Flights to Croatia: British Airways Boosts Traffic from August, Introduces Pula Line
July 20, 2020 - The latest news from around Croatia’s airports for flights to Croatia with updates from Zagreb, Split, Dubrovnik and Pula.
Croatian Aviation reports that British Airways, a member of the OneWorld alliance, will significantly increase the number of weekly flights to destinations in Croatia from August.
From August 1, the company will increase the number of weekly flights to Zagreb, Split and Dubrovnik, and will restart flights on the route London - Pula. All British Airways flights are operated from London Heathrow Airport, so flights to Dubrovnik (which operated from Gatwick) were transferred to Heathrow.
The London Heathrow-Zagreb route currently operates three times a week, but from August 1, British Airways will fly between the two cities daily.
The London Heathrow - Dubrovnik line started operating on July 16, also three times a week, but from the beginning of August, this line will also operate every day of the week.
The London Heathrow - Split route began operating four times a week from July 9, and from August 2, there will be as many as nine weekly flights on this route (every day of the week, Monday and Sunday, two flights a day).
British Airways will re-establish scheduled flights on the London Heathrow - Pula route. Due to the epidemic, this line has not yet operated in this year's summer flight schedule, but from August 1, two flights a week will be introduced, every Tuesday and Saturday.
For the latest travel info, bookmark our main travel info article, which is updated daily.
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Lovro Černi: 20-Year-Old Defending Croatian Colours in Archery
July 20, 2020 - Lovro Černi, a young archer from the Grebengradski streličari archery club, is defending Croatia's colours in the national archery team after just three years in this sport. Stressful, prestigious, addictive – archery as it is and should be.
He was going to pick up his black and white, recurve bow one last time. Napoli's huge sports hall fell silent as he was approaching the red marked shooting line. His sweaty hands picked one arrow with the bronze-colored feathers from the quiver. He nocked the arrow, took a look at target 18 metres away from him, and closed his eyes. Taking a deep breath, he pulled the string, and his raging heart caused him chest pain. The red colour of the numbers on the counter awoke the stress in him: ten seconds left. Still looking through his sight, he gently released the string from his fingers. With the release of the arrow, he closed his eyes. He didn’t want to see the shot, but the judge revealed the result in English with an Italian accent: “Lovro Černi won the shoot-off!”
After starting practicing archery out of curiosity at the Grebengradski streličari club in a small place in northern Croatia, this 16-year-old showed a great talent for this sport even back then at the beginning. Three years later, he received an official call by the Croatian Archery Association, offering him an invitation to join the national team. Napoli wasn’t the only place Lovro conquered. He was at international competitions in Nimes, Rome, and Mokrice. From the world cup to the European Field Championship in four years, Lovro got to experience life – and not only in the world of archery.
“My preparation for Universiade in Napoli did not require just archery skills,” his cynical smile made it clear that the arrangement wasn't made as easy as one would think. Lovro and Ivan Horvat were the only ones who were chosen to represent Croatia out there. “The same coach was assigned to both of us, but this coach was biased, so... I didn't know anything I should know; the coach was helping only Ivan.” It was up to Lovro to buy a plane ticket for this competition, and he figured this out just two weeks before the Universiade.
As Lovro didn’t get any help from his own coach, he contacted the main organiser from Split, Jelena Matešić, who was responsible for every sport in which Croatia was represented in Italy. “I was in contact with Jelena more than with this assigned coach.”
Their accommodation was in the student dorm, but as Lovro described, the whole city is a student city. There are all the colleges, students' restaurants, and dorms. However, Lovro got the poorest combination of all of those. “There was no bathroom, there was a board on the toilet seat, and the food was genuinely bad – so sometimes we went to other athletes' restaurants to get some proper food.” Some other athletes' accommodation was a luxury cruiser with pools.
On the last evening of the Universiade, Lovro and Ivan managed to gather around 50 archers in the bar and get to know each other. “It was perfect – I was toasting the whole night with one Korean archer who didn't understand a word of English,” said Lovro, scrolling through his phone's gallery to find a group selfie. “Besides, Koreans aren't robots, as we often imagine them in our heads. They are some really cool guys.”
On the very first competition for the national team in 2019 in Mokrice, Slovenia, their accommodation was in Terme Čatež. Even though it’s one of the most popular outdoor pools in this part of Europe, the contradiction was – if you are shooting, there's no swimming for you. The warm water could overrelax their muscles and make shooting much harder and even painful for them.
This was a different type of competition called field archery. The 48 targets are placed all around the wood, and every one of them is placed at a different distance. They know the distance for only 24 targets; the other half is up to their abilities to figure out. After the qualifications, there are 24 more targets in the eliminations. The closest unknown distance is 10 metres, and the highest-pointed-middle is merely ping-pong ball-sized. To get six out of six points on the furthest, 55 metre-distanced target, an archer needs to hit a grapefruit-sized circle. For known distances, it goes 15 metres for the closest and 60 metres for the furthest.
“We don't know the range for every target, and that's the beauty of field archery – you have to estimate the range by yourself,” said Lovro, whose biggest challenge is shooting at a large angle of inclination. Targets can be lifted up in the air, in front of the river, or put across the valley.
Those situations, when archers are scared that they might just miss the whole target, can pull the trigger in target panic. It ' a psychical problem that doesn’t let the archer pull the string to its usual position. While an archer pulls the string, looking at the centre of the target [yellow colour], he is urged to release the arrow even if he is only half ready. An archer can take the perfect shot if the target is any other colour but yellow. A lot of them are beating target panic by aiming at the wall during training. Of course, they never release the arrow in such circumstances. They teach their muscles to remember the positions, so they can do the same in front of the actual target. Target panic is a serious problem that affects every archer – the only difference is that some manage to cope better with it than others do. A lot of people sadly even give up on this sport because of it.
Archers walk all day through the woods full of mosquitoes, who bite them at the moments when one move can cost them a dozen points. Estimating the distance and changing the parameters on sight right before they shoot, standing on bumpy terrain, is just one of several issues that come with field archery. One might think that the trees protect them from the sun, but hats and sun cream are also must-have parts of an archer's equipment.
“But it's the adrenaline that bothers us the most. At this European Championship, I won 4th place, and only a few points made the difference,” said Lovro. Every point archers lose, can be crucial for their ranking. “I remember how, in the final shoot, my opponent and I shot almost at the same place, but my arrow was maybe 2 centimetres closer to the middle. I couldn't see it properly, but my coach and my friends, who were watching the target through the binoculars, starting yelling and celebrating.” He turned around and saw his coach applauding and showing his two thumbs up, above his head. Lovro smiled back and raised his bow up in the air, which is every archer’s move after winning a match. “I was glad that Zoki didn’t come for nothing, you know. I was happy I could make him proud.”
Duels are extremely stressful situations that require a good physical condition and cardio preparation. “People tend to think archery is just ‘pull and shoot’, but the truth is we need to be in excellent both mental and physical shape,” said Lovro, who never imagined that running and push-ups could be so important for archers. When the result is the same, then they shoot the so-called shoot-off, which decides the winner. This is a part of competitions that everyone watches without breathing. “If you're watching your friend shooting a shoot-off, you want to cheer, but you have to be silent. You could distract both your friend and his opponent, and this would be horribly disrespectful,” said Lovro, who once was shooting against Lee Woo Seok, currently the 2nd in the World Archery [the international federation] ranking.
Archery is a sport made up of details; one wrong breath can cost archers a couple of points, and the same goes with the technicalities. “Even the slightest change in the way you release the string from your fingers can cause problems,” said Lovro, taking another thin arrow for a 70 metre-range from the black quiver. “And the worst thing is, there are so many details that you often aren't aware of the mistake you've been making because your focus is on ten other things.”
This is when the coach steps in. For 42-year-old archery coach from the Grebendgradski streličari, Zoran Marenčić, Lovro has only kind words. “Zoki is like a friend or a big brother to us. We can mess around but also learn a lot from him.” Zoran has been with this small team from the very beginning, so for four years now. “I practice archery in Varaždin, but I’m the coach here. It would be a lot easier for me to be in just one place, but I can’t make up my mind. I love both clubs,” said Zoran, for whom a good atmosphere among his students is way more important than good results. “If I see them struggling at the competition, I always say to them: ‘Listen, kid, you're here for yourself. Enjoy every arrow, enjoy the feeling. Forget the result. We're here to have fun.’”
It doesn't matter what is going around Lovro while he shoots, as long as he is calm and steady inside his own head. “It's challenging to shoot when it's raining, because the string gets wet and heavier, which also affects the hit,” said Lovro, looking the target 70 metres away through his binoculars. As he walked to the target to write down the score, he explained how the wind is actually the worst thing. “We have to learn how to shoot in any weather, but shooting when the wind is blowing in one second, then is calm the next, is way harder than it seems.”
Thin, carboned-arrows, which fly through the air like a snake moves on the ground, are meant for large distances [40-70 metres] due to their aerodynamics. Those are only in use during the outdoor season, which starts in March. Since aluminum-arrows need to be thicker and more solid, they are perfect for 18 metres, a distance for the indoor season. As soon as the national competition in September ends, archers start practicing for the indoor season.
Lovro has a problem with big halls because large, closed spaces irritate his eyes. This was a distraction for him when he was shooting in Rome; he constantly kept blinking. “I felt like my eyes were burning when I was trying not to blink at the moment of shooting,” said Lovro, whose father, Ivica, started practicing archery because of him. Now his son teaches archery to him, detail by detail, in the same way Ivica taught Lovro how to make the very first steps.
“I couldn’t be prouder,” said Ivica, who now uses Lovro’s old equipment. “I was with him during almost every competition. Being a witness to his great progress in a couple of years is what every parent wishes for.”
Another one of the memories from the world cup that will remain with him for a while was the robbery. Lovro was returning to his hotel room and scrolling through Facebook when he saw one Croatian archers' status with photos of their van with broken windows. After that, another status from another archer was published, with the same photos in the post. Someone broke into a couple of archery vans and stole not only all of the equipment [around €2.600 per archer] but also things like pillows, reserve clothes and jackets – it was the middle of December.
Lovro's team equipment was always with them, in a safe place, so they could be at peace, but the disappointment was present. “I think people don't even know the value of this. Not only in a materialistic way but also for an archer who was maybe working his ass off for years to have some decent equipment,” said Lovro, squeezing the sponsored cap in his hands.
For the archers who were practicing six days per week, a couple of hours daily, this was an enormous setback. Thw archery teams, especially Slovenian ones, took care of this issue, called their sponsors almost immediately, and got brand new equipment in a short time. But the Croatian archers needed to learn to live with a new daily routine, which included continuously checking their phones for new information about their equipment.
Lovro practices five days per week; usually, twice a day, he rests on Saturday and goes to compete on Sundays. With a regular job in Zagreb and such a rhythm, Lovro doesn't have much free time. “But I'm okay with that; archery is my free time. Besides, the whole team is my gang. We get along quite well.”
The Grebengradski streličari archery club gathers around fifteen active archers, making up a small team but boasting some great results. Besides Lovro, Adam Gradiščak, a 16-year-old high school student, also took part in the national team. Not to stay only on a national level, in February 2020, Pavle Vujasin broke the world record in his category, Barebow Junior Men.
The feeling Lovro gets when he shoots is effortless – perfect posture, aligned feet at the spacing of the hips, calmness in both body and mind, and those few moments before shooting, knowing he is the one who controls the target panic. “Only then can you be sure your arrow will hit the centre. This feeling is like a drug – once you've done it perfectly, you want to do it over and over again.”
As he was picking up his fiberglass black and white bow, Lovro prepared himself for his 70th arrow in this past hour. He took a deep breath, just like in Napoli. Raised his bow, just as he did in Rome. Pulled the string like he did in Nimes. Released the arrow as he did at the European championship. Now he's home, watching the arrow fly across the green field littered with birch trees along the stream, where pure curiosity made him take up this sport four years ago.
Coronavirus: Vukovar-Srijem County Issues Wedding Request
Coronavirus has taken aim at weddings as many begin quoting them as a common source of infection. In response, the Vukovar-Srijem County Civil Protection Headquarters has a request which will certainly irritate many brides...
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 19th of July, 2020, the Vukovar-Srijem Civil Protection Headquarters has sent a request to the National Civil Protection Headquarters that all weddings in that Eastern Croatian county be held exclusively within the immediate family for the next thirty days, it was said at Sunday's press conference of the County Headquarters.
The reason for such a reaction of the Vukovar-Srijem Civil Protection Headquarters is the amount of newly infected people, and among them, the largest number of patients and their contacts are all from a wedding held last week in Ivankovo near Vinkovci.
Zdravko Kelic of the Vukovar-Srijem County Civil Protection Headquarters said that the Headquarters did a good job when it came to the measures related to stopping the new coronavirus from entering homes for the elderly and other social care institutions. He also stated that the police visited all the wedding halls in the county and took contact details from the owners, and that the Headquarters had data on the number of weddings held, which, as he said, was a large number, and every weekend.
"We're still in danger and we mustn't just relax," warned Zdravko Kelic, appealing to all people who have been in contact with people who have tested positive for coronavirus to cooperate and contribute to the fight against the global pandemic. In agreement with the local headquarters, all public events and gatherings at the local level were postponed in order to reduce the risk to a minimum, said Kelic.
The President of the County Headquarters, Prefect Bozo Galic, read the request by which the Headquarters asked the Civil Protection Headquarters of the Republic of Croatia to make a decision that weddings in Vukovar-Srijem County be held only among families over the next thirty days, and thanked people who are continuing to respect all of the epidemiological measures. He called on all citizens of Vukovar-Srijem County to adhere to the prescribed measures.
For more on coronavirus in Croatia, follow our dedicated section.
Croatian Central Parity and Future Eurozone Entry Sees Questions Arise
As Marina Klepo/Novac writes on the 19th of July, 2020, when Croatia joins the Eurozone, it is very likely that the conversion rate will be 7.5345 kuna per euro, the level at which the average parity was determined when entering the ERM II, the so-called ''Eurozone waiting room'' in which would-be members spend time. However, changes are possible.
The term central parity means that the country needs to prove that it is able to keep the currency relatively stable, with the range of oscillations set at quite a generous rate, of plus/minus 15 percent.
In the case of the Croatian kuna, this means it can range from 8.6646 to 6.4043. Given the fact that since the very introduction of the kuna, it has never strengthened or weakened by more than five percent when compared to the average exchange rate, there should be no major turbulance. However, the central parity which has now been established doesn't have to be the exchange rate at which the actual conversion will take place: as that will be set six months before the introduction of the euro. The experience of other Eurozone countries shows that most of them did change their currencies at the parity set at the beginning, but not all of them did so. Of the eight countries that joined the Eurozone since its inception in 1999, two have changed their central parity due to appreciation pressures.
For the old Greek drachma, the exchange rate was first set at 353.109 drachma per euro, and finally it was 340.75, while in the case of the Slovak koruna, it changed three times: first to 38.455, then to 35.444, and finally to 30.128, which means that the former Slovakian national currency strengthened by 17.6 percent. Four countries - Malta, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - had a fixed exchange rate regime, and the Slovenian tolar and the Cypriot pound managed to maintain central parity after a short stay in the exchange rate mechanism. Bulgaria has also had a fixed exchange rate regime since way back in 1997, with the central parity set at 1.9558 levs per euro.
Analysts of the Dutch financial group ING believe that Bulgaria will maintain this established parity until it does eventually join the Eurozone, and they consider the case of Croatia a little more "nuanced", even though it has a quasi-fixed exchange rate. The Croatian National Bank applies a managed-fluctuating exchange rate regime, but intervenes in the market when pressures are expressed in the direction of weakening or strengthening the currency.
With all that in mind, they believe that maintaining exchange rate stability will not, generally speaking be a major challenge for Croatia, but they estimate that the central parity will be set at 7.55 kuna, given that it is "usually set around the current market level". This suggests that they expect mild depreciation pressures on the Croatian kuna in the coming years. In addition to the kuna and the lev, ERM II currently includes the Danish krone, which has been in the Eurozone's ''lobby'' since 1999.
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Respected Producer from Prelog Develops Special Protective Masks
It seems that everyone is talking about masks lately, and everyone of course has to have an opinion on them. The coronavirus pandemic has seen the demand for this otherwise rather obscure item used primarily in healthcare soar, and in some cases, the price for them has sky rocketed with them. One Prelog manufacturer has used the pandemic as an advantage...
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 19th of July, 2020, the ongoing global pandemic of the new coronavirus has accelerated a project to produce protective masks, and plan is to present these particular masks to Croatia's National Civil Protection Headquarters in September. The Prelog-based manufacturer claims that this is mask that can protect its users against the new coronavirus as well as all other biological threats.
Sestan-Busch, a world-famous manufacturer of anti-ballistic safety helmets from the usually overlooked Croatian town of Prelog, is currently completing a project which involves a multifunctional safety helmet for the National Civil Protection Headquarters of the Republic of Croatia, which is co-financed by ESI funds.
''However, the thing that could be of interest everyone is the project of creating a mask that protects people against coronavirus,'' said Goran Basarac, the executive director for strategic development and implementation of the Sestan-Bush project in conversation with Lider.
According to him, the ongoing global coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the Prelog manufacturers project of making these protective masks, which, as previously noted, they plan to present to the National Civil Protection Headquarters in September.
These Prelog-made masks could find themselves available on the market by the end of this year.
For more on Croatian companies, producers and products, follow Made in Croatia.
Pandemic Doesn't Dampen Varazdin Company's Solar Panel Business
The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has thrown a major spanner in the works economically in every possible sense, but one Varazdin company hasn't let it get in the way of their production, and they're doing better than anyone could have possibly imagined given the dire circumstances.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 19th of July, 2020, approximately 1,500 solar panels are produced on a daily basis at the plant at the entrance to the Northern Croatian town of Varazdin. Coronavirus has not harmed this Varazdin company's business, and the demand for their products is greater than they can manage to keep up with and produce.
"The price of one solar panel, some standard type, is 500, 600 kuna, depending on the power. And of course we know that for installation we always need a few panels. It all depends on the level of consumption of the house, whether it's two, three. four, or five kilowatts. So, the installation comes in costing a few thousand. Let's say from 7,000 - 8,000 kuna, all the way up to 20,000 kuna,'' explained the Stjepan Talan, the director of the Varazdin company Solvis, for RTL.
There is almost no part of the world where these solar panels aren't producing solar energy - from Germany, Italy, France to Canada and the United States. Their solar panels are also sought by the global technology giant - Google.
''Our most promising customer outside is in America, Google, a company that builds its own data centres and where we work for them with special cover solar panels,'' said Talan.
The factory belonging to this Varazdin company produces about half a million solar panels a year. Unfortunately, when we talk about solar installations, Croatia is at the very bottom of the European Union, but despite that, general interest in solar panels here in Croatia continues to grow significantly.
In order to encourage people to produce their own energy as much as possible and be energy independent, the state offers co-financing up to a maximum of 75,000 kuna.
For more on Croatian companies and products, follow Made in Croatia.
Flights to Croatia: Turkish Airlines Delays Dubrovnik Service
July 20, 2002 - The latest news from around Croatia’s airports for flights to Croatia with updates from Dubrovnik.
Croatian Aviation reports that at one point, the Turkish national airline had open sales on the Istanbul - Dubrovnik route for August, but now, there are no longer flights on offer.
Turkish Airlines launched a line between Istanbul and Zagreb in early July, and it currently operates in a reduced form, only five times a week.
The second line of this well-known airline in Croatia is the service to Dubrovnik, which operates throughout the year, and in winter with a smaller number of weekly flights. In the summer of 2018, there were as many as 11 weekly flights on the line between Istanbul and Dubrovnik.
The company stopped traffic on this line during the pandemic and has not yet established traffic on it again. Given that the start of traffic has been delayed several times, there is a very high probability that Turkish Airlines will not return to Dubrovnik Airport so soon.
Direct flights on this route are now available for booking from September 1 this year, but, just as was the case with Emirates and the Dubai - Zagreb route, which was completely canceled for this year, there is a very high probability that the same will happen with this line between Dubrovnik and Istanbul.
Thus, we will have to wait and see what will come of the Turkish Airways routes to destinations in Croatia; Dubrovnik and Zagreb.
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Electricity Lights Up Split for First Time 100 Years Ago
July 20, 2020 - July 12 marks one hundred years since the first electric public lighting shone in Split, on the famous Riva.
Unfortunately, few have recognized the importance of this significant event in the history of the city, which often goes forgotten, reports Slobodna Dalmacija.
No symbolic monument was erected, nor is there a memorial plaque at the first transformer station in Manuska Poljana. However, thanks to the Collegium Split Association, which has documented the city's history for more than two years, two videos have been made, giving a detailed overview of electrification in which preceded it, as well as a list of the most important power facilities erected from 1920 to 2020.
"This paper on the history of electrification in Split factually, and primarily technically shows the development of a branch that influenced and changed the means of work and way of life of the city. Further study will determine the consequences of this technological change," said Mladen Jelic, one of the leaders of Collegium Split.
Jelic adds that the application of electricity, compared to other European cities, was very slow. The main block was the unfavorable economic conditions in our region, especially in the time of Austro-Hungary. The Ministry in Vienne issued permits for the construction of electrical appliances, and only when the venture did not conflict with Austrian interests and outdated legislation.
The first public lighting of the city came with the French and Marshal Marmont in 1808, who, in agreement with Vincenzo Dandol, installed 81 lanterns with oil lighting in Split. Lanterns were placed on street corners, and the maintenance of lighting depended on the proceeds from the sale of meat. As sales were weak at the time, there was generally no street lighting. In 1850, oil lanterns were replaced by kerosene lanterns.
After the water from the source of the Jadro was brought to Split in 1879, with the restoration of Diocletian's aqueduct, the citizens realized more and more clearly that from the source of this river, the city could get not only water but also power and light, the most important elements for development and progress.
"In 1882, the People's Party, which advocated the unification of Dalmatia with Croatia, won the elections and then won the Municipality of Split. The industrial development of the city begins and Split grew from 15 to 25 thousand inhabitants, as recorded in 1921. In 1886, the municipal administration discussed the construction of a hydroelectric power plant in Majdan on the Jadro river, but the municipal government did not have sufficient funds to build the power plant. When the company "Split AD" built the hydroelectric power plant "Vrilo" for the needs of its cement factory in Majdan in 1908, a dispute arose between the municipality of Split and the company, which ended in a settlement in 1914.
The settlement gave Split the right to uninterrupted use of 75 kW. Namely, from 1898 on the supply of electricity, as the people of Split called it, there was a fierce struggle in the municipal council. The interests of the city did not win in 1908 because the government gave Mato Vidovic an unlimited concession for the use of hydropower at the source of the Jadro. The municipality was only left with the right to water for the needs of the city water supply, but not for electricity," Jelic said.
So, in 1908, the Vrilo hydroelectric power plant was built at the very source of the Jadro river. It was the first power plant in the area of Split, owned by the Split engineer Emil Stock. In the same year, the people of Split had the opportunity to see the first electric light from several light bulbs in front of the Josip Karaman cinema, which was powered by a generator.
Four years later, the first stage of the Kraljevac hydroelectric power plant was completed, so the Municipality of Split held talks with the company "Sufid" on the possibility of building a transmission line from Dugi Rat to Split. The planned signing of the treaty was agreed for September 1914, but was not realized because of the First World War.
After the end of the war, in 1919, city councilors decided that Split must be given electric lighting. The gasworks, which had existed since 1862, did not operate immediately after the First World War due to a lack of coal, and thus no gas public lighting. The streets were dimly lit by acetylene lamps. In this difficult situation, the contract from 1914, which the municipality had with the cement factory Split, helped, according to which they were obliged to make 100 hp of electricity from the Jadro spring available to the city free of charge.
The City of Split then signed an agreement with the Czech company "Elektra - Prague" on a joint venture and the establishment of a limited liability company "Elektra". The construction of the first, seven-kilometer-long 10 kV line from Majdan to Split, more precisely Manuska poljana, begun. At the beginning of January, the company "Elektricno poduzece d.so.j. Split" was registered, and the first director was engineer Jerko Jeric.
Mayor Ivo Tartaglia then addressed the citizens through whose terrains the power lines will pass with a request to enable uninterrupted work on the installation of the plant. Finally, on March 3, 1920, the first six-meter-high lighting pole was placed on a concrete pedestal near the Harbor Master's Office, Jelic recounts the events from one of the most exciting years of the 20th century in Split.
Big changes were announced by the Culic brothers, the owners of the cinema on Boticeva poljana, who installed a DC generator for their needs. The Sokolsko drustvo on Tonciceva Street took the surplus electricity from them since April 2, and in mid-May, one light bulb illuminated Boticeva poljana, i.e., Prokurative. On May 5, the Uzezin of St. Duje was lit by several electric poles on the waterfront, connected to the generator, in order to evoke the long-awaited lighting for the people of Split. Only once before did the citizens experience something similar - on October 26, 1913, at Peristyle, illuminated by electricity from the generator, a stage performance of the solemn epilogue "Death of Emperor Diocletian" by Milan Ogrizovic was performed, all thanks to Don Fran Bulic.
Finally, a 10 kV transmission line, 6.5 km long on wooden poles from Majdan to the first transformer station on Manuska Poljana, transmitted electricity. It was a big event.
The daily newspaper "Novo doba" warned citizens that it is strictly forbidden to touch the wires of electric lines because they are life-threatening; it is forbidden to hang laundry, flags and throw any objects over electric wires, as well as repair roofs.
And so, to the great delight of the citizens, the electric public lighting on the Split waterfront shone for the first time on July 12, of course, with limited lighting of 12 kW. By the end of the month, Maruliceva and Bosanska, Pjaca, Sinjska and Matosiceva streets, Arnirova and Boticeva poljana, Nodilova street, and Veli Varos were illuminated, and gradually electricity began to be introduced into private apartments. In August 1920, the Troccoli cafe was illuminated.
Just how much this meant to citizens is depicted in an article from "Novo doba" which reads as follows:
"... no one thinks of yesterday's darkness, but sees in front of him Veli Split, from Omis to Trogir, illuminated by electric light, crossed by electric trams and railways, surrounded by lively ports and rich factories."
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HNL Round 35 Recap: Rijeka Better than Hajduk in Adriatic Derby at Poljud
July 20, 2020 - The penultimate 35th round of the Croatian First League was held from July 17 to 19, 2020. This round featured the Adriatic Derby between Hajduk and Rijeka, which was the final game played at Poljud this season.
Slaven Belupo v. Inter Zapresic (3:1)
Belupo and Inter opened the 35th round on Friday, July 17, 2020, in Koprivnica.
Adric scored the first goal of the match in the 13th minute for the Inter lead. Bacelic-Grgic equalized in the 42nd for 1:1 at the half.
Etoundi increased Belupo's lead in the 49th minute for 2:1, and a Krstanovic penalty made it 3:1 three minutes later.
Slaven Belupo is currently in 7th place with 38 points, while Inter is in the last place with 17.
Varazdin v. Osijek (1:0)
Varazdin and Osijek met in Varazdin on Saturday, July 18, 2020.
A Drozdek goal in the 39th minute gave Varazdin the win.
Varazdin is currently in 8th place with 36 points, while Osijek is in 2nd with 62.
Istra 1961 v. Dinamo Zagreb (0:0)
Istra and Dinamo met in Pula on July 18, 2020.
The game went without goals.
Istra is currently in 9th place with 25 points, while Dinamo already clinched the titled in first place with 77.
Lokomotiva v. Gorica (1:1)
Lokomotiva and Gorica met in Zagreb on Sunday, July 19, 2020.
Budimir scored for Lokomotiva in the 10th minute for the early lead. Twenty minutes later, a Lokomotiva goal was called back by VAR.
Mudrinski equalized for Gorica in the 61st minute for a final score of 1:1.
Lokomotiva is currently in 3rd place with 62 points, while Gorica is in 6th with 48.
Hajduk v. Rijeka (2:3)
Hajduk and Rijeka closed out the 35th round on Sunday, July 19, 2020, at Poljud in Split.
Rijeka's Colak was the first to score with a goal in the 19th minute. Eduok equalized in the 39th for 1:1. Colak scored again during the added time for 1:2 Rijeka at the half.
A Caktas penalty in the 69th minute made it 2:2, though a header from Galovic in the third minute of added time (90+3') gave Rijeka the 2:3 win.
Hajduk is currently in 5th place with 57 points, while Rijeka is in 4th with 61.
You can see the full HNL table here.
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Bruketa&Žinić&Grey win two Red Dot Design awards
July 17, 2020 - Croatian design has confirmed its international reputation with two Red Dot awards conferred on Croatia's Bruketa&Žinić&Grey for the Grand Park Hotel Rovinj design and the Untouched by Light sparkling wine packaging.
The Red Dot Award is the world’s most sought-after design quality label, recalls this leading Croatian advertising and design agency. The Red Dot seal has been awarded for 65 years, and to date, Bruketa&Žinić&Grey have won 21 Red Dot Awards in total. Bruketa&Žinić&Grey made the Grand Park Hotel Rovinj brand design in collaboration with Maistra.
"It is created from sketches and notes made by hotel guests. Instead of another screen, every hotel room features a notebook and a Polaroid camera. With a pocket-size notebook, the hotel sends you off to explore Rovinj, to lose and find yourself there – as these days it is the ultimate luxury," according to the information available on the Bruketa&Žinić&Grey website. Untouched by Light was created in cooperation with Radgonske Gorice. "It is the first sparkling wine in the world produced, sold, and tasted in pitch darkness. When exposed to daylight, the wine loses its aroma quality. That is why Untouched by Light is produced in the complete absence of light."
