Žigljen cheese, produced on Pag Island  has  received an important international award – it is selected among the best cheese in the world, winning the ‘super gold medal’ at the World Cheese Awards 2011 (www.finefoodworld.co.uk/wca)

The winning hard cheese, produces in Gligor’s dairy on Pag, is made entirely from locally sourced sheep and cow milk.

It takes three to six months for Žigljen to fully mature and finally achieve its spicey, characteristic aroma.

This year`s  World Cheese Award gathered over 2500 cheese producers from 30 countries, judged by jury of 200.

Gligora dairy (Sirana Gligora)  homepage:  www.sirena.hr

After six amazing years in Petrcane – the original epicentre of Croatia’s now burgeoning independent festival scene – it’s time to move to pastures new, and the party has taken root a little further along the stunning coastline. Ladies and gentlemen, we’d like to introduce you to The Garden Tisno.

The new site is an undiscovered musical paradise which fits right within the Garden’s esteemed and revered ethos, where the emphasis is always on an unparalleled experience combining festival and holiday vibes seamlessly as one. It’s set in a gently hilly area which overlooks the Garden’s very own beautiful bay below, complete with sandy beach and crystal clear water.

Tisno – split between the mainland and the island of Murter, joined by a 20m rising bridge – is just a ten-minute walk away, is a charming picture-perfect town with a host of restaurants, cafes, apartments and small boutique hotels. It’s situated pretty much right between Zadar and Split airports, which lots of flights from Europe to each.

Nick Colgan, one of the festival’s directors, explains that, “We really feel we have found a new home which captures the magic of our original vision but also evolves it a bit too. The Garden Tisno has its very own village, featuring 80 on-site apartments which can hold 300 people, as well as 30 Indian Shikar tents with electric fans and lighting, proper beds, mosquito nets, dressing room and porch area. There are also 120 pitches for people bringing their own tents. It will also feature the familiar elements everyone knows and loves – twice daily parties on the Argonaughty seadog including sunset trips close to the Kornati Islands, partying around the Main Stage and Tiki Bar day and night and a brand new Barbarellas club. The entire site runs right along a truly gorgeous shoreline, so dancing right by the glittering waters under the sizzling sun or a moonlit star-speckled sky – classic Garden experiences – remain, helping to keep the festival so unique. And with Funktion 1 across all areas the sound will once more be amazing! Already Tisno really feels like home and we think it will for everyone else too.”

One of the new developments is that Barbarellas will now be open to all; once again it will be hosted by some of world’s top club nights and promoters each night throughout the Garden Festival in a completely open air location with a bigger capacity that will ensure all Gardeners will get the chance to experience the new club environment.

Barbarellas is located on the sea front and is just a short bus ride away from The Garden Tisno. Transfers will be arranged by us to ensure you can easily get there for a bit of late night revelry before the buses or taxi boats whisk you back to Tisno.

The first wave of acts will be announced in mid-January.

The Garden Tisno – A New Beginning – Weds 4th – Weds 11th July 2012 @ Tisno, Croatia
Full week tickets: £90
www.thegardenfestival.eu
www.watchthegardengrow.eu

By the same survey, in regional selection Istria is reanked as the most desirable destination, followed by Bavaria, Tyrol in Germany and Lake Garda in Italy.

The analysis was made on the basis of a survey of 1.7 million of ADAC’s members.

The top four destinations for German camping enthusiasts are Germany, Italy, Croatia and France.

The Italian company Marazzi group, which has recently reconstructed the Hotel Lafodia, on Lopud Island is now considering to  invest in the reconstruction of another Lopud hotel - Grand Hotel Lopud, owned by Atlantska Plovidba from Dubrovnik.

Grand Hotel Lopud is right now not in use, bought by Atlantska Plovidba few years ago.

The plan is to reconstruct this old building it into a boutique hotel with up to 70 rooms.

Altlantska Plovidba is the majority owner of other two hotels in Dubrovnik, the Hilton Imperial Dubrovnik and Hotel Lapad, while the Marazzi group owns Lafodija.

Hostel Cinema, created in the building of the former Ilok’s old cinema. is located  in the very centre of town and features old wooden staircase across old fashioned mosaic floors and walls covered in posters, photographs, old cinema projectors and vinyl records.

The hostel can accommodate up to 38 people in bunk beds with use of  shared bathrooms.

On the top floor there are 6 double-bed rooms with refrigerators, a TVs and private bathrooms.

In the same building there is a café, a disco and a pizzeria.

More info and booking at Hostel Cinema web: http://www.cinema.com.hr/

Check other destinations in Slavonia + other accommodation in Slavonia

The service is scheduled to start on 28 March 2012, serving passangers twice a week – on Wednesdays and Sundays.

This is the eighth Ryanair’s seasonal line to Zadar airport, the third from Germany.

Other Ryanair flights to Croatian airports include seasonal flights to Rijeka, Zadar and Pula from variety of European airports.

To book, check : http://www.ryanair.com/

It also confirmed continuation of flights from Belgrade to Dubrovnik (launched in 2011).

This year’s flights to Dubrovnik Airport will start in mid June, while flights from Belgrade to Pula and Split Airport will start at the beginning of July.

The routes will operate twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays afternoon.

More info and schedules / timetables are here

An article about holidaying on Hvar Island is winner of this year’s The Guardian’s Readers’ writing competition: summer holidays.

Subtitled as “Dana Smith thought she had a cove on the island of Hvar, Croatia, to herself – until a naked woman emerged from a cave“, the article was published in travel supplement of last week’s Guardian.

Read the whole article here + click to see large photo of the article

 Slavonia will get its first five-star hotel next year.

Hotel Bischof , part of “Đakovo Centar” will be build in the Đakovo city centre.

The hotel will have 39 rooms and two apartments, a wellness centre and other additional facilities that are required by this high hotel category.

20 million euros have alreay been invested in “Đakovo Centar” which will also have flats, offices and an underground garage.

The total value of the investment is estimated at 37 million euros.

More info about Đakovo and Slavonija : www.tz-djakovo.hr + www.tzosbarzup.hr

 International Travel and Destination Expo (ITDE) will take place in the five star Le Meridien Lav hotel in Split from 24 to 27 November this year.

This will also be the first year that the fair in Split will deal with connecting tourism trends with social networks (aka social revolution in traveling).

There will be a string of lectures and round tables about the influence of Facebook or Twitter on the tourist season. The fair is aimed at professionals in the tourism industry as well as users of their services.

Have a look at short intro video (Croatian language):

More info here + download ITDE brochure here

Have a look:

Vuglec Breg , a little village in Hrvatsko Zagorje now offers unconvenional de-stress program that includes looking after flock of sheep.

The program is aimed to people who wish to escape from the stresses of everyday life and spend few days on rural farm.

The three day program includes two overnight stays with accommodation in one of Zagorje`s traditional houses including breakfast, lunch and dinner. Along with looking after and feeding 25 sheep on a meadow on the southern slopes of Vuglec Breg, the program includes the feeding and grooming of ponies. Those who wish to look after the sheep will have a three legged stool, a shepherd`s stick and a sheep dog Riki , while those interested in additional activities, can join the owners in seasonal work in vineyards or orchards, chopping of wood, and other farm activities.

The de-stress program is available throughout the year.

Vuglec Breg is located about 40 kilometres from Zagreb in the heart of Hrvatsko Zagorje reagion, 4km from the thermal spa Krapinske Toplice.  The restored village is today made up of three original Zagorje houses, a restaurant, a wine cellar, a gazebo with a clay oven and barbeque. There are also some old wells that used to serve as water supplies, and an old Zagorje ‘klet’ , a traditional wooden hut.

There are many trails and paths on offer for lovers of refreshing long strolls or mountain bike rides in the fresh air, all of them surrounded by vineyards, orchards, forests and meadows.

• Pension Vuglec Breg
  Situated 7 km from Krapina and 60 km from Zagreb, Pansion Vuglec Breg offers modern rooms in 4 traditional north-Croatian cottages. The complex features free Wi-Fi and a tennis court. Prices from 53.00 – Number of rooms: 10 – Check Pension Vuglec Breg, Krapina availability

The Lonely Planet Best in Travel 2012 book, available on sale, puts Hvar Island at number five on the list.

Here is an extract from the article:

5. Hvar, Croatia – Come high summer, there’s no cooler place in Croatia to get your groove on than Hvar Town on its namesake island. Fabulous suntanned bodies flock to this drop-dead gorgeous spot for round-the-clock fun. Think après-beach parties as the sun dips below the Adriatic horizon, full-moon shindigs and designer cocktails sipped seaside to fresh DJ-spun tunes…

Read the whole article here + read more about Islands of Croatia and Adriatic Sea

Venue : Diocletian Palace, Split, Croatia

Preview: Friday, November 4, 2011 at 8 p.m.

Opening hours: Every day, 9 am to 8 pm – closed on Sundays

The central topic of this year’s Split Salon, a biennial event in contemporary art, is the querying of the exhibition as site of ones own exposure and as potential site for the articulation of the lie as legitimate means of gallery narration.

One of the interesting terms to which life is related is the lie.  Provocative here is the fact of the semantic noise that is generated among the Croatian public by approximating two verbal forms: izlagati (to tell a lie) and izlagati se (to exhibit or expose oneself).

The platform of the 37th Split Salon takes its cue from this noise.  All thematic possibilities are taken into account, all possible investigations of the paths of the ‘urban lie’, the negation or distortion of truth, or its manipulation; political, personal, familial and social impulses as well as querying of the actual means of art and the possibility it has of being manipulated.  Nor are the very unstable positions and dangers of ones own exposure in the public domain of artistic appearance ignored in the meantime.

The lie can be understood as a provocation, as a legitimate means in the denunciation of all kinds of anomalies. But it can also be understood as space of freedom, a refuge, a deflection of too great exposure and openness.  Individuals are becoming increasingly accessible to the environment, and ever less to themselves. Cell phones, Internet, Big Brother and other reality shows private life is too easily giving way or is being entirely lost and negated. And after all, at the moment when we so facilely brandish the term transparency, expanding it to the area of political discourse, as well as the field of contemporary art and exhibition practices, iz-laganje has an almost subversive undertone.

In the area of private life, an internal reflexion of general experiences that become personal is being sketched out, as well as the exposure of ones own specialness, which becomes part of the public realm.  From the pith and marrow, the most covert desires, wishes and needs and traumas to the very borders of privacy, across which the individual approaches the other, a wide spectrum of connotations of rights and also responsibilities is revealed. Handling the private life goes on between two extremes  – introversion and extroversion.

In sum, this biennial contemporary art event is interested in the question of how the paradigms of the lie and of private life edge into the discursive space of city and gallery, that is, how they are articulated through contemporary art practice.

The project takes for granted the presentation of all media of artistic expression.

Curators of the 37th Split Salon are Dalibor Prancevic and Barbara Vujanovic.

About Split Salon:

The Split Salon is an exhibition of contemporary art that has been held, in a somewhat uneven rhythm of annual and biennial events, since 1969.

For more than four decades the Salon has brought together the potentials of the art scene not only from the region but from the whole of the area of the Republic of Croatia, organised entirely by the Split Croatian Artists Association, puts before the public the achievements of recent work through all the known manners of expression in the fine arts. The contemporary Split Salon, which is biennial, follows in its subjects the turbulent state of our social vicissitudes.  Through creative authorial commitment and art production the Salon enables fine artists to make reference to social reality and accordingly has become a place for the promotion of universal cultural reality.

By persisting with the project of the Split Salon, the Split Croatian Artists Association cultivates worthwhile humanist values, maintains a critical attitude towards market-oriented neoliberalism, raises the issue of the effective survival of the love of freedom and provides answers via uninhibited liberty of artistic expression mediated via concrete artefacts of high artistic value.

As well as the exhibition programme, the curatorial set-up in the gallery venues, the Salon also organises discussions on a given theme with respect for different viewpoints via public discourse.  The Split Salon regularly penetrates into the tissue of the city with the performative action of some of the participants in the project, exploring the reactions of not only the targetaudience but also of the whole of the public.  In this manner it will happen that casual passers-by become active participants in the Salon, not merely neutral consumers of the artistic fare.

37th Split Biennal is organised by:

HULU, Split (Croatian Association of Artists – Split)
Obala Hrvatskog narodnog preporoda 24,
21 000 Split, Hrvatska
http://www.hulu-split.hr/

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

The value of the project is estimated at around 200 million euros and with its realization, the accommodation capacity should go up from the current 1000 to around 1600 beds.

The project predicts the reconstruction of existing accommodation units and the construction of a new medical hotel Jupiter, connected to the existing hotel complex Minerva, which would also be reconstructed, as well as the building of a new specialized hospital wing Junon.

After the reconstruction, the hotel Minerva would get a fourth star, and its pool facilities would be made over into a contemporary spa centre, which would be connected to the future hotel Jupiter. This hotel should be built across
an area of 33000 square metres and would hold 480 beds. A large number of rooms will contain a sauna and medicinal thermal water will be available in the bathrooms.

Varaždinske Toplice holds many advantages over other thermal centres in the surrounding areas - it is the unique thermal water with a rich source, over 300 years of medical tradition, a reputation as a leading specialized hospital for medical rehabilitation in Croatia with top experts, a central location, natural beauty and local organic food.

The town of Varaždinske Toplice is located in Hrvatsko Zagorje, about 45 min drive from Zagreb and a 10 min drive from Varaždin.

More info about Varaždinske Toplice at Tourist Board site  www.toplice-vz.hr + about Spa, Health and Wellness Tourism in Croatia

A new salt museum was recently opened as addition to Nin salt evaporation pond .

The museum offers a complete insight into the extraction of salt, which follows the same tradition as in Roman times.

The sea water naturally falls through the pools of the ponds where it evaporates with the help of sun and wind and eventually crystallizes into pure natural sea salt.

Nin’s Salt Evaporation Pond dates back from Roman times and covers  about 55 acres of Nin bay where locals are still producing a wide range salt products such as industrial and therapeutic salt.

Due to traditional production, unpolluted sea water and specific environment conditions including the number of sunny hours per year, salt from Nin is of a very high quality.

Have a look at the short video about Solana Nin:

More info @ Nin Tourist Board: www.nin.hr

The 9th Zagreb Film Festival will be held from 16th-23rd of October 2011, on  on several locations in Zagreb, showing about 90 films in seven sets of programmes including : new film debuts – 12 feature films, 10 short films, and 16 documentaries, competing for the festival’s award – the Golden Pram, Croatian short films, Bib for Kids, My First Film, The Great 5 (new European films from Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Britain and Austria.

For more detailed info and full programme visit ZFF homepage: www.zagrebfilmfestival.com

The Dalmatian island of Vis is less visited and almost escapes the crowds of the tourist season, leaving guests of this beautiful place to enjoy its natural beauty. Even though Vis has more than enough to offer and abounds in numerous wonders, it does not have luxury hotels, marinas and restaurants, although it is very popular among sailing enthusiasts and yachtmen.

Although it does not include many contents of a social character, Vis offers restaurants ith exclusive resh fish and local specialities, some of the bst Croatian wines and the beauty of the Mediterranean hat has almost disappeared in other places.

Instead of grand buildings and tourist crowds, says the author Tom Robins, you can find landscapes that are aboundant with aromas of rosemary, lavender, figs, olives and grapevine onthe island. The island has many abandoned beaches and bays which can be easily reached by a rented scooter.

Vis probably does not have so many tourists primarily because of how far it is – a two hour ferry ride from Split. Also, there is the fact that Vis was once a marine base with traces of that time stil visible, especially in the harbour and the fort on top of the hill.

From Vis, one can also go on a trip and visit Modra špilja (the blue cave) on the island of Biševo. There, around noon, during calm seas, the sun rays break through the underwater opening of the cave, reflecting from the white bottom and light up the cave with a blue light, giving the objects in the water a silvery look and leaving visitors breathless.

The island of Vis has many culturaly-historical monuments and buildings. The largest are the remains of ancient Issa and on the Pirovo peninsula there are remains of an ancient theatre and public bathing grounds.

Around the island there are many sunken battle and merchant ships, making a visit to Vis quite adventurous.

‘The legacy is a very real sense of tranquillity – what Croats call ‘fjaka’, which translates approximately as ‘lazy mood’ – and a pace of life that cannot fail to slow you down’’says the article in the Financial Times…  Read the whole  article in FT + check  the Vis tourist board site www.tz-vis.hr for more info about Vis.

The video features some lovely shots and wise comments – have a look:

The race lasts for two days, and the rafting descent trail takes 2-3 hours. The two-day event ends with a charity dinner and the traditional Miss Zrmanja beauty pageant. Also, apart from the race and other entertainment, organizers are preparing a series of interesting lectures on karst, hydrology of Zrmanja, ecology of karst, caves, flora and fauna of the river and its tributaries, and sustainable development of the canyon of  Zrmanja.

River Zrmanja is located in northern Dalmatia, at the foot of Velebit Mountain. It originally springs from under the
mountain Poštak in the southern part of Lika, one of central Croatia reagions and flows into the Novigrad Sea 12 kilometers from Obrovac. It is 69 kilometers long, and because of the proximity of the sea it is suitable for rafting all year round.

Zrmanja will capture you with its beauty and is regarded by many as one of the most beautiful rivers in Croatia because of its canyons and waterfalls. Its crystal clear waters meander through some two hundred meters deep canyon. In it, the river has created numerous travertine waterfalls from which the 11 meters high waterfall Veliki Buk particularly stands out.

Zrmanja is, due to its location and hard access, also called the “hidden beauty”, and lovers of rafting have given her the name “Beauty and the Beast” because when it overflows, it offers one of the best rafting experiences in this part of Europe, and when its calm it lightly carries one through landscapes that do not leave anyone indifferent.

More info about Rivers in Croatia + Zadar County http://www.zadar.hr/ and Obrovac http://www.obrovac.hr/

Croatia Airlines, the Croatian national air carrier, has recently officially confirmed that it has introduced many new direct flights in their summer timetable.

New seasonal flights are being added from Zadar airport to Munich and Zurich.

The first regular flight from Zadar to the Bavarian metropolis is scheduled for 3 May whilst from 29 September airplanes on that line will fly twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Direct connection between Zadar and Zurich will start on 20 May and last until 30 September. This line will also operate twice a week, on Mondays and Fridays.

In the summer timetable Croatia Airlines will connect Zagreb with Istanbul on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Up until now Croatia Airlines had only been leasing seats on the flights of Turkish Airlines for this connection.

Return flights between Dubrovnik and Venice will also be established twice a week, on Thursdays and Sundays, from 19 May to 23 October this year. The aircraft which will connect these two pearls of the Adriatic is Dash 8-Q400, with the capacity of 76 seats. New flights will also be introduced from Dubrovnik to Athens (Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays) and from Dubrovnik to Belgrade (Mondays and Wednesdays).

There will also be flights from Split to Hamburg (Tuesdays and Saturdays), and once again, the line between Rijeka and London has been established, with flights on Wednesdays.

Another novelty is that Croatia Airlines, in cooperation with SAS, will fly via Copenhagen to New York and Washington, starting from this summer.

Italian airline Air One, owned by Alitalia, will from 25 September this year introduce a direct line from Milano
Malpensa to Zagreb. It will fly three times a week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.

Visit Croatia Airlines for more info and booking.

Video comercial ‘Numbers’ was made by BBDO marketing agency in the running of 10, 20 and 30 seconds.

Here is a 30 seconds version – have a look & enjoy:

With the aim of bringing the forest eco system closer to visotrs and promoting the natural values of the park, two educational recreation trails have been opened : the 9 km long ‘Plitvica’ and the 21 km long ‘Corkova Uvala’.

The paths are marked with hiking sign posts and arrows that have to be followed by the rules of the Park.

With the help of local guides and information billboards that have been put up along the two paths, visitors are offered the possibility of getting to know the richness of the biological diversity of the National Park..

More info about this new walking trails is on this link. If you plan to visir Plitvice National Park, check Map of Plitvice Lakes, Hotels around Plitvice as well as privatly owned rooms and apartments in Plitvice Lakes area.

Recently opened hostel ‘Golly & Bossy’ is the latest cool accommodation option in Split.

This design hostel is situated in the neo-classicist building which used to be a shopping centre, in the centre of the city on Morpurgova poljana address.

The hostel has 28 rooms with 138 beds and free WIFI internet access.

Rooms on the first and second floor are with four and six beds, while on the third floor there are hotel type double rooms.  Every room has ensuite shower& wc.  An attractive view stretches from the balcony onto the historical core of Split and at the front of the building the large terrace offers nice views too.

The rooms are numbered in an unusual way. Every number represents a year from history that was important for Split. For example, on the floor in front of room 1221 it is written that this was the year pirates had attacked Split, while room number 2010 signifies the year the hostel opened its doors.

Check bellow latest offers from this cool Split hostel:

Golly & Bossy Design Hostel  ☆☆☆☆☆
Design Golly & Bossy is a modern hostel, offering great-value accommodation featuring trendy design. It is less than 200 metres from Split’s Bacvice Bay and just 5 minutes’ walk to Diocletian Palace. Guests can chose between shared and private… Prices from €20 – Number of rooms: 28 – Check Design Accomodation Golly & Bossy, Split availability