sibenik times

THE

ISSUE 21 | SATURDAY, APRIL 25

2009 | YEAR II

šibenskilist

B lessed B y Na t u re

T he pic turesque to wn o f S kradin wi l l p la y hos t to an Eco and E t hno fes ti va l t his wee k.

sibenik times

saturday april 25

2009.

Welcome to our beautiful ci-ty and to the third edition of thesecond season of “The Sibenik Ti-mes”. It’s been a mixed week forCroatia in the press, with goodnews coming in the form of eco-logical matters and a BBC reportbeing blown out of proportion.I guess its all good marketing forCroatia for as they say “there is nosuch thing as bad publicity.” Cer-tainly Croatia being nominatedin the top twenty countries in the world in standards of cleanlinessby Forbes magazine was welcomenews. I have to say that after livingin Croatia for eleven years thisdidn’t really come as a surprise tome. Almost every city I have visitedin my time here has been a modelof cleanliness, from the architectu-re that looks like it’s washed downevery morning to the clear AdriaticSea that is without doubt one of the cleanest in the whole world.Citizens seem to take pride in theircountry and I can understand why. As the tourist season warms upand the country prepares itself fora massive influx of guests the newsthat Croatia is cleaner than mostother European countries will allhelp with what could prove to be agreat season. So as you’re enjoyingyourself on the beach or walkingin the city remember to that youare a ambassador of your country and take care not to damage theenvironment around you. After aslightly uncertain start the poin-ters look good for this season andonce again the Sibenik could seerecord numbers of guests this year.My fingers are crossed and the Si-benik County is ready to welcomeeveryone with open arms.

FROM THE EDITOR

SPEAK UP!

We would love to hear from you.Please write or send an e-mail tous about your stay in Sibenik. Yo-ur comments are valuable to usand the most interesting letterswill be published every week. In-teresting and unusual photos arealso welcome. Thanks.MARK THOMASmark.thomas@sibenik-times.com

THE GOVERNMENT MAY ALLOW SHOPSTO OPEN ON SUNDAYS

CROATIA REGISTERED RECORD SALES OF FLIGHT TICKETS IN 2008

CROATIA OPENS ARMS TO RUSSIAN, UKRAINE TOURISM

WHYCROATIA, NEW PROJECT LAUNCHEDFOR TOURISTS ATTRACTION

MONUMENT TO CROATIAN KINGZVONIMIR UNVEILED IN KNIN

The government may give shops permission tostay open on Sundays throughout the year. At pre-sent, shops may remain open on Sundays only du-ring the summer tourist season. Prime Minister IvoSanader is planning to abolish the ban on Sunday openings introduced in January 2009, accordingto Poslovni dnevnik (Business Daily). The daily said Sanader would do so during the next 10 daysbefore upcoming local elections. Dubrovnik MayorDubravka Suica, who gave city shops permissi-on to open for cruise tourists on Sundays from 1 April, has already violated the ban. Many Adriatictowns and the Croatian Chamber of Trades andCrafts (HOK) have expressed opposition to theban. They have already asked Sanader to allowshops to remain open on Sundays even before thestart of the summer tourist season. A monument dedicated to Croatian King Dmi-tar Zvonimir will be unveiled in Knin at 11am on18 April. Knin, in Sibenik-Knin county, was thecapital of the Kingdom of Croatia around 1080during the rule of Zvonimir, which has led toKnin being known as the “City of Croatian Kings”or “Zvonimir’s City.” Zvonimir was crowned on8 October 1076 at Solin near Split and reigneduntil 1089. The monument, to be located in ci-ty park “Trg Oluje” (Storm Square), is the work of Croatian sculptor Aleksandar Guberina fromSibenik and has been financed by Knin and the“Braca Hrvatskog Zmaja” (Brothers of the Croa-tian Dragon) association in Zagreb. The unveilingceremony will include a Mass and a procession.The “Napredak” association and the “Knin klapa”band will provide the music for the event. A group of Croatian internet users led by Boris Licina Borja havelaunched a new initiative named “WhyCroatia” to promote Croatiantourism. Their goal is to collect as many videos as possible abo-ut Croatia lasting no longer than three minutes on website www. whycroatia.org/, where prospective visitors can find out why they should visit Croatia. The organizers said the promotion would notcost anything and anyone could participate. The initiative offers video categories from sport to food. All who want to participatecan shoot a video, put it on You Tube and send a link to organisers.Croatia registered a record number of sales of tickets for commercial flights in2008. The 89 Croatian travel agencies withan International Air Transport Association(IATA) licence sold 292,500 plane ticketslast year, 8.6 per cent more than in 2007.The tickets were worth 600 million kunasor 81 million Euros, 6.25 per cent morethan in 2007, according to the “Business.hr” website. The Croatian Association of Travel Agencies claimed today (Tues) thesales had set a record. The association ad-ded the figures for 2009 would not be asgood since there had been a sales decline of 27 per cent in the first two months of 2009compared to the same months last year.Croatia has opened its arms to Russi-an and Ukrainian holidaymakers withthe news it will be relaxing visa require-ments. As reported by Reuters, the Balkannation’s government is also looking at anumber of other methods of encouragingforeign tourists to visit Croatia. Croatia’stourism minister, Damir Bajs, told a natio-nal news agency that the government wo-uld be easing measures for visitors fromthe two former Soviet countries. Mr Bajstold Hina: “The tourism ministry propo-ses to scrap visa regime for Russian andUkrainian citizens during the summerseason and also some fees [on hoteliers]imposed by local communities.” Reutersnoted that officials in the country wouldbe meeting later this week to discussfurther measures on boosting Croatia’stourism appeal. Figures published by theCroatian Bureau of Statistics earlier thisyear showed that the number of travellers visiting the country from both Russia andUkraine increased last year.

saturday april 25

2009.

sibenik times

DID YOU KNOW?

•ThecoastallengthofCroatiais5,835km.•In2005,Britainhadmovedupfrom12thplaceto8thplaceinthelistofcountrieswiththemosttouristsvisitingCroatia.Thenumbersofvisi

torshasbeenrisingsteadilyeveryyear.Britonsaretopofthetableofhighest-spendingtourists.•AntunVrančić,borninŠibenikin1504,travelledasadiplomattoEng

landtothecourtofKingHenryVIII.•TitocametoLondonin1953asthefirstCommunistleaderevertovisitBritain.HearrivedonhisyachtGaleb,whichwasescorteduptheThamesbytheRoyalNavy.HereturnedonGalebtoSplit.•ManyBritishshipsandaircraftweresunkorshotdowninWorldWar2.Oneofthem,MotorTorpedoBoat655,wasfilmedforthefirsttimebyaCroatianteamontheseabedoftheAdriaticinJuly2005.•CroatiawontheDaviscupin2005.•Inthesummerof1936KingEd

wardVIIIcametoCroatiawithWallisSimpson,whomhelaterabdicatedtomarry.•CroatiaisbiggerthanBelgium,Denmark,HollandandSwitzerland.•DalmatiaisthecoastalregionofCroatiafromtheKvarnerRivierainthenorthtoDubrovnikinthesouth.•CroatiaisslightlysmallerthanWestVirginia.•Thebook101Dalmatianswaswrit

tenbyBritishauthorDodieSmithandpublishedin1956.•Amongaltogether47EuropeancountriesCroatiais26thwithrespecttoitspopulation•ThattheirisisthenationalflowerofCroatia.•ThatCroatshavetheirownscript.ItiscalledGlagolitic,originatesfromthe9thcentury,andwasinregularuse(togetherwithLatinscript)untilthe18thcentury.•ThattheDalmatian,averydistinctbreedofdog,wasnamedafterDalma

tiaandtheIllyriantribeofDalmati

NATO CEREMONY MARKS ENTRANCE OF ALBANIA AND CROATIA

POLAND BACKS CROATIA FOR EU ENTRY

Officials in Poland have backed Croa-tia for entry to the European Union (EU)in the near future, it has been reported.On a trip to the capital Zagreb, a top ran-king Polish politician praised Croatia andgave his country’s seal approval for theBalkan nation’s admission to both theEU and NATO, according to Hina newsagency. As translated by Javno, the Polishparliament’s speaker, Bronislaw Komo-rovski, told the news agency: “Poland is very interested in seeing Croatia enterEU and NATO. “From our experience weknow that all … issues are more easily solved through the process of integrati-on.” He added that country was “coun-ting on” Croatia being an ally of Poland’sin the two regional organisations. Figurespublished by Croatia’s Bureau of Statisticslast month showed that the number of Polish travellers visiting the country roseto more than 417,000 last year. A NATO flag-raising ceremony yester-day punctuated the entrance of Albaniaand Croatia into the 60-year old collecti- ve security alliance. Attending the eventat NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgi-um, was NATO Secretary General Jaapde Hoop Scheffer and the heads of stateof the newly added member countries.“The accession of Albania and Croatiademonstrates that the idea of freedomis irresistible,” de Hoop Scheffer said. “Itdemonstrates that nations and peoplesacross the Atlantic come together whenthey are given the chance to make theirown free choice. This is the clearest de-monstration that in today’s Europe, ge-ography no longer is destiny.” The enlar-gement, which became official April 1,marks only the sixth time the organizati-on has expanded its borders, and bringsto 28 the number of members now inthe alliance, six decades after a dozennations endorsed the North Atlantic Tre-aty at an April 4, 1949 ceremony here.De Hoop Scheffer said membership for Albania and Croatia marks the well-de-served reward for many years of hardpreparation. “It is a full vindication of the vision of those who have, for years,seen their countries’ future in NATO,”he said. “Both countries will now havea seat at the table where key decisionsare made to shape Euro-Atlantic securi-ty. And both countries can now enjoy theultimate security guarantee of Article 5of the Washington Treaty.” Article 5 sti-pulates that an attack against one NATOmember is tantamount to an attack aga-inst the whole alliance. Albanian PrimeMinister Sali Berisha expressed pride inraising his nation’s flag alongside thoseof other alliance members. “For this flagand the nation it represents, this day isthe greatest day after the declaration of independence of Albania,” he said. Croa-tian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said theday was one of joy and celebration forCroatians. “We have raised the Croatianflag at NATO Headquarters, which willrepresent, alongside the other 27 alli-ed banners, the shared values, such asfreedom, peace, democracy, rule of law,human rights, and social market econo-my,” Sanader said. “After many testingyears and despite all difficulties, we canproudly say that we have succeeded.”