Lifestyle

January 18, 2023 - Slavonia is trying its hardest to remain full of life, but how is everything in and around it doing in reality? Not well. Vukovar-Srijem County is indeed still full of heartbreak. As much as things are starting to look up in some ways in the county's central point with the city of Vukovar looking better and better, some of its citizens deciding to stay, fight, and drive the economy themselves, tourists visiting more and staying longer; the area is still in significant social, moral, and demographic decline.  As SiB / Danas.hr write, after the final results…

January 18, 2023 - A look into the realities of running a news portal in the modern era, and dealing with an unavoidable reality - online trolls. I don't think I have ever had as much abuse in my life as running a news portal in Croatia. At first, I was a little shocked and intimidated, but after a while, I came to appreciate my online trolls, and to celebrate them. So much so that I dedicated a whole chapter of my latest book to them. When I started Total Hvar almost 12 years ago, I was SO sensitive about…

January 20, 2023 - And you thought Croatia was dead in January? Head on East to WineOS and the Osijek Wine Festival, which was a great success in its 8th edition. Croatia in January. Advent in over, the summer is far away, everything is closed.  Now imagine Slavonia in January. Even worse, right? You couldn't be further from the truth. One of the early season fixed highlights in my calendar each year now is a weekend in Osijek in mid-January. I first went to the WineOS Osijek Wine Festival seven years ago, a very local affair with just a few…

January 17, 2023 - The Croatian dream - to live in Croatia and get income from abroad. Meet the locals who are living that dream, and find out how you could, too, in a new TCN series. In the latest in the series, meet Stjepan Mijat Zaninović, who is enjoying life on Hvar. Croatia, great for a 2-week holiday, but a nightmare for full-time living unless you are very rich, so the perceived wisdom goes. The Croatian dream is to live in Croatia with a nice income from abroad, as many foreigners and remote workers do. For Croatians, if I…

January the 16th, 2023 - We've looked into many a dialect, but what about what's known as a ''prestige dialect''? of the modern (standard) Croatian language? A look deeper into the Shtokavian dialect, part of the wider family of South Slavic dialects. We've explored many of the dialects, subdialects and indeed languages in their own right as some linguists consider them to be which are spoken across modern Croatia. From the Dubrovnik subdialect (Ragusan) in the extreme south of Dalmatia to Northwestern Kajkavian in areas like Zagorje, the ways in which people speak in this country deviate from what we know as standard Croatian…

January 16, 2023 - If it's sunny on Vinkovo, then " into the barrels abundant wine will flow". If a sparrow bathes in a puddle on that day, winemakers will "bathe" in wine in autumn. If it's a dry day, there won't be any wine either. There is a direct correlation between how much wine the winemakers drink and how fruitful their grapes will be. Those are some of the beliefs associated with the feast of one of the most beloved saints among winemakers. St. Vincent found his place in the calendar on January 22. As Croatian tradition clearly and…

January 13, 2023 - The Lika Club portal gifted us with the magnificent Lika zodiac. If you thought that you could find everything about Lika online, the portal consulted an independent astrological expert on something that you certainly could not; they state in the article that became a hit on social networks. The zodiac has 12 signs: falcon, plum, bear, potato, coklja (traditional wool sock), trout, fairy, Lika cap, Buša cattle, bura wind, wolf, and nakurnjak (traditional Lika penis warmer). Taking into account the uniqueness of the Lika zodiac signs, the astrological expert looked at the stars and put together…

January 12, 2023 - How does the cell build a supporting structure for chromosomes? For years, scientists have been trying to understand how spindle fibers form, which are cellular structures crucial for the proper distribution of chromosomes. A new paper by Croatian researchers from the Ruder Boskovic Institute published in the prestigious journal Nature Communications sheds light on this issue. Researchers from the team of prof. Dr. Sc. Iva Tolić from the Ruder Boskovic Institute (IRB), in collaboration with colleagues from the Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb (PMF), and Croatian scientists in the diaspora, described how the cooperation of…

January 12, 2023 - The 8th edition of WineOS, the Osijek Wine Festival kicks off later today, an event being attended by TCN. Osijek in January. Slavonian hospitality at its finest. Why aren't you here? All roads lead to Slavonia this weekend, as the 8th edition of WineOS Osijek Wine Festival takes place - a wonderful mix of fine Slavonian (and other wines), Slavonian hospitality, and the heart of a Slavonian winter.  As with last year, it promises to be a fine event of quality wine and good company, which I will be visiting in the company of the one…

January 12, 2023 - The Croatian dream - to live in Croatia and get income from abroad. Meet the locals who are living that dream, and find out how you could, too, in a new TCN series. In the latest in the series, meet Kosjenka Muk, who is enjoying life in Istria. Croatia, great for a 2-week holiday, but a nightmare for full-time living unless you are very rich, so the perceived wisdom goes. The Croatian dream is to live in Croatia with a nice income from abroad, as many foreigners and remote workers do. For Croatians, if I read…