Festa Sveti Vlaho Dubrovnik Croatia

CROATIA has 7 UNESCO protected world cultural heritage sites and 7 UNESCO protected world cultural heritage traditions, making it first in Europe and fourth in the world. UNESCO is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

The music in the video are traditional and unique Croatian “klapa” songs. First is “Vilo Moja” and second song is “Croatio iz duše te ljubim”.

Croatia UNESCO Sites:

1. Dubrovnik – The old city
2. Diocletian’s Palace in Split
3. Plitvice Lakes
4. Euphrasian Basilica in Porec
5. Trogir – The old city
6. St James Cathedral in Sibenik
7. Island Hvar Stari Grad plain

Croatian UNESCO Cultural traditions (intangible heritage) all from 2009:

1. Lace making in Croatia
2. Spring procession of Ljelje queens in Gorjani
3. Festival of St Blaise – patron of city of Dubrovnik
4. Annual carnival Bell Ringers from Kastav region
5. Traditional manufacturing of wooden toys in Zagorje
6. Two-part singing and paying in Istrian scale
7. Procession of the Kross on island Hvar (Holy Thursday)

Read more:

• The Republic Of Croatia – UNESCO World Non-Material Cultural Heritage
• Stari Grad on Island Hvar
• Island Hvar – “Following the Cross”

Ston Walls

After many years of restoration, the Ston walls which are the Europe’s longest fortress system and the also the second largest in the whole world have recently been opened for public viewing. This is the most complete activity in Croatia’s cultural heritage renovations. Fifty years ago the renovation of the walls had begun by the Dubrovnik historian and conservationist Lukša Beritić, and the long term renovations caught speed in 2003. The renovation was carried the same way as the walls were built and this is why they have a long time. The walls have been made by stone sculpting. The Friends of Dubrovnik’s Ancient Sights association has maintained the walls from 1952, and also invested for the renovation project where they have put in around three to five million HRK annually. When the renovations are complete, visitors will have to pay an entrance fee to visit this excellent attraction, which will help the authorities sustain and carry on the renovations and also encourage the tourist and cultural development of Ston. The Ston walls were made in the 14th century, after Pelješac was taken over by the Republic of Dubrovnik in 1334. For protection on the walls a vast defence system was built and it is the biggest urban reinforcement project in Europe of that time. The walls for defence were first constructed on both sides of the Peninsula. The plans were equipped by two towns, northern Mali Ston and southern Ston. Pelješac was detached from the mainland by the Great wall, which has a length of 5.5 km. Now only 5 km of the wall is left as the rest disappeared in the earthquakes of 17th and 20th century.

The walls were supported with 5 fortresses and 40 towers. They started and finished with two large fortresses: Veliki kaštio in Ston Korun in Mali Ston. The most well-known and major fortress is Bartolomeo on the hill. As per the ancient Dubrovnik chronicles, it took one and half year to build the great wall. Within the walls of the town of Ston there are residential houses and palaces in four blocks, a public building, a Bishop’s palace, the church of St. Blaise and a Franciscan monastery. Mali Ston is the oldest preserved plans in Europe. The major buildings in Mali Ston are the salt warehouse, the harbour with the harbour wall, arsenal, parish castle, parish church, Luža bell tower, and also the huge Korun fortress. The Ministry of Culture made an announcement that the Ston walls, Ston and Mali Ston and also the Ston saltpan will be entirely offered as contenders for the UNESCO world cultural heritage list in which recently Croatian cultural heritage phenomena was listed.

Read more:

• Dubrovnik introduces tourist cards
• The Republic Of Croatia – UNESCO World Non-Material Cultural Heritage
• Dubrovnik region: New hotels and facilities

Dubrovnik Port Cruiser Ship

According to the autumn edition of the dream world cruise destination magazine, Dubrovnik is in the tenth place amongst the top 50 most visited world ports. It has been recorded that Dubrovnik is in tenth place according to the number of transit passengers on cruise. When we talk about Mediterranean ports only Naples and livomo have more visitors than Dubrovnik. One of the main reasons why most of the tourists like to visit this area is that the top ten world’s most visited embarkation ports are from the Mediterranean including Barcelona, Barcelona, Civitavecchia, Piraeus, Venice and Palma. The best part of all is that an increase of 38.2% was recorded among the passengers on the ships with more than 890,000 passengers within the ten months.

It was also recorded that including the area of Dubrovnik-neretva most of the foreign cruise ships visited the place and spent an average of two days in Croatia. These ports have recorded the highest number of visits but Dubrovnik is a place in which 642 ships arrived which is truly worth. Well, all these reports have been made by the central bureau of statistics including that the foreign cruise ships and their passengers have spent total 1527 days on Adriatic Sea within a time period of ten months which makes 63.5% more than during the same period of the previous year. Oceanic the first ship was launched in 1945 and was basically built for cruises only around the North America for the home lines company. After the launch of this cruise it was claimed that it would be the beginning of modern cruise but on the other hand, some disagreed to this statement and considered that the beginning of new modern cruise began on 19th December 1966 when the Norwegian Caribbean line became the first company to offer a year round schedule of cruise trips on the sunward ships that were intended for the wider market.

Well, you might be thinking that why a cruise is given such importance and consideration but it is due to the reason that some people are not completely aware of the benefits and use of cruise. A cruiser is actually a floating hotel that helps to transfer passengers from one place to another. This is one the main reasons why these types of ships are given consideration as a primary tourist destination. Usually, the passengers on the ships travel for one day when noticed from destination point of view. Croatia is one the best place to visit; therefore, it has been honored and included on the international cruise destinations list with around twenty destinations along the coast and on the islands. Croatia not only recorded with the highest number of visitors but also recorded a significant increase of foreign cruise ships. The first ports on the list of the cruise are Dubrovnik, Split, Korčula and Zadar because these are the main attraction of visitors and offer conditions necessary for them to dock.

Read more:

• Dubrovnik Airport receives award
• Dubrovnik will be more accessible soon
• Croatia State continues to renew tourist and excursion ships

Flights to Dubrovnik Croatia

From this year holiday in Croatia will become easier to reach and the Dubrovnik will be much more accessible to the tourists. This is because from April or May this year, five low cost airlines have decided and thus, announced that new flights to Dubrovnik will be introduced by them. A German low cost airline called Germanwings, will introduce a direct flight from Hamburg to Dubrovnik and this flight will be started on 2 May, 2010. On the other hand, a British carrier Jer2.com will introduce a direct flight from Edinburgh. Blue1 is a Finnish company and it has announced to introduce a direct flight from Helsinki to Dubrovnik and this flight will be operating Saturdays from April and also on Tuesdays from May. From the end of October 2009 planes which will fly to Dubrovnik twice a week, will be flown by a company which is a part of SAS group since 1998.

Bmibaby is a British company and it has plans to operate flights between East Midlands and Dubrovnik from 30th May every Thursday and Sunday. Flyglobespan is a Scottish airline and it has announced to start a flight from Aberdeen to Dubrovnik and will start in May 2010 and will operate every Wednesday. With so many flights operating between different countries in the world and Dubrovnik, traveling to Dubrovnik will become much easier and more convenient. With better connectivity through different airlines, the number of visitors to this region will increase thus giving a boost to travel and tourism.

Read more:

• Dubrovnik Airport receives award
• ‘Big return’ Serbian flights to Croatia get scrapped early
• Dubrovnik introduces tourist cards

Dubrovnik Panorama

The city of Dubrovnik attracts many visitors all the year round. It has now decided on a new way to welcome the tourists. They have introduced tourist cards for the price of EUR 15. With the card, the tourists can take a tour of the city walls, three museums, Revelin fortress, the Dubrovnik Art Gallery, the home of Marin Drzic and the Dulcic-Masle-Pulitika gallery at a discount of 50 percent in comparison to the regular ticket prices. The card has made all the monuments more accessible to the tourists. The daily card was introduced in August and as weekly card will be introduced next year in 2010. These cards are available for sale at the info centres of the City of Dubrovnik tourist board. They are available at many locations, Siroka ulica, Lapad, Lopud, Sipan and the Dubrovnik Airport.
The old city centre of Dubrovnik is on the UNESCO world heritage list and it attracts more than one million visitors every year. Many visitors stay for a day in the city because of the high quality accommodation facilities. Many also visit the city as a part of the Mediterranean cruises, in which the city of Dubrovnik is one of the destinations.

Read more:

• Dubrovnik Beach Banje has another feather in the cap
• Dubrovnik region: New hotels and facilities
• The May gathering of the best international tourism journalists in Dubrovnik

Banje Beach in Dubrovnik

Many celebrities and visitors rate, Dubrovnik as their favourite destination and this year, it has got another award for its beauty. Dubrovnik Beach Banje has been ranked by the web page Skyscanner among the ten most beautiful city beaches in the world. Out of the ten beaches that have been voted five are located in USA, Canada, Israel and Australia, and this makes Banje as one of the top five beaches in Europe. About 100 meters from the beach, Skyscanner has cited the most beautiful view of the Dubrovnik old city centre. The view will be loved by everyone as per Skyscanner. The beach is the top beach with crystal clear sea along with the numerous facilities it offers and the many activities held are.
The old Dubrovnik city centre is the most beautiful and famous on the Mediterranean and because of this Dubrovnik has been rated as one of the most beautiful cities in the world in many surveys. It also features on UNESCO world heritage list and attracts many visitors every year.

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• Zlatni rat beach – Voted Croatia’s Sexiest Beach
• Dubrovnik region: New hotels and facilities
• Zlatni rat beach – The Most Beautiful beach in the World

Dubrovnik Summer Festival

The Dubrovnik Summer Festival, traditionally held from 10 June to 25 August, will once again gather top Croatian and international musical, dance and theatrical performers. What makes this year’s festival special is that it is celebrating its 60th anniversary. The festival turns Dubrovnik, a city of exceptional beauty, into a unique stage. Its history dates back to 1950. It soon became clear that it is an exceptional cultural event. For instance, French author Claude Aveline, who took part in the very first festival, wrote ten years later that, at the time, he could never have known he was witnessing “the birth of one of the most well-known festivals of our era”. In 1956, the Dubrovnik Summer Festival became a member of the European Festivals Association (EFA). Every year, the theatre, music and dance program is exceptionally rich and it is impossible to mention all its performances and participants.
For this year, among others, two performances of the Festival’s theatre ensemble have been announced: Shakespear’s “Hamlet”, directed by Ivica Kunčević, and “Na taraci” by Ivo Vojnović, directed by Joško Juvančić. The play “Orgy of Tolerance˝, written by Jan Fabre, is also on the epertoire. It is directed by its author and produced by the Dubrovnik Summer Festival in collaboration with numerous other international festivals and theatres. “Epitaphio” by Marin Držić will be put on by the Student theatre “Lero˝ and directed by Davor Mojaš.
Also taking part this year is the greatest theatre director of our time Peter Brook with his adaptation of Shakespeare’s sonnets, put on by the French theatre ‘Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord’. The music program features a performance of the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Vjekoslav Šutej, and the soloists Nadja Michael (soprano) and Zoran Todorovich (tenor), and a gala concert of the Philharmonia of the Nations, conducted by Justusa Frantz. The audience can also look forward to a repeated performance of last year’s great success, F. Handel’s opera ˝Acis and Galatea˝, performed by the Festival’s Opera Ensemble and the Croatian Baroque Ensemble. Dance enthusiasts will certainly enjoy in the chamber ballet based on the motifs of Boris Vian, “The Plumber”, and numerous other performances by Croatian folklore ensembles.
This year, the Dubrovnik Summer festival will once again gather some of the most prominent artists from the entire world. One of them is certainly one of the greatest violin players of our time, Vladim Repin, who will perform together with the prominent piano player Itmar Golan, in the Atrium of the Duke’s Palace on 22 August.
One of the festival’s greatest specificities is certainly the ambient of the City of Dubrovnik and the eight unique venues at which it is held: the Atrium of the Duke’s Palace, in front of the Church of St. Blaise, the cinema house “Jadran”, the Art School park, the Lea of Ruđer Bošković, the fortress Revelin and its terrace, and the fortress Lovrijenac. Tickets for the 60th annual Dubrovnik Summer Festival are available online at

www.ulaznice.hr.

Read more:

• Dubrovnik Airport receives award
• Dubrovnik
• Šibenik – a True Friend of Children

On July 11th, Dubrovnik, the pearl of the Adriatic and one of the world’s most beautiful cities, hosted the world’s best divers, who tested their skills and talent at the Red Bull Cliff Diving Series 2009 competition. The fact that only incredible natural and urban locations are chosen as venues for this world-class event, and Dubrovnik and its fortress Lovrijenac indubitably belong to this circle of destinations, only adds to the divers’ excitement. Dubrovnik already was host to this event nine years ago. This year, divers, including the nine-time world champion Orlando Duque, are facing a 26-metre dive. When diving, divers only have seconds to decide which diving elements to put together, depending on the spatial factors and weather at hand. Never before did athletes have to dive eight times in a row from such a high cliff, which means that this year’s championship and its participants will push this sport to its very limits and set new standards. Only 30 to 40 athletes in the entire world have the capacity to do this exclusive and extreme sport.
12 great divers from nine countries are taking part in this year’s series, which, apart from Dubrovnik, is held in destinations in France, Italy, Turkey, Germany, Switzerland and Greece. To them and all extreme sports enthusiasts, Dubrovnik will prove an interesting and attractive host, and the beauties of this city under UNESCO
protection an ideal background.

Results

Red Bull Cliff Dive

1. Orlando Duque COL 348,60
2. Gary Hunt GBR 334,10
3. Artem Silchenko RUS 330,70
4. Kent Du Mond USA 294,75
5. Steve Black AUS 292,15
6. Mouti Hassan FRA 291,90
7. Slava Polyeshchuk UKR 287,50
8. Cyrill Oumedjkane FRA 283,20
9. Andryi Ignatenko UKR 276,80
10. Michal Navratil CZE 265,45
11. Eber Pava COL 253,95
12. Alain Kohl LUX 249,15

Read more:

• Scuba Diving in Croatia
• Dubrovnik region: New hotels and facilities
• The May gathering of the best international tourism journalists in Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik airport, Croatia

British Airways has awarded Dubrovnik Airport with the title of the best airport in the “short distance” category. Dubrovnik competed against 27 other airports. The recognition is all the more valuable when one considers that all activities connected to welcoming planes and passengers were evaluated. British Airways conducts its assessment, in the winter and summer period respectively, very rigorously as it is also a criterion for its choice of business partners. It is not a surprise, therefore, that all airports give their best to be successful, making Dubrovnik’s award even more impressive.

Read more:

• The May gathering of the best international tourism journalists in Dubrovnik
• Dubrovnik region: New hotels and facilities
• Lokrum Special Reserve of Forest Vegetation, Dubrovnik

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• Dubrovnik region: New hotels and facilities
• Lokrum Special Reserve of Forest Vegetation, Dubrovnik
• Tourism boost: Croatia to ease visa requirements for some countries