August the 14th, 2021 - Baranja red pepper is often referred to as ''red gold'' among those who have a soft spot for it, and this much loved vegetable grown in Eastern Croatia has done very well this year despite unfavourable conditions for the most part. The Baranja red pepper harvest is already on.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, despite a year of extremes so far, the producers of Baranja red peppers, a spicy and popular Croatian vegetable, expect a good harvest with some high quality. Some growers have already started harvesting what they have, and the peak is expected in around ten days. They don't have to worry about the placement of their Baranja red peppers because the customers have long since recognised the worth of this domestic product, and this Baranja ''red gold'' is set to be sold out in record time.

The Lakatos family from Kopacevo has already carried out their first Baranja red pepper harvest and in a few days they will have a big workload on their hands. They expect good yields and quality in all of their ten greenhouses.

''I'm hoping for four more harvests, last year we had five harvests in total, and now we'll see how it's going to be depending on how the year went,'' said Tamara Lakatos from Kopacevo for HRT.

This year is good for Baranja red peppers, but one of the most demanding to date, the growers claim.

''Well, I think this year was the hardest because of the extreme heat and the wind. Nothing has been going in our favour,'' pointed out Zuzana Jozef from Lug.

It’s hard work, but the effort and work pays off. The Varga family from Bilje will produce two and a half tonnes of sweet and hot ground spicy peppers, and they have no concerns about whether or not they'll manage to sell it all.

''Baranja is a God-given location for red peppers as far as the climate and the type of country are concerned, really, everyone says that there are no spicy peppers like Baranja red peppers anywhere else,'' said Tatjana Varga from Bilje.

The demand for Baranja red pepper is so high that it is continuing to sell out in record time.

''It all just disappeared in the first month, because people couldn't go to Serbia and many of those who didn't buy it from Baranja before started doing so,'' explained Zuzana Jozef.

''I think that people have finally realised that Croatian products are of very high quality,'' said Kristijan Lakatos from Kopacevo.

Although 140 kuna should be set aside for a kilogram of sweet spicy peppers, and 150 kuna for a kilogram of hot peppers, nobody even asks about the price when making a purchase. All that seems important to customers is that what they're buying is Croatian and from Baranja.

For more, follow Made in Croatia.

August the 14th, 2021 - Sali on beautiful Dugi otok has managed to create a dramatic turnaround in terms of their local epidemiological situation. The novel coronavirus just about made it inside every single house in Sali, but that dire situation has now been well and truly flipped on its head.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, on two occasions over recent months, the town of Sali on Dugi otok has been an example of a situation in which the spread of the coronavirus infection has spiraled out of control. However, according to the latest data published by the Croatian Institute for Public Health, Sali is now at the very top in terms of vaccination, ending the virus' free reign.

Sali's current vaccination rate stands at 64.1 percent, and this is the official figure that has kept all eyes on Sali, a favorite destination for both Croatian and foreign sailors. Jacopo confirmed to HRT that he feels very safe in Sali, and Frederica confirmed that they were also vaccinated against the novel coronavirus. Knowing that they're in a country where a large number of people are vaccinated is very important to them, he added.

The tourist season for this location is a record in all respects, and the good epidemiological situation gives room for hope that it will last. Maja Kraljev from Sali works abroad and she is very pleased with the latest data - it is important to her that she can come to visit her parents there in peace.

Andjelko Raljevic Ciko, one of the more famous Sali residents, had no doubt in his mind whatsoever about whether or not he should get vaccinated. He suffers from chronic bronchitis and was first vaccinated on the recommendation of a doctor. He will do it a third time if he needs to, he says. There is almost no house in Sali where they didn't have coronavirus patients, which pushed most people to get vaccinated as soon as it became possible.

''It was rough and the virus hit us hard here. Fear crept in among the people. And we have to live, we have to work and protect our community. Both the elderly population and the children,'' said Marijana Orlic, a nurse.

The response of Sali's locals was also influenced by the availability of vaccines, thanks to the mobile team of the Zadar Institute of Public Health. This is a great message to send out about this beautiful little place and is by far the best invitation for visitors to come and spend time on Dugi otok.

For all you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, make sure to bookmark our dedicated COVID-19 section and select your preferred language.

August 14, 2021 - Meet Croatian poet Hanibal Lucić, one of the most respected poets from the country's renaissance period and a noble man from the island of Hvar. This is his story.

The richness of Croatia's heritage is evident not only in its many breathtaking buildings, statues and sights but also in its literature. Sadly, Croatian literature doesn't attract as much global attention as it should when compared to the global impact and various language translations that names such as Shakespeare enjoy. Not to mention antic Greek poets and writers, Italian authors such as Dante, and the list goes on.

Things are changing for iconic writers from Croatian history, such as 20th-century writer Miroslav Krleža as well as many of the modern, still active writers, thanks to the Croatian Literature site powered by the Croatian Ministry of Culture.

Prose writing doesn't have too many challenges for a professional translator when it comes to shifting the story from its original language to another, but you can be sure poetry is another story. If you read an English translation of ''The Flowers of Evil“ by Charles Baudelaire, instead of the original French version, did you really read Baudelaire or an author who made an adaptation of the poem into English in as much as was possible?

Either way, not much work done by Croatian poets is widely translated and known globally, but the Croatian poets themselves are known, and their former residences venues carrying their names and statues dedicated to them are part of the cultural offer Croatian destinations have to offer to their visitors.

In Hvar town, not too far from Veneranda, where the former church and famous former Hvar weather station lies, you can find a bust of a bearded man facing the Adriatic sea, and his eyes look as if they have that filter of lyricism, that poet-style introspect in observing the world. That should come as no surprise as the portrayed citizen of Hvar is non-other than Croatian poet, Hanibal Lucić, a nobleman from Hvar.

The exact date of his birth in 1485 isn't clear, but his date of death, December 14, 1553, is well recorded. The Croatian poet Hanibal Lucić was a renaissance poet as well as a playwright who authored the first secular Croatian drama titled ''Robinja'' (the slave woman). He served the Hvar Municipality back in the time when it was part of the Venetian Republic as a judge and a lawyer. His writings feature the Croatian Čakavski dialect (which distinctly uses the word ča for ''what''), and he wrote love poetry under the heavy influence of the legendary love poet Francesco Petrarca. Lucić was notoriously self-critical, and he even burned his work. Thankfully, his son saved his work and it was published in 1556, after his death.

Hanibal Lucić bust © Nina Lelas

In 2012, the National and University Library in Zagreb (NSK) posted an article in memory of Lucić, stating that he was the greatest writer of Croatian Renaissance poetry.

''We can gather from his literary works that he was exceptionally well-acquainted with classical literature, the Croatian Glagolitic and oral tradition, and the contemporary Italian and Croatian writing of his time. In his poetry, Lucić celebrated his love for women and for female beauty. In their aesthetic quality, Lucić’s poems represent a true masterpiece of Croatian renaissance lyric poetry. He describes beauty and love in the tradition of Petrarch, at the same time drawing on the oral tradition of Croatian love poetry,'' wrote NSK.

His poem „Jur ni Jedna na svit vila“ (No Other Nymph Upon This Earth), one of Lucić's most well-known poems, is an obligatory poem to read in the Croatian education system. You can learn more in this English version of a science paper by Tomislav Bodgan.

Portrait of Hanibal Lucić © National and University Library in Zagreb (NSK)

On Hvar, his summer residence still stands, and it's open to tourists to visit as its now the headquarters of the Hvar Museum.

''His summer house, the headquarters of the Hvar Museum, is a well-preserved example of the country houses of the Renaissance period, but with clear Gothic influences. Included in the museum is a reception room dedicated to the memory of Hanibal. The museum is also home to the local branch of the Croatian state archives. The opening hours are as follows: 09:00 -13:00 and 17:00 – 23:00 in summer, 10:00 – 12:00 in winter (by appointment),'' wrote Paul Bradbury for Hvar's dedicated Total Croatia page.

So, when in Hvar, do find time to visit the house but also don't forget to visit his bust and seek one of his pick-up lines that can help your banter with that pretty girl on the beach.

Learn more about Hvar on our TC page.

For more about Croatian history, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, 13 Aug 2021 - Construction and State Assets Minister Darko Horvat said on Friday that the Orljava textile company had received two letters of interest from companies to take over this Požega-based shirt producer and continue production.

We are doing everything we can to make such a strategic partnership happen and to ensure a normal future for at least a hundred of workers at Orljava if not for all on its payroll, Horvat told reporters during a visit to the coastal town of Vodice.

To those claiming in the media that the state has not helped the Požega-based company until now, he said that the government had so far provided HRK 24 million in various loans and lent HRK 3 million, which hadn't managed to save Orljava from bankruptcy proceedings.

I didn't want Orljava to turn into a small Uljanik and feed a company that cannot operate on the market like this and with its business plans, Minister Horvat said, stressing that if the income does not cover the expenses, then the management must ask itself what to do next.

He said they hadn't been able to receive a development plan from Orljava's management, which would have enabled them to see a new investment cycle and to determine a technical correlation with its biggest buyer until yesterday, the German company Olimp.

As for the reconstruction after the earthquakes in Zagreb and Banovina, Horvat that in addition to construction engineers, the reconstruction required lawyers due to "the catastrophic state of property relations" and the legality of buildings awaiting reconstruction.

For more on politics, CLICK HERE.

ZAGREB, 13 Aug 2021 - A project to reconstruct an embankment on the River Mura in the northernmost Croatian town of Sv. Martin na Muri and build an embankment at Benice on the Slovenian side of the border has been completed, the Hrvatske Vode state-owned water management company said on Friday.

The total value of the FRISCO 2.2. project, financed by Hrvatske Vode and the Slovenian state-owned water management company with roughly equivalent amounts of money, is €2.99 million.

The FRISCO 2.2. project, designed to improve cross-border flood protection, is the third cross-border flood protection project approved for EU financing as part of the Interreg V-A Slovenia-Croatia cooperation programme.

That programme aims to reduce the threat of the cross-border rivers Dragonja, Kupa, Sutla, Drava, Mura and Bregana flooding the areas they run through and FRISCO 2.2. project refers to flood protection activities in the area of the River Mura.

The purpose of the project is adjustment to expected climate change and its challenges and reducing the risk of floods in Sv. Martin na Muri in Croatia's northern Međimurje County and in the settlement of Benice in the nearby Slovenian municipality of Lendava.

For more news, CLICK HERE.

ZAGREB, 13 Aug 2021 - The Croatian Journalists' Association (HND) and the Croatian Journalists' Trade Union (SNH) on Friday condemned the decision of the owner of the Televizija Šibenik on the extraordinary dismissal without prior notice of two journalists and a television camera operator.

Addressing a news conference the HND leader Hrvoje Zovko said that journalists were "fed up with local power-mongers who tailor local media coverage" and compared the case of TV Šibenik with the recent developments in the Pula-based Glas Istre newspaper in which some reporters were fired.

Zovko strongly condemned the move of the TV Šibenik owner Stipe Grcić to bar one of the dismissed reporters -- Lucija Cvitan -- from entering the broadcaster's premises, and pointed out a label put on the door of the editorial room reading that Cvitan is "a persona non grata".

Zovko and Cvitan told today's news conference that this label was particularly disparaging and the European Federation of Journalists would be informed of this action of the media outlet's owner, if he failed to remove it immediately.

The HND chief said that the actions of Grcić and the TV Šibenik were scandalous, particularly having in mind the fact that the media outlet was partly funded from the state budget.

Zovko added that they had sent a request to Grcić last night to give his comment on the case but he had not sent any response until the start of the news conference.

Cvitan said that before being sacked she had not received any notice. I sent an e-mail asking or amending my employment contract for June. The reply sent after that was that I was no longer an employee of the TV Šibenik, she said adding that after that the disparaging label appeared on the editorial room.

"I want the stain to be removed from my name. I have have worked conscientiously," said Cvitan.

The other sacked reporter, Ivana Bulat, was fired during her sick leave.

The SNH leader Maja Sever said that the key to such problems appearing in local media outlets would be the conclusion of collective agreements regulating all the rights and entitlements of journalists.

For more on politics, CLICK HERE.

ZAGREB, 13 Aug 2021 - Zagreb Mayor Tomislav Tomašević said on Friday that he had decided to cancel a tender for the removal of bulky waste in Zagreb, with two valid bids having been submitted, one by Reoma Group and the other by the Ce-Za-r company, noting that the city-owned sanitation company Čistoća would be doing the job.

Čistoća will be in charge of removing the city's bulky waste once it procures a crusher.

A procedure for the procurement of two crushers with the help of EU funds is currently underway, and until it is completed, the city will hire a crusher, Tomašević told reporters.

The mayor presented the temporary solution to the problem of bulky waste removal after the removal of some types of bulky waste - padded furniture and mattresses - was stopped in Zagreb.

The mayor said Čistoća estimated its model of bulky waste removal would help save HRK 33 million a year.

Asked when the removal of waste in Zagreb would be normalised, Tomašević asked citizens for patience, noting that the procedure to hire the crusher should be completed by the end of next week, as a temporary solution until Čistoća procures crushers.

Waste removal discontinued as quantity agreed under current contract reached 

The removal of bulky waste in Zagreb is currently suspended because the quantity of waste whose removal was agreed under a contract with the companies Ce-za-r and Reoma Group has been reached.

"Even though the contract is valid until January 2022, the amount of waste agreed under it has been reached and that happened sooner than planned due to a large amount of bulky waste, which is primarily due to reconstruction after the earthquake," Tomašević explained.

Čistoća sought procurement of crusher for years

Tomašević also warned that the price of bulky waste removal of HRK 1,800 per tonne, currently paid by Zagreb, was the highest in the country, adding that the nearby town of Samobor, whose bulky waste was also removed by a private company, paid around HRK 700 per tonne and the northern Adriatic city of Rijeka HRK 1,100 per tonne.

He also said that Čistoća had been asking for years to buy a crusher.

"I really don't know why no one had thought of buying a crusher. I mean, obviously someone had, because there are documents showing that Čistoća asked for it but its requests were left out of public procurement plans for years," he said.

Asked if the city would now accept the offer by Ce-ZA-r which on Thursday offered to remove bulky waste free of charge until the completion of the tender, Tomašević said he did not receive any formal offer to that effect but learned of it from the media.

He also said that free waste removal was offered in a situation when the tender was still valid.

For more on politics, CLICK HERE.

August the 13th, 2021 - As has unofficially been learned, the very first Dubrovnik 5G network has been set up and put into function by Croatian Telecom, bringing Croatia's southernmost city in line with the most advanced of Internet speeds.

As Dubrovacki Dnevnik writes, according to unofficial information available to the previously linked Dubrovnik daily, the first Dubrovnik 5G network was launched in four locations - in the Gruz business zone, on Ilijina Glavica, around the Rixos Libertas hotel and in Mokosica. The Dubrovnik daily tested out the new 5G network that allows for a huge speed of almost 1000 mbps in two of those locations - Ilijina Glavica and at the Rixos Libertas hotel. Of course, a prerequisite for use is the possession of a device or mobile phone that supports 5G.

The first Dubrovnik 5G network represents huge opportunities for Dubrovnik's local economy and perspective.

The fact that Croatian Telecom was the first to launch the Dubrovnik 5G network also shows that it is an infrastructural precondition for the development of the area of Dubrovnik in the direction of a smart city, which is often mentioned in the city as one of its priority goals. Of course, this is an opportunity for the further development of sustainable tourism, especially in the perspective of digital nomadism and the city's commitment to be a centre of digital nomad tourism. In addition to all of the above, this step also represents a kind of path towards the further improvement of Dubrovnik's local economy and the opening up of opportunities for the development of the IT sector in Dubrovnik.

It should be noted that after the public auction procedure and the investment of 130 million kuna for the new radio frequency spectrum, Croatian Telecom was assigned a 2x10 MHz block at the national level in the 700 MHz frequency band, 12 10 MHz blocks in the 3.6 GHz frequency band (total 120 MHz), and in the 26 GHz frequency band, 2 blocks of 200 MHz (400 MHz in total). Licenses for the use of radio frequency spectrum are granted for a period of fifteen years.

The new 5G network means higher speeds for half a million inhabitants, including the people of Dubrovnik.

Croatian Telecom recently announced that it now provides coverage of two million inhabitants through 600 5G base stations. At the same time, as many as 149 or every fourth base station operates at 3.6 GHz, which means that they are in the area of ​​12 cities; in Zagreb, Split, Rijeka, Osijek, Dubrovnik, Karlovac, Pula, Slavonski Brod, Sibenik, Varazdin, Velika Gorica and Zadar, and even higher speeds were provided for half a million inhabitants.

Ensuring the largest share of the 5G spectrum, Croatian Telecom's network is ready for all of the future requirements in terms of capacity, high speed and low latency, both in the private user and industrial segment. It will enable the use of the 5G network on all three frequency bands: 700 MHz, 3.6 GHz and 26 GHz, thus continuing to set industry standards and enable the application of new technologies with the aim of stimulating economic growth and social progress. Healthcare, education, manufacturing, agriculture, energy, tourism, transport, smart city development and Industry 4.0 are just some of the areas that the implementation of the 5G network will significantly improve.

To all of its customers, in certain tariffs in the period until September the 30th, 2021, Croatian Telecom will offer (without any additional costs) the possibility of using the 5G network for which it is necessary to be in the area of ​​5G network coverage and have a compatible 5G device. According to the plan, enabling the use of the 5G network on new frequencies has already begun and is being implemented gradually through tariffs. It is envisaged that the benefits of the new frequencies during August will become available to all users who were involved in the promo period of using 5G via DSS technology.

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