From next summer’s swimming season, Šibenik will get the brand new city beach  – Beach Banj (aka gradska plaza Banj) – a modern beach covering the area of 12000 m2, located just few minutes walk from the Sibenik city centre.

The proposal for new city beach also includes promenade, restaurants and bars, changing rooms, showers, a playground, a beach / sandy volleyball court, a basketball court, a skateboarding ground and a free climbling wall.

The beach vistors will also enjoy a views over the old city and the dome of Cathedral Sveti Jakov (included in UNESCO heritage list)

At the nighttime, the beach will turn into an open air cinema as well as stage for concerts and similar events.

The new Sibenik beach is planned to be functional by Summer 2012.

See more photos of future beach in Sibenik here + check other Beaches in Croatia

More good photos of Marko Polo ferry at Jutanji.hr page

Ferry ‘Marko Polo’, which over the weekend, crashes into Croatian island of Sit  is still stranded, despite the efforts of rescue team.

The Jadrolinija‘s ferry Marco Polo was on its regular route Rijeka – Split – Dubrovnik – Bari (Italy) when it ran aground on the island Sit (small island located between Island Žut and Island Pašman) in vicinity of Sibenik and Zadar. The incident happened last Saturday at 2.50 am.

View Sit Island, Croatia in a larger map

None of the 41 passengers and 64 crew members were hurt in the incident, the ship was in good technical condition and there has been speculation the accident was down to human error.

The above photo shows ferry Marko Polo stranded on the island, as appeared on the page of yesterday’s eddition of Vecernji List (vecernji.hr).

Photos of stranded ferry at vecernji page

Though, after its renovation, the medieval monastery garden Sv Lovre (St Lawrence), located in the city centre, has been open for visitors for the past two years, it still attracts tourists with the same intensity.

The renovation of the medieval Mediterranean garden was completed at the end of 2007, after an entire century of neglect. It was led by the renowned landscape architect Dragutin Kiš, who received the millennium Flora award in Japan in 2000. The garden is a rare monument, the only one of its kind in Croatia and one of very few in this part of Europe. It is conceptualized in line with a medieval layout, comprising a cross path with a small well at its centre. The entire garden is enclosed by bushes and old scented roses. At the centre of  the rich Mediterranean greenery is the collection of decorative thyme.

Another special feature of the garden are its capers, which, according to legend, were brought to Šibenik by the well-known architect Juraj Dalmatinac. The entire garden is open to the public, and features educational programs for both schools and visitors. As it is part of a monastery, visitors can also visit the Gospina Spilja and the St Lawrence Church, both part of the St Lawrence monastery. Visitors can also enjoy a café, restaurant and souvenir shop. In the summer, the garden is open from 8am to 11pm, and in the winter, until Easter, from 9am to 4pm.

Šibenik also attracts visitors on account of its proximity to the national parks Kornati and Krka and its many cultural and historical monuments, the most important being the Sveti Jakov cathedral, under the protection of UNESCO. Interestingly, the cathedral was built for longer than a hundred years, and is a testimony to the perseverance and faith of several generations of Šibenik’s citizens. The cathedral is unique in many ways, not only in Croatian, but European architecture, as it is entirely made out of stone, without the use of any other material. According to experts, it is also unique on account of its bold construction: stone plates and frames have been put together without the use of bond. Other singularities, when compared to other renaissance churches, include its trefoil-shaped front and the harmony of the architecture and the series of 74 realist portraits on the apses.

See some photos of Sibenik , and read mre info about Sibenik on Šibenik-Knin County Tourist Board www.sibenikregion.hr  and City of Šibenik Tourist Board www.sibenik-tourism.hr

In today’s Travel Supplement of Sunday Times, Kornati Cottages are recommended among 13 of the world’s most remote hotels. This is an excerpt from the article:

KORNATI COTTAGES, Croatia: Legend says that when God was making the earth, he tossed a handful of soil over his shoulder into the Adriatic – and where it fell, so rose the Kornati islands. George Bernard Shaw said that God created them “out of tears, stars and breath”. A colleague stayed here a week, and put his clothes on only to meet the Tuesday supply boat and to row to a neighbouring island cafe. You get the idea. Largely uninhabited, the 150-odd islands sprinkled between Zadar and Sibenik are a tiny turquoise slice of holiday heaven. Hotel heaven they are not, however, as there aren’t any. What there is, though – one, two- and three-bedroom, gas- or solar-powered fishermen’s cottages, if not on their own island, then on their own private bay – is a Crusoe dream, with rowing boats (£107 per week) and fishing rods (£36 per week) the only distraction from your reading.

Croatia for Travellers (020 7226 4460, www.croatiafortravellers.co.uk ) has seven nights, self-catering, in a one-bedroom cottage from £442, including flights with Croatia Airlines to Split and transfers.

Read the whole article + Read about Kornati Islands National Park + See Photos of Kornati

The Primošten Arboretum will feature the significant traditional flora of Dalmatia – about 20 old species of grape vine, olives, fields of lavender, conifers and other varied Mediterranean flora, as well as plants from other parts of the world that are adaptable to Croatian climate.

Especially attractive for visitors will be the range of summer fruits, citrus fruits in particular and various types of bamboo.

In the midst of this islet there are still the remains of old stone houses and bunja (simple, elementary structures) and an arboretum, unlike parks and botanical gardens, always includes the construction of accompanying buildings.

There will be no other structures on the island. That means that the islet will remain uninhabited and the only structures it will have is the arboretum.

http://www.tz-primosten.hr/

Sibenik , recently saw the first tourist visit to the attractive medieval gardens of the Sveti Lovro monastery, in the area of the monastery closed to the public. This has revived an important part of Sibenik’s history and given it a new dimension in both education and tourism.

The gardens were recently completely revamped, with the pupils of Sibenik’s First Private Secondary School taking part in its renewal. The renovation project, following the well known scheme of medieval monastery gardens, is the work of well-known Croatian landscape architect Dragutin Kiš.

The Sveti Lovro monastery gardens cover an area of 600 square metres with a cruciform path having a well at its hub, a field hedged with boxwood, and cypress trees at the edges of the fields, old rose varieties, citrus fruits and figs on the edges with spices and medicinal herbs in the fields and capers on the surrounding rocks.

With the Mediterranean monastery gardens Šibenik is richer for a rare tourism and cultural point of interest, all the more as this is the town in which Robert Visiani, one of the best known 19th century botanists in Europe was born, himself a renovator of one of the best known botanical gardens in Europe.

The last stage of the Sibenik cathedral facade reconstruction has begun using the latest modern technologies of cleaning.

All the 12 apostles’ sculptures are to be taken down, cleaned of salt and further cleansed by using laser beams and replaced.

The works are to continue for next couple of months with plan to be finished by the summer.

Sveti Jakov Cathedral Sibenik, built in 1434, is an important architectural Renaissance building in Croatia that is listed by Unesco World Heritage.

It is a triple nave basilica with three apses and a cupola with hights of 32 meters. The most intersting part of the cathedral is its roof and the dome, which was build from stone, using the same techniques Juraj Dalmatinac used while building the apses and the sacristy.

The cathedral lies just underneath the fortress walls of the town in the old area of Sibenik.

More info About Sibenik + Sibenik Photos

The silver award also went to Croatia as the second place winner was declared the town of Biograd , located near Zadar.

The panel of judges of the Brussels-based European Association for Flowers and Landscape faced a tough task again this year – to select the tidiest town among the 5,600 top candidates, i.e. among the total of 26 thousand nominated towns and villages from across Europe.

Primošten is one of the best known tourist destinations in Dalmatia where there has been organised tourism since the early 1960s.

It is also one of the most picturesque places on the Adriatic sea , with many of the typical narrow streets in the old town core nestled at the top a small hilly peninsula. Natural beauty is not, however, the only advantage of this tourist destination. The tidiness of the place, attested to by this recognition, and the town’s laid back atmosphere, rich tradition, the warm welcome, quality lodgings and the tourism infrastructure in general have been drawing tourists from around the world for years.

It is much the same with Biograd – a town situated in the Bay of Pašman, some 30 kilometres south of Zadar. The town offers its guests numerous attractions and natural beauty – from inviting beaches, greenery, flowers and pine forests. In it vicinity are other natural “gems” like the renowned Kornati Islands and the Lake Vransko Nature Park – known for its fishing and hunting of marshland fowl.

More info on Primosten and Biograd at Primošten Tourist Board http://www.tz-primosten.hr/ and Biograd Tourist Board http://www.tzg-biograd.hr/

” Šibenik Islands, Croatia: Have you ever been treading water near shore when you saw an island in the distance that seemed just close enough to swim to? Here’s your chance to try it with other swimmers as part of SwimTrek’s Croatia journey.

Your first dip in the ocean will happen on either Prvic or Zlarin (depending on the trip you choose); both are part of the untrodden ibenik archipelago. Wearing a brightly-colored cap so that you are easily spotted by SwimTrek’s escort boats, you’ll stroke approximately two miles per day (you can wear fins if you like) to the next stop on the itinerary.

Days are spent exploring the islands of the Kornati National Park, the Krka National Park and other natural wonders. Water temperatures are warmest in August, at about 79 degrees. If you’re the type who always hears the Jaws soundtrack when in open water, this might not be the adventure for you.

This type of travel not only gives you a sense of accomplishment, but it’s a refreshing way to look at the world. Rates from $1,324 per person for six days with various departures from June through October. www.swimtrek.com ”

Other recommended European-island adventures are on Sicily, Ionian Islands, Azores, Iceland and Arctic Islands in Norway.