Occasionally, I get to read from my books to groups of Czech tourists in Dalmatia. They find me exotic. In fact, as one of the tourists expressed it, they find my case disquieting. I will tell you what he said, and warning!, this is by no means a way to brag about myself (I was brought up in communist Czechoslovakia, where saying anything positive about your random achievements earned you nothing but public contempt), but to get a bit of context over here.

“Correct me if I am wrong,” the man said in a voice on the edge of fatherly and bossy, “but you were born in Prague, got your degree in Oxford, had a glamorous legal job at an international court in France, and you voluntarily exchanged all that for a life in a village in Dalmatia, marrying a local fisherman and writing books?” He particularly stressed the books, as if that was the most pathetic of all my choices. “I mean – tell me – what on earth possessed you to do that?”

Although I could have been the man’s daughter, I looked at him in manner of a mother or a guru, and said: “Love, my dear. It was love.”

He protested: “Of course! You fell in love with your husband, and – “

He was going to point out the risky business behind international marriages, warn me about how love in the initial stage of a marriage quickly transforms into routine, until you finally realize that there is an avalanche of things you hate about your husband, and spend the rest of your life in the horror of dealing with them, daring to call this love.

I stopped him: “Not this kind of love,” I said. “The love I mean has been with me since I was eight - since the day I first came to Pelješac. It is my love of Dalmatia, the feeling that I belong here, that all I did in my life so far were just steps on a ladder rising up here.”

“So the village of Brgat is higher on the ladder for you than Strasbourg and London?” the man asked in sarcastic disbelief, making everybody in the audience giggle.

“In a way, yes,” I approve. I feel the audience stiffen (did she really say that? Is she, like, completely nuts?). There is a whole bunch of things I mean by that, myriads of emotions and pictures that come to mind, the urge to explain that a lawyer living between four walls of his office tiled with countless cases would be surprised if he spent one single evening on the bench in Brgat, watching local men argue over a game of boće, eating grilled fish and sipping beer, hearing people sing, spontaneously, just like that, their voices melting into the heat of the summer night. Not worrying. Not hurrying. Maybe it would occur to him that there is more to life than sitting at an ergonomic chair, serving a purpose you have long forgotten, and being paid a fortune for it month after month.

Or maybe not - maybe the lawyer would not understand anything.

I finally start reading a chapter about a Dalmatian wedding, because that’s why the people came here at the first place. To hear me read from my humour books about the Adriatic Bride. They laugh. They sometimes lift their eyebrows, learning surprising things about life in Dalmatia through the story. In the end, they clap and some of them buy the books. Some of them later send me a message over Facebook. Not long ago, I got a message from a Dalmatian woman who is fluent in Czech, so she could read my books. She wrote: “There is so much love in your books that it brought tears to my eyes. I know that you are not the protagonist of your novels, but you do love Dalmatia like you were married to it.”

I gave it a thought: yes, that was it. In a long sequence of memories stretching over quarter of a century, I recalled my Dalmatian marriage. All the joy and pain, all the enchantments and disappointments I lived up to here, all the violent internal arguments I had with this place, misunderstanding or disapproving of local culture, the heart-breaking temporary split ups, escapes to Prague, and then the crushing loneliness and panic fear that I might not go back, ever. The frantic happiness of returns. The forgiveness. The lasting passion. Love.

The world doesn’t function in a way to understand this, nor is it designed to support this kind of attachments. Success is measured by the digits at your pay check. Civilization is Europe and America, and if you want to make it anywhere in your profession, you will inevitably end up living in London or New York. Not Pelješac, for god’s sake. An arbitrary diversion from the path of success is regarded unreasonable. Random people, who think they fell in love with Bali and went to live there are generally considered lunatics (unless they become, like, presidents over there). You can, of course, go through your rites-of-passage backpacking thing and live in Bali for three months, but then you better return back home, to the big city that gives you so much more possibilities – of what? Of, well, success.

Dalmatia gives me more possibilities of happiness, though.

I try to capture this happiness in my books. They are my love letters to this corner of the world, to its people, its culture of pomalo. Slowly. Dalmatia and I had our ups and downs, but if anybody asked me, whether I wanted a change, I'd scream "nooo!" After all these years, the spark is still there.

As I write this, I am freezing my butt off in the “Narodna knjiznica,” the library in the old town, wearing a wool hat and a pair of gloves, hating the cold and wondering, why nobody puts the damned heating on here. The librarian, cold and sick, just smiles. School kids on their tour of the library point their fingers at me: who is she? - "That's Blanka, our writer," the librarian explains, with a hint of pride in her voice. The kids raise their eyebrows (thinking either that I am a total freak or a secret celebrity).

In any case, it seems Dalmatia wants to keep me, too.
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Blanka Pavlovic a.k.a. the Adriatic Bride is a Czech writer. She studied law (Prague) and creative writing (Oxford). As a lawyer, she specialized in international human rights law, first working for the European Court of Human Rights, then for a peacekeeping mission in Kosovo. She wrote five books, among them Total Balkans, The Handbook of the Adriatic Bride or The Return of the Adriatic Bride. She now lives with her family between Dubrovnik and Donji Brgat. More information and English translations of her work are available through www.blankacechova.com.

Dubrovnik is a centre for tourism, a magnet for the world’s productions companies with Game of Thrones and Star Wars, and now it seems that the door has opened to another branch of tourism. The city has hosted a number of significant car events over the past year and now the destination has been awarded with international recognition. The Sun Gardens, Dubrovnik resort has picked up the “Best Venue for Car Launch” for south-east and east Europe.

This international accolade is mainly due to the fact that this Dubrovnik resort hosted the Mercedes Benz training event earlier this year at which over 15,000 sales staff participated.

But this was just the icing on the cake as Dubrovnik also played host to Bentley convention, a Porsche event and a Hyundai congress. And this isn’t the end of the major automobile events in Dubrovnik. In 2017 Nissan will come to town for the global presentation of the new Nissan Micra, which will also be held at Sun Gardens, Dubrovnik. From the beginning of 2017 until the middle of March over 7,000 delegates from Nissan will be holding a training event in the city in parallel with the Micra launch.

The Old City of Dubrovnik was absolutely packed last night as the Dubrovnik Winter Festival rolled on in festive spirit.

The Stradun resembled a summer’s evening as thousands of people enjoyed the winter stands and a concert in front of the St. Blaise Church.

Check out our gallery from last night

Travel+Leisure published a list of unreal bars for a drink you'll never forget and Dubrovnik is right on the top!

- Whether it's one of the most breathtaking views in the world, a completely unique location, or a cocktail you simply can't find anywhere else, these bars are more than just watering holes – it's explained in the article.

The first one is... Buza bar! Famous bar located on the cliffs right by the sea has attracted many visitors since it was opened.

- Game of Thrones fans will enjoy locating the hidden Buza Bar in Dubrovnik, Croatia, as its nearby streets and magnificent views have often been the backdrop for the show. A literal hole in the wall, the bar leads curious travelers to a charming drinking spot on cliffs hugging the ocean with breathtaking views over the Adriatic Sea – writes Travel+Leisure.

Dubrovnik can be really crowded during the summer, everybody knows that, and tourists are often trying to find a way to avoid the crowds. Daily Mail published an article yesterday, offering the quieter side of Croatia – Elaphiti Islands. 

- Nothing can be said to be certain in this world, to paraphrase Benjamin Franklin, except death, taxes — and that there are more tourists in Dubrovnik than there are teapots in England – with this witty intro starts the article and the author continues with an explanation that Dubrovnik's walled seafront old town is a marvel, as picturesque and romantic as anywhere in southern Europe, but sometimes even the most committed sightseer needs a hideaway.

And what is a better solution than the Elaphiti Islands? The Daily Mail brings a few details about Kolocep, Lopud and Sipan – picking Lopud as their favourite.

- Dubrovnik surely ranks among Europe's top 20 destinations, but with travel, juxtaposition is all — and the Elaphiti Islands offer just that – concludes Daily Mail.

November exceeded expectations of tourist workers and despite a small number of direct flights from European centers this month record results were achieved again. According to the E-visitor system, in November there was 21 632 arrivals, which is an increase of 32 percent and 50,842 overnight stays, an increase of 27 percent. Most of the guests in November were from Croatia, Albania, the United States, Bosnia, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, Germany, Slovenia... Dubrovnik is starting to get more and more attractive in the late autumn. The fact that direct year-round flights were established from Frankfurt and Istanbul and that the flight from London was kept meant a lot for the results.

Since the beginning of 2016 to the end of November in Dubrovnik, including the results of nautical tourism, there was 1,017,756 arrivals, or 12 percent more and 3,684,626 overnight stays or 13 percent more. Top guests were from the United Kingdom, followed by the Germans, the US, France, Croatia, Spain, Sweden, Finland, Australia and Italy.

Tonight, the 2nd of December, at 7.30pm in the Dubrovnik Cathedral a rather special concert will be held. To mark the 15th anniversary of the musical workshop “Sorgo.” This anniversary will see a special concert organised in the atmospheric Dubrovnik Cathedral to which entry will be free of charge.

The musical workshop Sorgo was created with the intention of reviving forgotten music from the archives of Dubrovnik and to explore new ways to perform these contemporary pieces. Over the years the workshops have become a meeting place for the old and the new as well as a space for dialogue between different musical styles.

I've been fortunate enough to have to travel to Istria on business last week. This northernmost coastal region of Croatia is lovely to behold any time of the year, but I found it completely empty of all the tourists. Yes, it seems “Croatian Tuscany” as some like to call Istria, is struggling with off-season tourism, much like us down south.

Most of the historical places on the coast: Pula, Rovinj, Porec, Umag, were all pretty much desolate. Many of the local hospitality businesses were closed. Stone cobbled streets in historical districts were quiet and felt as if they are hiding some horrible secrets. They would make few people traversing them pick up their pace wishing to escape this realm of silence as quickly as possible. The entire thing felt very familiar.

Dubrovnik Region and Istria share many similarities. Both are highly esteemed tourism destinations and both boast wonderful natural resources, picturesque countryside, well preserved historical cities, and great food and wine. However, one major difference is the location. Istria is very close to Italy, Slovenia, Austria, and even Germany, so most of Istrian guests travel there by car. This leaves them free to decide to travel spontaneously and they can do so any time of the year. Meanwhile, our most frequently visiting guests – the British, Americans, Scandinavians, Western Europeans...all fly to Dubrovnik. When major airlines stop their direct flights to Dubrovnik, it pretty much disables our guests from coming over without going through the hassle of many connecting flights. We do get cruise ships, unlike Istria, and while this is not as good as having guests that live 2-4hrs drive away from you, it does make our city a bit more active during off season periods. Still, it seems we are equally inefficient in getting guests to visit during winter.

One thing that struck me while visiting this time is that neither the people of Istria nor Dubrovnik travel much among our two regions, which is a real shame. Istria is a perfect place for someone from Dubrovnik to visit. There is plenty to see and do and much of it is relatable to what we have at home, but different enough to be interesting to explore. Historical cities are wonderful, scattered villages absolutely charming and food and wine is to die for. The people of Istria could love coming to Dubrovnik for practically all the same reasons. Also, travelling like this would give us the perfect opportunity to better exchange experiences and ideas about tourism, hospitality, managing historical sites, and traditional agriculture– all crucial things for both regions.

We Croatians are competitive people and we often mistrust each other. There is a silly trend of rising animosities between the country's north and south and it has to be stopped. Did I say „silly“? I meant „stupid“. It's a very stupid trend and so are the people who support it. Even though we are a small country in size, we have quite a few different regions and it seems to me we simply don’t know enough about each other. We desperately need to explore our country more, so we can appreciate it more. The people of Istria and Dubrovnik would benefit greatly from travelling among these two regions. We would get to know each other a bit better and could enjoy in the best of what these two beautiful parts of Europe have to offer – something that we usually reserve for our international guests. Who knows, we might learn a thing or two in the process.

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Bozidar Jukic, AKA The Restless Native, is a Dubrovnik local with too many interests to name them all, with writing being at the very top of the list. He is a lover of good food, music and film, and a firm believer in the healing power of laughter. His professional orientation is towards tourism and travel so it comes as no surprise he spends most of his time alongside Mrs. Jukic running their own local tour company. Their goal is helping travellers from all over the world get a more intimate experience of Dubrovnik and what it has to offer. To find out more about their work, visit their website or Facebook page.
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