delnice

Monday, 21 February 2022

Snowboarding Championship Moved from Delnice to Platak Over a Communication Breakdown

February 21st, 2022 - The Gorski Kotar town lost the bid to host the snowboarding event as all attempts of communication with the organisers fell through on both sides

Delnice, the biggest town in the mountainous Gorski Kotar region, was being considered for the host of an international snowboarding championship scheduled for March 5th, 2022.

The event was supposed to finally put the Delnice ski jumping ramps to good use, a facility that cost the County some 800,000 kuna when it was first built, only for it to never host any athletes or sporting events. Over time, the ramps became a sad symbol of pointless local investments, reports Novi list/Marinko Krmpotić.

A chance for Delnice to turn things around came when the town was presented with an opportunity to host a snowboarding championship in March 2022. The initiative came from Leo Pavela, a councillor of Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, who reached out to president of Rijeka’s Snowboard Club Nine Miodrag Toskić to discuss potential plans for the organisation of the event.

‘Our goal was to use this international competition to present Delnice and Gorski Kotar in the media as Croatian ski destinations. At the event itself, we wanted to highlight the history of Delnice through the story of ski jumping, presentation of a former ski manufacturer and the promotion of Delnice as a centre for basic training of athletes. The entertainment programme was supposed to feature the best DJs of Gorski Kotar, and there were also negotiations to organise a sale of products made in Gorski Kotar’, said Pavela.

In October 2021, Toskić and Pavela met with Delnice Mayor Katarina Mihelčić and Director of the Gorski Kotar Tourist Board Petar Hrg. The parties agreed that the funds were to be raised in a joint effort, with Pavela tasked with securing 50,000 kuna from the county budget; the City of Delnice offered to allocate 30,000 kuna, and the tourist board was to provide 20,000 kuna.

This is where things got complicated, with a failure in communication that resulted in Delnice losing the bid to host the snowboarding event.

While the Gorski Kotar Tourist Board and the County both held their end of the bargain, Pavela and Toskić claim that Mayor Mihelčić failed to respond to their request for funding, first sent by Toskić on December 1st, 2021. An official reply was reportedly sent from the City of Delnice, but was returned to sender over an incorrect address several times in the span of two months.

‘It’s unbelievable that regardless of the fact that mail was returned to the local authorities several times, no one at the City of Delnice found it necessary to check the address or notify the organiser by email, or at least give him a phone call to resolve the issue. Such negligence shown by the City towards the event that was supposed to be very important for the promotion of winter sports in Delnice and Gorski Kotar resulted in the transfer of Delnice Snowboard Session to Platak, which saddened many people of Gorski Kotar’, said Pavela.

As the organisers didn’t receive a guarantee they’d get the promised funding in time, a decision was made for the snowboarding event to be held in Platak instead of Delnice. Platak is a ski resort located to the northeast of Rijeka.

Delnice

Delnice Mayor Katarina Mihelčić tells a different story. Approached by Novi list for a comment on the accusations, she called Pavela’s statements an arbitrary interpretation of facts.

‘All we asked of the organisers was to apply to the tender of the City of Delnice before February 18th, 2022 so that we could justify the allocation of funds from the City’s budget in the amount of 30,000 kuna. Moreover, we tried to inform the organisers of this both by email and regular mail’, said Mayor Mihelčić.

She provided a detailed timeline of the bizarre chain of events: on December 9th, the City of Delnice informed the organisers that the funds were not set aside in the city budget and that they need to apply to a public tender. In the same month, on the 10th and 31st respectively, the City sent two notices in the mail, but both letters were returned marked ‘Unknown recipient’.

Toskić called the Mayor’s offices on January 11th, 2022 to let them know he didn’t receive their reply, and gave them the email of the snowboarding club so that they could forward him a scanned copy. Three days later, on January 14th, he called again saying he didn't get the email and again gave them the same email address, along with his private email.

A month later, he emailed the mayor saying that the snowboarding club would be forced to move the championship to Platak if the City of Delnice doesn’t sponsor the event with 30,000 kuna.

On February 15th, a reply was sent to Toskić stating that the City of Delnice can allocate funds in the maximum possible amount of 5,000 kuna at this point, in accordance with the valid legislation regarding sponsorship. He was again encouraged to apply to the public tender, and the rest of the necessary funds would have been allocated from a different section of the budget, namely the funds intended for the development of tourism.

In return, Toskić sent a reply on February 16th stating that he doesn’t have time to apply to tenders, that he couldn’t launch the final phase of the organisation without signed sponsorship agreements, and that the entire championship would be organised at Platak instead.

‘We wanted to give them the funds, but only in accordance with legal provisions that clearly define the manner and purpose of the allocation. The Club was not able to meet those demands, and now they assign us the blame. I wonder why, and if it was all done on purpose to create another media affair’, said Mihelčić. The last part of her statement likely refers to a recent dispute between several parties interested in the lease of a business space in Delnice, with the public tender reportedly carried out in a somewhat questionable manner.

The Town of Delnice provided documentation to Novi list, including the email correspondence which clearly shows they demanded that the organisers apply to the public tender so that the funds could be allocated for the event.

Sunday, 13 February 2022

Skiing Can Return to Petehovac Near Delnice Thanks to Cable Car Approval

February 13, 2022 - The Petehovac Mountaineering Center has all the necessary paperwork to operate its cable car - all it's missing is snow.

There will still be skiing on Petehovac! Of course, if there is snow. This is all thanks to the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County budget, more precisely to councilor Leo Pavela, who managed to get a financial aid of 55,000 kuna, thanks to which the cable car issue on Petehovac has been solved for this year and the next three or four years, reports Novi List.

In other words, this means that the Petehovac Mountaineering Center has all the necessary paperwork to operate the cable car, which is ready to get back into action. The snowmobile is also prepared, and all Petehovac needs is snow.

Petehovac Mountaineering Center workers are thrilled. Srećko Orešković and his son Bruno said:

"First of all, I sincerely thank the county councilor Pavela, but also everyone else in the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County because, after our requests to many, they were the first to show great understanding and provide funds to pay for the cable car certification. For those who do not know what it is about, it should be said that this is a fundamental point without which there is no skiing. If we do not get the certificate, the cable car does not have a work permit. We would pay for that certificate ourselves if our laws were resolved properly. But the problem is that we have to pay for that certificate, even if not an inch of snow falls after that. That's why we used to be at a loss before, so we didn't even want to open the ski resort because it wasn't certain there would be snow. Now it is possible, and all we are waiting for is snow. If there is no snow this winter, we believe it will be next when we will solve that certificate again with county help and prepare for the season that will begin already in December if there is snow. Moreover, since the certification of the cable car is valid for the whole calendar year, we will be able to organize summer skiing on grass, for which we received very high-quality equipment and for which we are sure that this summer will be a hit of Petehovac," says Orešković.

Leo Pavela, councilor of the Kvarner and Gorski Kotar party, believes that this is only the first step in helping Gorski Kotar, especially from Primorje-Gorski Kotar County: "There are about 400 smaller ski resorts in Slovenia, whose work is regularly supported by the EU and the state, with as much as 60,000 euros for each ski resort.

This is normal for them, so they have highly developed winter tourism and numerous successes in winter sports. Gorski Kotar undoubtedly has all the conditions for the development of winter tourism. Still, they can't do it alone, and the help of the county and the state so far has been too weak, not even close to that provided by the Slovenian state to its entrepreneurs. These were the reasons why I insisted on helping to pay the so-called in-depth analysis and attestation for the cable car on Petehovac, and I think that the County should direct part of the funds of its small toboggan development project to Petehovac, more precisely the funds intended for the purchase of the conveyor belt," said Pavela.

Bruno Orešković used the opportunity to announce a significant investment of about 3 million euros in Camp Vrata Risnjak, which will be located at the entrance to NP Risnjak and offer the latest glamping and camping facilities:

"This is a location that will offer five-star services at the highest possible level. There will be 22 houses, two buildings, a wellness center, a sports center, a cinema, a restaurant, a shop, a tourist agency, an outdoor and indoor pool. We will provide funds with the help of the EU and very high-quality investors. The first works on the Risnjak Gate will begin this year if all goes well. Here, too, the County expressed its understanding by paying for the preparation of the necessary project documentation, and I hope that in the future, it will stand behind this project that will benefit the tourism of Gorski Kotar as a whole" said Oreskovic.

For more, check out our lifestyle section.

Friday, 28 January 2022

PHOTOS: Snowy Riversides and Magical Mountains of Croatia in January 2022

January 28, 2022 – The snowy riversides and magical mountains of Croatia in January 2022 show a spectacular and all-natural winter wonderland.

Snow finally stuck to the streets of central Zagreb for a couple of days this week. Early morning temperatures dropped to the lowest yet of this winter. Despite the chill, clear skies and sunshine days were enough to see the snow soon melt away.

But, far from the city, the snowy riversides and magical mountains of Croatia in January 2022 have kept their white blanket for longer. These all-natural landscapes look epic after the snowfall. For winter walkers and climbers – or even just lovers of photography – these images are way more spectacular than the bright lights and theatre of the Advent season.

Let's take a closer look at the winter wonderland of snowy riversides and magical mountains of Croatia in January 2022.

Gorski Kotar

Delnice, Lokve, Fužine, Stara Sušica, Ravna Gora

From above, Dvorac Stara Sušica © Vladimir Franolić

Jezero Bajer near Fužine © Marino Kirinčić

Another view of Dvorac Stara Sušica © Branko Lautar & Višnja Bolf

Risnjak National Park and Snježnik Hrvatski

Snježnik hrvatski © Ivan Ćuća-Žentil

For more about Risnjak National Park, look here

Velebit

Northern Velebit National Park

For more about Northern Velebit National Park, look here

Velebit Nature Park

Ljubičko Brdo © Ivan Ćuća-Žentil

Paklenica National Park

Bojinac © Ivan Coric Photography

For more about Paklenica National Park, look here

Kloštar Podravski, Podravina and Koprivnica-Križevci County

For more about the Drava river in Koprivnica-Križevci County look here. For more about the area of Podravina containing Kloštar Podravski and Đurđevac, look here

Slavonski Brod

The wetlands and ponds in Oriovac near Slavonski Brod are not only home to fish - over 50 species of birds visit these waters © Antun Lukšić

For more about Slavonski Brod, look here

Žumberak-Samoborsko gorje Nature Park

The high peak of Sveti Gera, on the western edge of Žumberak-Samoborsko gorje Nature Park © Domagoj Novosel

The author would like to thank each of the photographers who kindly loaned their work to him for this article

Wednesday, 1 December 2021

Can You Name the World’s Smallest Town? (And a Few Other Superlatives in Croatia)

Can you name the smallest town in Croatia (and the world)? What about the biggest, oldest, or safest? Take a guess, and then check out our list of champion towns in six different categories

Did you know that the Croatian language doesn’t distinguish between the terms city and town? We call them both grad, which refers to an urbanized area with more than 10,000 inhabitants. Exceptions are made for less populated settlements if they have significant historical, economic or geographic features.

If there’s one thing we don’t lack around here, it’s places of historical significance, and thus our technical nomenclature goes down the drain. You’ll often see very sparsely populated places being referred to as towns - what’s basically a village in terms of population could have easily had a status of a city in medieval times.

When you think about Croatian cities and towns in terms of superlatives - largest, oldest, safest - none of the leading tourist destinations make the cut. The biggest Croatian cities sure have their appeal, but this time around, we’re looking at a few peculiar title holders among Croatian towns.

Smallest: Hum

This medieval hilltop settlement located in central Istria is not only the smallest town in Croatia, but also referred to as the smallest town in the world.

Its exact population is somewhat debatable: Hum had 30 residents at the time of the 2011 census, but more recent sources place the number closer to 20. We’re curious to see what the 2021 census data will show.

Entirely built in stone, Hum is also minuscule in size, but packs a handful of houses, one restaurant, two churches and a cemetery within its town walls. While it's not technically a town, its history, cultural significance and urban structure make it quite a distinctive settlement.

One of the many Istrian legends has it that the giants who built other central Istrian towns in the valley of the Mirna River used the leftover stone blocks to create Hum as one last masterpiece.

It’s a place worth visiting on a tour of Istria: it’s incredibly picturesque and well preserved, is the last stop of the scenic Glagolitic Alley route, and is also the home of biska, a popular Istrian brandy made of rakija, white mistletoe and several other herbs.

Largest: Gospić

Based on population alone, the winner in this category would definitely be Zagreb - expected and a bit too boring for a list of this kind, so we’ll go for different criteria instead. What’s the biggest town in Croatia based on surface area?

If you’d stick with Zagreb as the answer regardless, you’d be wrong. Surprisingly, the biggest town in Croatia only has a population of about 6,500, but is larger in size than Paris, Berlin or Barcelona.

Gospić / iNekic Wikimedia Commons

The biggest town in Croatia is Gospić, with an impressive area of 967 square kilometres. The town itself definitely isn’t that big - it owes its staggering size to some 50 smaller settlements in its wider area that administratively belong to Gospić, as there are no other municipal units nearby to take them under their wing.

Fun fact: Nikola Tesla, the groundbreaking inventor, was born in the nearby village of Smiljan and grew up in Gospić.

Highest: Delnice

Unsurprisingly, we’re heading to a mountainous area to look for an elevation champion. Located in the Gorski kotar region, the town of Delnice sits at an altitude of approximately 700m above the sea level. Its lowest point is situated at an altitude of 210m, and the highest at 1528m!

Delnice / Lan Vlad Wikimedia Commons

We’d be remiss not to mention Begovo Razdolje, officially the highest settlement in Croatia at an altitude of 1028m. It’s located in the same region, on the slopes of Bjelolasica mountain, and has a population of 40. While it’s not technically a town, it’s the only inhabited place in Croatia situated at an altitude over 1000m!

Oldest: Vinkovci

In a country that counts an amphitheatre and a Roman emperor’s palace among its cultural monuments, you’d probably look for the oldest settlement somewhere on the coast. And while it’s true that the Adriatic is lined with some of the oldest towns in Croatia, we have to look inland for the oldest of them all.

The town of Vinkovci in Slavonia has been continually inhabited for 8300 years, making it not only the oldest town in Croatia, but Europe as well!

Vinkovci has a lot to be proud of other than its age: it’s the birthplace of two Roman emperors, home to the oldest known calendar in Europe, and hosts the biggest Croatian folklore festival. Check out the 10 things to know about Vinkovci in this dedicated piece.

Youngest: it’s complicated

How to approach the concept of youth when it comes to a town? We can think of three main ways to look at it:

Among the 128 towns and cities in Croatia, Popovača is the one which gained the legal status of a town most recently. It used to be a municipality and was ‘upgraded’ to a town in 2013, effectively becoming the youngest town in Croatia in terms of administrative status.

If we ditch the legal criteria and focus on how long it’s been since the inception of a certain settlement, the youngest town in Croatia is Raša. It’s located in south-eastern Istria and was purposely designed and built as a mining town in the 1930s during Mussolini’s colonization of the region. Two pairs of streets lined with former miners’ houses meet at the central square, where you’ll find the church of St Barbara, uniquely built in the shape of an overturned mining cart.

Raša © Raša Tourist Board

And finally, what about the population? Well, this is a tough one to track down as the demographic situation varies from year to year, and data isn’t always readily available. With apologies to any other town that potentially took over the title at some point, we’ll declare Solin to be the youngest town in Croatia population-wise. Located near Split in Dalmatia, Solin has a population of some 30,000 inhabitants, 6,500 of which are under 18 years of age. The average age in Solin is 34,3 years - well below the Croatian average of 43,6 which ranks us among the oldest populations in all of Europe.

Safest: Sinj

Croatia is widely considered to be a safe country overall. Its population definitely seems to think so: a recent report published by Numbeo and represented on a map by Landgeist shows that Croatia is one of the countries in Europe where people feel safest walking alone at night. It ranks second, after Slovenia - read more here.

What’s the safest place in the second safest-feeling country in Europe, then? For this we turn to actual statistics in an annual report published by the magazine Zaštita and the Faculty of Economics in Zagreb. They rank the 29 biggest Croatian cities and towns according to four separate crime rates (assaults, traffic offences, property crimes and drug abuse).

Sinjska Alka © Romulic and Stojcic

The town of Sinj, located in the Dalmatian hinterland, ranked safest in Croatia four times in a row in recent years. It’s a nice title for Sinj and just one of things it’s known for - the most famous certainly being Sinjska Alka.

Inscribed on the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage, Sinjska Alka is a traditional knight’s game held every year in August. It commemorates the victory of 700 Croatian soldiers over the army of 60,000 Turkish invaders in 1715 - a report from a reenactment of the battle is available here.

Thursday, 24 September 2020

Minister Beros Confirms Downward COVID-19 Trend in Croatia, Delnice New Hotspot

September 24, 2020 - Croatian Health Minister Vili Beros confirmed a downward COVID-19 trend in Croatia, while he is worried about the state of Delnice as a new hotspot.

Index.hr reports that Health Minister Vili Beros said on Thursday ahead of the government session that epidemiological data still indicate a downward trend in the number of people infected with the coronavirus, while data on 266 people in hospital show no signs of overloading the health system.

Beros: There are no signs of overloading the health care system; I am worried about the jump in the number of patients in Delnice

"Today we have 232 infected; if we compare with last Thursday, when there were 250, it is still less. Last Thursday, there were 291, so the trend still shows a decline. Today, 266 people are hospitalized, 23 were admitted, and 30 were discharged, and still, there are no indications of overloading the health care system," Beros told reporters in front of Banski dvori.

However, he is worried about the jump in the number of patients in Delnice, among the users of the elderly home.

"This is what we say all the time, to monitor the epidemiological situation and to try to respond to any such micro-hotspots with adequate epidemiological measures," Beros said.

Minister Beros also spoke about the current situation with coronavirus at the government session.

Namely, Beros also told a government session that the number of people infected with the coronavirus had fallen for the third week in a row, while the rate of new infections had fallen by 5.2 percent in the past seven days.

"In Croatia, the number of newly infected people has fallen every week for the third week in a row. The rate of newly infected people in the last seven days is lower by 5.2 percent compared to the previous week," Beros said.

Of the total number of hospitalized, 9.71 percent are on a ventilator, up 1.71 percent from last week. The percentage of deaths relative to the number infected since the beginning of the epidemic is 1.68 percent.

With the arrival of autumn, the number of respiratory infections increases, so Beros called on citizens to adhere to epidemiological measures and timely vaccination against respiratory infections as the most effective prevention measures.

Current COVID-19 data in Croatia

There are currently 1,200 active patients with COVID-19 in Croatia, and 266 patients are in hospital.

In the past week, 219 patients were admitted, 23 were placed on a ventilator, and 223 patients were discharged. The average age of the infected is 49.2 years.

In the past week, 73 new coronavirus cases have been reported among healthcare workers, and 426 employees are in self-isolation.

Beros reported that the guidelines had been revised to shorten the isolation time for asymptomatic individuals. Thus, those with a mild or moderate clinical picture will now self-isolate for a minimum of 10 days.

Also, health care institutions should not condition the admission of patients who require hospitalization or conduct diagnostic and therapeutic procedures with a negative PCR test not older than 48 hours, especially in emergencies or when the delay may cause health deterioration. Recommendations were forwarded to family physicians and pediatricians.

The directors of hospitals have been informed that to reduce the waiting list for certain services, when issuing approvals for additional work, doctors consider the performed obligations in the home institution, said Beros.

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Monday, 3 August 2020

Delnice Becoming More Interesting, Attracting American Investors

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 2nd of August, 2020, while it is always good - and especially in this strange age dominated by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic - to be careful in planning and predicting the future, it is hard to disagree with the claim that the future of Delnice looks very interesting, promising and we might even dare to say impressive at the moment, much more than it has for many years.

This way of thinking has been encouraged by the recently published news about the serious interest of foreign investors, particularly American ones, thanks to which a hotel that will be part of the world-famous American hotel chain Marriott should appear in no less than Delnice next year, according to a report from Novi list.

But even if it doesn't end up showcasing the internationally respected name of Marriott, it will be a hotel, and that, in itself, is an enormous plus for the typically overlooked Delnice, especially considering the way in which serious investors were initially reached.

With the aforementioned hotel, the vision of the City of Delnice in the next year, year and a half, will be further changed for the better.

In September, a business and shopping centre should appear on the site of Delnice's former mill and bakery. The construction of its elements are finished and their installation will begin in September, which means that this year Delnice will have an even better trade offer than it does currently.

Furthermore, for mid-October, the opening of the newly renovated Delnice City Library has been announced, which is already finished and which will be not only aesthetically pleasing but an excellent functional unit. In addition to book lovers, there will be places for everyone who enjoys different forms of culture there.

Additionally, if the promises of the Government of the Republic of Croatia are to be believed at all, the large Retirement Home will certainly finally be completed next year, for which part of the funds were provided from the legacy of Janet Majnarich. All in all, Delnice - despite the coronavirus pandemic, the crisis that has ensued as a result of it and a number of other details which plague the area - is becoming an increasingly interesting and high-quality living environment.

For more, follow our lifestyle page.

Tuesday, 2 April 2019

World's Biggest Welcome in Croatia: Day 6 - Opatija to Delnice (Foot, Bike)

April 2, 2019 - Putting Croatian adventure tourism on the map, with the biggest welcome in the world. Day 6 of this incredible adrenaline trip from 2011 covering 2,500 km along the Croatian coast.

The World's Biggest Welcome, an ambitious adventure tourism project in 2011 in Croatia enters Day 6 of this 2019 appreciation of one of the finest tourism promotion projects ever in Croatia.

The plan? To showcase the diversity and fabulous offer of adventure tourism in Croatia by following a GPS route the length of the Croatian coast in the shape of the word 'Welcome' - thereby creating the biggest welcome in the world from a hospitable tourism country.

Day 6 moved on foot and by bicycle from Opatija to Delnice.

65 kilometres for the day: 25 km bicycle ride from Opatija to Podkilavac, followed by 15 km on foot from Podkilavac to Crni Lug, before heading north once more on the very final part of the first letter (W of Welcome), with another 20 km of cycling from Crni Lug to Delnice.

On the road above Klana - Elvis Kalcic completing the "W" shape for "Welcome". Darija Bostjancic and Marija Kalcic were the only girls in the team this day.