theatre scene in Dubrovnik 

From the Archives – south wind stops Senate