June 27th, 2021 - TCN's highlights of the week. A look at the events in Croatia from June 20 through the selection of TCN's intern Marina Kaleb. 

Highlights of the week: Zagreb Digital Nomad Week 2021 Opens at Canopy by Hilton

Zagreb Digital Nomad Week 2021 & Zagreb Digital Nomad Ambassador Project kicked off the beginning of this week at Canopy by Hilton, one of 7 locations over 7 days, exploring 7 Digital Nomads related themes. The project is a collaboration between Saltwater Nomads, TCN, Doma Zagreb, the Digital Nomad Association Croatia, and the Zagreb Tourist Board (funded by the latter), and there was a high-profile turnout from the city and national officials to open the conference. 

Croatia has been one of the more high-profile countries globally over the last year with its efforts to introduce the digital nomad permit, which came into effect on January 1, 2021. The 7 days each focused on the individual themes - cybersecurity, online presence, remote careers, tax & finance, the future of work, wellbeing, and explore Zagreb. The keynote speakers are a mixture of in-person and remote speakers.

Highlights of the week: Basketball Legend Magic Johnson Returns to Dubrovnik! 

Magic Johnson's visit to Dubrovnik means he kept his promise of returning to the city. Johnson visited Croatia in the summer of last year. While strolling down Dubrovnik's main street Stradun he told a member of the media he finds the place beautiful and will be returning. Not even a year has passed, and he is once again seen smiling with his wife, Cookie, on one of Croatia's most beautiful streets.  

Grgo Jelavic/PIXSELL

It is unclear if Johnson will continue the trip to other parts of the country as he did last year. Low numbers of guests on the streets of Dubrovnik seem to be attracting plenty of wealthy tourists who do their best to avoid crowded beautiful destinations. 

Highlights of the week: EURO 2020: Croatia Tops Scotland for 2nd Place in Group D and Round of 16 Spot! 

Croatia tops Scotland 3:1 in the final Group D match for 2nd place and a spot in the Round of 16! The two nations played at Hampden Park in Glasgow on Tuesday night. 

Goran Stanzl/PIXSELL

In the EURO 2020 round of 16, the Croatia national team will play against Spain on Monday night, the second-placed team from Group E in Copenhagen. Unfortunately, the Croatian national team will play without Ivan Perišić, who tested positive for Covid-19 just before the game. Ivan Perišić could not play before the EURO final on July 11th at Wembley Stadium. We wish him an uneventful recovery and returning to football at Wembley on that day, with Croatia in the finals!

Highlights of the week: EURO 2020: Croatian Female Team Wins 3 Medals at EGOI: Amazing Results at First Female-Only European Informatics Olympics

Ema Borevković, Lina Krištić and Lara Semeš (from Zagreb's XV Gymnasium), and Martina Licul (Pulau Gymnasium) represented Croatia and the aftermath of the contest that gathered 157 contestants saw Ema winning a gold medal, while Lara and Martina grabbed silver medals for their results. 

Pixabay

The contest was held online due to Covid-19 measures. The organization of the event for Croatian was arranged by the Croatian Computer Science Association (CCSA), and Zagreb's XV Gymnasium was the host of the event, where the studnets took the tests.

Highlights of the week: Lorde Returns to Her Roots for 2022 St. Michael's Fortress Spectacle in Šibenik

At an extremely exclusive concert with only 1,050 tickets on sale, the New Zealander with Croatian roots will recall some of her mega-hits from the first two albums and present "Solar Power," which will be released later this summer. Born in New Zealand, her mother has Dalmatian roots, and Lorde herself has dual citizenship.

Lorde Instagram

On tour, Lorde plays in locations she personally chooses and wants to visit, mostly the best concert stages in the world. Thus, the special Šibenik fortress found itself on the list in the company of legendary concert destinations such as Radio City Music Hall in New York, Shrine Auditorium in LA, Roundhouse in London, or Castello di Villafranca in Verona.

 For more on events in Croatia, follow our dedicated lifestyle section.

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

To follow the rest of the TCN coverage of the Euro 2020, click here.

For the latest news and features od digital nomads in Croatia, check out the dedicated TCN section. 

24 June 2021 - Magic Johnson returns to Dubrovnik with his wife on holiday. This is his second time in the city he fell in love with last year.

If there ever was a globally recongisable name in the world of sports, it is that of Magic Johnson. This legendary American reached the pinnacle of basketball success while playing for LA Lakers. He was also one of the key players in the original „Dream Team“.

He played 13 seasons for LA Lakers and won three NBA Most Valuable Player awards. The basketball Hall of Fame honoured him two times, once for his games under LA Lakers and once for his contribution to the success of the USA national squad. His average assists record still stands to this day. There are many other sporting achievements in his career, but aside from those, he made headlines in 1991 by announcing he has contracted HIV. Magic Johnson did much to raise awareness of the deadly disease and dispel myths surrounding it.

Fan of Dubrovnik

As Dubrovacki Vjesnik reports, Magic Johnson's visit to Dubrovnik means he kept his promise of returning to the city. Johnson visited Croatia last year. While enjoying Dubrovnik's Stradun he told a member of the media he finds the place beautiful and will be returning. Not even a year has passed and he is once again seen smiling with his wife Cookie on one of Croatia's most beautiful streets. It is unclear if Johnson will continue the trip to other parts of the country as he did last year.

Regardless of his travel plans, low numbers of guests on the streets of Dubrovnik seem to be attracting plenty of wealthy travellers who aim to avoid crowded destinations. While many in the city complain about lack of travellers and revenue, half-empty city streets are a perfect draw for guests looking to enjoy the medieval city without the hassle of overcrowding.

For more, follow our dedicated lifestyle section.

September 1, 2020 - Magic Johnson visits Croatia and has nothing but praise for the country. One of the best NBA players of all time enjoyed his vacation in Croatia and shared the excitement with his Twitter followers.

A member of the famous generation of LA Lakers spent almost three weeks touring our coast on his 80-metre-long yacht 'Aquila', worth $150 million, accompanied by his family. He visited, among other places, Split, Dubrovnik, Hvar, and the Krka waterfalls, Jutarnji list reports.

As soon as he returned to the United States, he tweeted: "Cookie and I just got back from Croatia and we highly recommend it to anyone! The food was fantastic and the country is just beautiful!"

Cookie and I just got back from Croatia and we highly recommend it to anyone! The food was fantastic and the country is just beautiful!

pic.twitter.com/H4lsSjhvDv

— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) September 1, 2020

After his unexpected visit to Split, the next on the route was Hvar, where Johnson visited luxury fish restaurant Gariful. Gariful posted many photos and a message on its Facebook page shortly after Johnson had left the restaurant.

The most charismatic basketball player and the best playmaker of all time visited Gariful Restaurant. We will describe him as a man who has an infectious smile and a killer mentality that made him the leader of one of the best and most attractive NBA teams of all time, the famous Showtime Lakers. Of course, we are talking about Earvin "Magic" Johnson. @magicjohnson

Magic Johnson, thank you for trusting us, and we are looking forward to your coming again because you won us over with your charisma and smile.

 (With Gariful owners Ivan and Dragana Gospodnetic)

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August 4, 2020 - Magic Johnson on Hvar, as the NBA basketball legend visits luxury fish restaurant Gariful after arriving from Split. 

He is one of the biggest names in global sport and his arrival in Croatia has aroused huge media interest, as Earvin 'Magic' Johnson continued his holiday with friends and family aboard the luxury mega-yacht 'Aquila.'

(Bokeria Kitchen and Wine Facebook page)

Having started his holiday in Split with dinner at Bokeria Kitchen and Wine, the NBA legend headed off to the island of Hvar, Croatia's premier island, for a dose of fine dining at luxury fish restaurant Gariful.  

(With Gariful owners Ivan and Dragana Gospodnetic)

Gariful posted a number of photos and this message on its Facebook page shortly after Johnson had left the restaurant.

The most charismatic basketball players and the best playmaker of all time visited Gariful Restaurant. We will describe him as a man who has an infectious smile and a killer mentality that made him the leader of one of the best and most attractive NBA teams of all time, the famous Showtime Lakers. Of course, we are talking about Earvin "Magic" Johnson. @magicjohnson

Magic Johnson, thank you for trusting us, and we are looking forward to your coming again because you won us over with your charisma and smile.

Magic Johnson is the latest celebrity to visit the famous fish restaurant, which Giorgio Armani once placed in his top seven restaurants in the world, and to whom Jon Bon Jovi gifted a signed guitar last summer.

The giant star also checked out the famous glass floor of the Hvar restaurant, underneath which there is an aquarium, which is an additional attraction to the excellent seafood specialities. 

Unlike famous YouTuber, Joe Sugg, a few years ago, Johnson did not go for a swim in the tank with a baby shark, a video which you can see below, which has been viewed 4.5 million times, making it the most-viewed video about Hvar ever.

Magic Johnson has been very generous with his time with fans during his visit, as this video from 24Sata shows during his time in Split. 

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

August 2, 2020 - Earvin 'Magic' Johnson, the most famous number 32 in basketball, the tallest point guard in NBA history, and one of the most revolutionary basketball players of all time, has arrived in Split.

Slobodna Dalmacija writes that the trademark of the celebrated Los Angeles Lakers has decided to spend part of his summer vacation in Croatia with his friends and family, as is evidenced by his arrival on the mega yacht "Aquila", which stretches 85.6 meters long and is worth about 150 million US dollars. 

On Friday, news spread through Split that Michael Jordan, perhaps the biggest basketball player to walk the globe and a brand of the Chicago Bulls, was coming to a famous restaurant in Split at around 8 pm. Photojournalists and journalists thus came together at the scheduled time to immortalize this historic photograph. But there was nothing from the photo, as Air Jordan never showed.

Only an hour or two later, information came that the initial story was wrong and that it was not Jordan coming to Split, but Magic Johnson.

In the end, the news turned out to be correct, which is evidenced by fan photos of the famous basketball player who was photographed in front of Aquila with Nina and Mario, employees of "Madura", a famous cafe on the West Coast, where many mega yachts park. You can see the photos here.

Break Time

Magic Johnson and teammate Kare Abdul - Jabbar ruled the world of basketball in the late '70s and '80s, when he won five NBA titles with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Today, he is a very successful businessman, whose fortune is estimated at about a billion US dollars, so it is not surprising that he can rent a yacht that costs one million dollars a week.

In addition to titles with the Lakers, Magic won everything that can be won in basketball. He was the MVP of the NBA Finals three times, the MVP of the entire NBA League season three times, he played 12 NBA All-Star games and won the gold at the Olympic Games in Barcelona, ​​when the then American "Dream Team" beat Croatia, led by Drazen Petrovic, Toni Kukoc, and Dino Rada in the final. 

In addition to these accomplishments, Magic averaged 19.5 points, 7.2 rebounds, and an average of 11.2 assists per game throughout his NBA career.

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

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