The largest shopping mall in Dalmatia will open on the 3rd of March, the Mall of Split. With six floors, over 60,000 square metres of shopping space and brand name shops the Mall of Split will be a magnet for shopaholics from all over the region.

There will be 220 shops inside the mall, a nine screen cinema, ten restaurants, ten-pin bowling centre, casino and numerous other entertainment facilities in this mega 177 million Euro investment. Many new brands have found their home in the new mall, including the British department store Debenhams, as well as a Lego shop, Mohito, Gap and Mango.

Every day from 9am to 10pm shoppers will be able to visit the massive new shopping centre in Split. And if you were worried about not finding a parking space, don’t be, the Mall of Split has 2,320 parking spaces in underground parking. And the list of shops goes on and on...Nike, Desiqual, Zara, Office, Buzz, Converse, Adidas and an Interspar.

In the new exhibition space of the St. Klara Monastery in the heart of the Old City of Dubrovnik there were be an exhibition of a collection of ceramics by Pablo Picasso in late March. "The Lake Collection of Picasso Ceramics", which is managed by the collector and the owner of Slovenian gallery Deva Puri, David Razjanjcev, consists of over a hundred original ceramic works by Picasso.

In addition to the ceramics there will also be thirty original graphic works and posters by the artist.

The exhibition is currently in Germany and then it will travel onto Dubrovnik at the end of March.

Motorbike chases around the old city harbour, chases over rooftops and stunning stunts...this is Dubrovnik as you have never seen it before. Amazing action scenes are played out in the heart of the Old City of Dubrovnik in the next Bollywood blockbuster to hit the screens on the 15th of April this year. The official trailer of the next Bollywood blockbuster FAN is out and Dubrovnik features as a backdrop.

The new teaser trailer for the movie featuring the biggest name in Bollywood, Shah Rukh Khan, was released today on social media and Dubrovnik looks stunning. There is a good chance that FAN will outshine all of the international film productions that have been filmed in Dubrovnik such as the Game of Thrones, Star Wars and the possibility of the next James Bond. In a little under an hour already over 200,000 people had watched this latest teaser trailer for FAN. FAN is the story of Gaurav (Shah Rukh Khan) a young man, whose world revolves around the mega movie star Aryan Khanna (Shah Rukh Khan) or God as he refers to him.

Shah Rukh Khan is by far the most popular Bollywood actor and is reported to have a net worth of $600 million. He has a huge following on social media, with almost 18 million Facebook likes and over 18 million Twitter followers.

His latest movie FAN was partially recorded in Dubrovnik in May last year.

Check out the teaser trailer after 1.45 minutes to see some amazing Dubrovnik scenes.

Dubrovnik will have direct flights to Istanbul for this summer season. The Board of Directors of Turkish Airlines today decided to establish a direct air route between Istanbul and Dubrovnik. The Mayor of Dubrovnik, Andro Vlahusic, and the Embassy of the Republic of Turkey in Croatia have confirmed that these new flights will be operated in 2016.

Turkish Airlines is one of the fastest growing airlines in the world and Istanbul and Dubrovnik will be connected during the summer season with several flights a week. The full details on the frequency and the prices of the tickets have yet to be announced.

Mayor Vlahusic particularly emphasized the role of the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey, and the present Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, whose personal involvement in this project was of great importance.

The south wind blew and storms came to Dubrovnik today. Heavy seas, rain and driving rain in Dubrovnik brought an end to the recent warmer and sunnier weather. Low cloud has come down and the mountains above the city are hidden from view. The high seas crashed up the Banje Beach and even reached the second floor of the Hotel Excelsior on the coastline.

Check out our video and photo gallery from today.

Karisma Hotels Adriatic has announced that the realisation of the Plat project should begin soon and expect that the first phase of the resort will be completed by 2017. The Plat hotel complex, which was devastated in the Homeland War, was purchased by Karisma Hotels Adriatic in a public tender for 118 million Kuna at the beginning of last year.

After Hotel Mlini and Hotel Sheraton, the Plat resort is the next hotel in the Zupa region to be reconstructed. Karisma has stated that the first hotel will be open in 2017 and will have five-stars. They have recently presented their plans to members of the urban and architectural commission which was appointed by the Borough Council.

“All submitted solutions that the investor supplied us were considered and in accordance with the Development Plan for Platt we have chosen the solution offered by the company Scott Brownrigg from London,” commented the head of the borough council for Zupa Silvio Nardelli.

Karisma Adriatic Hotels, which is owned by Karisma Hotels from Mexico and Agrokor from Croatia, have entered into the purchase and redevelopment of Plat with one of the biggest travel operators in the world, TUI. This connection should ensure that the future resort is busy for a large part of the season.

The castle of Sokol was built on an inaccessible cliff more than 25 meters high. A natural fortress, its controls the main road leading from Konavle north into Herzegovina and the Balkan hinterland. This is the main reason why this town has been continuously inhabited since ancient times.

Although its present name was first mentioned in August 1373, archaeological finds date the town several thousand years earlier. Research has proven that there was a prehistoric structure, an ancient and a late-antiquity fortress, and a medieval town that came under the authority of the city of Dubrovnik in 1423.

Protecting the region for centuries
The role of the fortress changes over time. In addition to its religious function, the prehistoric fortress also protected the inhabitants of the village below it. Ancient Roman and late antiquity Byzantine fortresses had to defend the Konavle region from external enemies and barbarians. In the Middle Ages, Konavle was primarily under the authority of the neighbouring states, although it enjoyed a special political position. Fort Sokol no longer had to defend Konavle from neighbouring rulers because they were already in Konavle. These feudal lords now enforced payments from their lands in Konavle from Sokol. With the arrival of people from Dubrovnik this system changed radically. They oversaw Konavle and managed their revenues from the Rector’s Court in Saint Martin (Pridvorje) and Sokol took on a role similar to that of Justinian’s castrum from the 6th century: the defence of territory acquired from external enemies.

History explained in the museum 

Back to its former glory
Throughout the 15th century, the Republic of Dubrovnik invested considerable financial resources to make Sokol a fortress powerful enough to defend Konavle and the south-eastern borders of the republic. The small trading republic had many enemies. In addition to rulers in the hinterland and the powerful Venetian Republic, which was always lying in wait to conquer the city, a major new power on the European mainland was unstoppably approaching the borders of Dubrovnik: the Ottomans. Sokol also played an important military role in the 16th and the 17th centuries. However, after the Candian war in 1669, the fortress lost its significance and the Dubrovnik army abandoned it in 1672. The Association of the Friend of Dubrovnik Antiquities acquired Sokol in 1966. The restoration, which has taken more than half a century, has enabled the fortress to open to the public. After 350 years, Sokol is again guarded by a permanent garrison the watches over it.

Truly a magical place 

Members of the Croatian Star Wars Club shocked Dubrovnik early yesterday morning as they walked down the Stradun dressed as Darth Vader and two Storm Troopers. The trio travelled to the set of the eighth episode of Star Wars in Dubrovnik to act out scenes from the popular movie franchise.

The Croatian Star Wars portal published photos of Darth Vader and the two Storm Troopers in various locations around the Old City of Dubrovnik.

Check out the photos published on moscroatia.com

All photo credits - moscroatia.com