Think it's a little too cold for a dip in the sea? Not everyone does! For the third year in a row, the Triathlon Club TNT from Zadar has organised its New Year's swimming near Zadar's internationally famous sea organ.

In case just the thought of submerging yourself in the otherwise warm waters of the Adriatic alone is making you shiver, maybe some apparent positive health benefits of winter swimming might swing you towards the idea of diving into the Adriatic to kick off 2019:

As Morski writes on the 1st of January, 2019, swimming in cold water reduces the amount of free radicals (an uncharged molecule which has an unpaired valency electron), and their role has been noted as very significant in the appearance of certain malignant diseases which plague the lives of many, including the tragic Alzheimer's disease.

Evidence has also helped to show that swimming in cold water changes the ratio body's of white blood cells which protect us from a range of potentially harmful, and at best extremely irritating infections.

Winter swimmers also have 40 to 50 percent less respiratory infections than those who don't engage in swimming during the colder months.

Swimming in cold water is also an effective way of exercising the elasticity of blood vessels, and this has one major health benefit, as the vessels become more elastic, the less blood pressure problems there will be.

The Zadar-based team therefore invited all their fellow citizens and others visiting Zadar to dive into the blue Adriatic and join them in starting off the new year with a refreshing swim. They announced the place and time, on January the 1st, which was exactly at noon today.

Make sure to stay up to date with our dedicated lifestyle page for much more.

In addition to the existing seasonal catamarans to Brač, Hvar, Korčula, Mljet, and Dubrovnik, from 1 April 2019, Split should also sail to Šibenik and Zadar on a new semi-annual line.

December 28, 2018 - The latest news from around Croatia’s airports for new flights to Croatia, with updates from Zagreb, Dubrovnik, Split, and Zadar. 

Flights to Croatia: Going to Zagreb?

Canadian airline Air Transat will boost its Zagreb-Toronto (Pearson International Airport) service for the 2019 summer. In addition to this year’s two flights a week, an additional third flight will be introduced - and the route will now operate on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. This service will run from May 15 to October 30, 2019. The new Friday reinforcement will work from June 21 to September 13, 2019. The Airbus A330-200 will be used on all flights.

You can read more on AvioRadar. 

Flights to Croatia: Going to Dubrovnik?

The new Austrian carrier Anisec Luftfahrt flying under the marketing name LEVEL will operate four times a week on the Dubrovnik-Vienna route, just as it did this year. While the airline’s first announcements for the 2019 summer had no mention of Saturday operations on this route, it turns out there will not be a reduction in traffic on this line. 

This service will, therefore, operate four times a week, on Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday. There is one change, however, and that is that this line will operate using the smaller Airbus A320 aircraft, instead of this year’s Airbus A321. The Airbus A320 will fly one to three times per week on selected flights, as the type of aircraft changes on individual flights during the week. 

You can read more on AvioRadar. 

Flights to Croatia: Going to Split?

Germany's low-cost carrier Eurowings will boost connections between Split and Austria for the 2019 summer. The route between Split and Salzburg will see another weekly connection, with operations on Tuesday and Sunday from June 2 to October 22, 2019. Eurowings will use an Airbus A319. 

You can read more on AvioRadar. 

British Airways has also boosted operations on their Split-London service. In addition to their Split-London (Heathrow) line, the airline is adding a second seasonal flight for the 2019 summer to London City Airport. The first arrival is scheduled for June 21, 2019. The route will operate three flights a week, on Monday, Thursday, and Friday, until September 6, 2019. The new line will fly on the Embraer ERJ-190 aircraft. 

But that’s not all.

British Airways will also boost operations on their existing Split-London (Heathrow) service, adding two new flights a week on this route. The current five flights a week on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday will be boosted by a new flight on Tuesday and a second on Sunday. The route will be operated by the Airbus A319, Airbus A320, and the Airbus A321. The second line will work from April 28 to October 25, 2019. 

You can read more on AvioRadar.

Flights to Croatia: Going to Zadar?

Irish low-cost airline RyanAir has introduced yet another new line to Zadar for next summer, making it the 22nd line for the coastal city. The new seasonal connection will be to Eindhoven, beginning operations on April 1, 2019. The new route will operate twice a week, on Monday and Thursday, on a Boeing 737-800. 

At the same time, the Dutch low-cost airline Transavia introduced a new line from Zadar to the Netherlands, connecting Zadar and Rotterdam on Wednesday and Saturday. 

You can read more on AvioRadar.

To read more about traveling to Croatia, following TCN's dedicated page. 

A firm foot forward for Croatian nautical tourism as the country's biggest marina receives a much-deserved award for the incredible Zadar Royal Cup SUPER SERIES, according to eZadar.

As Morski writes on the 23rd of December, 2018, at the awarding of the annual awards of the Zadar County Tourist Board, Marina D-Marin Dalmatia was awarded as a commercial entity for the Croatian nautical spectacle hosted under the title of the SUPER SERIES Zadar Royal Cup, which naturally involved the promotion of the huge nautical potential of the region.

Additionally, the Tourist Board of Šibenik-Knin County awarded the D-Marin Mandalina marina the prestigious "Zlatna boula" award during the Days of Croatian Tourism event, mainly as recognition for its contribution to the development of Croatian nautical tourism.

The prestigious 52 SUPER SERIES Zadar Royal Cup regatta, for which the D-Marin Dalmatia marina was awarded, was held back in June this year when the cream of the crop of the world of sailing took to Zadar. D-Marin organises this, as well as numerous other regattas, working hard to promote sport sailing and other forms of recreational yachting, as well as the destinations in which such activities are held. Such moves are of paramount importance for the stronger positioning of the Republic of Croatia as one of the most beautiful sailing destinations in Europe.

"The acknowledgments that our marinas have received, as well as the fact that their contribution to Croatian tourism is being recognised by the profession, are an incentive for us in our further efforts to provide tourists in Croatia with new and better content, along with the best service. I'd like to thank our tourist boards for their continued support, cooperation, and their efforts to promote the destination,'' said Božidar Duka, regional director of D-Marin Croatia.

D-Marin Dalmatia is otherwise the largest marina in Croatia and one of the largest in the whole of the eastern Mediterranean, and has been the proud bearer of the Blue Flag for almost twenty years now. It has a large capacity of 1200 berths in the sea, and an additional 300 moorings on the land, and can accept yachts of up to 80 metres in length. Located at the very centre of the marina is the Portus Beach Club, which offers its guests numerous facilities and services, enriching its overall offer and placing special emphasis on the massive potential of Croatian nautical tourism.

D-Marin Mandalina is the only marina in the whole of Croatia designed to accommodate mega yachts and has 429 berths in the sea, of which 79 are built for mega yachts of 30 to 140 meters long. Thanks to its position, the depth of the sea and the lack of boat height restrictions, this marina in particular is a more than ideal place for super-yachts.

D-Marin Mandalina also contributed to the positioning of the historic Dalmatian city of Šibenik as a tourist destination through the organisation of numerous sporting events. In June next year, thanks once again to the D-Marin group, Šibenik will host the ORC World Championship which will be the biggest sporting event ever organised in Šibenik's long history.

Make sure to follow our travel and lifestyle pages for more. If it's just sailing in Croatia and Croatian nautical tourism you're interested in, stay up to date with absolutely everything you need to know with Total Croatia Sailing.

Click here for the original article by eZadar

ZAGREB, December 19, 2018 - A Facebook group called "Against a judiciary which protects criminals" held a peaceful protest rally in the coastal city of Zadar on Wednesday in support of an 18-year-old girl brutally beaten in June by her former 31-year-old boyfriend, who was released last week after six months in investigative custody.

The rally in downtown Zadar brought together about 1,000 people who carried banners with messages of support for and solidarity with the victim.

Protesters demanded that the local prosecutor's office change the charge against Darko Kovačević from grievous bodily harm to attempted murder because in that case investigative custody lasts up to 12 months and not six.

The victim's mother, Ana Gurlica, addressed the rally, saying her daughter was locked up at home while her abuser was drinking coffee on main street.

Protesters rallied outside the local courthouse, reading out testimonies of abused women.

Kovačević was released from custody last Friday after his attorneys failed to show up in court. The hearing could not be held and the judge had to release him given that the six-month deadline for keeping him in investigative custody on the charge in question had run out.

The Croatian Helsinki Committee on Human Rights (HHO) said today "the fundamental human rights of both the defendant and the victim have been infringed by the (in)action of the court in Zadar, given that 'the institutions haven't done their job' in time."

Commenting on statements by government and judicial officials on Kovačević's release, the HHO said that "in promoting human rights and the law in society, the solution is not in reducing the rights of the defence of the accused because some social institutions don't act responsibly or efficiently enough."

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Monday the Kovačević case was a "horrific case of violence in which it's more than clear, and the evidence is on the Internet, what exactly happened" and that he was outraged by the developments in this case.

Justice Minister Dražen Bošnjaković visited Zadar on Sunday for talks with the presidents of local courts and prosecutors to review the facts and the timeline in the case after Kovačević's release from investigative custody.

The minister announced amendments to the Criminal Procedure Act and the implementation of new European Union directives, saying this case would prompt legislative amendments to improve the legal framework so that such things did not happen again.

More news on the Croatia’s judiciary can be found in our Politics section.

Can Croatia become the new California of almonds? While nearly 80 percent of all almonds in the world are grown in California, Croatia grows close to nothing. With the trends in their favor, some Dalmatians are turning to agriculture instead of tourism to cultivate this fruit, reports T.portal on December 17, 2018. 

Former national team basketball player Mate Miliša began growing almonds two years ago. It was then that he planted the first trees, and today they spread over 40 hectares in the area of Ravni Kotari and Bukovica in the Zadar County. He plans to reach 130 hectares of almonds in three years.

"I saw an excellent opportunity in this business, so I went in," answers Miliša, the owner of Zrno Zdravlja who started his career as a basketball player at Zagreb’s Cibona, and later played in the US where he completed his management studies. Miliša then spent two years at Cedevita and four at Emil Tedeschi’s Atlantic Group. After leaving the Atlantic Group, he dedicated his life to a new business - agriculture.

“In agriculture, one should never lose sight of the fact that it is an outdoor factory, as it is often known to be called. It all depends on the weather, the ground, a combination of different factors,” he notes.

Before he stepped into the almond business, Miliša put the calculations down on paper. He then concluded that his investment could be paid off in six to seven years, depending on the price of the fruit. A kilogram of shelled almonds recently ranged between six and eight euro. 

'The price depends on the time of sale. During the harvest, at the end of August and early September, it is the lowest, and at this time of year, it starts to grow slowly. When we made a business plan, at the beginning of 2015, it was 20 percent lower than it is now. And how it will move forward, I am not sure. I hope it will go up, but I'm ready for it to drop,” Miliša says of 8-year calculations - though he could already be talking serious amounts in the next four years.

For this manufacturer, that is in 2020 when he plans to send off his first shipment.

“The market exists, and almonds are a stock market commodity. At the moment I have not signed a purchase agreement, but I have some preliminary arrangements with customers that will be able to offer more serious quantities of almonds in 2020,” he says.

According to Eurostat data, in the European Union in 2016, a total of 315,400 tons were produced on 689,640 hectares. Europe's top production is held by Spain, which produces 198.770 tons of almonds on 583,670 hectares. In the same year, Croats imported 1006 tons of almonds and produced 160 tons on 430 hectares, of which 126 tons were exported, mostly in the countries of the region. A year later, in 2017, the export of almonds fell to 106 tons, and imports increased to 1067 tons.

“It is not right to talk about investing in this job because it depends a lot on the terrain you have, whether it is karst that needs to be fixed up and treated with cultural methods, and water. Depending on all of this, the investment per hectare can range from 20,000 to 40,000 euro,” says Miliša.

However, the Starigrad Municipality has calculated the process of growing almonds. They are the most expensive for the first four years, when the total cost per hectare climbs up to 75,000 kuna. In the eighth year, when almonds come to full fruit, you can get around 2000 kilograms per hectare, or about 15,000 euro at current stock prices. It should also be remembered that the lifespan of almonds is longer than 25 years.

According to data from the Agencies for Payments in Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development (APPRRR), almonds covered 384.65 hectares of land in Croatia last year, which is less than in the previous year, and most of it is in Zadar County, which boasts 230 hectares.

"I'm not trying to beat nature, but to align with her,” says Miliša. 

And while almonds sometimes flower in January and February, the current producers in Dalmatia are turning to other varieties to avoid frost, with flowering in March and April to be ready for harvest in late August and early September.

“I see the perspective in this business. I would also recommend it to young people if they have time, space and some money, and they are looking for a particular culture. Almonds are one of those that will, in my opinion, pay off. The only problem is that you need to wait to plant them. It is interesting to me, and the market is open - it is just a matter of how much we will engage in this and team up to produce larger quantities,” concludes Miliša, adding that for every hectare of almonds he receives incentive from the country - one hectare of almonds, according to the Starigrad Municipality, amounts to 22,700 kuna.

To learn more about business in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page. 

Translated from T.portal

Just hours after British low-cost carrier EasyJet announced four new routes to Croatia for next summer, including connections between Dubrovnik and Berlin (Tegel), Pula and Amsterdam, Pula and Geneva, and Zadar and London (Gatwick), another line was introduced - Dubrovnik to Nantes, reports AvioRadar on December 13, 2018. 

Yet another new line for the ‘Pearl of the Adriatic’, EasyJet will operate between Dubrovnik and Nantes with three flights weekly, on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, from June 24 to August 30, 2019. 

This will be the first EasyJet line for Croatia from Nantes, in the northwest of France, though it is the 18th line from Dubrovnik and the fourth connecting Dubrovnik and France. Either the Airbus A319 or the Airbus A320 will be used for this service.

These 2019 announcements, however, are all a part of EasyJet’s plans to expand their operations in Croatia, which should see over one million seats on sale going to and from Croatia next year. The plans also place particular focus on Pula, reports Ex Yu Aviation on December 14, 2018. 

"With more than fifty services operating in Croatia, EasyJet is committed to providing Croatian clients with affordable trips, offering them a broad network of connections with major European cities. Pula is very trendy both with young people who want to go to the various festivals of Croatia, but also with more mature people as well, and we expect all our new routes to be especially popular with passengers,” said EasyJet’s UK Country Manager, Ali Gayward. 

"This announcement of our expansion highlights our commitment to providing affordable routes to summer holiday destinations. We’re sure that they will prove extremely popular for those looking for a summer break or visiting friends and family,” Sophie Dekkers, EasyJet's UK Country Director, added. 

The new EasyJet routes are also in direct completion with airlines such as Croatia Airlines (which flies between Amsterdam and Pula) and Swiss International Air Lines (which operates between Geneva and Dubrovnik). The new Nantes route for EasyJet, which flies to the Pearl of the Adriatic, will compete against Volotea and TUIfly Belgium, while the Dubrovnik-Berlin (Tegel) route faces off with Eurowings. 

In 2019, EasyJet will operate over 3,100 flights to Croatia during the peak season - July and August.

To learn more about EasyJet in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page. 

British low-cost airline EasyJet will launch four new lines to Croatia in their 2019 summer flight schedule, including two to Pula, one to Dubrovnik, and one to Zadar, reports AvioRadar on December 13, 2018. 

The strongest new line for the carrier will operate between Dubrovnik and Berlin (Tegel) three times a week, on Monday, Thursday, and Saturday. This new line is in addition to the long-standing Dubrovnik-Berlin (Schonefeld) route. Unlike the Schonefeld route, the new Tegel route will begin operating almost two months earlier - from May 2, 2019. At the same time, this route will run until the end of the summer schedule, or October 26, 2019. 

The Schonefeld line, however, will also get an upgrade. The popular route will now be strengthened to four flights per week, instead of three, and run on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday. This brings the total number of flights between Dubrovnik and Berlin to seven a week, which is an additional four flights compared to last year. 

Pula will also get two new routes next summer from the Netherlands and Switzerland. The new Pula-Amsterdam line will operate twice a week, on Tuesdays and Sundays, from June 25 to September 1, 2019. The new Pula-Geneva line will also circulate twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays, from June 26 to August 31, 2019. This will be the second line to Pula from Switzerland after Basel was introduced this year, which will continue operating with two flights per week, on Tuesdays and Saturdays, in 2019. 

The fourth new EasyJet line for Croatia next summer is between Zadar and London (Gatwick). The new line will operate twice a week on Tuesdays and Saturdays, from April 30 to October 26, 2019. Similar to Dubrovnik, this is an additional line for EasyJet from London, which already operates to Zadar from London Luton Airport. The existing EasyJet flight from Luton will run twice a week, Wednesdays and Saturdays, from April 30 to October 26, 2019.

All EasyJet flights will use an Airbus A320 aircraft or the smaller Airbus A319. 

To read more about EasyJet in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page. 

Spanish low-cost carrier Iberia Express announced on Monday that it would launch two new lines this summer - to Bari and Zadar.

December 3, 2018 — Zadar will build three new "incubators" focused on creative industries, tech and honey in the coming years, according to Zadarski List.

The HRK 87 million-projects will be located within Zadar and its hinterlands, potentially boosting an economy highly reliant on tourism.

One development hub situated just outside the Old Town will include a “Creative Industry Center,” a HRK 24 million-entrepreneurial incubator meant for up to a dozen start-ups. About HRK 20 million of the funds to build the center came from the European Union.

The center will have all the usual amenities one expects: a co-working space, a sound studio, meeting rooms and even recording equipment to go along with a filming office.

The goal is to create a specialized incubator focused on the audio-visual industry and information technology, two sectors somewhat lacking in the county, according to Katarina Colić, the new director of the County Institute for the Development of Competencies, Innovation and Specialties.

The trifecta of projects will also include a Center for New Technologies in Murvica, a bit into Zadar’s hinterlands. It will specialize in metal processing, with another HRK 20 million of EU funding financing some of the HRK 38 million project.

It will provide workspaces, specialized equipment, business consulting and education for existing small and medium-sized companies in the metal processing sector.

The third and perhaps sweetest project is a a HRK 25 million center specializing in honey. It will focus on improving and expanding the uses of bees wax, pollen, jelly and honey for the pharmaceutical, food and cosmetic purposes. It’ll include a filler, a wax processing system, laboratory and an exhibition space.

Zadar decades ago had a sizable industrial sector within its economy. While most of those firms disappeared during the 1990s war, few have risen up in their place, leaving the local population to make a living off of seasonal jobs and private accommodation rentals. This trio of projects hopes to fill some of that vacant space.