November the 28th, 2021 - The Podgora local government has decided to charge people for using the local beach showers as a way to repay accumulated debts run up by the Podgora Municipality's former mayor.

As Morski writes, the Podgora local government has made a Decision on determining the price of the use of the showers located on the beaches which lie within the Municipality of Podgora. This is just one in a series of measures by which the Podgora local government is trying to repay the accumulated debts of the former mayor, who was pushed out of office by voters in the previous elections when they elected a new government headed by the young mayor Petra Radic.

The decision sets the price of two kuna for one shower on the showers on the beaches in the Municipality of Podgora if the shower is to last for 30 seconds, and this rule will be applied in the period from June the 1st to September the 30th each year, more precisely during the height of the summer tourist season.

This measure was taken to try to make some savings on water consumption because some beach showers had a consumption of almost 4,000 kuna, as has since been learned. The new showers will be solar powered and the mechanism will be such that there can be no failures that have so far led to leaks and excessive and unnecessary water consumption.

It's worth noting that around one month ago, the Municipality of Podgora was the first in all of the wider Split-Dalmatia County to show what they're actually spending public money on. By clicking here, people are offered a full insight into each and every payment made to a legal entity, as well as to a private person, the date of the payment, the account number, its description and the precise amount.

''In addition to all of this, we're only sorry that for months, and probably a couple of years, people will merely be following the payment of debts and old amounts. However, budget transparency prevents irresponsible actions as well as the misuse of public funds,'' said Podgora's Petra Radic.

The procedure of collecting money from the use of the local beach showers will be performed by the employees of Podgorski komunalc j.d.o.o. in cooperation with the employees of the municipal police of the Municipality of Podgora. The collected money will then be glassed as the Podgora local government's income, and the rights and obligations will be subsequently defined by a contract on the matter, as they explained from this Dalmatian municipality.

For more, check out our dedicated lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, March 28, 2019 - A book by Smiljana Šunde "Batili su ocean: U potrazi za izgubljenim Podgoranima" portraying the stories of emigrants from the coastal town of Podgora on the Makarska Riviera was launched at the Croatian Heritage Foundation (HMI) in Zagreb on Thursday.

HMI director Mijo Marić underscored that the author tells the story of locals born in Podgora of whom there are more abroad than in their home town, and describes their lives abroad and of their sense of belonging.

According to Ivan Hrstić from the Ivo Pilar Institute of Social Sciences, the book discloses the dynamics of social events in Croatia and its southern coastline at the turn of the 20th century. The author describes Croatian communities in Australia and New Zealand, Hrstić underscored.

He underscored that about 1,300 Podgora residents emigrated over a period of one hundred years and that only about 280 had returned to their hometown.

The 831-page book presents some 70 stories, many of which describe marriages at a distance, how women corresponded with men who would be their future husbands without really knowing them and how they travelled to Australia and New Zealand where they eventually met their husbands and married them.

Šunde described that Croats who emigrated to New Zealand after World War I were the first to establish ocean fishing and the local fish industry.

"Croats, including Podgora residents also established New Zealand's wine growing and were prominent in many other fields of life," Šunde said.

More diaspora news can be found in the dedicated section.

May 31, 2018 - Lazy weekends on the Dalmatian coast are a great way to get to know the locals and their memories of the Mediterranean as It Once Was.

Medora Auri Hotel in Podgora was awarded the prestigious gold award of the TUI Nordic Blue Star 2017, as the best-rated hotel.

Firefighters' pleas for help in getting new equipment seem to fall on deaf ears.

TCN's Vice Rudan with a video and photo tour of the ongoing fire in Dalmatia on 18 June, 2017. 

More investment in Croatia's hotel industry expected.