June 23, 2019 - To some people, it has been clear for a while now that tourism does not just consist of the "sun and sea“, and that a very important part of the experience when visiting a country is the food, combined with local wines. Obviously, gourmet tourism is on the rise everywhere and since more and more tourists recently are not only passing through Zagreb but staying in Croatian capital at least for few days, an idea of a gastronomical festival was born.

The people behind the idea are experienced lifestyle journalist Tomislav Stiplošek and Silvija Munda who, in collaboration with Procaffe in Tkalčićeva street, started the festival under the name G.E.T. Fest - a festival of wine tourism. On the first day of summer, 21st of June, they announced the beginning of this summer event with a media breakfast/brunch inspired by Croatia and its regions. The members of the press were welcomed with an appropriate glass of sparkling wine Perla rosé and offered an interesting meal on the terrace of Procaffe. The meal is intended to be offered and consumed as breakfast or as brunch, but instead of being just a meal – it is to be a sort of education or at least information about the specific Croatian region.

Thus, it will give an opportunity to the consumer to learn about the producers and indigenous varieties of wine, there will be workshops and master classes about wines of Croatia named "Walks through Croatia“, wine cocktails will be offered and other small events will be held in order to give basic or advanced information and experience of Croatia through the palate.

Recipes for the breakfasts were created by Ružica Jukičić, a very well-known Croatian chef and international culinary judge, and member of the International culinary Association. For the beginning, she designed 4 different Croatian breakfasts – named after Croatian wine regions: „Bregovita Hrvatska“, Slavonija and Podunavlje“, „Istria and Kvarner“ and „Dalmatia“. The main ingredients for the breakfasts/brunches are indigenous of the region and offer the consumer a chance to literally taste the region.

Wine tastings will be held in the afternoons and evenings every day except Thursdays and the weekends. The “Wine walks“ will offer 4 or, alternatively 8 different wines of the selected region and will be accompanied by matching finger foods. During the weekends – cocktail parties will be organized, predominantly offering wine-based cocktails.

The organizers with impressive experience in promoting wine and gourmet tourism said:

"We, as the G.E.T. Report association, have been consistently trying to promote a different kind of approach to tourism – mainly through food and wine - for years. We are delighted to have finally found an adequate partner in Procaffe – to put this effort into a concrete festival form, and hopefully, this series of interesting small events will enrich Zagreb's summer tourist offer in more ways than one. The project has been recognized by the Tourist Board of Zagreb, companies such as Agrolaguna, Feravino and Gastrofanatik just as well as the small local food producers. We would also like to thank Pisinium, Belje, Medea, Perak, Markota, Trdenić, Toreta, Jagunić and others who enthusiastically welcomed and supported our idea.

More information can be found at Facebook page G.E.T.Report  and Facebook page of Procaffe.

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

June 23, 2019 - Ryanair was the budget airline pioneer in Croatia back in 2007 before others took bigger slices of the market. Is that about to change, a change that will include Zagreb?

I am not an airline expert by any means, and one thing which has always confused me about the flight market in Croatia is the position of Ryanair. 

Having lived in Croatia full-time since 2003, I fondly remember the collective expat joy when the Irish airline started operations from London to Zadar back in 2007, offering a much more convenient connection for UK travellers. It is interesting to listen to people today complaining at the lack of winter flights to Split and other such destinations - compared to what was on offer a decade ago, the change has been incredible. 

But having entered the market and transformed Zadar, things did not expand as one might have expected, and other budget airlines, most notably easyJet and Eurowings, quickly overtook Ryanair. In an interesting article today on ExYuAviation about Ryanair being set for expansion in Croatia, the percentages of market share show this quite clearly. 

The low-cost airline has the fifth largest market share in the country this summer, standing at 4.4%. It is behind Croatia Airlines on 31%, easyJet on 9.9%, Eurowings on 8.6% and Lufthansa with a 4.8% market share.

But are things changing, and are we set for a rapid expansion of Ryanair flights to Split, Dubrovnik and Zagreb, to name but three?

It took 12 years after that Zadar launch for Ryanair to commence flights to both Split and Dubrovnik, with flights from Dublin only starting this summer. According to the ExYuAviation report, both routes have already been extended into the first week of winter, an encouraging sign for a new route. Ryanair is not the type of airline which services an airport with just one route, so I would expect more Ryanair routes for 2020. Getting into Split and Dubrovnik is the hard part, and now that they have managed that and extended their inaugural schedules, expect more to follow. 

The report also highlights cooperation with the Croatian National Tourist Board, which has resulted in a 50% increase in the airline's passenger numbers to Zadar, a successful strategy which one would expect to continue. The airline expects to handle 550,000 passengers this year in the Croatian market. 

The most intriguing part of the report, however, is this:

"Ryanair has held positive discussions with the Croatian Minister for Tourism regarding longer-term traffic growth and route development at its existing Croatian airports as well as potential new airports like Zagreb", the company said recently. For its part, Zagreb Airport noted it was seeking models which would allow low-cost carriers to increase their presence in the Croatian capital. 

The quote itself is not new, it was cited by the website mentioning Split as well back in November, but it comes at a time when industry insiders are suggesting that there are talks underway to reopen the old Zagreb terminal and run it as a parallel low-cost hub. As I wrote recently, the two airlines supposedly in discussions are Eurowings and Lauda. You can read the article here. 

And other major budget airlines have confirmed their interest, should Zagreb be able to provide a solution for low-cost airlines:

Commenting on its absence in Zagreb, Wizz Air's CEO, Jozsef Varadi, said recently, "It is a high-priced airport environment with fluctuating demand. Should the costs come down, I think they would attract us".

Such a move would be bad news for Croatia Airlines, of course, but one only has to look a few hundred kilometres north to Budapest to see how an airport can flourish with the passing of a national airline. Jost Lammers, CEO of Budapest Airport, was kind enough to explain to TCN how things changed in Hungary when Malev went bankrupt in 2012. 

If Zagreb had short-haul connectivity anywhere close to what Budapest has, the economic benefits to the Croatian economy would be considerable. The medical tourism industry would be much more competitive, for example, a lucrative industry which experts agree Croatia has the potential to be in the top ten in the world within ten years. And with the explosive growth of the digital nomad market looking to spend their money in countries which offer great connectivity and lifestyle, a budget hub in Zagreb would be one more important step to develop Croatia's place in this equally lucrative market.

And while the official word from Zagreb Airport did not confirm that any of this was happening, it was also not ruled out. 

Lidia Capkovic Martinek, Advisor to the Director of International Airport Jsc. was kind enough to promptly reply to my questions about Eurowings and the use of the old terminal for low-cost carriers. 

"Eurowings currently operates 18 weekly flights to ZAG from 5 different destinations in Germany. As the concessionaire of Zagreb Airport, we are continuously in contact with our existing partners and other carriers, in order to improve air connectivity at Zagreb Airport.

"Currently there is no official plan to use old terminal building for low-cost carriers. But as a private company we would like to utilize our resources at maximum efficiency, therefore we always brainstorm about new ideas and projects."

For the latest flight news from Croatia, follow the dedicated TCN section.

June 19, 2019 - The latest news from around Croatia’s airports for new flights to Croatia with updates from Dubrovnik, Zagreb, and Pula.

Ex Yu Aviation reports on June 19, 2019, that the national airline of Spain, Iberia, will end its winter service between Madrid and Dubrovnik but will maintain its summer service. Recall, Iberia operated between Madrid and Dubrovnik two times a week last winter season. 

However, not all hope is lost for Croatia this winter, as the Spanish airline will instead increase operations to Zagreb to three flights per week.  The additional service will operate on Sundays. 

Iberia has shown Croatia quite a bit of love this year, which all started with them adding another 204,586 seats between Spain and Croatia compared to last year. 

"Most of our passengers to and from Croatia fly point to point, but we also have connecting traffic. Among the cities that feed more passengers to our flights from/to Dubrovnik, Split and Zagreb last year were New York, Lisbon, Bilbao, Porto, Chicago, Boston, and Miami,” Iberia said to Ex Yu Aviation at the beginning of the year. You can read the story here. 

In other news, Avio Radar reports that for the first time in its history, Pula Airport welcomed two Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft at the same time. Namely,  on Tuesday, June 18, two British airline TUI Airways aircraft flew on the BY4278 route from London Gatwick Airport and the BY2206 route from Manchester after 12:20, just three minutes apart. 

The Boeing 787-9 G-TUIM airplane flew from London, while the smaller Boeing 787-8 G-TUII flew from Manchester. The two flights did not plan on arriving in Pula at the same time, though the plane from Manchester was three hours late. 

On May 23rd this year, Dubrovnik Airport welcomed three Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft at the same time, from London, Manchester,  and Bristol.

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

ZAGREB, June 17, 2019 - The Croatia Grand Chess Tour will be held in Zagreb starting as of June 26 and under the high sponsorship of the Croatian government with 12 of the best world chess players attending including world champion Magnus Carlsen.

After seeing legendary chess players like Robert Fischer and Russia's greats Tigran Petrosian and Vasily Smyslov in Zagreb's chess arena, one of the world's best and current world champion, Carlsen will come to Zagreb for the first time.

The simple fact that the top eight players in the world will be attending the Croatian Grand Chess Tour means that this is one of the strongest chess tournaments in history.

The tournament will officially open in Zagreb's Mimara Museum on June 26 while the actually tournament will be held in the Croatian Journalists' Home across the road and will run until July 7. The official closing and award ceremony will be held on July 8. The prize pool for the tournament is $325,000.

More chess news can be found in the Lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, June 16, 2019 - Rain Man is the name of a humanitarian race that will be held on the Sava river embankment in Zagreb on July 2, and the money raised will go to the Autism Centre for adults with autism, organisers have said, inviting runners and people from all over Croatia to participate.

The 5-kilometre race will also mark World Sports Journalists Day, which is celebrated on July 2.

The race was named after the 1988 film "Rain Man" starring Dustin Hoffman, which raised awareness of autism in adults.

The significance of the race lies in the fact that humanitarian drives for adults and elderly people with autism are rare, organisers said.

"It doesn't matter if you run fast or slow, it doesn't matter if you run or just walk. What matters is that you help," said psychologist Boris Jokić.

Autism Centre director Žarka Klopotan said the objective of the race was to draw public attention to the needs of adults with autism, give them a bigger place in society and try to meet some of their needs.

The programme of the Centre covers 111 adults with very complex communication, social and health needs, she added.

More news about autism can be found in the Lifestyle section.

June 16, 2019 - Is Croatian tourism and business set for a major boost with the old airport terminal in Zagreb about to start a new chapter as a budget airline base?

It is 16 years since I moved to Croatia on a permanent basis, and it is fair to say that there has been considerable change in airline connectivity in that time. Those who today complain about the lack of winter flights from cheap carriers from November to March should look back just a few years to before the arrival of Ryanair in Zadar in 2007. My off-season choices to get from the UK to Hvar, for example, were two-fold - Ryanair to Trieste and then the 11-hour bus journey down the coast to Split and onward ferry, or Ryanair to Graz, train to Zagreb and bus to Split. 

Although Ryanair were the pioneers, they did not expand as quickly in the Croatian market as elsewhere. Indeed it took them 12 years to inaugurate flights to both Split and Dubrovnik, with the first flights only touching down this month. easyJet and Norwegian were much more aggressive in the Croatian market, with the former outpacing the national carrier, Croatia Airlines, by some distance in seasonal passenger numbers to the main coastal airports. But while an increasing number of budget carriers from an ever-expanding list of destinations was servicing the coast, one key airport was seemingly missing out on the low-cost connectivity.

Zagreb. 

It was explained to me that one of the reasons that Zagreb did not have many budget flight options was a decision to protect Croatia Airlines, a national carrier in quite a lot of trouble, but a proud symbol of a young nation. If Croatia Airlines was subjected to the brutal competition of the Ryanairs in its home territory, then it would have little chance of survival. It is an argument which I could understand from the point of view of protecting the status quo, but it made little sense for the Croatian economy. A little envious look a short drive north to Budapest showed that life after a failed national carrier was not only possible but healthy. 

The Hungarian state carrier Malev went bankrupt in 2012, the main player at Budapest Airport. As Budapest Airport CEO Jost Lammers explained in this TCN interview, it did not take Budapest long not only to react, but to thrive, and the airport is much busier and more successful than it was then.

"In fact not only Ryanair but all major airlines reacted very quickly to the new situation. With hindsight I may say that February 2012 clearly demonstrated to us that fierce competition is going on in the world of aviation, and there is no room for market vacuum at all. Even large legacy carriers reacted in less than 24 hours to the bankruptcy of Malév and made quick business decisions to fill in the missing routes. Some arrived with their first flights in Budapest within 72 hours. Of course the winter low season also helped, there was some free capacity at hand for all major airlines to start a new route to Budapest. Discount carriers were of course the quickest to react. Their market share used to be around 25 % when Malév was still around, and it quickly rose to 50-52 % where it stabilized."

I have been working a lot with the medical tourism industry in Croatia in recent months. As with many things here, the potential is phenomenal, but the realities of modern Croatia are holding things back. The Hungarian dental tourism market is estimated at some 600 million euro a year, at least 25% of which Croatia could take if it got organised, according to Keith Pollard, Chief Editor of the industry's leading media, International Medical Travel Journal, in an interview with TCN.

But while the quality of Croatian dental care is as good as any in Eastern Europe, flying to Zagreb from the UK compared to places like Budapest is currently a lot more complicated and expensive, and Croatia's dentists, and a whole range of other businesses and tourism opportunities, are missing out. I asked Lammers about the boost that Budapest's strategy had brought for Hungarian dental tourism:

"It is not only “dental tourism” that has shown strong development. We have close ties with river cruise operators. More than 250 000 people start their holidays on the Danube cruise-ships here in Budapest. These people are flying in through our airport from all over the world, from the US through China to Japan. All in all, I think Budapest has become a remarkable tourism destination offering a very wide variety of entertainment to all customer segments: the traditional Sziget Festival brings in tens of thousands of young people in the summer with backpacks; then Red Bull Air Race and Formula-1 are two major and fabulous technical sport events with lots of spectators. Budapest also has a lot to offer in cultural tourism. For instance, we cooperate closely with the Winter Festival which targets mostly opera and classical music fans."

Zagreb seemed to have moved in a totally different direction which was a lot more prohibitive to the development of budget carriers. A shiny new 330 million euro airport terminal opened in 2017, with prices to match. The arrival of airlines such as Emirates and increased rotations from Qatar, as well as direct seasonal flights from Canada and Seoul increased Croatia's intercontinental access considerably, but Zagreb remained an expensive and poorly served airport for those looking for a cheap flight. 

But is that about to change, and change drastically?

I am not in the habit of publishing rumours for the sake of it. This region is that land of rumours and conspiracy theories, and we would not survive long as a credible portal if we did. But I have heard from several excellent industry sources that something rather exciting - and innovative - is soon to take place at the old (and now unused) airport terminal in Zagreb. 

It will operate as a separate airport structure to the new terminal, but using the same runway, and the old terminal will operate as a new budget airport hub. Two airlines which keep being mentioned are Eurowings and Lauda, and this would be in line with Eurowings' expansion in the region. I contacted both the city of Zagreb and the Ministry of Transport for comment, who both replied quickly suggesting I contact the airport concessionaire for comment.  

According to the various sources, discussions are quite advanced, and if realised, Zagreb would have a rather unusual, but very exciting dual airport system for visitors to choose from. By making Zagreb a lot more accessible, one more obstacle for Croatia's economic development will have been removed. As we have written previously, our increasingly digitalised world will see about one billion digital nomads by 2035. Any country which can be close to the forefront of hosting that industry is going to see their economy revolutionised. Cheap and easy access is an essential part of the package. Croatia already has so many natural advantages to attract digital nomads - EU country, safe, affordable, great Internet connectivity, stunning, English widely-spoken, fantastic gourmet offer, great tourism and lifestyle. And - hopefully, soon - even better connectivity to the rest of Europe and beyond. 

As for digital nomads, so too for dental tourists and a host of other sectors of the Croatian economy which will benefit. 

Should the old terminal be put back into action as a low-cost hub, there are of course a number of questions, most notably about the future of Croatia Airlines. There would also have to be some mechanisms and rules to stop airlines paying higher fees at the new terminal from defecting. One way to ensure this would be to say that the old terminal can only do point-to-point traffic and the fees will only be lower if you provide a certain volume of traffic. 

Lidia Capkovic Martinek, Advisor to the Director of International Airport Jsc. was kind enough to promptly reply to my questions about Eurowings and the use of the old terminal for low-cost carriers. 

"Eurowings currently operates 18 weekly flights to ZAG from 5 different destinations in Germany. As the concessionaire of Zagreb Airport, we are continuously in contact with our existing partners and other carriers, in order to improve air connectivity at Zagreb Airport.

"Currently there is no official plan to use old terminal building for low-cost carriers. But as a private company we would like to utilize our resources at maximum efficiency, therefore we always brainstorm about new ideas and projects."

I was obviously not expecting a direct confirmation from the airport, who announce things like this with their own media strategy, but stating there is no official plan, rather than no plan, suggests perhaps that there might an unofficial plan not yet for public consumption. And is this private company is looking to use its 'resources at maximum efficiency', one would assume that that would include how to get better use of a major asset such as the old terminal. 

Stay tuned. 

For a comprehensive guide to the new Zagreb Airport terminal, check out the Total Croatia guide. 

For more information on the latest flight news to Croatia, follow the dedicated TCN page. 

ZAGREB, June 10, 2019 - A grant agreement was signed on Monday in Zagreb for the first phase of upgrading the city's tram infrastructure which will incorporate 11 tramline sections, 8,194 metres long, three control stations and the preparation of a transport feasibility study with a total value of 260 million kuna, 85% of which will be covered from the EU Cohesion Fund and 15% from the state budget.

The agreement was signed by Minister of the Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure Oleg Butković, the director-general of the city's ZET tram and public bus operator, Ljuba Žgela, and Central Finance and Contracting Agency (SAFU) director Tomislav Petrić.

Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandić, who attended the ceremony, underscored that the agreement was yet another example of good cooperation that will enable improving the quality of the city's public transport infrastructure, and announced the construction of another 60 low-floor trams.

Minister Butković said that the project of upgrading the tram infrastructure in Zagreb in addition to the procurement of new buses and the construction of the new roundabout at the southern entrance to the city, in all amount to about 430 million kuna in grants, which is confirmation that an investment cycle has launched valued at about 20 billion kuna throughout Croatia.

With today's agreement, we have reached a level of signing contracts for 85% of available funds from Operational Programme Competitiveness and Cohesion 2014 - 2020, which is about 11.5 billion kuna in grants for transport projects and 94% of the available funds for European connectivity or an amount of 15 billion kuna in grants for transport projects throughout Croatia, he added.

Žgela recalled that in 2017 the City of Zagreb had signed an agreement for the procurement of 15 new buses valued at 32 million kuna and another agreement in January this year for an additional 29 buses valued at 55 million kuna.

More Zagreb news can be found in the Lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, June 9, 2019 - The 18th Zagreb Pride Parade was held in the Croatian capital city on Saturday under the slogan "18 Proud Years", drawing, according to its organisers, around 7,000 participants.

Participants carried banners with messages such as "Love is love", "Police are here because of you", "Together we are stronger" and "Misogyny kills".

Curious bystanders watched as the parade, with its participants carrying rainbow flags and banners, whistling and drumming, passed through the city centre.

"The atmosphere was beautiful, calls for love and alliance were heard. The number of marchers is not important, what is important is how many different people attended this year's protest and how many different people sent out the message that we do not accept restriction of human rights," Zagreb Pride programme coordinator Doria Jukić told Hina after the parade, which was held amid strong police presence.

"18 years ago, we - lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transsexuals, intersexuals and queer people - embarked with our allies and supporters on a brave and proud struggle for freedom, equality and rights in Croatia just as our fellow fighters rose against oppression in New York 50 years ago and started the movement for the rights of LGBTIQ persons in the United States and the rest of the world," said Zagreb Pride organisers in the Ribnjak park, where the parade ended with an entertainment programme.

The organisers said that LGBTIQ people had won some battles in Croatia but that they still lived in fear of violence, that hate speech and hate crime were still not prosecuted and that they did not have the right to parenthood or foster care.

The Zagreb Pride Parade was also attended by politicians, including MP Milorad Pupovac of the Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS), Social Democrat MP Gordan Maras and Social Democratic Party (SDP) leader Davor Bernardić, who said that it was important for Croatia to expand personal freedoms and tolerance and raise respect for human rights to a higher level.

"This country must be a country of equal opportunities for all," he said, adding that same-sex couples should be given the right to provide foster care as well as to adopt.

He said that he considered the Life Partnership Act (adopted during the term of a previous, SDP-led government) a major step forward and that values of social democracy were universal human values.

"They have to be the standard, something that is not called into question. The freedom of an individual to decide about their life, the freedom of a woman to decide about her own body, the freedom of same-sex partners to decide about their family must not be called into question. We are fighting for that because we want to be a normal country, like other European countries," said Bernardić.

Zagreb police said there were no reports of serious incidents during the parade, and one person was taken into custody for disturbing the peace.

More news about LGBT issues can be found in the Lifestyle section.

June 9, 2019 - In an appropriately sparkling fete (how else - when it comes to sparkling wine?) famous champagne producer Moët & Chandon recently unveiled its majestically-restored Château de Saran, an architectural jewel in the lush landscape of Champagne.

One of the most impressive suites of the palace is the historic “Impériale Suite”, an ode to Napoleon I staged in homage to the patronage of France’s imperial family that gave its title to Moët Impérial, born on the centennial of Napoleon I’s birth.  Interestingly, Napoleon Bonaparte was one of the biggest Moet & Chandon fans ever! The palace was proudly inaugurated just in time to host a celebration marking the 150th anniversary of Moët Impérial. A star in its own right, Moët Impérial has shined on the cinematic stage, been celebrated for its savior-fête and fair, and is frequently captured by the lens of paparazzi as it has been joyfully toasted by the glitterati.

Once upon a time in Cannes in the 1960s, film legends such as Kim Novak and Cary Grant were photographed toasting with Moët Impérial at a star-studded dinner. Also, at Studio 54, a symbol of the dazzling New York nightlife of the 1970s, Andy Warhol was photographed sharing a bottle of Moët Impérial with his famous friends and entourage.

Fast forward to the present: Gracing the glittering evening in Champagne with their presence were some of the brightest stars of today’s Hollywood like Natalie Portman and Uma Thurman; style icon Kate Moss and British actor Douglas Booth; New York blogger and influencer Derek Blasberg. Famous tennis player Roger Federer, Moët & Chandon’s ambassador since 2012 and a true tennis legend, was also present - to pay a personal tribute to the signature champagne.

“I am thrilled to be here in Champagne to toast Moët Impérial, a symbol of global success, at this splendid family château, a grand new symbol for Moët & Chandon whose ‘family’ I am honored to be a part of,” said Roger Federer. Towering over the vineyards of Moët & Chandon, the Château de Saran has been a property of the House since 1801 and today is a superb “Château de Famille,” destined to become the site of festive celebrations again. To honour the 150th anniversary of Moët Impérial, born in 1869, Moët & Chandon arranged for its most emblematic champagne to be served throughout the evening from the new limited-edition anniversary bottles. Following an elegant cocktail party at the Château, a festive seated dinner was served in a mirrored structure specially designed to reflect the beauty of the House’s vineyards. The meal, prepared like a concerto “with four hands” combined the unique culinary talents of Yannick Alléno, the three Michelin-starred French chefs and brand ambassador for the House since 2014, with the artistry of Dominique Crenn, co-owner and chef of the three-Michelin-starred restaurant Atelier Crenn in San Francisco.

Their unprecedented collaboration made for a delectably-curated culinary experience paired with the flowing bubbles of Moët Impérial. The evening was highlighted, after dinner, by a live musical performance courtesy of British singer-songwriter, Freya Ridings, Britain’s biggest breakthrough artist thanks to her 2018 platinum-selling hit “Lost Without You.” A few days later, in Zagreb, Moët & Chandon Grand Day was announced in Kaptol Boutique Cinema. It is a continuity of the tradition – celebrating the 22nd of June as Moet Grand Day, this year especially highlighted due to the celebration marking the 150th anniversary of Moët Impérial.

From early morning of the 22nd of June until late in the evening, the Moët & Chandon Grand Day celebration will take place all over the world. In Croatia, everybody is invited and welcome to join the celebration in Dubrovnik  Copacabana Beach and Culture Cub Revelin. The festivities will be organized in Mali Lošinj, at Borik Meditteranean Bar, and last but not least, in the beautiful an inevitable Rovinj where there be an exceptional celebration prepared, traditionally at the Valentino Champagne Bar. However, the main Croatian celebration location of Moët & Chandon Grand Day will be the location preferred by many: Kornati islands, more precisely Konoba Opat where the big festivities will be held. The biggest stars of the whole programme will be the performance of the renowned Croatian band Soulfingers. But, the food created and prepared by the chef Ante Božikov will be just as interesting and awaited with excitement and joy. Moët  & Chandon Grand Day is eagerly expected everywhere in the world and Croatia, so don’t miss the 22nd of June and Moët Moments. Cheers to all!  

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

All photos by Mirko Janković