ZAGREB, 15 April, 2021 - Strawberry picking season has begun in the Vrgorac area in southern Croatia and the Vrgorac strawberry association told a news conference on Thursday that this year  600 tonnes of high quality strawberries can be expected from local fields.

Vrgorac high-quality strawberries will already be available at farmers' markets as of tomorrow the association's president Milan Franić said.

According to Franić, about 600 tonnes are expected from this year's yield which will bring in a revenue of HRK 12 million for producers in the Vrgorac area.

"We have good weather conditions and will produce a standard quality. The yield will be high and of good quality for almost all producers however 15 family farms affected by last year's floods in Kokorići will not have any yield this year because the floods destroyed their greenhouse and crops," said Franić.

He added the price of strawberries is HRK 25 (€3.3) per kilogram, which is far below their price in the European Union where their cost ranges from €7 to €10.

"We are happy however that Vrgorac strawberry farmers will generate a revenue of HRK 12 million for the HRK 5.6 million that they invested, which is good for Croatian circumstances. We will continue to invest in improving the quality of our strawberries of which 80% are produced in tunnel greenhouses which protect them from rain, hail and frost and guarantee they are produced without any pesticides" said Franić.

For more about business in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, 15 April, 2021 - Parliamentary opposition parties on Thursday criticised the government's plan to pay a COVID supplement to pensioners and a tax refund to young people in the run-up to local elections as vote buying.

Arsen Bauk of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) told reporters in the parliament building that the government "has obviously sorted its priorities to ensure the best possible election result" for the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ).

"We support a COVID supplement for pensioners, even before elections. I think the Croatian democracy is mature enough and that this will not result in voters voting en masse for the HDZ," Bauk said.

Homeland Movement MP Stjepo Bartulica said that Prime Minister Plenković often expressed his disdain for populists. "I see a great dose of populism in the timing of this measure," he said.

"We are all equal in Croatia, but obviously some groups are more equal than others, especially with elections coming up. In principle, I am not against helping the pensioners, but the way in which the government runs its policies actually increases cynicism in Croatia," Bartulica said.

Bridge's Božo Petrov noted that the government had promised several years ago that the living standards and monthly incomes of pensioners would rise considerably, suggesting that the measures proposed by the government should remain permanent.

Bojan Glavašević of the Green-Left Bloc said that "the pensioners and young people, as vulnerable groups, need systematic rather occasional assistance."

Unlike the opposition, the HDZ's Ivan Ćelić disagreed that this was an attempt at vote buying for local elections. "Let me remind you that a month before elections the (SDP) government of Zoran Milanović gave away electricity vouchers of HRK 200, which can be seen in the same way as the COVID supplement," he said.

(€1 = HRK 7.5)

For more about politics in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

April 15, 2021 - The Dubrovnik Tourist Board is marking the 10th anniversary of the broadcast of the first Game of Thrones episode with a special gift for all fans of the series this weekend - a free Game of Thrones tour in Dubrovnik, in both Croatian and English!

Turizmoteka reports, Dubrovnik hosted the filming of GOT, the most-watched HBO series ever from 2011 to 2018, from the 2nd to the 8th season. A series that has become a worldwide television phenomenon, based on George R.R. Martina's novel, won numerous accolades, including 59 Emmy Awards, was first aired on April 17, 2011, and was watched by about 13 million people worldwide.

In the series, Dubrovnik represented the capital of seven kingdoms, King’s Landing, one of the most important locations in the series. The scenes filmed in King's Landing brought invaluable worldwide promotion to both Dubrovnik and Croatia. The well-known attractive views of Dubrovnik have been recognized around the world, both by fans of the series and by numerous foreign media who have written about the beauties of Dubrovnik.

Numerous promotional activities, carried out by the Dubrovnik Tourist Board, related to the Game of Thrones series, have marked the past decade. The most popular was the Game of Thrones city map with marked filming locations through which many fans could tour the filming locations on their own and as part of several themed GOT tours accompanied by a guide.

The Dubrovnik Tourist Board hosted numerous foreign journalists, and TV crews who reported exclusively on GOT organized numerous presentations on the same topic in emitting markets. The iron throne used to film the series was briefly borrowed to promote Dubrovnik. For several study trips of foreign journalists, a unique thematic GOT menu was designed with the dishes mentioned in the series to imagine and taste that they are in King’s Landing. In cooperation with HBO, CNTB, and the City of Dubrovnik, the Tourist Board of the City of Dubrovnik organized the premiere of the last episode of the 8th season of 2019 in the Revelin Fortress in Dubrovnik.

On that occasion, the CNTB and the Tourist Board of the City of Dubrovnik organized a prize competition in 14 European countries. Hence, the lucky winners had the opportunity to attend the premiere and visit the locations of the filming of their favorite series. 

In the past ten years, Dubrovnik has established itself as an attractive location for filming, to which the Game of Thrones series has undoubtedly contributed. Themed GOT tours will be held on Saturday, April 17, starting at 10 a.m., in front of TIC Pile. Due to epidemiological measures, the number of participants is limited, so it is necessary to confirm arrival by Friday, April 16, until 17:00, by e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or phone number: +38520312011.

For more about travel in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, 15 April, 2021 - The real extent of damage to orchards due to the unusually cold weather in April with snow and early morning frosts, will only be known in the next few weeks, Croatian Fruit Growers' Association president Branimir Markota told Hina on Thursday.

"We have been in contract with the agriculture ministry during the entire time of low temperatures last week and again last night, and have discussed the possible consequences these unfavourable conditions will have for fruit growers. The real extent of the damage will only be visible in a few weeks and once we know it and depending on the possibilities, we will certainly seek assistance," Markota told Hina.

A huge problem exists because insurance policies do no cover damage caused by frost that occurred prior to 10 April, he said. 

That's something that will be discussed with insurance companies and the ministry which covers 70% of the cost of insurance premiums from Measure 17 of the Rural Development Programme, Markota explained.

Fruit growers usually insure their crops via Measure 17 - Risk management and Sub-measure 17.1 - Insurance of crops, animals and plants.

For more about agriculture in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

April 15, 2021 - A look back at Croatians on Titanic following the 109th anniversary of the tragic event.

109 years ago, the Titanic sank, taking at least 1,500 lives to the bottom of the Atlantic. That was the very first voyage of the technological wonder of ship-building expertise of its time. The number of fatalities includes both the crew members and passengers. Approximately 1,317 passengers were on board, and the majority was assigned the third class, reserved for the poor, bottom social class. The Titanic was traveling to the USA from the UK, and many of the passengers climbed aboard, hoping to be greeted to a better life in the States. Given the historical circumstances and social and political turbulence which troubled the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, which Croatia was part of in 1912, it's no wonder there were Croats on board as well. Thirty passengers were Croatian (actually thirty-one, but one is was registered in Hungary), and only three of them survived.

In honour of the fallen victims of the Titanic, the country has a Titanic Memorial House in the village of Bratina, around 45 minutes drive from Zagreb, towards Karlovac. This discrete historical memory which is also an unpromoted but potential huge tourist spot caught the attention of a journalist Petra Balija from Večernji List in 2018. She visited the house and got in touch with one of the founders of the memorial house as well as the Titanic 100 Association founded in Bartina in 2012 (on a 100th year anniversary no less) because of the historical connection the place shares with this iconic and tragic ship.

The surname Turčin is a well-renowned name in Bratine, and Stjepan Turčin one of the thirty passengers and sadly one of the casualties of the shipwreck.

„It was exactly him, a hundred years since the sinking, who inspired the residents of Bratina to come up with an exhibition in his honour. Until 2021, his fellow citizens were not introduced to the fact someone from their area died on a big ship“, says the article on Večernji.

One of the founders of the association Andrea Žunec was connected by accident while searching the Internet and coming across the passenger's name list. This lead to Žunec contacting perhaps the biggest expert on Titanic in Croatia and the author of several books on the subject who also joined the association, Slobodan Novković, and soon, the one-time exhibition became the regular feature of the village. The association, back in 2018, counted over 180 members from over 54 different countries, and the exhibition hosts replicas of various items from the Titanic-both from reality and from a movie by James Cameron.

„We have the original piece of coal from the Titanic that dropped from the ship when it sunk. I got it from a Swiss acquaintance“, told Novković to Večernji List.

This year, marking the upper mentioned 109 anniversary, Renata Rašović, again for Večernji List, tracked the experiences of the surviving Croats which they described to various world press shortly after the shipwreck.

One of them was Ivan Jalševac, who was 29 at the time, and he told the journalists that were interviewing him how he was awakened by the event.

„At first, I had no idea what happened. I dressed up peacefully and lit up a cigarette. I'm telling you honestly, I wasn't afraid. On the deck, I saw panic and chaos. I returned back to the cabin to grab my suitcase but it was too late. Everything was flooded with water. I saw this is not a joke and that the ship needs to be abandoned as soon as possible. I thought in the worst case, I will jump in the sea and swim to a boat“, quoted Večernji List.

Jalševac managed to get to the lifeboat and he saw the ship sinking and vertically rising up before he heard three explosions.

„ I saw bodies of people that didn't manage to rescue themselves flying in the air. We stayed in the boat, scared and tired. Women were quiet as if they are mute. Understandable, their husbands stayed on the Titanic, they encountered gruesome death“, said Jalševac.

Večernji goes on to remind that while Croatians were only passengers on the Titanic, the stunning number of 56 Croatians From Istria and the Croatian coast were crew members of Carpathia, which saved 716 shipwreckers.

All Croatian passengers on the Titanic were traveling third class. Just like Andrea Žunec, you can track them down as well on the Titanic passenger list. Keep in mind someone is more difficult to find given they were signed under other countries, such as Hungary, which was the case for Mara Osman Banski. You can learn more about Croatians' faith on the Titanic in one of our previous articles on TCN.

The full names of Croatians on Titanic, separated by survival status on the dreadful night of April 15, 1912, and place go as follows:

Survived:

Topolovo: Ivan Jalševac

Vagovina: Mara Osman Banski

Died:

Brezik: Jego Grga Čačić, Luka Čačić, Marija Čačić, Jovo Čalić, Petar Čalić

Kričina: Bartol Cor, Ivan Cor, Liudevit (Ljudevit) Cor

Kula: Manda Čačić

Lipova Glavica: Jesa Ćulumović

Podgori: Mirko Dika

Ostrovica: Jovan Dimić

Hrastelnica: Jozef Draženovic

Vagovina: Ignjac Hendeković, Štefo Pavlović, Matilda Petranec

 Topolovac: Ivan Jalševac

 Bukovac: Mate Pocruic, Tome Pocruic

 Písac, Peru : Jakob Mile Smiljanović

Galdovo:  Ivan Stanković,

Široka Kula: Ivan Strilić

Bratina: Stjepan Turčin

Konjsko Brdo: Nikola Lulić, Luka Orešković, Marija Orešković, Jelka Orešković (from Konjsko Brdo),

Learn more about modern Croatian history on our TC page. 

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ZAGREB, 15 April, 2021 -  Of 10,876 tests performed for coronavirus in Croatia in the last 24 hours, 27%, that is 2,927, have turned out to be positive, the national COVID-19 crisis management team reported on Thursday.

The COVID-related death toll has risen by 43 to 6,442.

Currently, there are 15,307 active cases of the infection, including 1,988 patients in hospitals, of whom 179 are placed on ventilators.

A total of 29,551 people are self-isolating.

Since the confirmation of the first case of the infection with the novel virus on 25 February 2020, Croatia has performed 1 674 418 tests, and to date 300,900 people have tested positive. Of them, 279,151 have recovered from this disease, including 1,457 recoveries in the last 24 hours.

To date, under the Croatia's vaccine rollout plan, 617,516 doses have been administered. As many as 381,164 people have received the first shot of the two-dose vaccine, while 117,283 have been inoculated with both doses.

For more about COVID-19 in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

April 15, 2021 - HRK 9.2 million was invested in the comprehensive renovation of the Split Old Town Hall as part of the strategic City of Split and EU project "Palace of Life - City of Changes."

"Despite the pandemic, we have completed the realization of this extremely demanding activity within the Palace of Life - City of Changes project, following the previously announced deadlines. There is still some work left, but the facility is being prepared for a technical inspection that will take place tomorrow," says Radojka Tomašević, Head of the Service for International and EU Projects of the City of Split. This is a comprehensive renovation and valorization of the Old Town Hall, in which 9.2 million kuna was invested from the strategic City of Split EU project "Palace of Life - City of Changes." Namely, in March 2020, in parallel with the Covid-19 pandemic and after the completion of archaeological research, the adaptation and arrangement of this valuable city's cultural heritage began.

The Old Town Hall is an object of monumental importance, protected as part of the old town on the UNESCO World Heritage List, and an individually protected property. By renovating the Hall, Split gets a modern multifunctional space for exhibitions, lectures, smaller concerts, receptions, and other purposes. A smaller part is dedicated to the permanent exhibition that thematizes the City Hall through history.

There is a reception with a souvenir shop on the ground floor of the newly renovated Town Hall and an exhibition space of about 50 square meters. The first floor is reached by a semicircular staircase and an elevator to a large exhibition, multifunctional space with storage, and a smaller permanent display, which is also a reading room. Visitors will sit there and read books from the shelves but not take them out, as they are protected by special technology. According to sources, a book by Robert Adam about Diocletian's Palace was exhibited in the 19th century City Hall. A facsimile of that same book will be displayed under glass, and on a touch screen, it will be viewed and read.

With the removal of modern interventions in the interior, stone fragments came to light, of which the Gothic arch stands out, which extends through two floors and is additionally prominent in the space.

On the second floor, there is a large multifunctional space with a projector for lectures or exhibitions. There is a storage room, installation systems for ventilation, and regulation of microclimatic conditions in the attic.

The exhibition space is relieved and cleaned. The first and second floors have controlled microclimatic conditions that allow the display of the most sensitive and valuable exhibits in the world, with a modern lighting flexible LED system without UV radiation with the ability to regulate lighting intensity. It will range from 200 lux for paintings to 50 lux for other exhibits made of paper, textiles, metal, glass, and the like.

For years, it has been pointed out that the potential of heritage, especially Split's, is not sufficiently developed or adequately presented. It ultimately remains unrecognized and generates costs instead of profit and jobs. Preserving and strengthening the cultural identity, quality, and thoughtful restoration of heritage also increases the destination's recognition on the market. To this end, it took almost two years to prepare and resolve property-legal and other preconditions for the application of the project "Palace of Life - City of Changes" for funding from EU funds.

The renovation of the Old Town Hall was made according to the Office of Authorized Architect Josipa Ružić. Designer Nikolina Jelavić Mitrović is the author of the interior, as well as the permanent exhibition, designed according to the concept of Dr. Josip Belamarić. Neir d.o.o worked hundreds of ours under the constant supervision of the Conservation Department in Split and the expert supervision of Atesti i zaštita d.o.o and Linir d.o.o.

The reconstruction value of the Old Town Hall is worth HRK 9.2 million, provided within the strategic EU project "Palace of Life - the City of Changes" implemented by the Service for International and EU Projects with funds provided through the ITU mechanism Urban agglomerations of Split. The total value of the project "Palace of Life - City of Changes" is HRK 25.4 million, of which HRK 18.2 million are grants from the European Union from the European Regional Development Fund. The project holder is the City of Split, the partners are the Split Tourist Board and the Split City Museum, while the Development Agency Split - RaST coordinated the successful preparation of the project application. The project includes the renovation of sites that were mostly not presented to the public - the Southeast Tower with part of the building at Lukačićeva 5 and access to the medieval procession on the east wall of Diocletian's Palace and the renovation of the ground floor of the Museum of Split, which will soon be accessible to people with disabilities. 

For more about lifestyle in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page. 

April the 15th, 2021 - The current Croatian measures are set to expire, but what is coming next? Whether or not there will be any significant relaxation depends on the epidemiological picture across the country at any given time. More power has now been given to local headquarters, so there could be some differences in approach.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, back on March the 31st this year, the National Civil Protection Headquarters issued three decisions which, with some minor changes, extended the current Croatian measures in the fight against the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Indoor sports are prohibited, except for those played by top athletes, and the operation of children's playrooms and workshops for children was also prohibited. All other measures remained the same as they were before. Tomorrow, the National Civil Protection Headquarters must make some new decisions, ie extend or change the current Croatian measures that are in force.

No significant changes at the national level are expected

As Index has since found out, there should be no significant changes compared to the current Croatian measures we have at the national level.

At the moment, the headquarters isn't planning to close the terraces of cafes/restaurants or to put the keys back in the locks of gyms, nor does it plan any other significant tightening up of anti-epidemic measures throughout Croatia. There should be no changes in the decision on crossing the Croatian border either. It's worth nothing that two weeks ago, the decision Croatia implemented is what the European Union will soon adopt - crossing the border (in this case entering Croatia) will be permitted with proof of having two doses of the coronavirus vaccine, of proving that you've had coronavirus over the past six months (with a doctor's certificate) or with a negative PCR or antigen test result which is recognised in the EU.

The measures are set to remain primarily adopted at the local level

The final decision, however, hasn't yet been made as a session of the Scientific Council is expected on Wednesday, starting at 09:30. It is certain however that the strategy of the National Civil Protection Headquarters remains that the measures are to be primarily adopted at the local level.

“The local approach has proven to be effective and justified. We have a good example of the Dubrovnik area where stricter measures were in force and they've now begun to open up. It wouldn't make much sense to impose any new restrictions on them. The meeting of the Scientific Council is set for tomorrow, where we'll hear what the scientists have to say,'' said Index's interlocutor who is close to the National Civil Protection Headquarters.

Warnings about the potential tightening up of measures still remains

"Stricter measures at the national level are possible if we end up with dramatic figures. Then, the healthcare system should be taken into account,'' he added.

Unofficially, it can be heard from the headquarters that it is constantly encouraging smaller local headquarters to actively engage in proposing and implementing measures in their respective areas.

"Counties need to lower their incidence, they can certainly do it more efficiently than we could do at the national level. We understand that the elections are coming soon, but the matter is much broader. This is actually the beginning of a fight that will last all summer, so that we have a season, and it's a fight for the lowest possible incidence. This is something that other countries will follow, first of all Germany,'' emphasised Index's source.

Stricter measures were introduced this week in five Croatian counties

This week, new measures were adopted for Zagreb, Osijek-Baranja, Dubrovnik-Neretva, Primorje-Gorski Kotar and Istria counties. The strictest measures were introduced by Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, where a partial lockdown has been in force since Monday. In the coming days, the headquarters expects proposals for stricter measures from more counties.

Zagreb is proposing the easing of current Croatian measures?

It is interesting to note that the City of Zagreb, in which the numbers are also growing significantly, didn't propose any stricter measures after the fiasco with outdoor masks, although the neighbouring Zagreb County did.

The Zagreb City Headquarters, which is now headed by acting mayor Jelena Pavicic Vukicevic (who in the meantime ended up in self-isolation after contracting the disease), asked the National Headquarters to lift the ban on holding outdoor fairs as of Monday, Index has learned.

In its letter, the Zagreb Headquarters states that open-air fairs are a tradition of the City of Zagreb and that they consider it justified to allow them to work in compliance with the epidemiological measures implemented for markets. As an argument, they also stated that markets and shopping centres are open. It has since been unofficially learned from the National Staff that they don't intend to approve the proposal.

For all you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, including border, travel and quarantine rules, as well as the locations of testing centres across the country, make sure to bookmark our dedicated section.