January 23, 2021 - The latest news for flights to Croatia Eurowings connects four Croatian cities with Berlin Brandenburg in summer.

Croatian Aviation reports that Rijeka, Zadar, Split, and Dubrovnik will have a direct line to Berlin's new airport this summer!

In its timetable for the upcoming summer season, Eurowings has announced these four routes as new. However, almost all of the above-mentioned Croatian airports previously had a connection to Berlin Tegel Airport. Since the airport is closed, traffic to Croatia will be transferred to the new airport, and for the first time, four Croatian cities will be directly connected to the new Berlin Brandenburg Airport.

The first line will be the Berlin - Split - Berlin line, before the Easter holiday. The flight will mark the start of the season on Saturday, April 3. The airline plans to operate on this route until October 30, every Saturday, and from June 1, the number of weekly flights will increase to two. Namely, an additional flight is introduced on Tuesdays. In this period, Eurowings will operate over 50 return flights between Split and Berlin and offer more than 17,500 seats in both directions. A319 and A320 aircraft have been announced on the route and all other routes to Croatia.

The Berlin - Dubrovnik - Berlin line will start operating on May 9 and run until the end of the summer flight schedule, October 24. One flight per week is available every Sunday, so Eurowings will offer around 8,200 seats on this line during the season.

The Berlin - Rijeka - Berlin line will be in operation from May 15 to October 30, also once a week, on Saturdays. Twenty-six return flights are planned, with Eurowings currently offering more than 8,500 seats between Berlin and Kvarner.

The Berlin - Zadar - Berlin line has been announced from May 22 to October 30 and will also operate on Saturdays once a week. The 25 announced return flights guarantee over 8,200 seats in both directions.

Eurowings will offer over 43,000 seats between Croatian airports and Berlin in the 2021 summer flight schedule.

Recall that in the summer of 2019, Eurowings operated from Berlin (ZL Tegel) to almost all airports in Croatia. In the summer season of 2020, only the Berlin-Split-Berlin route operated briefly. According to current announcements, Croatian airports will again be directly connected to the new Berlin Brandenburg Airport. 

The airline currently offers cheap tickets on routes from Croatia to Berlin, starting from 50 euros, with all prices on the official Eurowings website.

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January 16, 2021 - Bolt, one of the leading European platforms for on-demand transport services, presented a semi-annual pilot project for renting electric scooters in Rijeka in partnership with the City of Rijeka.

HRTurizam reports that as of January 15, an electric scooter can be unlocked in one of the 10 locations in the city center via Bolt's mobile application in Rijeka, and a scooter model designed and manufactured inside Bolt will be used. The scooter's speed is up to 20 km / h, and in certain select areas, such as the Promenade and part of the Riva, the speed is limited to 10 km / h.

Tomislav Lukačević, director of Bolt in Croatia, said their mission was to enable people to move around the city faster and easier.

“Avoiding crowds, especially during the summer season, is a big problem in cities like Rijeka. We noticed that we have many rides in Rijeka up to 3 kilometers, which makes it an ideal city for scooter travel. In this way, we solve two problems: we reduce the number of car rides and save our users time and money."

"Bolt globally has big plans in terms of micro-mobility with an investment of over 150 million euro in the coming period, which includes a plan to introduce electric scooter rental services in over 100 cities across Europe. We believe that the pilot project will show all the advantages of this mode of transport. Other cities will recognize it and cooperate with us to introduce this modern and environmentally conscious service. Thank you to the City of Rijeka for recognizing the value of this project and giving its full support," commented Ivan Begović, operational manager for scooters in Bolt Croatia.

To begin with, 200 scooters will be deployed in the center of Rijeka at 10 locations, traffic hotspots, and frequent locations such as Sušak Bridge, Fiumara Bus Station, Adriatic Square, Žabica, Railway Station, HNK Rijeka, Rijeka Department Store, Mladosti Hall, IGK Student Campus, and the University Campus. Each scooter comes with a built-in GPS device that will provide insight into their pick-up and drop-off locations and is unlocked by scanning the QR code via the app.

During the promotional period, unlocking the scooter will be free, while the price of use will be 75 lipa per minute of driving.

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

January 13, 2021 -  The latest news for flights to Croatia as LOT and Air Serbia have no Rijeka plans this summer.

Croatian Aviation reports that LOT and Air Serbia are not currently planning to return to Rijeka Airport in the upcoming summer flight schedule.

The Serbian national airline announced in a press release a few days ago that it would not resume traffic on four international routes in the 2021 summer flight schedule, including the line between Belgrade and Rijeka.

The Belgrade-Rijeka line was introduced in June 2019 and operated twice a week on ATR75 aircraft. The line continued to operate in most of the 2019/2020 winter flight schedule, but traffic was suspended before the global pandemic due to weak demand.

In the summer of 2020, Air Serbia did not resume traffic on several routes to Croatia (to Pula, Rijeka, and Zadar). The airline confirmed that it would permanently cancel the line between Belgrade and Rijeka in the restructuring process.

The Polish national airline, LOT Polish Airlines, introduced a route between Warsaw and Rijeka in July 2020. Originally, before the global pandemic, the airline planned to operate on this route from the very beginning to the end of the summer flight schedule last year. Still, for objective reasons, this was not possible.

LOT aircraft landed on Krk from the beginning of July to the middle of September 2020, and the airline currently does not plan to resume traffic on this line in the summer flight schedule this year.

Although introducing this line in the 2020 summer flight schedule was a bold move by the airline, it is not clear why LOT decided not to continue operating to Rijeka in the summer of 2021. Namely, whatever result the airline achieved on this route last summer cannot be relevant given that at the time of the global pandemic, the occupancy of aircraft on almost all routes was extremely low.

The loss is not great considering that LOT to Rijeka operated briefly and only once a week. Still, even such a minimum frequency enabled direct air connections between Kvarner and the Polish capital.

It should be noted that the German leisure airline, Condor, also confirmed that it does not currently plan to reintroduce the Frankfurt - Rijeka route in the summer of 2021 but is leaving the possibility of changes until mid-March when it concludes its schedule for this year's summer flight schedule.

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January 7, 2021 – From the Bay of Bakar through the beaches of Rijeka to the opulence of Opatija and up, all the way to the border with Slovenia, Kvarner residents and visitors will be able to travel with just one ticket across the whole of the Rijeka integrated rail and bus network

An existing co-operation between rail and bus operators in Kvarner was today extended, allowing the Rijeka Integrated Rail and Bus network to continue for at least another year. This holds exciting implications for travel in the region for years to come.

Planned changes to the infrastructure of the coastal part of the north Kvarner Bay mean that within the Rijeka integrated rail and bus scheme, you will soon be able to travel from the Bay of Bakar, stop off at a series of Rijeka beaches, hop back on public transport to go to Opatija and even travel beyond the coast, all the way to the border with Slovenia, using just one ticket. Passengers will not be limited in their choice to travel by either aril or bus.


An Autotrolej bus, longtime providers of local bus services in Rijeka © Grad Rijeka

The Rijeka integrated rail and bus scheme, organised through Kvarner County, Rijeka, Matulji and Bakar Town Halls, rail and local bus operators is an eco-friendly drive that seeks to encourage people to leave their cars at home and instead choose public transport. However, access to the Rijeka integrated rail and bus network is not limited to commuting workers and travelling students. Although the scheme is most cost-effective using a monthly ticket, day tickets are available for the network which may be of huge appeal to visitors wishing to explore a wider portion of Kvarner's northern coast.


The train station of Opatija Matulji © Damir Covic 1939 / Matulji Tourist Board

Rijeka integrated rail and bus: International

What makes the extension of the Rijeka integrated rail and bus scheme even more welcome is the planned overhaul of infrastructure that will accompany it.

Fifteen extra stations will be added (or reactivated) on the route between Kantrida in the west of Rijeka, along the Rijeka seafront and on to the outskirts of Bakar. Furthermore, the entire train line from Bakar to Šapjane will be brought into the Rijeka integrated rail and bus scheme with the completion of a second train track along the route.

Trains along the line at Šapjane. Next stop Slovenia! © DiningCar_

Šapjane, in the municipality of Matulji, lies 20 kilometres inland, north of Opatija. It sits right on the border with Slovenia. The train line extends across this border, through the Slovenian town of Ilirska Bistrica, and then on to Postojna and Ljubljana, Italy or Austria. This means the Rijeka integrated rail and bus scheme will be directly linked to another green, international travel network.

These routes will all be linked to the incoming, double-tracked Pan-European fast train network, which, as TCN highlighted last year, will connect this part of Kvarner with France, Spain and Portugal in the west all the way to eastern Hungary via Zagreb and Budapest. Needless to say, it will require more than a single day ticket (cvikalica) from the Rijeka integrated rail and bus network to make such a journey!

January 5, 2020 – Thanks to the imaginative coverage of local portal Fiuman.hr, more than half a million people visited Kvarner Christmas online over the 2020 holidays. From the spectacular lights of Opatija and Rijeka, to toy bears in Rijeka cafe bars, this is what they saw...

Everyone will remember the Advent of 2020 as unusual. Many were separated from friends and family. Others weren't able to travel nor visit the places or people we wanted to. The difference was noted significantly in Croatia, where family means everything, especially at Christmas.

Over recent years, Croatia has become one of the best-known places in Europe to visit for the Advent season. Zagreb's award-winning Advent celebrations have spurred on efforts elsewhere in the country and many towns and cities in Croatia now pull out all the stops during Advent, gloriously decorating their streets and holding events that draw thrilled visitors.

Under the unusual constraints of 2020, one Advent season in Croatia imaginatively continued to draw the crowds. Although, it wasn't so much the streets that were jammed as it was the internet servers. With the considerable help of local news portal Fiuman.hr, Kvarner Christmas Online welcomed tens of thousands of visitors.

Thanks to the imaginative coverage of Fiuman.hr, Kvarner Christmas Online was visited by well over half a million people in 2020. While many bars in Europe remained closed to human customers, Rijeka cake and ice cream cafe Cacao took the opportunity to fill its empty chairs with toy bears during Kvarner Christmas Online. Fiuman.hr's video of the scene was viewed almost 245,000 times.

Their video of the Advent lights in the Gradina part of the city fared even better. Always a spectacular highlight of Kvarner Christmas online, Fiuman.hr's video of Gradina got more than 300,000 views.

With its beautiful city centre parks, peaceful walks and promenade, the Advent season of nearby Opatija has become an increasingly popular choice for visitors over the winter holidays. And, in 2020, that was still the case during Kvarner Christmas online. Fiuman.hr 's video from the Opatija park near Šporer generated over 190 thousand views.

It just goes to show that while the Advent of 2020 may have been curtailed in unexpected ways, there's no dampening of the love of Christmas and the festive spirit. Fiuman.hr's video viewers will surely be lining up to visit Kvarner Christmas in person as soon as they can.

December 31, 2020 - A great way to end the year for Dinamo and Rijeka players who made UEFA's Europa League Breakthrough XI!

As we come to the end of the year, which includes the end of last season's competitions, and all the qualifying rounds and the group stage of the new season, UEFA has taken time to reflect on some of the standout footballers that made a splash in 2020. 

Thus, UEFA's experts composed a team of the biggest breakthrough stars in the Europa League season, which included three Croatian footballers! 

And while it is not surprising that two Dinamo players are on the list, few expected Dinamo to be so convincing in the group with CSKA Moscow and Feyenoord. However, it's nice to see that Rijeka's goalkeeper Ivan Nevistić (22) was also recognized for this incredible goalkeeping effort so far. 

"The young custodian played every minute of Rijeka's group stage campaign, making a competition-high 28 saves in the process," said UEFA. 

Nevistić was primarily included in the team by numbers. Because even though he defended the team's goal that finished last in the group, even against much stronger rivals, Ivan amassed 28 saves in six games. Behind him with 23 saves were goalkeeper Hapoel Levitt and Zvezda goalkeeper Borjan.

The two Dinamo players in the breakthrough team are Joško Gvardiol (18) and Lovro Majer (22).

"The prototype of a modern-day centre-back, Gvardiol was key to Dinamo conceding just one goal in the entire group stage," describes UEFA of Joško, who played most of his games as a left-back, even though he is a stopper.

"An important cog in the Dinamo machine that performed so well in the group stage, Majer is technically proficient, fast and agile with an eye for goal," UEFA described Lovro Majer.

Dinamo convincingly won their group, secured first place after the penultimate round, and in the end, only Arsenal, Hoffenheim, and Bayer Leverkusen scored more points in the entire Europa League.

The entire Europa League breakthrough XI team includes Nevistić (Rijeka) - Guardiola (Dinamo), Carmo (Braga), Fofana (Leicester), Botman (Lille) - Wirtz (Bayer Leverkusen), Kubo (Villarreal), Majer (Dinamo) - Gouiri (Nice), Nunez (Benfica), Malen (PSV).

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

December the 31st, 2020 - 126 Rijeka enterprises will receive a generous amount in non-refundable funds for development and entrepreneurship in the area of that Northern Adriatic city.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, 126 Rijeka enterprises are set to receive a very welcome two million kuna in non-refundable subsidies for the development of entrepreneurship in the area of ​​the City of Rijeka, it was said at a press conference held at the Rijeka city administration on Monday.

The public invitation for the implementation of measures from the General Programme of Measures received as many as 508 applications, which is 22.8 percent more than was received back in 2019, while 452 applications were assessed as acceptable.

147 requests were accepted, submitted by 126 Rijeka enterprises (economic entities), Rijeka's Deputy Mayor Marko Filipovic and Head of Entrepreneurship Jana Sertic both reported.

The objectives of the General Programme of Measures to Encourage the Development of Entrepreneurship in the City of Rijeka are to strengthen the competitive presence of Rijeka enterprises out on the wider market, achieve practical education and better information when it comes to entrepreneurship, improve the availability of financial resources and use entrepreneurial space and information infrastructure for entrepreneurship.

The programme includes 23 measures, and nine measures have been implemented with this public invitation. The beneficiaries are small business entities, which are entirely privately owned and whose headquarters are in the area of ​​Rijeka, as well as associations whose purpose is to promote the economic interests of cluster members.

Due to the circumstances caused by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the costs of purchasing equipment and personal protective equipment for protection against the spread of coronavirus were recognised earlier on this year.

The City of Rijeka started announcing a public invitation for the awarding of non-refundable subsidies to Rijeka enterprises thirteen years ago, and since then, a total of 20.4 million kuna has been awarded.

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December 27, 2020 - Rijeka and Galway were European Capitals of Culture in 2020, but the spread of COVID-19 hampered the implementation of their planned programs.

Fortunately, the European Parliament and the Council decided to amend Decision no. 445/2014/EU on establishing a Union initiative for European Capitals of Culture from 2020 to 2033.

This Decision enables the cities of Rijeka and Galway to extend the Capital of Culture title until the end of April 2021, while the upcoming Capitals of Culture will take over their confirmed titles from 2022.

This decision is of great importance for the current and future capitals of culture because the planned events due to the pandemic had to be canceled or postponed, and the organizers could not capitalize on the preparations made. With this extension, the capitals are being offered another chance to achieve their goals in a way that will be both health-safe and culturally enriching.

HRT reports that this is the first time in history that the ECOC project lasts longer than one calendar year, and the next ECOC titleholders will have to postpone their projects for a year.

Rijeka 2020 believes that the title extension certainly has a symbolic meaning, but even before the decision was made, they warned that it brings with it problems:

"First of all, there are problems with time because the extension is proposed until the end of April next year, and we know that the most interesting season for us starts from Easter. On the other hand, of course, this extension of the title does not come with additional funding," says Irena Kregar Šegota, director of Rijeka 2020.

Before the decision, Minister of Culture and Media Nina Obuljen Koržinek believed that Rijeka would not benefit greatly from the extension:

"In these circumstances, we kept a level of funding that was possible, of course not in full because the program was radically reduced, as well as the number of employees, but I think we managed to provide the funds needed for implementation," said Minister Obuljen Koržinek.

Director Kregar Šegota announced that she would prepare the program with what they have at their disposal:

"We will finish and conclude the program directions that we have implemented this year, we are thinking about some additional programs, and we must definitely prepare a program that will conclude the year, a kind of closing program," said Kregar Šegota.

Two excellent exhibitions can still be seen in Rijeka - the Balthazargrad exhibition at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art and the Fiume Fantastica exhibition at Export Drvo.

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

December 20, 2020 – The 13 winners of the incredibly popular World Meteorological Organization annual competition have just been announced, and two fine pieces of Croatia weather photography are among them. These spectacular images of Croatia weather photography show all 9 Croatian photographs which reached the final in 2020 and all 10 Croatian finalists who similarly stunned the global audience in 2019

Croatia weather photography: the two newly announced winners from the 2020 competition
Photographer: Sandro Puncet Photo taken: Losinj island

Photographer: Zrinka Balabanic Photo taken: Pag island

Thanks to its popularity as a tourist destination, lots of people are now used to seeing beautiful photos of Croatia. Although, the images they usually see are of idyllic beaches, cloudless skies, stunning nature and turquoise blue seas. But, as anyone who knows the country will tell you - and as these photos show - Croatia isn't always like that.

Croatia weather photography: the two newly announced runners-up from the 2020 competition
Photographer: Šime Barešić Photo taken: Drage, Pakostane

Photographer: Mislav Bilic Photo taken: Lapad Peninsula, Dubrovnik

Out of season, Croatia can experience vastly different weather conditions to those advertised in travel brochures and blogs. And, whenever there's a spectacular weather occurrence, usually there's a photographer out there, braving the elements, trying to capture it.

Over recent years, some of the best Croatia weather photography has featured in the annual competition organised by the World Meteorological Organization. 2020 has been no different.

The other five Croatian finalists from the 2020 competition
Photographer: Šime Barešić Photo taken: Drage, Pakostane

Photographer: Sandro Puncet Photo taken: Losinj island

Photographer: Zoran Stanko Photo taken: Geisler Alm, Dolomites, Italy

Photographer: Maja Kraljik Photo taken: Umag, Istria

Photographer: Igor Popovic Photo taken: Rijeka

The winners of this year's competition have just been announced and the two fantastic examples of Croatia weather photography within the top 13 will take their place in the 2021 World Meteorological Organization calendar.

The 10 Croatian finalists from the 2019 competition
Photographer: Danica Sičič Photo taken: Srobreč, Dalmatia

Photographer: Romeo Ibrišević Photo taken: Plitvice Lakes National Park

Photographer: Božan Štambuk Photo taken: Bundek park, Zagreb

Photographer: Miroslava Novak Photo taken: Pribislavec, Međimurje

As well as the two winners, two further examples of Croatia weather photography came in the runner-up category, of which there were 12 in total.

Photographer: Francesca Delbianco Photo taken: Zagreb

Photographer: Ivica Brlić Photo taken: Sava river, Davor, near Slavonski Brod

Photographer: Nataša Šafar Photo taken: Rečica, near Karlovac

Photographer: Romeo Ibrišević Photo taken: Plitvice Lakes National Park

Over 1000 photographs from all over the world were entered in the 2020 competition. The submissions were narrowed down to a final selection of 70 contenders. As TCN reported back at the start of October, no less than 9 examples of Croatia weather photography made it into the final 70, taken by 7 Croatian photographers.

Photographer: Danijel Palčić Photo taken: Pag island

Photographer: Aleksandar Gospic Photo taken: Ražanac

Croatia regularly punches well above its weight in the annual competition, as we can see from these 10 examples of incredible Croatia weather photography that were among the finalists in 2019.

All images courtesy World Meteorological Organisation

ZAGREB, Dec 18, 2020 - The European Parliament on Thursday endorsed a motion to extend the status of European Capital status for the period 2020-2023 which enables Rijeka to present all the programmes it had planned but was thwarted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

With 689 votes in favour MEPs adopted a report by Croatian MEP Zeljana Zovko (HDZ/EPP) to extend the status of European Capitals of Culture in the 2020-2023 period, which gives Rijeka and the Irish city of Galway the "green light" until April 2021 to present their programmes while the next capitals will be deferred from 2021 to 2022 and from 2022 to 2023.

Rijeka and Galway were the European Capitals of Culture for 2020 however the COVID-19 pandemic thwarted them from presenting their planned projects.

After the motion was upheld at a plenary of the parliament in Brussels the Council is expected to confirm the decision next week so that it can take effect before the end of the year.

Ahead of the plenary meeting, Zovko underlined that extending Rijeka's status "in this turbulent time of the pandemic, Rijeka will have another significant opportunity to show that the culture sector has adapted to new circumstances and that creative power during the corona crisis can show what is most important in the creative industry and cultural heritage in promoting European values."