December 15, 2020 - Restaurants may be closed in Croatia, but takeaways are allowed, but who is working? A guide to Hvar dining in COVID times in December, 2020. 

One of the things that used to drive me nuts when I lived on Hvar was trying to find out which restaurants were open in the winter. 

There was no centralised place of information, and nobody ever seemed to know the complete list. 

In these more challenging times, of course, all restaurants in Croatia are currently closed. But the takeway option is available. The thing is, if it was almost impossible to get a list of restaurants open in a normal winter, what hope of finding a list of Hvar dining options in this craziest of years?

Help is at hand... 

A very nice initiative from Hvar resident and erstwhile TCN correspondent, Zdravko Podolski, on the Expats on Hvar Facebook page, asking the community to contribute their knowledge of restaurants who are open for take outs. 

There was a good response. Over to Zdravko... 

Places open for carryouts on the island - what we know so far

Always best to call first to confirm they are indeed open

GDINJ:

Kastel - on the main road - call ahead 099 3269 677

HVAR:

Bumbar pizza delivery, weekends only +385 21 741 430

Hotel Park Restaurant - Tel: +385 21 718 337 / +385 21 741 149

Mizarola - 098 799 978

JELSA:

NEW Restaurant Kalina Fri/Sat/Sun 1700-2200; 0955962499

Step Up Tue-Sun 1700-2200, 095 790 5726

Konoba Gajeta - opposite Ribola - 091 954 5588

CLOSED Restaurant Pizzeria Jelsa - main sq

STARI GRAD:

Albatros - sat/sun lunch / dinner +385 91 9799 535

Pizzeria Marko 12-14 / 17-20 - 021 765 889

Kod Damira - +385 91 5736 376

VRBANJ:

Konoba Bogo, Vrbanj but only on Saturdays and Sundays, dinner time from 17:00 till 22:00. Tel numbers are 021-768 337, 0917914285.

If there are any errors or additions to this list, please send to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Subject Hvar Dining and we will update the list. 

And if any other destination wants to put a similar list together as a public service, TCN would be happy to publish.  Please email the same address. 

For more news from Hvar,  follow the dedicated TCN section. 

ZAGREB, Dec 16, 2020 - Croatian Public Health Institute (HZJZ) head Krunoslav Capak said on Wednesday that Croatia this week had a considerably lower three-day rolling average of new COVID-19 cases compared to past weeks and that it was now fifth in the EU when it comes to the number of infections.

At a press conference of the national COVID-19 response team, Capak presented three-day data, according to which there were 7,159 new infections this week, 9,019 new infections last week, while two weeks ago there were 8,269 such cases.

The HZJZ also calculated the cumulative COVID-19 incidence rate for Croatia, which is 43,903 cases per one million inhabitants, and there are four EU countries with higher rates -- Slovenia, Belgium, the Czech Republic, and Luxembourg.

There are still big differences in incidence rates between counties, with Medjimurje County having the highest incidence rate, followed by Varazdin and Krapina-Zagorje counties, while Dubrovnik-Neretva, Istria, and Pozega-Slavonia counties have the lowest incidence.

Capak also said that the decline in the number of new infections had nothing to do with the fact that rapid antigen tests, who had been widely used in the past two weeks, were not included in the statistics, and he explained that rapid antigen tests were not reliable in diagnosing new patients.

He stressed that there was still no reliable information when the COVID-19 vaccine would be registered in the EU, and therefore when it would arrive in Croatia.

"We have a promise from the manufacturer that it will deliver the promised quantities of the vaccine in January. Enough doses of vaccine have been pre-ordered for Croatia's entire population," Capak said.

He explained that it was not yet known how many health workers would be vaccinated because the data from the conducted surveys were not available for all counties.

Asked about the ethics of vaccines, he said there were differences in the technology of vaccine production, but that he personally did not know why some of the vaccines would be unacceptable for ethical reasons.

The head of Zagreb's Dr Fran Mihaljevic hospital for infectious diseases, Alemka Markotic, said that the Oxford and the Russian vaccine had been produced using fetal cells, in the same way, various vaccines had been produced in the past 55 years and which had been used to vaccine millions of people in recent years.

Markotic called on those who had recently got infected with COVID and had risk factors to contact their family doctors or COVID treatment facilities at an early stage of the disease.

ZAGREB, Dec 16, 2020 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic has said the situation with the pandemic requires national unity, solidarity, and a high degree of responsibility in order to save as many lives as possible and the economy, accusing the opposition of irresponsibly undermining everything that is being done to fight COVID-19.

In an interview with Globus weekly, Plenkovic says new COVID measures are being considered as well as an extension of the ones in force in order to reduce the number of infections.

"I'll reiterate that our priority was and remains to preserve the health of our citizens and save every life. One should clearly say that the choice is not between health and the economy, it is a health and the economy. It would be easiest to introduce another lockdown, but few are asking where the money would come from for salaries and financing the economy."

He says it is extremely important that everyone complies with the COVID measures so as to reduce, through joint efforts, the number of infections and the pressure on hospitals and the medical staff "who are giving their all to save every life and keep the healthcare system running."

Plenkovic says the economy is "key for financing the healthcare system."

Speaking of the arrival of a vaccine, he says that if a large portion of the population gets vaccinated, the infection will disappear sooner.

Announcing a public campaign, he says the wish is for all the information on the vaccine to be transparent, clear and based on science so as to explain to citizens the benefits and how the vaccine can protect them from the disease.

Speaking of the opposition's moves, Plenkovic says it is a pity that their contribution to the COVID crisis "boils down to undermining the work" of the national response team.

"The opposition's attempts to have everything decided in parliament only additionally reveals their deep lack of understanding of the nature of this crisis in which it's necessary to make decisions. How, for example, would a two-thirds majority be achieved in parliament on whether the physical distance should be one meter, a meter and a half or two, how many people can be in shops or on the farmers' market?"

Plenkovic says parliament passed all the laws necessary to enable the government and the COVID response team to make the necessary operational decisions, adding that such a system "has ensured the necessary flexibility for adopting all the necessary measures on short notice."

Plenkovic says the opposition has the right to "irresponsibly undermine all we are doing in the fight against COVID-19, but we will continue to adopt the optimal measures for protecting the health and maintaining the economy."

ZAGREB, Dec 16, 2020 - In the past 24 hours 3,327 coronavirus infections have been registered in Croatia, bringing the number of active cases to 22,042, and 92 COVID-19 patients have died, the national COVID-19 response team said on Wednesday.

Currently, 2,907 patients are hospitalized, including 294 on ventilators, while 53,286 people are self-isolating.

Since the outbreak of the epidemic, Croatia has registered 183,045 coronavirus cases and 2,870 COVID deaths, while 157,773 persons have recovered, including 2,694 in the past 24 hours.

To date, 908,215 persons have been tested for the virus, including 11,387 in the past 24 hours.

December 16, 2020 - The latest on the COVID-19 vaccination plan in Croatia, as revealed by Krunoslav Capak of the Croatian Institute of Public Health.

Jutarnji List reports that although the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has announced that approval for the use of Pfizer and BioNTech's coronavirus vaccine could arrive by December 29, the German Bild reports that this could happen as early as December 23. On the other hand, the Germans say that in that case, vaccination in that country could start the day after Christmas, more precisely, on December 26. Given that the European Commission has announced in the vaccination plan that all EU countries, after the EMA has the last word, will receive the vaccine simultaneously, this would mean that Croatia could start with the first vaccinations on December 26 or 28.

Namely, BioNTech reported that the delivery of vaccines from the factory and the primary European distribution center of Pfizer's vaccine in Puurs, Belgium, can start as soon as the green light from the EMA and the EC arrives. The date by which the EMA could give the green light was indirectly confirmed at a press conference by German Health Minister Jens Spahn. He said the media reports, according to which the EMA should approve the vaccine on December 23, were correct, adding that this would happen through a regular rather than an urgent procedure, "because we want citizens to gain confidence in the vaccine," he said.

"We have information that the Pfizer vaccine will arrive in Croatia on January 4. However, the company said earlier that, as soon as the EMA approval arrives, symbolic quantities of the vaccine could be delivered to all EU countries at the same time this year. The rest should arrive after the New Year," says the director of the CNIPH, Krunoslav Capak. He is convinced that if the EMA approves the vaccine on the 23rd, Croatia will receive the first quantities simultaneously as Germany and other EU countries.

It should be reminded that Croatia has ordered a million doses of Pfizer vaccine, but it will, as in other countries, arrive in smaller tranches. The first quantity for Croatia should be 125,000 doses and is intended for the vaccination of users and employees of nursing homes and health professionals. After that, those over 65 and chronic patients will be vaccinated with two doses, for which it will be necessary to organize vaccination sites well. The National Civil Protection Headquarters also announced a campaign to give citizens all the information they need about the benefits of vaccination and possible side effects.

According to some information, the start of the campaign is planned for December 21, while the current epidemiological measures will be in force, and it seems that they will not be eased. It is also possible that the measures will be tightened if, by the end of this week, the numbers of patients and hospitalized due to coronavirus do not show a more serious downward trend. The Headquarters and the Ministry of Health believe that this is optimal because most people will be at home, spending time watching television, listening to the radio, or reading online portals.

But what is still not clearly answered is the details of the vaccination plan. For healthcare facilities, this should not be a major problem, as many healthcare professionals are concentrated in one place and can vaccinate each other. However, nursing homes are increasingly a "bottleneck," in which more than 70 percent of users have given their consent to vaccination. The facts say that homes do not have enough health professionals who could use all open vaccine bottles in the short term.

These days, the survey of nursing home users and employees has been completed, so it is known at least approximately how many doses are needed. So far, about 24,000 residents and employees have expressed this interest, which means that 48,000 doses should be provided for them within 21 days, which is the interval between two doses of the vaccine. If vaccination in Croatia starts on December 28, those vaccinated on that day will acquire full immunity on January 24 next year. By the end of the week, it should be known how much interest health professionals have in vaccination.

Initial figures suggest it could be about half of public sector employees, or about 30,000. This means that 60,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine should be provided for them. According to that calculation, after the vaccination of those from the first planned group of 125,000 received doses, there would be about 15,000 left from the first delivery of the vaccine, i.e., enough to vaccinate another 5,000 at-risk citizens.

However, there could be many more problems when the next shipment of Pfizer vaccines arrives, i.e., when the vaccination of the general population over the age of 65, who live in their apartments and houses, begins, because they will certainly need more doctors and nurses to implement them than usual in the flu vaccination season. There is still doubt as to whether vaccinations should be given exclusively to family physicians, as suggested by epidemiologist Dr. Bernard Kaić, or whether the number of "vaccinators" should be extended, for example, to pharmacists, about which there are also suggestions.

To read more about coronavirus in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

As Lucija Spiljak/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 16th of December, 2020 - last year, Croatia's residents spent a record 15.3 billion kuna during the festive period, but the ongoing coronavirus crisis has left its mark on Croatian Christmas consumer habits.

Although there is no estimate for what has been an absolutely dire 2020 yet, the specialised consulting company in the field of the agri-food sector, Smarter, estimates that the total consumption of food and beverages will fall by up to 20 percent in December, marking a significant change in the typical Croatian Christmas shopping spirit.

According to the latest data from the Central Bureau of Statistics, retail consumption in Croatia fell by 7.3 percent back in September when compared to the same month last year, with a decline in retail trade in food, beverages and tobacco products.

At the same time, they estimate better sales and the higher consumption of local Croatian products due to their continued good supply and higher production, which has since been confirmed by the estimate of growth in the value of Croatian agricultural production this year by about one billion kuna, helped along by the support of retail chains.

Smarter added that Croatian Christmas consumption in regard to festivities will be more modest than in previous years (two years ago the calculation of the average ''festive basket'' stood at 2175.98 kuna), but the offer of Croatian products is better than it was before, and meat, fish, wine, fruit, vegetables and other food are being sold at special prices. Online sales also increased significantly (by 13.9 percent in the first half of 2020 according to the CBS).

"We're convinced that the awareness of the need for a turnaround in the sector of agriculture and food production will be further developed and that Croatia will finally get a strategy that will revitalise this production on a sound basis," concluded Smarter.

For the latest travel info, bookmark our main travel info article, which is updated daily. 

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Join the Total Croatia Travel INFO Viber community.

Updated on December 21, 2020 - With travel rules changing, nothing beats real-life experiences for the latest info - feedback from the Total Croatia Travel Info TCTI Viber community. 

One of the biggest challenges in this most challenging of years has been to source accurate and reliable current travel information. 

With the pandemic wreaking havoc on travel plans, restrictions and new rules have come into force all over the world. These rules are often interpreted in different ways by different officials, and what one reads on official websites is not necessarily the reality on the ground. 

As I wrote recently, the fact that Croatia is currently officially closed for tourism to non EU/EEA/UK nationals is not the same as saying that nationals from these countries are not arriving. 

In such uncertain times, one of the best sources of information are the real-time travel experiences of recent travellers. TCN and partners started the Total Croatia Travel INfO TCTI Viber community in May, with the aim of helping tourists with the latest travel information. It quickly became clear that the community would also be helping us. The feedback we received from community members as they crossed the borders into Croatia was invaluable in building up a true picture of the current realities on the ground. 

After going a little quiet in the autumn, the TCTI Viber community has come to life again after the new border rules of November 30. And once again, people are posting their recent experiences, which at times are ingenious and very different from the official advice. In an article which will be constantly updated as more post their experiences, here are some of the recent ones since December 1, posted anonymously but in full. If you would like to join the TCTI Viber community, you can do so here (you will need to download the Viber app). 

December 21 - I successfully entered Croatia today at 6 pm. LAX>AMS>ZAG.

Documents I printed but not necessarily used :

-Negative Covid Test less than 48 hrs
-Enter Croatia Form
-Public Health Passenger Locator Form
-Business Invitation Letter from my hotel in Croatian and translated in English
-Itinerary showing return trip in Jan
-Hotel bookings showing amount paid
-Bank statements showings I have sufficient funds to cover my stay
-IATA guidelines specific to Croatia
-Email from Border Police

In total, around 45 pages. I brought two copies.

Here is what I actually used.

LAX: Neg Covid Test, Enter Croatia Form, Business Invitation Letter
AMS: Nothing
ZAG: Neg Covid Test which they kept a copy. They did not look or take anything else.

The key is to be prepared. Have your paperwork in order with the negative covid test at the top of the stack because they will keep it. Obviously say the purpose of your trip is business or economic. DO NOT SAY TOURISM, unless you like stressful situations. They stamped my passport and that was it. Total time was less than 2 mins.

At both LAX and ZAG I put my passport w/boarding ticket on top of the first page of documents which should be your negative covid test. Be prepared and there's a low likelihood they will flip through the rest.

I really want to thank all the contributors to this group. I wouldn't have made it w/o your bravery and openness. Cheer and let's end the year on a high note.

December 17 - on transfers:

I travelled to Hungary through Croatia last week, my situation was similar to yours. I landed at Zagreb and was immediately leaving Croatia. I did not have a test. At the passport control I was asked if I had one, but once I said I was transiting they immediately let me through, so you should be fine!!

December 15 - Good news! 

I am a U.S. citizen and I just entered Croatia! I flew from the west coast of the United States and had a layover in Amsterdam (KLM). No trouble boarding in us or Netherlands. In Croatia just show negative COVID test. I entered for tourism.

December 15 - I messaged MUP this morning around 8 am Croatian time and they responded in about 20 minutes. 

I wrote them that my fiancee, an American national will enter Croatia on December 21st via flight Chicago-Washington-Amsterdam-Zagreb and that she will have her US-issued passport, a printed document which confirms our reserved and paid for hotel accommodation, printed out Enter Croatia document, and proof of a negative PCR test which will not be older than 48 hours. I didn't write what the purpose of the trip was.

They responded that, with all those documents, my fiancee will be granted entry into Croatia.

December 11 - Update on American traveling from the US: I’ve passed the first hurdle: getting on the plane. Before you go to the airport, be sure to review the IATA guidelines (google: IATA map covid - this is what the airlines will review when you get to the airport). Right now, it says that passengers are not allowed into Croatia until the 15th, with some exceptions. This may change by the 15th, or it may be renewed ?‍♂️. In any case, be sure that you fall into one of those exceptions - traveling for business, urgent personal matters, or transiting by land to a third country, etc. you’ll need to show them something at check-in to document this. I will give you guys an update when I reach the border. I took a covid test yesterday morning, hoping the results will arrive by the time I get there!

Greetings from Croatia! I have successfully crossed the border. This is how I did it: the IATA guidelines say that no passengers are allowed in Croatia until December 15th, with a few exceptions. One of those is passengers transiting to a third country via a land border. So, I booked a car to be picked up in Zagreb and returned to Belgrade. I also booked a hotel in Belgrade. When I got to the airport, I told the people at the check in counter that I was planning to enter Croatia and then proceed to Serbia by car. I showed them the car and hotel reservations and that was enough. Everything else went very smoothly. At Zagreb airport, the immigration officer asked only for my covid test. I gave it to her, she stamped my passport, and that was it! No other questions, no other documents were asked for. Now, I didn’t lie to airlines. I’m here for a 10 days vacation, but if the Croatian border police didn’t buy the “economic interest” argument, I was fully prepared to rent that car, drive to Serbia, and then spend the next 10 days exploring that country, Albania, and Macedonia. Luckily , they didn’t even ask about that at all. They were only interested in the Covid test.

December 11 - Hello again, just passed Zagreb inmigration and all I showed was out PCR test results and the entry into Croatia. The officer only asked if he could make copies of our results and he kept the entry document. The process took no more than 60 seconds. Best of luck to all of you! Don’t forget to print your documents! So many people were stuck because they only kept copies in their phones!!

December 10 - I just went through the Slovenian - Croatia border (driving) along with my 15 year old son. I had a travel order from my company and it went smoothly! They didn't required the Covid19 test.

December 7 - We made it into Croatia from the US today (US citizens). The biggest hurdle was getting onto the plane in the US. Everything else was easy. We had a letter from a Croatian lawyer as a guarantee we were going for urgent business. We would not have made it on the plane without this letter.

December 5 - And I’m IN! My flight landed briefly in Split, (where I am still for a few minutes) before continuing on to Zagreb. In Split, we had to leave the plane and there was a separate customs line for anyone continuing onward—we had to clear border control and then get back on the plane. I don’t speak much Croatian so I didn’t know what was being said between the MUP officers, but there were 2 extra officers in the booth and they were all talking up a storm and pointing at the computer screens and asking each other questions and showing each other our PCR tests. I kind of think they may have been having some trouble with the computer and entering the info—but who knows. My agent took my passport and immediately asked for my COVID test. I also placed the enter Croatia form in front of her, and held my additional docs in clear view, but the only thing she had any interest in was the test. She kept the copy. I even asked her if she wanted the enter Croatia form after she stamped my passport and she said no.

OK, I had printed:
• Enter Croatia form confirmation (the 1-page PDF you receive once you successfully submit the form)
• Printed negative COVID PCR test result from Italian lab (translated to English), swab taken 34 hrs before my arrival in Croatia
• letter from Zagreb dentist stating that I have an urgent appointment (and the date of the appt)
• invoice showing my acoomodation for duration of stay
• print out of the complete rules for entry, found here: https://mup.gov.hr/uzg-covid/english/286212
• print out of my flight to Croatia and my onward flight

That’s it—and again, the only things the Croatian border police wanted to see were my passport and my test result.

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.

Join the Total Croatia Travel INFO Viber community.

ZAGREB, Dec 15, 2020 - In the last 24 hours, of 8,748 coronavirus tests performed in Croatia, 2,360 or 27% have returned positive, and there have been 73 COVID-related fatalities bringing the death toll to 2,778, the country's COVID-19 crisis management team reported on Tuesday.

There are currently 21,861 active cases, and of them 2,897 are receiving hospital treatment, including 304 patients placed on ventilators.

As many as 51,108 people are self isolating.

Since 25 February, when Croatia confirmed the first case of the infection with the novel virus, 179,718 people have caught coronavirus, and of them, 155,079 have recovered.

 So far, 896,828 tests have been conducted.

ZAGREB, Dec 15, 2020 - Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandrokovic said on Monday that more than one-third of members of parliament had recovered from COVID-19, were currently infected or had been in self-isolation.

According to official statistics, 29 MPs have recovered from COVID-19 or are still infected, and another 25 were in self-isolation, which makes a total of 54 deputies or more than one-third, Jandrokovic said in an interview with Croatian Radio, noting that the infection rate was evidently higher in the parliament than in the general population.

He called again for compliance with epidemiological restrictions and thanked everyone who over the past months had complied with them.

Decision on passes not made yet

Jandrokovic said that a decision on the introduction of passes enabling travel had not been made yet and that he hoped the number of new infections and deaths would go down, which would make that move unnecessary.

"But we also have to be ready, in case the numbers go up, for additional restrictions."

He dismissed criticism from the Opposition that the government alone was responsible for the consequences of the epidemic because it had not accepted any of its suggestions.

Responsibility for the spread of the infection rests with those who do not comply with restrictions, and raising the issue of responsibility at the moment will not help change the situation for the better, Jandrokovic said, commending the work of the national COVID-19 response team.

New parliament - lot of noise, aggression, little substance

Jandrokovic said that he was satisfied with the work of the parliament this year, adding that he was not impressed by the new parliament.

"It started very well, it seemed more serious, more substantial but as the time passes, I have the impression that the Opposition is resorting to the mode of work of the previous Opposition, with a lot of noise, aggression and debates bordering on incident and very little substance and concrete proposals," Jandrokovic said, adding that it seemed there was also a considerable lack of political experience and political and human wisdom.

December 15, 2020 - In ten days, Brac locals collected 1,515 liters of homemade olive oil for health workers in Croatia on the front lines of the fight against the coronavirus. A huge success!

The idea came from Sutivan, and it was accepted by all Brac municipalities and the Tourist Board, which organized the action, reports 24 Sata.

Brac locals thus donated the most valuable thing they have, oil from their olive groves, which came from all corners of the island.

After consultations with the largest Croatian COVID hospital in Dubrava, the oil will be delivered to several medical centers throughout Croatia.

To make the gift to Croatian health workers even more beautiful, all the labels on the bottles were painted by students from elementary schools and Brac kindergartens:

"We wanted to brighten up the holidays for those who have the hardest time fighting this pandemic, and that is our doctors, nurses, and other medical staff."

An announcement from the Bol Tourist Board on November 30: 

"To make the holiday season more cheerful, a humanitarian action was launched where Brac citizens can donate their olive oil to the Clinical Hospital Centers in Croatia, or to the hardworking people who work in them, especially in these challenging times of the COVID-19 pandemic. All towns on the island of Brac are included in the action, and the Tourist Boards take over the coordination," announced the Municipality of Bol Tourist Board.

"If you want to participate in this humanitarian action 'Brac oil for hardworking people' (or in the Brac dialect, 'Bročko uje za vridne jude'), please bring the amount of olive oil you would like to donate (minimum 1 liter) to the Tourist Board of Bol office, from Monday, November 30, 2020, to Friday, December 4, 2020, from 8:30 am to 2:00 pm.

It would be best if the oil is packaged in glass, but it is not necessary. Place your labels on the packaging, and if you don't have any, the children from the "Little Prince" Kindergarten will draw them for you for this occasion.

After the collection is completed, olive oil will be distributed to the Clinical Hospital Centers in Croatia, and we will, of course, inform you about the exact destinations and quantities.

Let our oil bring joy and make the holidays more beautiful for all who care about our health and to all who, unfortunately, will spend these holidays separated from their loved ones.

"A heartfelt thank you to everyone who will respond to this truly commendable action!" the Bol Tourist Board said on November 30. 

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