As reported by tportal.hr, the Zagrebački velesajam in Zagreb is once again the place to be this November. INTERLIBER, the Zagreb International Book Fair, and the most beloved fair for all generations, will be held to the delight of all book lovers from the 12-17 of November.

INTERLIBER is the largest literary event in Croatia and a platform for promoting books, writers, reading, science and knowledge and brings together the most important publishers and bookstores.

More Than 330 Exhibitors

More than 330 exhibitors will fill three pavilions of the Zagrebački velesajam with books from various genres. The vast selection of books will be complemented by interesting and varied content for all ages: from presenting new books, opportunities to socialize and speak with writers and meeting publishers, bookstores and librarians. The fair will also offer literary reading rooms and workshops, round tables, quizzes, literary prizes, and auctions of old and rare books.

Numerous titles by world-renowned bestsellers and well-known writers are just a "little slice of paradise" which will be offered at the best book fair in the region, and will be visited by children, businesspeople and retirees.

The Premium program will also host well-known writers and will be led by respected editors of the Croatian literary scene. A notable addition to the Premium program will be an auditorium for audiobooks. An exhibition space about the Russian Federation will also be included this year and will offer a wide range of modern Russian literature for the Croatian audience: from poetry to historical works and translations and will offer interesting promotions and lectures.

This year, INTERLIBER will also sponsor Bookbinder, a charity event which will donate books to school libraries within the Croatian Association of School Librarians. The book assortment of a selected school library is filled every year with the goal of raising awareness of importance of books in building a knowledgeable society.

Luka Modrić Appearing on Sunday

Luka Modrić, the celebrated Croatian football player, will appear on the Main Stage of Pavilion 6 on Sunday, November 17, from 2:30 pm to 3:30 pm.

He and his Co-author Robert Matteoni will be discussing his co-published autobiography, “Moja igra” (My Game). A twenty-minute discussion will be followed by a book signing, and readers will be able to buy their copies in advance at the Znanje and 24sata booths. More information about the event can be found here.

Another highlight of this year's INTERLIBER is a presentation on “Knowledge and learning”, which will occur on Friday and Saturday (November 15 and 16).

The fair is held under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia and the Mayor of the City of Zagreb. More information about the fair and a schedule of events can be found on the Zagrebački velesajem website or on the official Facebook page, which regularly updates all news related to INTERLIBER.

Admission to INTERLIBER is free.

For more information on events in Zagreb or Croatia please follow our lifestyle section.

As reported by direktno, the Volunteer Cycling Society (DBD Potepuh) from Zagreb is organizing the Bicycle Marathon for Vukovar for the eighth year from November 15-18 to commemorate the victims of Vukovar. Fifty-two recreational cyclists from all over Croatia will ride about 350 km from Zagreb to Vukovar in three days, commemorating the anniversary of the breakdown of the city’s defense and paying tribute to the Croatian veterans and civilians killed during the siege and occupation.

The event begins on Friday, November 15th at 9:00 at Jelačić Square in Zagreb (the gathering of cyclists begins at 8:00) and they will bike to Kutina. On the second day, cyclists will again depart at 9:00 and ride from Kutina to Orubica, a picturesque village on the banks of the Sava River. On the third day, participants are expected to make their longest trek: 155 km from Orubica to Vukovar. On the fourth day, November 18th, which falls on the anniversary itself, the cyclists will be divided into two groups: those who have not been to Vukovar will visit the Memorial Cemetery and Ovcara, and the rest will join the memorial procession at the hospital. The participants will then return by train to Zagreb in the afternoon on the same day.

"Over the past seven years, the DBD Potepuh Vukovar Marathon has grown from a group ride of seventeen friends to the largest recreational cycling event commemorating the anniversary of the Homeland War, which we as organizers are particularly proud of," their statement read.

Although the association has been organizing group bicycle rides for several years in a row on the occasion of the military-police operations "Flash" and "Storm" (May 1 and August 5), the Vukovar marathon is regularly the most attended, despite happening during a colder time of the year and well outside of cycling season.

The Vukovar Cycling Marathon is not a race. Participants do not wear numbers or keep track of their time, but all ride together as a group at the same moderate pace. They carry the necessary provisions on their bicycles for a four-day trip away from home: a pad and a sleeping bag, cycling clothes for several days, "civilian" clothes for participating in the memorial procession, night riding and rain gear. "Despite these somewhat spartan conditions: cool riding temperatures and an insignificant registration fee, most of the participants are 'returnees' who have already participated in one (or more) of the DBD Potepuh cycling marathons. As organizers, this is our best confirmation of our work to date, and an impetus for organizing future similar recreational cycling meetings" the organizers added.

Information about the Volunteer Cycling Society (DBD Potepuh) and the marathon can be found here.

To stay informed on upcoming events in Croatia, follow our lifestyle page.

As reported by zagrebinfo, tickets for films from the main competition program of this year's Zagreb Film Festival sold out during the first three days of the festival, and the audience is requesting 'additional tickets' for both morning and afternoon screenings.

The festival’s organizers also reported that they have sold ten percent more pre-sale tickets at the beginning of the festival. In addition to requests for additional tickets, they are continually getting inquiries as to whether the films will receive cinema distribution.

They note that the considerable interest once again shows that the Zagreb audience is very eager for new quality titles and is not ready to abandon the tradition of watching movies together.

The first sold-out season of tickets was opened by Taika Waititi's film “Jojo Rabbit” from the “Together Again” program, and all five screenings of the films from the main feature film competition at Tuškanac Cinema were sold out within the first three days.

"We are extremely pleased that our audience welcomed directors Ena Sendijarević and Ivana Mladenović on Friday and Saturday with such large numbers and interest at the screenings of their debut works 'Take Me Somewhere Nice' and 'Ivana the Terrible'." The organizers also noted that the films “Monos”, “Beanpole” and “Patrick” received an enthusiastic response and they expressed their gratitude to the audience.

The seventeenth edition of the Zagreb Film Festival offers more than a hundred films across 12 programs and runs through November 17th. There are 11 feature films, 10 international films and 10 Croatian short films from the “Checkers” program, which are in the race for the festival awards. The festival takes place in as many as eight Zagreb venues, and is being hosted in some twenty cities across Croatia.

A complete festival program and schedule can be found on the 2019 Zagreb Film Festival website.

Follow our dedicated lifestyle page for more information on events in Croatia.

November 11, 2019 - The 2nd Adria Business Network event will be held on Wednesday, November 13, 2019, at Algebra LAB in Zagreb. 

Adria Business Network is conceived as a networking event for business people in Croatia and the region, creating business opportunities and encouraging continuing education. Through the event, participants are offered the chance to find new clients and enter into lucrative business deals.

The concept of the event, which is held once a month for two hours, is organized in such a way that the guest lecturer speaks for 30 minutes, followed by a pitch (i.e., personal presentation) of the event participants, which is 60 seconds per person, and up to 60 minutes in total. This is followed by time for socializing and networking, where guests can enjoy the perks of attractive sponsors. The guest speaker selection is always in line with the latest market trends.

The brains behind the event are Zeljka Barisic and Kristina Krstinic. 

The first Adria Business Network event was organized at Algebra LAB in Zagreb last month with influencer Veronika Rosandic, who described the gathering as very inspiring and stimulating for all generations. 

Thus, the second Adria Business Network will be held on Wednesday, November 13, 2019, from 6 pm to 8 pm at the Algebra Lab in Zagreb with Damir Bicanici, founder of Funderbeam SEE, and Adnan Mehmedovic-Medo, known for his work on the Fresh Island Festival, CEO of RNB Confusion, and director of marketing, PR and business development. 

Zeljka Barisic is an entrepreneur, athlete and economist whose passion is sales, finance, travel, and good books. She has practiced integrated marketing communication and worked at market research agencies and Business Intelligence in Zagreb for the last decade. Barisic leads Forca Digital Agency, a digital marketing agency that focuses on event management and game development. She is a blogger and lecturer at the InspireMe Portal and conferences, is a journalist for the magazine Entrepreneur and Leader, and also lectures at EdukaCentru. 

Kristina Krstinic, on the other hand, was born in Ljubljana and completed her studies in International relations at the Faculty of Social Sciences there. During her studies, she gained experience and knowledge by working at various well-known Slovenian marketing agencies. In January 2014, she opened her own business for business consulting in Zagreb, MIKRIS Project Management, which has been operating successfully since its inception. As a consultant and expert on EU funds and other financial instruments, she has over 6 years of work experience and a large number of successful projects. She is well versed in all aspects of business consulting and running your own business. She also owns a marketing firm and business consulting in Slovenia.

You can find more information about Adria Business Network here.

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

The 15th round of the Croatian First League was held from November 8 to 10, 2019. This round featured a crucial win for Hajduk and coach Damir Buric and a shocking blowout between Rijeka and Dinamo. 

Istra 1961  v. Gorica (2:2)

Istra and Gorica opened the 15th round in Pula on Friday, November 8, 2019, in front of 699 fans. 

Istra’s Laukzemis scored a quick goal in the 3rd minute for the lead, though Jovicic equalized before the half for 1:1. 

Mocinic put Istra back in the lad for 2:1 in the 62nd minute, and a late equalizer by Ndiaye in the fourth minute of injury time made it 2:2. 

Istra is currently in 7th place with 12 points, while Gorica is in 6th with 22. 

Lokomotiva v. Inter Zapresic (3:1)

Lokomotiva and Inter met in Zagreb on Saturday, November 9, 2019, in front of 440 fans. 

Tolic’s goal for Lokomotiva made it 1:0 at the half, and his second in the 72nd minute made it 2:0. Tsonev managed to get one in for Inter in the 83rd minute, while a Tolic hat trick in the 11th minute of injury time gave Lokomotiva the 3:1 win. 

Lokomotiva is currently in 3rd place with 25 points, while Inter is in 9th with 11. 

Varazdin v. Slaven Belupo (0:0)

Varazdin and Belupo met at NK Varteks Stadium on Saturday, November 9, 2019, in front of 1,112 spectators. 

Neither team was able to score, and the match ended 0:0. 

Varazdin is currently in the last place with 11 points, while Belupo is in 8th with 12. 

Hajduk v. Osijek (3:2) 

Hajduk and Osijek met at Poljud on Sunday, November 10, 2019, in front of 7,805 fans. 

Hajduk’s Caktas scored first with a goal in the 22nd, while Eduok increased Hajduk’s lead to 2:0 in the 41st. 

Zaper came back with a goal for Osijek to make it 2:1 at the half. A quick goal by Maric into the second half made the game equal in the 52nd minute for 2:2. 

Jairo put Hajduk pack in the lead in the 72nd minute for 3:2, though his second yellow in the 73rd mad saw Hajduk play with a man down for the remainder of the game. Osijek was unable to capitalize with an extra man,  and the game ended at 3:2. 

Hajduk is currently in 2nd place with 30 points, while Osijek is in 4th with 23. 

Rijeka v. Dinamo (0:5)

Rijeka and Dinamo closed out the 15th round at Rujevica Stadium on Sunday, November 10, 2019, in front of 5,517 spectators. 

Ivanusec (’14), Orsic (’18, ’26), and Stojanovic (’20) made the game 0:4 for Dinamo at the half. An Orsic hattrick in the 70th made it 0:5, which was the final score of the game. 

Rijeka is currently in 5th place with 22 points, while Dinamo is in 1st with 34. 

You can see the full HNL table here. 

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

November 8, 2019 - The latest news from around Croatia’s airports for new flights to Croatia with updates from Zagreb, Split, Pula, and Zadar. 

Ex Yu Aviation announced that Swiss International Air Lines would stop its seasonal summer service to Zagreb. 

“Swiss regularly reviews its route network for possible adjustments and its further development, to ensure that its aircraft fleet is deployed on it as effectively as possible. The prime considerations in these activities include current demand, the development potential offered by individual routes and the competitive landscape. As part of these ongoing endeavors to optimize our route network as a whole, we have decided to cease service to Sarajevo and Zagreb as of the 2020 summer schedule,” the airline said in a statement to Ex Yu Aviation. 

Recall, Swiss flew to Zagreb three times per week over the summer.

This doesn’t mean that Swiss is leaving the Croatian market, however. The airline will resume its weekly flight between Geneva and Pula from June 20 next year. Swiss will also codeshare Croatia Airlines’ services between Zagreb and Zurich, which runs twice a week. 

Avio Radar reports that TUIfly Nordic will run a new trip from Sweden to Split in their 2020 summer flight schedule. Namely, the Norrkoping-Split route will operate on Fridays every other week from May 15 to October 9. 

The Danish airline JetTime has flown on this line for the past year with a smaller Boeing 737-700 aircraft. TUI will service this line with its own Boeing 737-800 aircraft. 

They also announced two other new routes - Gotheburg-Split, which will run once a week on Fridays, and Stockholm (Arlanda)-Pula, which will run once a week on Saturdays. 

Avio Radar also reports that Danish airline JetTime will service TUI Sverige on new routes from Scandinavia to Pula and Split. Namely, it will fly between Gothenburg-Pula and Copenhagen-Pula once a week, on Fridays, with the larger Boeing 737-700 aircraft instead of the smaller British Aerospace Avroliner ARJ-100, operated by Swedish regional carrier Braathens Regional Airlines this year. 

Furthermore, the new line Orebro-Split, will run every other Wednesday from May 27 to October 8, 2020. The line is being introduced instead of the Norrkoping-Split line that TUI has taken over with its new aircraft. The Helsinki-Split, Copenhagen-Split and Vaxjo-Split lines will continue to operate the same as they did this year. 

Avio Radar adds that Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair will boost two flights to Zadar in the 2020 flight schedule. The Prague-Zadar line, which started operating only this year with two flights per week on Mondays and Fridays, will run three times a week in 2020 on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. 

The second reinforced line is the Stockholm (Skavsta)-Zadar route, which also introduced a third-weekly trip. Starting March 31, 2020, this line will run on Tuesdays, Thursdays,  and Saturdays on the Boeing 737-800 aircraft. 

On the other hand, Ryanair announced the closure of its base in Hamburg a month ago. This means that the Hamburg-Zadar route,  which began operations this year with two flights per week, will not be on offer next year. 

To end this week of flight news, Ex Yu Aviation reported that easyJet and Pula Airport concluded a five-year agreement at the World Travel Market in London, which will further strengthen their cooperation and grow operations at the airport, with a focus on the UK market. 

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

November 6, 2019 - Today, XD Xenia Design products are sold in about thirty countries. Along with Ksenija Vrbanic, this year's best female entrepreneur laureates are Blaženka Mičević, Ariana Vela and Kata Barišić.

Designer Ksenija Vrbanic, the founder of XD Xenia Design, was named this year's best female entrepreneur in Croatia. She was presented with the Most Inspiring Female Entrepreneur of the Year award at the fifth Best Female Entrepreneurs in Croatia award ceremony organized by Women in Adria, a network gathering female entrepreneurs and businesswomen.

Although clothing production is an industry that has almost disappeared in Croatia in recent decades, Ksenija Vrbanic has proven that you can succeed with the right mindset, even in the international market. Today, she employs 50 people and exports her products from Ksajpa near Čakovec to 28 countries on five continents.

This, together with her company's steady income growth, has earned her the status of the most successful female entrepreneur in Croatia this year.

"We work locally, but think globally. Fashion knows no boundaries, and we were able to prove this with our vision, knowledge and persistence", said Ksenija Vrbanic, a designer who does not hide how many hardships she has faced on her path to success. She started exporting almost twenty years ago, at a time when Croatia was not a member of the European Union, with only eight employees and no possibility of getting a loan for products intended for export. Despite this, the designer from Međimurje had huge success with her creations in the most prestigious fashion capitals like Paris and New York. She is already recognized on the international fashion scene, and the Most Inspiring Female Entrepreneur of the Year award is her highest national award.

The Women in Adria network bestowed awards in three other categories. Blaženka Mičević, director of Agrodet, was named the Most Promising Female Entrepreneur, and Ariana Vela, consultant and founder of EU Projekti college, was named Female Micro-Entrepreneur of the Year. Kata Barišić, founder of the webshop for creative gifts PokloniMe, who also organised the Zagreb Time Travel tour last year, won the Start-up Potential award. Her innovative service enables tourists to learn about Croatian capital by travelling through time. Thanks to enhanced and virtual reality, historical events and characters are "brought to life". Kata Barišić now plans to implement this service in Dubrovnik and Rab.

"This year's award ceremony for the Best Female Entrepreneurs in Croatia is taking place for the fifth time. In these five years, we have discovered a number of female entrepreneurs who not only have a strong impact now, but are also important for the future of Croatian entrepreneurship and the society as a whole. Their example should be followed – from self-employment to the employment of others, and export. This path, as we heard today, is not easy, but we hope that the state will recognize their efforts and start acting in the common interest, i.e. the one leading to new jobs and development of the economy", said Ivana Matić, founder of the Women in Adria network.

EU funding specialist Ariana Vela, who was awarded the title of Female Micro-Entrepreneur of the Year, hopes that she will devote herself to the further development of infrastructure projects and the digital transformation of public administration in the coming period. She added that the prerequisite for the latter was for the state to opt for this process.

Surveyor Blaženka Mičević, the newly awarded Most Promising Female Entrepreneur of the Year, became an entrepreneur after leaving the public sector. Three years after this daring decision, she developed a company with seven employees that provides a unique land management service.

"I didn't want to be a sinecurist, so I decided to build my own business from what frustrated me most at my job. We turned the most common problem of real estate investors, i.e. "you're missing one paper", and our expert knowledge and experience into a business", said Blaženka Mičević.

The award ceremony for the Best Female Entrepreneurs in Croatia hosted by the Women in Adria network was organized with the support of the Ministry of the Economy.

The partners of the project are Seat, A1, Raiffeisenbank, UniCredit Leasing Croatia, FINA – Financial Agency, Mark Pjetri Jewellery, Intimina and Merkur osiguranje.

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

November 6, 2019 - Meeting G2.5, the fifth edition conference connecting the business-minded entrepreneurs of Croatia and its diaspora took place this week. A great success with some very positive seeds planted.  

Of all the complicated relationships and aspects of life in Croatia, none is arguably harder to understand for a foreigner like me than that of the Croatian diaspora and the homeland. When I started TCN four years, I had little concept of the Croatian diaspora, and none whatsoever of the differing relationships between various sections of that diaspora. 

It didn't take me long to get my first lessons... 

With relatively little English-language news coming out of Croatia, and with many second and third generation diaspora unable to speak much Croatian, TCN became a natural source of news for many who lived outside the Homeland. And it didn't take long for a naive foreigner to start upsetting people, from the very first day of TCN in fact. Looking for a signature interview to launch TCN, I thought I had done rather well by scoring an interview with Croatia's Minister of Foreign Affairs, and it was an education to receive a torrent of abuse from Sydney at the very mention of Vesna Pusic. 

With time, I learned that the relationships with the Homeland were understandably linked to the reasons for emigration. Many New Zealand Croats, for example, considered themselves more Dalmatian than Croatian, their reason for emigration largely economic when Croatia was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In Australia, by contrast, there was a sizable influx during the Tito era, the main reason being political persecution. As a result, emotions about the former Yugoslavia period and mention of the 'T' word evoke very strong and entrenched emotions. All totally understandable. 

There was one aspect of the diaspora experience which united all sections of the diaspora, however, or so it seems to me. Intense disappointment with their experiences of financially supporting the newly-independent Croatia with investments, many of which were made with emotion, and a large proportion of which was abused by those in Croatia entrusted with those investments. 

I was invited to speak at a diaspora conference in Osijek last year, the first time I had been to a diaspora conference. I was not quite sure what to expect, but my initial impressions on the first day were quite depressing. There was such a focus on the tragic stories of the past and the waves of emigration that I felt almost as an intruder at a funeral. Thankfully, the mood lifted with the energy of the younger business-minded generation, who wanted to look forward. I particularly remember Ognjen Bagatin, CEO of Bagatin Clinic lifting the mood of the entire conference - you can read my reflections of the whole event here.

And if I had to grade the conference between emotion and business for that Osijek conference, it would have been Emotion 9, Business 1. Nothing wrong with that, just my perception. 

The 2nd Diaspora Tourism conference in Split earlier this year was an altogether different affair, with a lot of younger blood in the audience, and a LOT more positive stories. Panel after panel of successful returnees told their stories and if the aim was to send a message to the diaspora that perhaps it was time to take a fresh look at investing in the Homeland, the conference achieved considerable success. There was still plenty of emotion built into the programme, however, and my foreign fly on the wall report is here. 

Emotion 4, Business 6. 

This week saw the fifth edition of Meeting G2, a Zagreb diaspora conference much more focused on business and building meaningful bridges between entrepreneurs in the Homeland and the diaspora. I attended last year's event, G2.4 and was impressed by the business focus and real discussions taking place, as well as the focus on promoting and presenting young Croatian businesses with potential. But this year's event was outstanding, on so many levels. 

Ante Lucic's Cronnect initiative once more presented five great startups looking for investors, and the experienced Croatian jury chose their winner - Miret, the eco shoe startup business from Duga Resa. We will have an indepth interview with Miret on TCN shortly - it is a great product. 

There was plenty of patriotism on show as well, with the style awards going to Josip Hrgetic, one of the G2.5 organisers. Great tie!  

Five of the most successful Croatian franchises were also given their chance to present and impress in search of new franchisees.  

There were several excellent panels, such as the powerful and successful Canadian Croatian diaspora business community. 

But arguably the most useful aspect of the entire conference was the networking. From my experience, many conferences make the mistake of trying to pack in too many presentations, leaving little or no time for delegates to actually meet each other and forge connections. And in this regard, G2.5 was outstanding. The opening evening included a session called Who's Who in G2? Every participant was given 30 seconds to say who they were, where they were from, something about their company, and what was their interest in G2.5. With more than 100 people to listen to, the session was expertly controlled by Aco Momcilovic, and it was interesting to watch people making mental notes of people to approach now that they knew who they were. 

And they networked. I must have been to over 30 conferences in Croatia in the last three years. None has come close to the connections I made yesterday, both in person and in my inbox since I left the conference about 20 hours ago. Several others I spoke to had the same feeling. Yes, there was emotion - and some incredible ties... - but this is a conference which is firmly focused on concrete connections, projects and solutions. 

Emotion 1, Business 9. 

That emotion may rise a little today, as the final day of the conference includes a field trip to Zadar, as well as a visit to the tuna farm of one General Ante Gotovina. 

The message is clear. Croatia is very much open for business, but this time not on emotion as in the 1990s, but with serious, successful and determined entrepreneurs. Those bridges are being built slowly, and it is a journey that this foreign fly is very much enjoying following. 

To learn more about Meeting G2.5, visit the official website. 

For the latest from the Croatian diaspora, follow the dedicated TCN section. 

November 5, 2019 - The Kings of Accidental Tourism may not know how to develop golf tourism, but how about these chaps? Meet golf in Zagreb with a Scottish twist, complete with kilts, bagpipes and a wee dram or three of whisky.  

Life is utterly superb at the moment, and for the many people who ask me how I can live in Croatia when so many are leaving, my genuine reply is - how could you possibly live anywhere else?

This country goes from the surreal to the sublime, and the gods are dealing some particularly random cards in recent weeks. It all started, I think, when I came across a British phone box in the middle of the oldest continuously inhabited town in Europe, dating back some 8,300 years (the town, not the phone box). It turned out the British phone box in Vinkovci was just the tip of the iceberg - one thing led to another and now I know all about Yorkshire puddings on the menu of a Vinkovci restaurant and why some chap from Leeds decided to open an English pub in the middle of a field literally in the middle of nowhere in eastern Croatia. A really fabulous story that I encourage you to pursue here. 

And as I was recounting the story over lunch at the excellent G2.5 diaspora conference today, I concluded to myself that I would never again come across such a superb story in Croatia.

And then, not five minutes later, I found myself approached by a gentleman who asked if I was the guy from Total Croatia News. He wanted to talk about golf.

And not just any kind of golf, but the kind played in Zagreb for three years now - in kilts!

Golf, of course, is a subject I have written about at length in recent months. Our old heroes, the Kings of Accidental Tourism, have had the development of golf courses as a key part of their tourism strategy for a good 20 years now, since 1999, in fact. And, after straining every sinew in the pursuit of new golf courses over 20 years, the Kings have managed to add just one new course in that time. Oh yes, and to receive a lawsuit for half a BILLION dollars from a disgruntled Israeli golf investor in Dubrovnik. 

But while the Kings may not be delivering, nothing can dampen the passion of Croatia's golf-loving community. Or the quite superbly unique nature of some of the events they throw.  

My new friend wanted to talk about the Zagreb Golf Club and the things they get up to. He told me about an event called the Annual Autumn and Scottish Golf Tournament, which took place last month for the third year in a row.

Where the players wore kilts.  

To the tune of bagpipes.

Yeah, right, I said to myself, asking if there was a website or Facebook page where I could see evidence of this totally unlikely scenario.  

There was. 

Incredible. 

And even more incredible, this has somehow never made it into the media in three years. 

Truly superb, and put me down for a wee dram next October. 

Now, with UK phoneboxes, English pubs in fields, and golf in kilts, can anyone point me in the direction of a more random story in Croatia? Answers to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Subject Subllime.

As for Golf Club Zagreb, learn more about it from the official website, and follow the latest on Facebook. Great photos by Nikola Žufika.