:: Croatia Blog ::

Two true gastro artists from the small town of Kastav in Kvarner have recently proved the quality of Croatian gastronomy, especially the Mediterranean food, as well as the art and expertise of Croatian cooks. Nenad Kukurin, the owner of the popular Restaurant Kukuriku in Kastav, and Robert Klickovic, the chef in the same restaurant, won plenty of viewer favor and were pronounced the most successful in presentation of the Mediterranean cuisine in the popular La prova del cuoco show on the Italian TV channel RAI 1 in a gastro competition. Their victory in mid-September in Rome closed the gastro duel with the representatives of Syria and the popular duo from Kastav remained in the competition.

Needless to say, their success is a further contribution to presentation of Croatia as a destination having a rich gastro offer and confirmation of the Mediterranean cuisine, recommended by the experts of the World Health Organization as the healthiest. Nenad Kukurin is a representative of the fifth generation in his Restaurant Kukuriku in Kastav, in a family tradition of 117 years. Situated in the small town of Kastav surrounded by medieval walls on a 365-meter hill near Rijeka and Opatija, the restaurant has become a favorite for lovers of high-quality and nutritively harmonized, creatively prepared and served slow food.

Source: press.croatia.hr

 Here are some useful links for you:

• travel guide for Rijeka
  
• rijeka24.com
• Videos Rijeka
  
• Vacation in  Rijeka

Split won the Silver Flower of Europe award among a competition of almost six thousand candidates from twelve countries in the city category, while Novi Vinodolski has won the same award in the town category. The closing ceremony of the Golden Flower of Europe, arranged every year by the European Association for Flowers and Landscape, was held in Split, which was an additional reason for celebration.

While explaining the award presented to Split, Monika Hetsch, presdietn of the International Jury, pointed out that Split was a beautiful business & university center in Croatia, its beauty enhanced by the Marjan Park Forest. In addition to the positive ratings with respect of its landscape, the members of the International Jury were particularly impressed by the tidiness of Sustipan and Lovrinac. 24 candidates participated in the finals of this selection and Split won a total of 87.6 points out of one hundred. As stated in the explanation, Novi Vinodolski, winner of the Silver Flower in the town category, won the award for its splendid landscaping, commitment to tradition and a successful eco school. Novi Vinodolski has a tourist tradition of 130 years and is the center of the popular Vinodol Riviera having a total capacity of around 8000 accommodation units. This small town is distinctive for its  littoral architecture and its old town core. Around 2 million HRK was spent on landscaping this year. Opposite the historical part of the town are modern tourist facilities – hotels, campingsites, household activities and numerous catering facilities and sport & recreation centers attracting numerous tourists every year.

Source: press.croatia.hr

Here are some useful links for you:

• split24.com
• Novi Vinodolski 24.com
• travel guide for Novi Vinodolski
• all about Split
• Videos from Split
• Vacation in Split

The Novi Spa Hotels & Resorts located in Novi Vinodolski is a unique luxury beach resort in Croatia. In addition to the largest
and most sophisticated spa center in Europe, the luxurious Novi Spa Hotels & Resort complex has an excellent offer of facilities satisfying even the most demanding guests. The resort represents a unique holiday spot in the Adriatic both for family holiday guests and those seeking wellness facilities, a romantic ambience, an active holiday filled with sporting options or business gatherings. It is only 20 minutes from the international airport in Rijeka and 90 minutes from Zagreb Airport, which makes the resort excellently connected with the entire world. The Novi Spa Hotels & Resort is situated on a mild slope along 1.5 kilometers of coastline, providing an unforgettable panoramic view from the balconies, terraces or gardens of all 130 hotels rooms and suites and 366 luxury suites in villas. The carefully designed interiors were harmonized with nature, supplementing it with state-of-the-art equipment and details found in the best resorts of the world. The resort offers its guests the services of the largest wellnesscenter in Europe, the largest and best equipped congress center in Croatia, numerous sporting options, a children’s club with special programs for the youngest ones, a shopping gallery, as many as 12 different restaurants that will delight even the most sophisticated gourmets, swimming pools, a sandy beach and a gravelly beach, and a wide range of nighttime entertainment options. Various family, spa & wellness, sporting and team building packages, makeover treatments, and congress, wedding and reception arrangements are just a part of the resort’s extensive program offer.

Source: press.croatia.hr

 Here are some useful links for you:

• Novi vinodolski 24.com
• travel guide for Kvarner
  
• all about Novi vinodolski
• Videos from Novi vinodolski
  
• Vacation in Novi vinodolski   

Baska, a popular tourist destination on the Island of Krk, now has yet another high-category hotel – Hotel Atrium Residence Baska, classified as four and five stars. The hotel was built in the place of the former hotels Baska and Velebit. The total value of the investment is 56 million HRK. The hotel has 64 accommodation units, and its luxury suites have a five-star standard. Over the past few years, Hoteli Baska invested almost 100 million HRK in construction and renovation of its facilities, including the annex to Hotel Zvonimir transformed into Hotel Zvonimir, Adria annex transformed into Villa Adria with 12 apartments, reconstruction of Camp Zabla?e and the naturist camp Bunculuka.

The investment also provided for reconstruction of Hotel Baška-Corinthia and the most recent reconstruction of the said Hotel Atrium Residence Baska. The hotel complex was enriched with modern wellness facilities, a multipurpose congress area, and other facilities providing the guests with a pleasant stay. Baska happens to be a tourist center with a long-standing tradition. The beginnings of organized tourism date back to 1904, and the bathing area was developed and formally opened exactly one hundred years ago. The strong tourist orientation is confirmed by the fact that six hotels operated in Baška in 1914, and three more opened before 1930.

Source: press.croatia.hr

 Here are some useful links for you:

• baska24.com
• travel guide for Island Krk
• all about Baska
• Videos from Baska
• Vacation in Baska

A festival for all generations and musical tastes Rijeka Summer Nights, a music and scenic festival, will go on until 25 July and, like in the past three years, the music and scenic program will be held in the authentic ambience of the City of Rijeka
and its halls. In addition to Croatian artists, a series of drama, music, dance literary and other performances will feature guest artists from Italy, France, Portugal, USA, Slovenia… Among a number of interesting performances, we are highlighting
the From Baroque to Bossa Nova concert at which Zoltán Hornyánszky will take the listeners for a musical walk by playing the oboe and English horn, while Pedro Abreu from Portugal will play the guitar. The Laibach band of Slovenia, which has eliminated all physical, ideological and mental borders for 27 years, will provide a music and scenic mega-spectacle in the abandoned hall of Torpedo Factory.

The Ballet Section of Croatian National Theater Ivan pl. Zajec and the ballet troupe CeDeCe of Portugal have coproduced and will perform two plays on 8 and 9 July: “Penelopa” ballet by Luis Sous and the premiere “Pjesme nad pjesmama” by Stasa Zurovac. On 10 and 11 July, Post Theater New York/ Berlin/ Tokyo skinSITEs will have a video-performance at a special location, etc. The opera spectacle “Tosca” by Giacomo Puccini will be given at three cultural and historical locations in Rijeka – the first act will be performed in the Capuchin Church of the Lady of Lourdes, the second in the Maritime and Historical Museum of the Croatian Littoral Rijeka, and the third one on Trsatska gradina. The formal closing ceremony of Rijeka Summer Nights will be held on 25 July and will include a presentation of the best event/ the most complete performance award for Rijeka Summer Nights 2008, as well as audience awards.

Source: press.croatia.hr

 Here are some useful links for you:

• travel guide for Rijeka
  
• rijeka24.com
• Videos Rijeka
  
• Vacation in  Rijeka

This season, restaurants and hotels in the tourist centers of Crikvenica, Selce, Dramalj and Jadranovo will offer tourists some thirty autochthonous Crikvenica dishes. Their originality is confirmed by a certificate issued by the Gastronomy Committee comprising experienced chefs and restaurant operators. The project is entitled Autochthonous Cuisine of Crikvenica – Our Intangible Heritage, and it certified the autochthonous cuisine and restaurants in the town of Crikvenica.

The project was organized by the Town of Crikvenica, the Town Tourist Board, and the Gastronomy Committee that decided to refresh the gastronomic offer of Crikvenica by food from the past. Unique in Croatia, this project is a contribution to the celebration of 120 years of tourism in Crikvenica. It is important to say that the chefs who wanted the certificate were required to pass a gastronomic course. 25 chefs, eight hotels and ten restaurants they work in were awarded the certificate. To maintain
the quality of the facilities and offerings, the certificate is issued for only a year, and the course for preparation of certified
Crikvenica dishes will be held every year for new interested chefs and restaurant operators. The presentation of the project dealing with the autochthonous cuisine of Crikvenica is number twenty in a series of quality cultural tourism projects organized by the Cultural Tourism Business Club, established in 2004 by the Association for Cultural Tourism attached to the Croatian Chamber of Economy.

Source: press.croatia.hr

Here are some useful links for you:

• crikvenica24.com
• travel guide for Crikvenica
• all about Crikvenica
• Videos from Crikvenica
• Vacation in Crikvenica

Hotel Aurora, operating within Jadranka Hoteli, a member of Jadranka concern of Mali Losinj, was provided with four stars and new facilities following its reconstruction. The hotel has almost 400 accommodation units, including those adapted to the disabled. In addition to thorough renovations of all areas within the reconstruction process, the hotel was also provided with a wellness center on two levels and a multipurpose congress hall seating 400 people, as well as a conference hall.

The reconstruction of Hotel Aurora is the first stage of the comprehensive project for reconstruction of accommodation facilities within Jadranka Hoteli. Reconstruction of Hotel Vespera will begin in October of this year and reconstruction of Hotel Punta will begin in the autumn of 2009, which will be followed by demolition of the present Hotel Helios and construction of a new one under the same name. The plan also provides for reconstruction of Hotel Alhambra. The entire project should be completed by 2012, and the total value of the investment, including substantial investment in HR training and scholarships, will amount to 80 million euros, 24.4 million euros of which will be invested by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

Source: press.croatia.hr

Here are some useful links for  you:

• Losinj24.com
• travel guide for Losinj
• all about Losinj Island
• Videos from Losinj
• Vacation in Losinj

After a voyage through many cities in Croatia, the famous statue of Apoxiomen will be on display in the Ethnographic Museum in Split until the end of September. The magnificent ancient statue of a young athlete dating back to the 2nd century B.C. has not ceased to attract the attention of domestic and international public ever since its discovery. In 1996, a Belgian tourist spotted the statue underwater next to the islet of Vela Orjula not far from Mali Losinj, after which it was extracted from the sea and restored by experts from the Croatian Conservation Institute with support of experts from Florence. The statute has so far been exhibited in Zagreb, Osijek and Rijeka, and it has also taken a trip to Florence where around eighty thousand visitors saw it.

The statue is considered to be a true masterpiece of ancient art, it is fully preserved, and was most probably made by Lysippus, a famous ancient sculptor. It is one of the few large preserved Greek bronze statues in the world – a similar one was found in Ephesus in the 19th century and is currently in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, while a head without the body is kept in Texas. There are several more replicas of Apoxiomen in the world, but they are made of different materials. After it completes its voyage across Croatia, the unique statue of Apoxiomen will be permanently exhibited in Mali Losinj, in the area where it was found.

Source: press.croatia.hr

Here are useful links for this theme:

• Losinj24.com
• travel guide for Losinj Island
• all about Losinj
• Videos from Losinj
• Vacation in Losinj

An increasingly great number of tourists visiting the city of Rijeka have as of recently been able to visit historical landmarks after obtaining information on them in a new way – on backlight boards detailing everything to know about each landmark in five languages. Ten backlight info boards have been set up so far, explaining the history, interesting facts, traditions, analyses and archive pictures of sites and monuments in Croatian, English, German, Italian and French.

The backlight info board project was implemented by the Rijeka Tourist Board in cooperation with the City of Rijeka; the Tourist Board takes credit for the entire project preparation, including the conception of the info board design, their content and implementation. Rijeka has thus joined the numerous tourist destinations informing their guests on important historical locales this way. It is now easier for tourist to sightsee and understand the history of this city rich in cultural and historical monuments, cultural events and loads of entertainment for all generations. The backlight info board project continues – thanks to it, the city of Rijeka and the popular religious destination Trsat in Rijeka are expected to become even more interesting.

Source: press.croatia.hr

Here are useful links for this theme:

• rijeka24.com
• travel guide for Rijeka
• all about Rijeka
• Videos from Rijeka
• Vacation in Rijeka

Visitors to the town of Krk on the island of Krk in the region of  Kvarner have conceived a boat excursion called the Treasure Hunt, based on this region’s history. The legend of the pirates dates back to the times when Krk was a target to tradesmen from all continents. As it happens, a horrible robbery took place at sea in front of Krk in 1524, during which the Pirates of Plavnik intercepted a commercial galley carrying valuable cargo in the strait between the two islands. The smoke from the burnt ship alarmed the duke’s guard who sank the pirate ship, while the only surviving pirate managed to save himself by swimming to the island of Plavnik where he buried the most valuable things from the robbed ship. All track of the pirate was lost, and years later he sought a guide to take him to Plavnik. His intention was frustrated by an unsuccessful hunt for him, which only resulted in a mysterious map containing instructions on how to get to the buried treasure. Despite the fact that the duke put a high price on his head, the search for the treasure continues. The staging of the event, from the maritime battle in Krk Port to the pirate attack, is a two-day introduction to a daylong excursion to the island of Plavnik – in addition to pirate bandannas, the participants will also be provided with a map containing the position of the mysterious treasure.

Even if they fail to find the buried valuables, the excursionists will surely benefit from the trip. The Treasure Hunt excursion, conceived by the Krk Tourist Board and the Tourist Shipper Subsection of the Sole Traders Association of Krk, will be arranged on a weekly basis or as requested by closed groups.

Source: press.croatia.hr

Here are  some useful links for you:

• krk24.com
• travel guide for Krk
• all about Krk Island
• Videos from Krk
• Vacation in Krk