June 25th, 2022 - Today, the Rokotok project reported that their final miles of swimming have been completed!

Remaining one of the most inspiring stories in Croatia, Domagoj Jakopović Ribafish has completed his goal of connecting all of the 50 Croatian inhabited islands by swimming. Dedicated to the memory of his late son, Rok, it took one year longer than expected, due to the epidemic, but today Ribafish shared on his Facebook page that the swim is completed. The final, 50th Croatian inhabited island (if you're starting from the southern tip of Croatia, which is how Domagoj did it) was reached today, and Unije has the honour of being the final destination on the last leg of the project.

In this third (active) year of the project, about thirty swimmers swam along Ribafish, boats and dolphins accompanied them at sea, and more than 1600 children and so many adults welcomed the crew of Rokotok to the islands.

It is the common desire of Ribafish to talk to the gathered children about the importance of the preservation of the sea and land, flora and fauna and to encourage them to spend more time with each other and with their parents. He motivated them all to clean the beaches together, and spiced up the time spent with the children by hiding some geocaches.

In the third phase of the realization of the project, everything went well and each goal was achieved. As far as unplanned (and unpleasant) challenges go, the only ones worth mentioning are a very unpleasant wasp sting on Ilovik and a broken flip-flop on Olib.

So, one more stage remains: tomorrow, on Tuesday the 26th of July, Ribafish will swim from the Košljun islet to Punta on the island of Krk, where a big party is planned with numerous children and adults at 6 pm tomorrow night. The completion of this astonishing project will be celebrated, so if you're around, don't miss that event!

ZAGREB, 25 July 2022 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković arrived in Mostar on Monday morning and at the beginning of his visit he was received by Mostar Bishop Petar Palić and local Catholic dignitaries for the talks.

During his day-long visit, the Croatian premier, accompanied by several cabinet ministers, is expected to hold talks with the Bosnia and Herzegovina Croat leader Dragan Čović, and also tour the southern towns of Čitluk, Čapljina, Stolac and Ravno.

The visit of the Croatian PM is taking place against a backdrop of rising tensions over reports that the international community's High Representative Christian Schmidt is going to impose the electoral law's changes so as to prevent the outvoting of the Croats, the smallest constituent people, by the Bosniaks, the largest ethnic group.

Leading Bosniak politicians and parties as well as NGOs and the Islamic Community have been disgruntled by those announcements and a protest rally has been set for Monday afternoon outside the Office of the High Representative in Sarajevo.

For more, check out our politics section.

ZAGREB, 25 July 2022 - Croatia has confirmed 97 new coronavirus cases and 18 COVID-related deaths in the last 24 hours, the national coronavirus response team reported on Monday.

The number of active cases in the country stands at 8,833, including 636 patients who are being treated in hospital, of whom 16 are placed on ventilators, while 4,433 people are self-isolating.

Since 25 February 2020, when the first case was reported in Croatia, 1,177,692 people have been registered as having contracted the novel SARS-CoV-2 virus, of whom 16,235 have died and 1,152,624 have recovered, including 1,548 in the last 24 hours.

To date, 59,57 percent of the total population, or 70.84 percent of adults, have received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, while 68.80 percent of adults have received two doses.

To date, 5,024,729 tests have been conducted, including 615 in the last 24 hours when the positivity rate was 16%.

For everything you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, bookmark our dedicated section and select your preferred language if it isn't English.

July 25, 2022 - Wimbledon Juniors winner, 18-year-old Mili Poljičak from Split, will play his first match on the ATP Tour on Monday evening at the Goran Ivanišević Stadium as part of the Croatia Open Umag. 

Poljičak will face former Umag winner and 2018 Roland Garros semifinalist Marco Cecchinato (ATP - 147), reports HRT.

The 29-year-old Italian had the best season of his career four years ago, when he won his premier title in Budapest as a qualifier, reached the Roland Garros semifinals by defeating Novak Djokovic, and celebrated at the Croatia Open by defeating Argentinian Guido Pella in the final. This will be only his seventh appearance at the ATP Tour and Grand Slam tournament level.

He only made it through one round in Geneva and Roland Garros and overturned a two-set deficit against Spaniard Pablo Andujar in the first round of the Paris Grand Slam tournament. Cecchinato had a career ranking at the end of February 2019 and reached 16th place in the ATP singles ranking.

This year he had to play in the Umag qualifiers, and his victory against the Croatian representative Domagoj Bilješko on Saturday brought him to the main tournament after 38-year-old Andreas Seppi withdrew from the following match due to a shoulder injury.

The first qualifier was Frenchman Corentin Moutet (ATP - 112), who beat Matija Pecotić 7-5, 6-4 in Sunday's final round. The 33-year-old Croatian representative remained one step away from entering the main draw of the Umag ATP tournament for the second year in a row.

Along with Cecchinato, two other Italian tennis players, 20-year-old Giulio Zeppieri and 29-year-old Franco Agamenone advanced to the main tournament on Sunday, so the Italians will be the most represented nation at the 32nd edition of the Plava Laguna Croatia Open with a total of six representatives. Argentina has five tennis players in the main draw of the Umag tournament, while Spain is the third most represented country with four representatives.

Croatia has the youngest representative, the current European junior runner-up, 16-year-old Dino Prižmić from Split. The oldest player in the tournament is the 35-year-old Italian Fabio Fognini, who will appear for the 12th time at the tournament, where he triumphed in 2016 and was a finalist in 2013.

To follow the latest sports news in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

July 25, 2022 - We could not have asked for better news to arrive in the peak season as Eurostat reveals Croatian bathing water quality is the best in Europe based on EEA data from 2021!

Eurostat (European Statistical Office), the Directorate-General of the European Commission, released data on July 4, 2022, revealing the bathing sites with excellent water quality by locality in the European Union. The data was taken from the European Environment Agency (EEA).

"The indicator measures the number and proportion of coastal and inland bathing sites with excellent water quality. The indicator assessment is based on microbiological parameters (intestinal enterococci and Escherichia coli). The new Bathing Water Directive requires the Member States to identify and assess the quality of all inland and marine bathing waters and to classify these waters as ‘poor,’ ‘sufficient,’ ‘good,’ or ‘excellent,’" reads the Eurostat website. 

Looking at 27 European Union countries, excluding the landlocked Czech Republic, Luxemburg, Hungary, Austria, and Slovakia, Croatia tops the list, recording bathing sites with an impressively high water quality of 99.2% in 2021. 

In second place is Malta with 96.6%, Greece in third with 95.8%, and Slovenia in fourth with 95.2. 

In 2020, Croatia lost out to Cyrpus, which recorded a perfect water quality score of 100%, though Croatia did come in second with 98.8%, followed by Greece with 97.1%. In the years prior, Croatia's bathing water quality was 98.4% in 2019, 95.6% in 2018, and 95.8% in 2017. Croatia's lowest water quality in the last decade was recorded in 2013 when it was 95.4%. And even that year, it finished 4th place! 

It is interesting to note that Italy's bathing water quality has gotten worse in 2021 - recording 88.1% in 2021 and 88.7% in 2020. Italy is just under the overall EU average for bathing water quality, which is 88.3%.

You can find all the data on the bathing water quality in Europe on the Eurostat website. 

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated lifestyle section.

July the 25th - Speaking Dalmatian isn't the same as speaking Croatian. For some people, ''speaking Dalmatian'' begins and ends with using the Split dialect, saying ''a e'' when in agreement with something, swapping the letter ''m'' for ''n'', dropping a ''j'' here and there and throwing in ''i''. I am goes from ''Ja sam'' to ''Ja san'', summer goes from ''ljeto'' to ''lito'', and a man saying I was goes from ''Ja sam bio'' to ''Ja san bija''. Speaking in a vague Split way is far from speaking Dalmatian, so let's look a little bit at just how varied Croatian in general really is.

For such a small country which uses it as their official language, Croatian is diverse. What are usually called ''dialects'' here are often almost entire languages of their own. Put someone from Brac and someone from Zagorje alone together in a room and watch them flounder in their attempts to understand each other when they speak naturally and you'll see what I mean.

Foreigners get their tongues twisted just hearing Croatian being spoken, members of the diaspora who think they can speak the language often arrive scratching their heads because the words grandma and granddad used are rarely ever spoken anymore, and when it comes to speaking Dalmatian, very many have no idea of all of the words which are sadly being lost to the cruel hands of time.

Even when it comes to speaking Dalmatian, there are words used in places on the island of Hvar that nobody would really grasp just next door on the island of Brac, and vice versa, and let's not even get started on the Dubrovnik dialect (Dubrovacki govor/dijalekt) in this article, or we'll be here all day long.

So, let's get to speaking Dalmatian by looking at some old and sadly (almost) forgotten words and what they mean. We'll compare them to the standard Croatian words and see how they differ - sometimes vastly. Let's start illogically, much like many of the rules of language appear to be to a lot of people - with the letter B.

Brav - A sheep or a lamb. In standard Croatian this is quite different, with sheep being ovca and lamb being a janjac.

Bravini konji - Nice looking horses, usually of the draft horse type. In Croatian, a horse is merely a konj, and draft horses (to which this term typically refers) are konji na vucu.

Brbat - To look for something with your hands. In standard Croatian, it would simply be to ''traziti nesto rukama'', but why bother with all that when you can use one word?

Breknut - To tap or knock on something. In standard Croatian, you'd say kucnuti, bositi or udariti.

Brgvazdat - To babble, be chatty and to jabber, or to talk a lot (to go on and on about something). In standard Croatian, this would be brbljati.

Britulin - A pocket knife or a small switch knife. In Croatian, this would simply be a noz, or a nozic if you want to emphasise the fact that it is small.

Bricit/bricenje - To shave and to be shaving. In Croatian, this would be brijati (to shave), or brijanje (shaving). You can also use this term in a context-based way if it's particularly blowy outside thanks to the harsh bura wind, for example.

Brik - A two-masted sailing vessel. In standard Croatian, this would be a jedranjak sa dva jarbola. Again, when speaking Dalmatian (or old Dalmatian), shortening it all is easier.

Briska - Olive pomace, or, in standard Croatian, komina od masline.

Brlina - A location within an oil mill used for the ''pouring out'' of the olives, or, prostor u uljari namijenjen za sipanje maslina.

Bmistra - The Dalmatian word for the Spartium plant (in standard Croatian this one isn't that much different - brnistra).

Brombul - A mix of everything and anything! In Croatian, you'd probably just say mjesavina svega i svacega.

Brombulat - This one ties in with the above as you can see with the similarity of the word used. This would be the act of mixing up that ''everything and anything'' mentioned above. In Croatian, you'd just say mjesati nesto. Isn't speaking Dalmatian so much more simple?

Brontulat - It's similar to the above to read, but it means something quite different. You'd use this if you were speak without any sense (govoriti bez smisla) or to just go on and on about something (neprestano govoriti) without a reason. You might even use this term for someone complaining (prigovarati).

Buhoserina - Literally, flea shit. In Croatian, this would just be izmet buhe.

Buherac - The Dalmatian word for the Tanacetum plant. In Croatian this is buhac.

Buganci - frost bite on the arms, legs or on the lips/around the mouth. In Croatian, this would be ozebline or smrzotine.

Bujer - A hat or cap (kapa, sesir).

Bumbit - To drink (Croatian: piti).

Bunetarka - A type of fig, in Croatian this would be bruzetka crna, or as the Italian is used by those who are into this, brogiotto bianco.

Butiga - This one is still very commonly used. A shop or a place/point of sale. In Croatian, this would just be trgovina. The person actually doing the selling, such as the cashier, would be a butigir.

Butat - The act of throwing something into a body of water, most likely the sea. Baciti nesto would be the standard Croatian version.

As you can see, speaking Dalmatian, or more precisely using old Dalmatian words, is quite different to speaking standard Croatian, and it doesn't begin and end with using a Split dialect. Some of these words (but not all) are rarely used anymore and are in danger of being lost forever - and we've only looked at the letter B so far. So imagine an entire alphabet of words like this which often sound absolutely nothing whatsoever like their standard Croatian equivalents?!

It's up to us to work to preserve this old way of speaking for future generations who want to claim being Dalmatian as part of their heritage and culture. Languages are enormous parts of cultures, and they open doors to connections which would otherwise remain closed to us. It's imperative we keep dying terminology alive.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated lifestyle section.

July 25, 2022 - SuperSport HNL round 2 was held from July 22 to 24, 2022. The 2nd round only included four games as Rijeka asked to postpone the Adriatic Derby against Hajduk due to Conference League obligations. Here's our SuperSport HNL round two recap. 

Istra 1961 v. Varazdin (1:2)

Istra and Varazdin opened the 2nd round in Pula on Friday, July 22, 2022. 

While the first half went without goals, Marin put Istra ahead in the 70th minute for 1:0. Brodic equalized 7 minutes later for 1:1, before Postonjski gave Varazdin the lead and ultimate win in the 83rd minute for 1:2. 

Istra is currently in the last place with 0 points, while Varazdin is in 6th with 3. 

Gorica v. Sibenik (0:0)

Gorica and Sibenik met on Saturday, July 23, 2022, in Velika Gorica. 

The first half went without goals, and Kalik's goal in the 83rd minute was eventually called offside after consulting VAR. The match ended at 0:0. 

Gorica is currently in 8th place with 1 point, while Sibenik is in 9th with 1. 

Slaven Belupo v. Dinamo (1:5)

Belupo and Dinamo met on Saurday, July 23, 2022, in Koprivnica in front of 2613 fans. 

Marina missed a penalty for Belupo in the 2nd minute of the match, which was redeemed with a goal in the next play for 1:0 Belupo in the 2nd minute. Baturina scored 6 minutes later to equalize at 1:1. Orsric put Dinamo ahead in the 15th minute for 1:2 and Drmic five minutes after that for 1:3, which was the score going into halftime. And Dinamo wasn't finished yet. Misic made it 1:4 in the 74th minute, and Spikic 1:5 in the 90th, which was the final score. 

Belupo is currently in 7th place with 3 points, while Dinamo upped their goal differential this round to sit in first place with 6 points. 

Lokomotiva v. Osijek (2:1)

Lokomotiva and Osijek closed out the 2nd round on Sunday, July 24, 2022, in Zagreb. 

Kleinheisler put Osijek in the lead in the 16th minute, which was the result at halftime. Osijek also had a goal called offside by VAR in the 50th minute. Boskovic equalized for Lokomotiva in the 80th minute for 1:1 before scoring again for 2:1 six minutes later, which was the final score. 

Lokomotiva is currently in 4th place with 3 points, while Osijek is in 5th with 3. 

Recall that Rijeka and Hajduk did not play the Adriatic Derby in the 2nd round as planned after Rijeka asked for the game to be postponed due to Conference League obligations. The two teams will make up the 2nd round match when they have a free term. 

You can see the HNL standings HERE. 

To follow the latest sports news in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

July the 25th, 2022 - Free Croatian holidays are very much in the realm of possibility, and people attempt them (sometimes even successfully!) all the time, but if an inspector catches you, be prepared to pay out more than you likely bargained for.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the Croatian Adriatic Sea is full of tourists during the scorching and sometimes even oppressive summer months. There are those who like to jump in and cool off in the sea, then head to the place you're staying refreshed - completely free of charge. All this is possible here in Croatia if you're an illegal camper.

This year, there are many campers, tents and foreigners lining the coast who want free Croatian holidays, enjoying all this spectacular coastline has to offer for zero kuna. The Istrian team at HRT decided to check out just what the inspectors who are on the lookout for this get up to, not to mention the police and communal wardens. The excuses those seeking free Croatian holidays in the backs of camper vans parked in precarious locations use are usually very imaginative.

The sun had only just risen over the coast of gorgeous southern Istria, and it only took a few minutes for the inspectors to find their first illegal camper. This isn't unusual, given that the police, inspectors and municipal wardens all have their hands full each and every summer with such cases.

''You have to catch the person sleeping, then you have to wake them up in order to collect the fine from them,'' explained Denis Premate, a municipal warden from Liznjan.

Only 10 metres away, two more campers were parked up illegally. The rules on this are, as opposed to many of the rules about just about everything else in this country, extremely clear. But the Frenchman in question had a special reason for his decision.

''We're waiting for my cat, she runs away early in the morning because of the heat, and comes back only in the evening,'' he said.

When asked what some of the top excuses are, aside from cats that is, Denis went on to explain that there are all sorts of things people say to try to get themselves out of paying fines. Here in Croatia, it is strictly forbidden to camp on public land, in all parts of the country, outside of proper campsites, and the fine if you're caught is 1,000 kuna per person.

Although there are still plenty of illegal campers trying their luck, since they started actions to hunt down such people, and set up ramps in locations that could be attractive to them, there are fewer and fewer cases. The trend of seeing just if you might get away with it hasn't stopped, though.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated lifestyle section.