Midsummer Scene festival is back in Dubrovnik for the third time! The festival begins on June 19th with a photo exhibition opening of the British artist Bari Goddard (GOD photography) called Midsummer Scene / Night Dubrovnik, which he took during last year's performance of the play Twelfth Night during his stay in Dubrovnik. The exhibition will we opened until July 6th in the Siroka street.

This year, on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, Hamlet will be performed and it’s directed by Helen Tennison, while Helen Millar has the title role. The performances will be held every evening from 21th of June to the 7th of July, starting at 9.30 pm. The only exception is June 28th when the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra will play the concert 'Baroque and film music' on the St. Lawrence Fort. On the same day, at 8 pm, in the House of Marin Drzic there will be a performance called Shakespeare meets Drzic, where the actors from the Hamlet ansamble will read the parts of comedies by Drzic in English and in that way announce 450th anniversary of Marin Drzic death which will be marked next year.

Dubrovnik&Time, Dubrovnik promotional film, has one one more award, for the best short promo film about the town on the festival FilmAT- Film, Art & Tourism Festival Poland, which is one of the major film festivals in tourism, ecology and art in the world.

This is eight important award from the presentation of the film, which has happened at the start of March this year.

Dubrovnik &Time really thrills the audiences all over world and his quality is visible, since it's winning the important awards on the international film festivals.

The Telegraph has published the ultimate Game of Thrones filming locations guide and of course Croatia and Dubrovnik are the big part of it, among the other countries such as Nothern Ireland, Iceland, Spain...

- For Game of Thrones fans, Dubrovnik is King’s Landing, capital of Westeros, and its constant presence since series two has only heightened the appeal of a city that already creaks under the weight of tourist numbers – writes the author of the article about Dubrovnik, adding that the scenes were filmed all over the Old City, such as Minceta Tower, St. Lawrence Fort and many others.

- Gradac Park, on the outskirts of the historic centre, is the setting for the comically villainous Joffrey Baratheon’s wedding feast and subsequent comeuppance, while the atrium of the abandoned Hotel Belvedere is where Oberyn Martell suffers a grisly ending in season four. Farther afield is Trsteno Arboretum, which dates back to the 15th century – it stars as the bucolic Red Keep palace gardens – continues the author.

Other Croatian cities are mentioned too: Split which appears as the former slave city of Meereen, Trogir which appears as Qarth and Kastel Gomilica in the role of Braavos.

If you want to see the other locations click here.

This year Croatia has announced the opening of 40 new and newly renovated hotels in addition to several camps, resorts and motels.

''This investment boom in the Adriatic confirms that tourism is one of the most competitive sectors of the Croatian economy and that investors have recognised our efforts and our aim in the strategic development of tourism in Croatia. Continuous data of the tourist traffic and the consumption of tourists show to potential investors that Croatia is a country attractive for investments thus our task is to make Croatia even more attractive on the financial market with quality management of marketing, promotion and branding'', enhanced Anton Kliman the Croatian Minister of Tourism.

The Hotel Bellevue in Orebic in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County has been completely renovated and will be opened on the 10th of July. The construction works of the hotel Villa Paradiso in the Zaton area and the ACI marina Veljko Barbieri in Slano are to be finished soon. Further investments has been announced for the Hotel More in Dubrovnik which has been expanded with additional 40 rooms, the hotel resort Hotels Plat and a hotel in Importanne Resort that is planned to be open in 2017.

With the Euro 2016 in France underway Croatia has gone football crazy and are glues to the small screens catching up on the action. However they aren’t the only fans watching the championships in Croatia. John Terry, the Chelsea and former England player, is currently staying in Croatia and enjoying the beauties of the country with his family. He has posted his latest photos on Facebook and Instragram bragging about his holiday.

‘’Great holiday with the family’’ he wrote under the photo of him and his wife Toni on their yacht anchored off Rovinj in Istria.
After Rovinj they visited the National Park Krka in the Šibenik-Knin County in northern Dalmatia on Sunday. Terry has posted the family photo from the park on Instagram after the great victory of the Croatia national football team over Turkey giving his thumb up for Croatia.

Terry has 2.3 million followers on Instagram so these photos are surely a great publicity for Croatia.

Croatians are really into football and almost nobody missed the game between Turkey and Croatia yesterday. A group of fans from Dubrovnik got really popular after posting a photo imitating one of the players, Vedran Corluka, who was hurt during the match and had his head wrapped in bandage couple of times.

They wrapped their heads in toilet paper and really thrilled the people, who posted them all around social media, on the most popular Croatian Facebook pages. They even got to the national media!

Fun fact: our graphic designer Kristian is the part of this fan group. Good to see The Dubrovnik Times team is becoming popular!

                  Injured Vedran Corluka on the field / Photo by: Ronald Gorsic / CROPIX

It is one of the natural wonders of the world; the Bay of Kotor will leave you scratching your head at its sheer beauty, truly unreal. So when the chance to cruise on the Bay of Kotor appeared I grabbed it with both hands. Montenegro is on the doorstep of Dubrovnik, a short drive and you are in the wilds of Montenegro, with its soaring mountains and long sandy beaches. The sounded very civilised.

Our tour with started in the charming seaside town of Herceg Novi where we boarded a speed boat; this was going to be a feature of the full-day tour, plenty of time of the Adriatic. “It is such a clean sea, and calm, how lovely to skim across the waves,” commented a couple from Sunderland to me. They were right, there is no better summer feeling than being on the Adriatic when the sun is shining, and we were going to have a great day at sea.

“We are on our way to the Blue Grotto,” the guide informed me. I felt a little embarrassed; I have lived in the region for eighteen years and never heard of this Blue Grotto. “You will see, it is amazing,” he added. A Blue Grotto in the middle of the Montenegro Adriatic, I was intrigued.

A small opening in a cliff top, just, and I mean just, high enough for us to squeeze under in our speedboat. We entered what was a large concert-hall like cavern, echoing high stone ceiling and a brilliant turquoise sea. “Now if you want you can go for a swim,” announced the friendly guide. He didn’t have to ask twice. In seconds half of my group was already diving into the warm sea. This wasn’t the only gem of nature we were going to see in Montenegro.

Back onto the speedboats and to our mid-Adriatic rendezvous. Waiting for us on the horizon was a long ship; even from a distance it looked impressive. We hopped onto the excursion boat “Le Couche D’Eau,” with its restaurant, bar, sun terrace; this was going to be our comfortable home for the trip into the bay of Kotor. Lunch was served, very elegant sipping local wine and traditional cuisine as the ship slipped through the Adriatic. We were basically sightseeing and enjoying lunch at the same time.

Into the bay of Kotor, a World Heritage Site since 1979, and I could hear the gasps of awe as the rest of the group saw this natural miracle for the first time. “I have never seen anything like this in my life, these are the kinds of views that you only see on postcards,” added my lunch partners from Belgium. They weren’t wrong; impressive is just too short a word. He glided onto the manmade island “Our Lady of the Rocks,” a fascinating island with a complicated and interesting history. According to legend, the islet was made over the centuries by local seamen who kept an ancient oath after finding the icon of the Virgin Mary on the rock in the sea in 1452. A brief tour of the church on the island with its collection of icons, paintings and silver works and we were all back on Le Couche D’Eau.

“Culture, history and remarkable natural scenes, this small country is loaded down with options,” added the couple from Sunderland. All you could hear when the ship sailed towards Kotor was the sound of cameras clicking. The group, well to be honest me included, were filling their holiday albums ten times over.

Docking up in front of Kotor, a historic walled city at the end of the bay and a great place to end our tour, a very well organized tour it has to be said. Walking around the narrow cobbled streets of Kotor we were all left with the feeling that this full-day trip was both informative and satisfying.

By Mark Thomas

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Montenegro: Bay of Kotor cruise is a full-day excursion offered by the agency. For more information, including prices, dates and how to book, please visit the Gulliver Travel website .

On the site 101Reasons it's possible to add any kind of list and people can vote on it or contribute by adding a reason. So, the list of the 10 reasons to visit Dubrovnik was made by people who voted which reason they find the most inviting and here is the list:

1.    The islands
2.    The impressive City Wall
3.    It's the location of the Game of Thrones
4.    Take the outstading Game of Thrones tour
5.    The rich history
6.    Watch outstanding theatre in a fort
7.    The cuisine
8.    The staggering range of music
9.    Go to the pharmacy!
10.    The wine

You can see the full list with the details here and also, you can contribute by 'liking' the reason you like the most or adding the reason of your own.