August 26, 2020 - The latest news from around Croatia’s airports for flights to Croatia with updates for Split Dubrovnik, Zadar, and Pula.
Croatian Aviation reports that popular low-cost airline easyJet will not operate on 20 international routes to four Croatian airports in September. The company will suspend certain lines earlier than planned, solely due to weak demand.
In August, easyJet operated on as many as 38 international routes to and from Croatia, from Pula, Zadar, Split and Dubrovnik. The company will operate on 21 routes to these airports from the beginning of September, while 19 lines will end operations this year.
Pula Airport
easyJet will operate on four lines in September, while four will be discontinued.
Pula - Bristol (until September 26),
Pula - London Gatwick (until September 26),
Pula - London Luton (until September 12),
Pula - London Southend (until September 30).
The following lines are canceled:
Pula - Amsterdam (last flight on August 26),
Pula - Basel (last flight on August 29),
Pula - Berlin (last flight on August 29),
Pula - Liverpool (last flight on August 30).
Zadar Airport
Zadar will have three lines in September, while two will be canceled.
Zadar - London Gatwick (until September 12),
Zadar - London Luton (until September 19).
The following lines are canceled:
Zadar - Amsterdam (last flight on August 30),
Zadar - Basel (last flight on August 29),
Zadar - Berlin (last flight on August 29).
Split Airport
Split Airport will have the most flights in September. easyJet plans to continue operating on as many as nine lines, while six will be discontinued.
Split - Amsterdam,
Split - Basel,
Split - Belfast (until September 26),
Split - Bristol,
Split - Geneva,
Split - Glasgow,
Split - London Gatwick,
Split - London Luton,
Split - Manchester.
The following lines are canceled:
Split - London Stansted (last flight on 30 August),
Split - Lyon (last flight on 30 August),
Split - Milan (last flight on August 30),
Split - Naples (last flight on August 28),
Split - Paris CDG (last flight on August 29),
Split - Orly (last flight on August 30).
Dubrovnik Airport
Of the 12 active lines in August, there will be half as many in September, six of them. The company will continue to operate towards Dubrovnik on the following lines:
Dubrovnik - Bristol (until September 27),
Dubrovnik - Edinburgh (until September 26),
Dubrovnik - Geneva (until September 26),
Dubrovnik - London Gatwick,
Dubrovnik - London Luton (until September 12),
Dubrovnik - Manchester.
The following lines are canceled:
Dubrovnik - Amsterdam (last flight on August 30),
Dubrovnik - Basel (last flight on August 30),
Dubrovnik - Belfast (last flight on 30 August),
Dubrovnik - London Stansted (last flight on August 30),
Dubrovnik - Naples (last flight on August 29),
Dubrovnik - Orly (last flight on August 30).
In conclusion, easyJet will operate on 21 international routes to four Croatian airports in September, while as many as 19 will stop operating by the end of August. Further reductions are also possible.
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August 25, 2020 - While more than a million religious tourists flock to Medjugorje each year, no miracle has been authenticated there by The Vatican. Unlike in Ludbreg - meet the only authenticated miracle in Croatia.
When I first went to Ludbreg, a small town in northern Croatia in Varazdin County back in 2016, the only thing I knew about it was its claim to be the centre of the world, and I took the obligatory selfie on the circle which marked the spot on the main square.
I really hadn't expected to find anything else of special interest in the town, but I could not have been more wrong. For the secrets of Ludbreg are really quite unique.
"We also have the Eucharistic Miracle of Ludbreg," explained my guide, as we entered the main church. "You can see it there on display in the chalice."
Wait, what? A real, bona fide Vatican-authenticaled miracle on display during Mass, while a million religious tourists head to Medjugorje each year to visit a destination which has not been authenticated by The Vatican.
And, as I did my research, I realised that this was indeed the ONLY authenticated miracle in all Croatia. And one with quite a story, beginning with a doubting priest in one of Croatia's most picturesque chapels in 1411, and ending in 1994, just 26 years ago when the Croatian Government came good on a promise made way back in 1738.
In the latest on our video series, One Minute Ludbreg, learn the story of the only miracle in Croatia recognised by the Vatican, and the three churches who play such a pivotal role.
The One Minute Ludbreg video series is a project in paid partnership with the Ludbreg Tourist Board.
To learn more about Ludbreg beyond its stereotype as the centre of the world, read Marc Rowlands' Ludbreg, the Croatian Road Less Travelled.
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As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 25th of August, 2020, more flights have started taking off for Dubrovnik, the streets and restaurants are livelier, and something is finally happening in Croatia's tourist Mecca. Of course, each of the tourism workers has their own personal story to tell, some dealt with the coronavirus more easily, some took it harder, and some will be buried by it.
Local portal Dubrovacki dnevnik investigated the situation with the city's private accommodation.
Last year, which was a record one, it was impossible to find an apartment in a good location and with good reviews for less than 100 euros per night in the peak season. This year the prices are much lower. A quick look at Booking.com and Airbnb will reveal numerous apartments at fair prices in Dubrovnik. In fact, in the last week of August, Dubrovnik's private accommodation has never been more affordable for foreign tourists.
Thus, in a beautifully decorated apartment within the city's historic walls, the price per night at the end of August is a mere 79 euros. This apartment on Airbnb has a high rating of 4.9 based on 60 reviews. It even has a roof terrace with a beautiful view of the famous UNESCO city. In the first part of August it was well filled, but in the second half, things weren't quite so. As for September, seven days have been booked so far.
Prices within Dubrovnik's city walls for dates in the last week of August start at 45 euros for a studio apartment, and most renters provide accommodation between 50 and 60 euros per night. Last year, it cost that much to spend the night outside the narrow heart of Dubrovnik, and well-kept apartments in even Mokosica were managing to be booked for higher prices last year than the apartments in the old town are in 2020.
Thus, one with a rating of 4.86, located near Siroka ulica (street), comes with a mere 58 euro price tag. It also has an extra bed, meaning it can sleep three guests. It is decorated with a multitude of antiques. Accommodation for over one hundred euros can also be found. Such a luxuriously decorated house for four guests with a garden costs 130 euros. In the first half of August it was well filled, while in the second half and for September there are no reservations for now. It has a rating of 4.92.
As for accommodation in the popular Lapad area, it is possible to find very good accommodation there for 39 euros per night for three people. There is also a barbecue in the garden. Prices in Lapad mostly range around fifty euros for the second half of August. In Gruz, private rooms can be found for as little as 30 euros, and nicely decorated apartments cost around 50 euros. Mokosica doesn't offer much accommodation for tourists, which means that many property owners have turned to renting to families throughout the year. Despite that, a villa with a swimming pool in Mokosica comes at a cost of 117 euros per night, and it can accommodate four guests, which is a fantastic price per person.
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As Marta Duic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 25th of August, 2020, at the end of July, Zenja Moskaljov, the owner of the Zagreb pet shop Dog & Style, set up a vending machine in front of his store with a specific range of products for pets.
The idea developed, he revealed, at a business lunch with a friend and business partner, franchise mentor Andrija Colak, who connected him with the company Automatik servis from Buzet, which sold him a vending machine.
In this particular vending machine you can find basic products for pets - sweets, toys, daily meals, and dog waste bags that customers need on a daily basis.
''We’ve carefully studied which products sell the most when customers go for a walk with their dog or hang out for coffee at nearby cafes where pets can have fun with their treats and while our store is closed. I never dreamed that customers would like it so much. They pass, stop and take pictures, and social media was burning with positive comments after the announcement. I'm proud that this is the first such machine in Zagreb, Croatia, and in the region,'' said Zenja Moskaljov.
It's worth mentioning that the Dog & Style store offers more than a thousand items, which is the result of carefully listening to the market during seven years of operation, and today it has five employees. After five years of business, they moved to a new location in Mainz Street, where for two years now they have been offering food and equipment for dogs and cats, dog and cat grooming services and a veterinary pharmacy.
They earn additional income by holding courses for new dog groomers. Zenja Moskaljov says that Iva Antolic, his partner and associate, is responsible for the design of the complete Dog & Style brand. In addition to vending machines, their last major investment was franchising their business.
"Andrija Colak as a consultant is responsible for setting up a complete franchise project that lasted almost a year. The project of offering our own franchise has seen the light of day this summer and I can say that there are a lot of interested clients, and for several of them we're already looking at locations in Zagreb. Through the franchise investment, we hope to significantly expand that number in the near future, both in Zagreb and in the whole of Croatia, and in a five-year cycle, within the immediate region and the EU,'' Zenja Moskaljov noted.
The owner of the pet shop noted that, in every pet store, dog and cat food makes up 50 percent of the sales range, followed by sweets and equipment, then bathing and haircut services, and finally veterinary products.
"Fortunately, the company's activities have enabled us to work during the coronavirus crisis, and we achieved a record month in sales in March. The company's revenues are still growing from month to month, our revenue has increased by 60 percent when compared to 2019,'' concluded Zenja Moskaljov.
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As Novac writes on the 25th of August, 2020, back at the end of July, a completely renovated Valamar Parentino Hotel 4 * (formerly known as the Valamar Hotel Zagreb) was opened in Porec, Istria, specialising in active and fun family holidays. The hotel boasts 329 accommodation units and in the peak season it can accommodate over 1,100 guests. It also employs about 140 employees.
The investment in the Valamar Parentino Hotel worth an enormous 113 million kuna is the largest investment of the Imperial Riviera for 2020. Valamar Riviera is a leading Croatian travel company that manages the entire Imperial Riviera portfolio, and Valamar Parentino Hotel has become the seventeenth tourist facility bearing the well known and respected Valamar Hotels & Resorts brand.
The Valamar Parentino Hotel is a new family-oriented oasis that provides entertainment for children and a high quality holiday for parents. The excellently equipped Maro Mini and Maxi playrooms for children of different ages, outdoor cinema screenings, a multimedia game lounge, a soft play room, and entertainment with day and evening programmes for children are just some of the possibilities offered by Valamar's Super Maro programme for children up to 12 years of age.
The main Mediterraneo restaurant serves gourmet delicacies using local ingredients, while the Oliva Grill restaurant offers simple dishes which are perfect for a light lunch or dinner.
The offer also includes Sun & Spa - Valamar's signature wellness programme, two heated outdoor pools, water slides and a shallow baby pool. The family pebble beach - Val Parentino Family - offers a range of facilities such as the Splash Beach Bar and La Pentola Trattoria Italiana, famous for its hand-made pasta and pizza offerings.
For those who want an active holiday, there is also a Stay Fit programme, tennis courts and a Music & Fun entertainment programme with a very rich and impressive offer.
Photos can be views by clicking on the above link.
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As Novac/Lidija Kiseljak/zupan.hr writes on the 25th of August, 2020, Made in Danube - Transnational cooperation with the aim of transforming knowledge into marketable products and services for a sustainable society along the Danube of the future is a project with which Vukovar-Srijem County, within the category of Contribution to Science and Innovation, entered the finals of the selection for the best EU county project.
The project was implemented across ten Danube countries - Croatia, Germany, Romania, Austria, Hungary, Ukraine, Moldova, Slovakia, Serbia and Slovenia, started on January the 1st, 2017 and ended on June the 30th, 2019.
The total value of the project stood at a massive 14,373,639.00 kuna, the amount of paid grants stood at 12,217,593.15 kuna, and 2,156,045.85 kuna came out of already existing funds.
The main goal of the project was to improve the conditions for cooperation between companies, scientific research institutions and public bodies in the field of innovation-based bioeconomy, which will be incorporated into products and services so that local scientific knowledge is available transnationally and the long-term transfer of knowledge, innovation and technology is achieved in the Danube region. This goal was realised through what is known as a quadruple helix approach.
Fifteen agreements
Through the project, fifteen innovation partnership agreements were signed and three innovation e-tools were developed - technological offers, technological requirements and the analysis of innovation potential, which allows for the identification of the needs of the companies involved, as well as the availability of local and national knowledge.
At the level of a consortium of ten project countries, thirty technology offers and 28 technology requirements were made and added to the platform with free access, the cooperation of forty companies with scientific research institutes was included, the further analysis of the situation related to innovation potential was conducted, as was the analysis of the innovation potential of entrepreneurship, a joint strategy for the transfer of knowledge into marketable products and services was developed for three regional initiatives - 3 Local Action Plans (smart agriculture, biofuels/bioenergy and the wood sector) and finally, the Danube Transnational Bioeconomy Network in the Danube Region was fully established.
The list of tasks in the Made in Danube local action plans was continuously being updated and the established contacts of scientific cooperation are continually maintained. In this way, it will contribute to the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises located in the south-eastern Danube region and create significant changes for the entire area, supporting regional smart specialisation strategies.
Training of different kinds was conducted within the project related to innovations in the bioeconomy, and stakeholders from the scientific research sector adopted the prerequisites needed for creating innovative solutions, while strengthening and developing the vision, knowledge, skills and abilities needed to meet current challenges in the innovation sector with regard to bioeconomics.
As part of the Made in Danube project's initial implementation, the three aforementioned pilot initiatives in the field of bioeconomy were developed, one of which is the Local Action Plan for Sustainable Forestry, implemented by the Vukovar-Srijem County Development Agency.
Namely, this sector is gaining special importance in Vukovar-Srijem County through the internationalisation of small and medium-sized enterprises from the county, five innovation partnership agreements and sixteen cooperation agreements were signed between companies and scientific research institutes from the Danube region.
The implemented activities and the Local Action Plan (LAP) for the wood sector increased the use of renewable energy sources across the Eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, and it also encouraged the general public to develop and use new technologies and innovations in the wood industry, as well as the smart and sustainable use of local raw wood.
An important role of the project was to educate civil society, as well as involve experts and the general public in regard to innovation and possible solutions to problems in the wood sector at the regional level. The workshops contributed to strengthening links for the better acceptance of scientific results and the commercial success of innovative ideas and products. The idea of holding such a workshop in an informal environment was greeted with enthusiasm by the participants, which also contributed to the overall better visibility of the project and its theme.
The Made in Danube project envisages the further development of the e-tool DTIC (Danube Transnational Cooperation in the Field of Innovation), a specialised Internet platform that can be used by participants working in the field of bioeconomy across the Danube region who are interested in transferring research and innovation into applicable and market-successful solutions.
Among the most important features of the platform is the fact that users will be able to present their knowledge offer and publish requirements that suit their interests and capabilities.
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August 26, 2020 - The Croatian Institute of Public Health (CNIPH) published a report for the previous week, which was marked by record numbers of new coronavirus cases in Croatia.
Vecernji List reports that from August 17 to August 24, all counties recorded new cases of COVID-19. The highest number of new cases is recorded in Split-Dalmatia County, followed by the City of Zagreb and the Sibenik-Knin and Zadar Counties, which have the same number of new cases in the last week.
HZJZ
Split-Dalmatia County also has the highest 7-day rate, followed by Sibenik-Knin and Brod-Posavina counties. According to the CNIPH, the percentage of those infected at weddings is not as high as it is thought. In the past seven days, it has been confirmed that only 1.68 percent of cases were infected at weddings.
Most tourists were infected in Makarska from July 7 to August 24, and out of the 70 infected, 63 are Austrian citizens. The largest number of patients cites summer vacations and going out to nightclubs as a source of hotspots, and recently, a significant share of sick players from smaller football clubs stands out.
"Last week, a large number of patients from NK Rudes were recorded in the City of Zagreb, and a few from NK Lokomotiva. In Split-Dalmatia County, a football player whose club played a match with NK Marsonia from Slavnoski Brod fell ill. This week, another case from a Split-Dalmatia County club was recorded, and a large number of players from NK Marsonia also fell ill. Two NK Vrbovec players also fell ill, and 5 more players have symptoms," they say.
HZJZ
Also, imported cases from Kosovo, BiH and European Union countries were recorded.
"County epidemiologists in the field have been under great pressure in the last week due to the increased influx of new patients whose epidemiological treatment, in addition to interviews (taking epidemiological history), includes contact processing - i.e., contacting all persons listed by individual patients who are not self-isolated. Despite that, according to information from the field, especially in the most affected Split-Dalmatia County, they still do not have a delay in the treatment of sick people and their contacts," concluded the CNIPH report.
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August 26, 2020 - The Mayor of Vir, Kristijan Kapovic, and the Director of the Vir Tourist Board, Srdjan Liveric, are dissatisfied with the Croatian Tourist Board's attitude towards the island of Vir, the most successful tourist destination in Croatia so far this season.
Namely, HRTurizam reports that in the last two August press releases of the Croatian National Tourist Board (CNTB) which list the most successful tourist destinations, Rovinj, Porec, Split, Medulin, Crikvenica, Dubrovnik, Umag, Zadar, Pula and Novalja were highlighted as the destinations with the most achieved tourist arrivals. Contrary to the practice of all previous years, the most successful destinations by realized tourist overnight stays are not mentioned, i.e., the total data of realized overnight stays in Croatia and the most successful counties are given.
The fact that the island of Vir has the most in Croatia until August 15 - about 1.5 million overnight stays with 80 percent of last year's record numbers - is somehow bypassed at the peak of the summer season when the impression of the most successful and best destinations this year is created. In addition, Vir is the best destination in terms of overnight stays so far in August (433 thousand). With more than 700 thousand overnight stays (the only one in Croatia), it was also the most successful tourist destination in July.
However, the island of Vir simply does not appear in the CNTB's press releases in August. It is this fact that raised the whole of Vir to its feet, and the Municipality of Vir and the tourist board are asking: Is the island of Vir fancy enough to be the best destination in Croatia?
Realized tourist overnight stays measure the success of each destination. This fact is covered up in the CNTB's August media reports, according to a joint statement from the Municipality of Vir and the Tourist Board of Vir.
"They favor destinations in which billions of kuna of public state money have been invested so far, in communal, tourist and media-marketing infrastructure, so they are obviously bothered by Vir's success, which has never gained anything from all this. However, when the CNTB's coffers are filled, one does not ask where the money comes from, and a significant amount of money comes from Vir," says the mayor of Vir, Kristijan Kapovic. Thus, millions from the island go directly to the CNTB, and hundreds of millions to the state budget, adding: “No one can deny that, but we can also ask ourselves whether the time has finally come for that money to start coming back to us. Vir certainly deserved it," said Mayor Kapovic. The director of the Vir Tourist Board, Srcjan Liveric, agrees with him and feels first hand the complete neglect of the most popular Croatian destination.
“Several million kuna go every year to the CNTB's coffers at the state and county level, and not a penny has been returned to some media and marketing campaign for Vir. We do not have the support of the system and the people within the CNTB who, among other things, are paid with real money and whose job it is to help us. We rely only on our own strength," says director Liveric and adds that it is finally time for state institutions, tourism, and others, to start doing their job finally. "If we talk about tax revenues, hundreds of millions of kunas went to the budget from Vir. We would be satisfied if we got them back if we could arrange Vir as a top tourist destination in every sense," adds the director of Vir Tourist Board.
In their joint statement, they point out that a significant phrase of the CNTB director Kristjan Stanicic, who, speaking about the most successful destinations so far, mentioned only some of them. Even then, the island of Vir was not mentioned in a single word, letter or thought. When the CNTB director was confronted with the fact that Vir was the destination with the most overnight stays in Croatia, he responded to the journalist's statement somewhat reluctantly: "Vir is a specific destination of non-commercial accommodation."
According to UNWTO, the umbrella organization of international tourism and the United Nations agency, a tourist is any person who stays or spends the night in a place where there is no residence address. Therefore, that person can have their own house, cottage, caravan, tent, or brothel in the destination if they want. Still, if they do not have a residence - it is a person who is statistically registered as a tourist. This is what is called non-commercial accommodation in the structure of tourist traffic, according to Vir.
Vir also emphasizes that for a local or foreign citizen to buy or build a house in Croatia where they do not reside, it is necessary to set aside at least about 700 thousand kuna for the minimum facility and then pay taxes and other receivables. In one move, a foreigner or a local person invests about 100 thousand euro to have a housing or tourism business facility, on which they pay taxes and all possible benefits, and further use the goods and services at the destination. Only one such owner of the facility, or a tourist in non-commercial accommodation, spends at least one million kuna at the start, and their further consumption at the destination takes place at least three or four times a year.
In the case of Vir, we are talking about foreigners who spend 16 nights on average in the previous part of the season and domestic guests with 26.7 nights on average. The so-called commercial tourists that the CNTB likes, spend 500 to 600 euro once for accommodation and maybe the same amount for goods and services at the destination where they stay for two to three days, or a maximum of one week. They do not spend more than ten or fifteen thousand kunas without a guarantee that they will be in Croatia again next year. In order to equalize the financial performance of a non-commercial guest in the future, commercial tourists would have to stay at the destination for 100 years or there would have to be 100 times more of them, Vir points out.
"All tourism professionals know that reports are made according to the realized overnight stays, because it is the practice of measuring tourist traffic. Now that Vir is the best, suddenly reports are made in arrivals, which is strange, to say the least," concludes Liveric.
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August 26, 2020 - Mateo Kovacic thus joins the prestigious company of Ruud Gullit, Gianfranco Zola, John Terry, Frank Lampard, Petar Cech, Didier Drogba and Eden Hazard.
There was no dilemma for Chelsea fans who voted Mateo Kovacic the best player of the London club in the 2019/2020 season!
A nice and, certainly, encouraging recognition for the Croatia national team member who has recorded several impressive matches in the last 12 months, but also consistently played at a high level, which was also recognized by the Chelsea fan club.
Chelsea awarded the Croatian on their website with the following message:
"Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the club's annual awards are being unveiled exclusively online rather than at the usual ceremony dinner. Following the conclusion of the season, supporters cast their votes and today's series of announcements culminates with Kovacic revealed as our men’s winner.
He will be presented with the trophy at Cobham having topped the voting after an outstanding 2019/20. He was a key member of our midfield in his first season as a fully-fledged Blue, having made his loan move from Real Madrid a permanent switch to Stamford Bridge last summer.
Only two players made more than Kovacic’s 47 appearances over the course of the season, a fact made even more impressive by the fierce competition for places and frequent rotation in midfield. He also scored his first two goals for the club, both low drives from the edge of the box, in consecutive weeks in November against Valencia and Everton.
Over the course of the campaign the Austrian-born Croatia international seemed to have a telepathic understanding with his team-mates, whoever he was playing alongside in midfield, whether as part of a central three or a deep-lying pair.
He began the season in fine form, starting seven of our first eight matches, and even when left out of the line-up as part of Frank Lampard’s rotation, he still managed to make his mark, with his impact from the bench key in helping us break down a stubborn Newcastle side at Stamford Bridge in October.
It was as we entered the winter that it really became clear how important a player Kovacic was going to be for our season, though, as his precise passing, reading of the game and strong pressing allowed him to dictate the tempo of matches, while his bursts forward carrying the ball from midfield launched countless attacks.
As well as beginning moves, Kovacic has also been helping to finish them, addressing one of the criticisms he faced in his first season in England. In addition to his first two goals he also provided three assists, including one delightful pass to tee-up N’Golo Kante against Manchester City in late November, and he was high up the list in terms of chances created, only behind Willian and Mason Mount for Chelsea when the season was paused during lockdown.
The man wearing our number 17 shirt did his popularity no harm with two stand-out performances against London rivals Tottenham in the Premier League either side of Christmas, and looked likely to be a big miss for Lampard when he limped off with an injury during our FA Cup win over Liverpool in March.
However, the timing of lockdown meant Kovacic was unavailable for just one match, returning from his Achilles problem in time to be named in the starting line-up for our first game when football resumed in June, helping us to make it a winning restart against Aston Villa.
Another injury suffered at the start of July forced him to sit out a couple of games, but when he returned it was in arguably his best form yet for Chelsea.
He started all of our last six games in all competitions, and his performances helped us secure a top-four finish in the Premier League and reach the FA Cup final." A deserved winner of the 2019/20 Player of the Season award! Bravo, Kova! For the latest travel info, bookmark our main travel info article, which is updated daily. Read the Croatian Travel Update in your language - now available in 24 languages
Congratulations, Kova! ? #CFCAwards20
Zagreb, August 25, 2020 - The day after the earthquake in Zagreb, in those most vulnerable moments, a portal dedicated to Zagreb was born. Named after a famous song, Beli Zagreb Grad has so far published more than 500 inspiring stories about Zagreb, and its founder, student Barbara Grgić, told TCN her story and commented on the portal's past five months.
Beli Zagreb Grad is a project by a Dalmatian Hinterland girl, as Barbara, who is originally from Knin, likes to say. She came to Zagreb in 2015 to study Coatology and Latin at the Faculty of Croatian Studies, and currently, in addition to the faculty and running the portal, she also works in a media agency.
Barbara Grgić at the Green River Festival in Zagreb / Private archive
She initially expressed her interest in writing about Zagreb through the Instagram profile Beli Zagreb Grad, where she gathered 10,000 followers in the first year. She was already thinking about starting a portal at the time, but, as she says, we always postpone something because we think we are not ready enough.
The earthquake in Zagreb was her main trigger.
Love for Zagreb
"That morning, a little over five months ago, was certainly one of the most traumatic experiences of my life. I still twitch at every vibration in the building. When life literally shakes you and wounds what is dearest to you, then all your problems, fears, and limitations fall into the water. Then the only question remains – now that you are alive and well, what is your role in this world and this city? What do you want to leave behind when you are gone and what do you want to be remembered for? These are just some of the questions I have been asking myself for the whole two years, and I found the answers in a few seconds while life was rewinding in front of my eyes," Barbara describes her decision to finally launch a portal about the city of Zagreb.
Currently, the portal employs about 20 volunteers from various fields of interest, from cultural anthropologists, ethnologists, historians, art historians, to people from Croatian, Italian, Latin, and German studies. They all have a common passion – love for Zagreb and love for writing. They do not lack motivation because they consider Zagreb to be an inexhaustible source of inspiration, thus proving that Zagreb's culture is very much alive, which makes it easy for them to find their way to their audience.
Different but unique
So far, they have covered 180 historical topics, as many as 380 events in the city on various topics (fine arts, music, film, performing arts), and held 70 interviews with artists of various profiles (artists, musicians, actors, dancers).
However, from the quantity itself, they always put the quality and educational component of the content in the first place.
"I put an enormous emphasis on inspiring stories by local artists of all kinds, which is why our interview section is so read and special," says Barbara, who, as the founder of such a successful portal, gave many interviews for various Croatian media.
Although they do journalistic work, none of the members of the Beli Zagreb Grad team are journalists, but they use it as their advantage, not a disadvantage. People with different educational backgrounds and attitudes approach the topics they write about differently, which makes this portal unique. Nevertheless, they are all bound by an interest in a deeper understanding of the topics they write about.
"We are not typical journalists and we do not ask typical journalistic questions. It is not enough for us to cover when, where, how, why, who. We want to dig deeper. Leave the reader thinking,” says Barbara, adding that originality stems from complete commitment, dedication, and interest in the topic.
Barbara Grgić with a friend Klara Halužan at the Green River Festival / Author: Hana Klain
Soon to become the leading portal for culture
And the fact that the Beli Zagreb Grad project was recognized and awarded with the third place in the Competition for the best Zagreb online projects designed and realized during the coronavirus pandemic proves that the commitment paid off.
Barbara Grgić wins an Award for the best Zagreb online projects designed and realized during the coronavirus pandemic for Beli Zagreb Grad / Private archive
Barbara points out that the stories they publish are stories they believe.
"We are a little different. We are not talking to robots that will fix our monthly analytics, but to neighbors, fellow citizens, children, young people, women and men who share the same interest as us,” explains Barbara.
Readers feel it very well, so Beli Zagreb Grad has over 5,000 new followers on social networks since March, and as many as 80,000 views on the website.
Continuing at this pace, Beli Zagreb Grad strives to become the leading portal in the field of culture in Zagreb, but also in the entire Zagreb County. As Barbara emphasizes, after all, the song, after which the portal was named, says "Lepe ti je Zagorje zelene, još je ljepši Beli Zagreb Grad“, meaning that Zagorje is also beautiful, and Zagreb is even more beautiful.