Saint Blaise is the patron of Dubrovnik and festivity of St. Blaise is a big deal in this beautiful city. It's organised on February 3rd every year and it's also the Day of the City of Dubrovnik.

Preparations for this great event started this morning with putting up the poles with flags with the patron on them. It was interesting to see the festive decorations combined with Robin Hood set that seems to grow bigger every day.

                                                                                                                                                      Photos by Zeljko Tutnjevic

An event celebrating the Chinese New Year and the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Croatia and China was held at the Vatroslav Lisinski concert hall in Zagreb on the 23rd of January.

On this occasion the Croatian president Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic emphasized that China's constructive role in the international community significantly contributed to the further development of relations between Croatia and China. She also expressed her hope that 2017, a year of the rooster, which symbolises enthusiasm, diligence, courage and confidence, would bring better answers to growing challenges in the modern world.

‘’May this Year of the Rooster bring new impetus to strengthening friendly relations between the two countries and closer ties between their citizens. I hope that that their cooperation will be even closer and more intensive in order to strengthen our partnership and raise it to a strategic level," said the Croatian president, wishing all those attending the event a happy New Year.

The Chinese ambassador in Croatia Deng Ying said that China considered its partnership and cooperation with Croatia very important and underlined the great potential for advancing the cooperation between the two countries.

The celebration of the Chinese New Year also included great performances by a theatre troupe from the Chinese city of Ningbo, as well as singers, dancers and acrobats.

From the 16th to the 22nd of January a Croatian furniture company successfully participated at the International Interiors Show (IMM) held in Cologne, Germany.

Apart from the Salone del Mobile at Milan in Italy the IMM trade fair is one of the largest and most visited furniture and interior design shows in Europe held every year in January. This year the fair gathered more than 1,500 exhibitors (furniture designers, companies, retailers, architects, interior designers) from 50 countries around the globe who will set the course for a successful furniture business in the future.

The Croatian furniture company the Prima Grupa d.o.o. also found its place in this prestigious group of world furniture design companies. At one of the most attractive exhibition spaces the Prima Grupa company represented its new furniture collections with more than 100 products that had a debut at this year's IMM trade show.

The Prima's collection of furniture made of Croatian oak most attracted attention of European buyers. Only top quality furniture designed in accordance with the high expectations of Western Europe markets can open the doors of the leading retail chains across Europe.

The Prima Grupa d.o.o., the leading Croatian furniture company with a long tradition in manufacturing, retail and wholesale of home furniture was founded in Bjelovar in 1995. It has 52 stores throughout the country and 6 in Macedonia. Apart from the domestic market, Prima's products are available on the markets of Germany, Austria, France, the Czech Republic, Belgium, England, Romania and the Nordic countries.

Star Wars Episode VIII has finally been given its true name – The Last Jedi. After months of speculation and rumours the latest Star Wars has a name and a release date.

The Last Jedi will be released on the 15th of December 2017. The blockbuster was partially filmed in Dubrovnik with numerous locations around the historic Old City used.

From the 9th of March last year filming in Dubrovnik started and most of the shooting was done along the main street that runs through the centre of Dubrovnik, the Stradun. In fact this medieval street was transformed into a galaxy far, far away and even had stunt cars racing up and down.

Although many star actors were rumoured to come to Dubrovnik in the end only body doubles turned up. One thing is for sure Star Wars fans in the city will wait with expectancy to see their city in the latest movie.

For the eighth consecutive year the competition for the most trendy European destinations to visit this year is made by the website European best destinations. Competition started three days ago and will last for three weeks. 

Website team has pre-selected 20 incredible destinations that all deserve to win the prestigious title and one of them is in Croatia – beautiful Hvar. This ancient city is charming and calming and surely has a lot to offer.

Other destinations that are listed are Brussels, Vienna, Amsterdam, Madrid, Rotterdam, Gdansk, Milan, Paris, Porto, Rome, Bonifacio, Athens, Sozopol, Prague, London, Berlin, San Sebastian, Basel and Wild Taiga.

If you want to support this beautiful Croatian city – click on Stari Grad. You can vote here.

Traditional Dubrovnik Carnival is organized for the 18th time by the City of Dubrovnik and Dubrovnik Tourist Board. This four-day event is dedicated primarily to children and youth, but is a great fun also for the adults that want to have a great masquerade.

Dubrovnik Carnival will open on Friday, February 24th, with an exhibition of carnival masks, costumes and photos, organized by DART in the Tourist Information Centre at Pile. An exhibition will be followed by the parade of carnival groups of the children from Dubrovnik kindergartens on Stradun and their presentation in Revelin. The first day will end in Lazareti.

The second day of the carnival will be on Sunday, February 26th, and it involves pre-school children and carnival families, with an ending Carnival party in Revelin.

On Monday, 27th of February is masked school day, which be held in Revelin during the whole day.

‘’Ultimi’’ or the end of the carnival will be held on Tuesday, 28th of February, with good entertainment, prizes for best masks and the concert of Art group.

Dubrovnik Carnival 2017 is the final event of the Dubrovnik Winter Festival.

The average monthly net salary per employee in Croatia in November last year was 5,805 Kuna (around 770 Euro), it was stated by Central Bureau for Statistics today - reports Poslovni.hr. 

Compared to October, the average monthly net salary in November was higher by 163 Kuna (a bit more than 20 Euro) or nominally – it shows a growth of 2.9 percent.

On an annual basis, compared to the average salary for November 2015, the average net salary for eleventh month last year was higher by 2 percent or 116 Kuna (around 15 Euro).

According to the first data of Central Bureau for Statistics, the average monthly gross salary per employee in November last year amounted to 7,959 Kuna (a bit more than 1050 Euro).

On a monthly basis it’s an increase of 3.6 percent or 278 Kuna (around 35 Euro), and on annual level average gross salary was higher by 196 Kuna (25 Euro) or by 2.5 percent.

There seems to be a continuing trend of baring all, well at least baring your backside, in travel photos. And Dubrovnik hasn’t avoided this trend.

The latest photo to appear seems to be a tourist somewhere in the Zupa region of Dubrovnik on top of a building overlooking the Adriatic Sea. However there have been photos of a similar ilk from the top of the Srd Mountain overlooking Dubrovnik and from the iconic Dubrovnik City Walls. We await to see if this summer season brings more backside exposés.

Photo - Instagram - undisclothed1