sibenik times
THE
ISSUE 22 | THURSDAY, APRIL 30
TH
2009 | YEAR II
POWERED BY
šibenskilist
Da y o f t he C i t y o f Vod ice
The city celebrates the most special day in the calendar. The occasion will be marked from the1st of May until the 11th with a full program of events. It’s sure to be a time to remember and theprocession through the city is always a spectacle.
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sibenik times
THURSDAY APRIL 30
TH
2009.
Welcome to our beautiful city and to the fourth edition of thesecond season of “The Sibenik Ti-mes”. It’s a big week for the Sibe-nik County with plenty of thingsto do and see. A week of events in which we can enjoy not only thetastes and aromas of cuisines butalso the sights and sounds of bra-ss bands and processions. Firstly the town of Skradin is hostingan Eco Fair in which naturally based products will be on offerto try and buy. The event will lastfor two days from the 1st to the2nd of May and after the previ-ous years it should prove to be abig hit. I personally am a fan of naturally grown and producedfoods and drinks and avoid GMenhanced foods like the plague.The second, and by no means le-ss important event, is the Day of the City of Vodice. Although thisspecial day for the city is only onone day the program is full and will last a full week. City Days are very important in Croatia and aregreatly respected and always pullbig crowds. The city is Vodice isone of the most picturesque notonly in the Sibenik County but al-so on the Dalmatian coast. If youhave time to catch up with oneof the events whilst in the area I would strongly recommend it, if only to use it as an excuse to visit Vodice. With all these events andhappenings I’m keeping my fin-gers tightly crossed that the weat-her doesn’t let us down. If we areto believe what the forecasterstell us, and I don’t, then we’re infor a mixed week. However my optimistic side tells me that thesun will shine non-stop.
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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
TOURIST SEASON OFF TOA SUCCESSFUL STARTCROATIA MULLS SUNDAY OPENING HOURS
CROATIAN NAUTICAL TOURISMDEVELOPMENT STRATEGY
CROATIAN ISLANDS VOTED AS THEMOST BEAUTIFUL IN THE WORLD
More than 60,000 tourists ha- ve spent their Eastern holidayson the Adriatic coast, as many as during the best past Croatiantourism seasons. It was also tenper cent more than expected,according to the daily Slobod-na Dalmacija. Istria welcomed30,000, and Split-Dalmatiancounty 6,500, tourists. Twohundred hotels were open onthe Adriatic coast. Accordingto the Zadar tourist board, theZadar area was visited by 5,000to 6,000 tourists. Zadar touristboard head Zvonko Supe sa-id today (Tues): "This was thebest Easter since the end of the war. It appears the season willbe good despite many negativeprognoses. We are pleased thatso many tourists from Austria,Germany, Slovenia, Spain andHungary were here this year. Also, thanks to Ryanair, we havehad 450 guests from Scandina- vian during the last three days."Supe added that many Croatshad also visited Zadar this year.With 3,500 passengers thus farin April, Zadar airport has haddouble the number compared tothe same month last year, accor-ding to the 057info.hr website.Most passengers arrived on Rya-nair from London, Edinburgh,Dublin, and Stockholm and onGermanwings from Cologne andStuttgart. In the last three days,Split airport has seen the arrivaland departure of 6,000 tourists,of whom 4,500 were foreigners.Twenty per cent of the hotels onthe coast have reported betterresults than last year. Accordingto the Dubrovnik tourist board,around 5,000 guests spent theirEaster holidays in the Dubrov-nik area, an increase of 30 percent compared to last year. Mostguests were from Spain, France,Great Britain, Italy and Japan,but there were also many Cro-ats.The Croatian government isconsidering proposals to allowretailers to open on Sundays, ithas been reported. Currently,retailers in the popular Adriaticdestination can only sell on aSunday during summer, whenmost tourists visit the country,the Croatian Times reported.But pressure from several townsin the Balkan nation and theCroatianChambers of Trades andCrafts could lead to extendedhours all year round. Referen-cing an article in Poslovni Dne- vik, the Croatian Times claimsthat Prime Minister Ivo Sanaderis close to reversing the regulati-on, which was initially introdu-ced in January of this year. Re-gardless of shop opening hours,Croatia has reportedly attracted60,000 tourists already in 2009,according to statistics publishedby Slobodna Dalmacija.The readers of the Spanishissue of the Conde Nast Travelermagazine has awarded the firstprize to the "islands of the Cro-atian Adriatic" in the category of the most beautiful islands in the world. Readers of the magazinein voted in fifteen categories,for the best city hotel, best re-sort, best wellness-central, thebest destination, beautiful city,beautiful island, the best airli-ne company and others. In thestrong competition from theGreek islands, Corsica, PuertoRica and Mauritius, the mostbeautiful islands in the world were awarded to "the islandsof the Croatian Adriatic." Inte-restingly, the readers couldn’tdecide which island of the ma-ny Croatian islands is the mostbeautiful. Hence they awardedthe prize to them all.The Croatian Government adopted a strategy forthe promotion of nautical tourism over the next tenyears, according to which no more than 15,000 ber-ths would be built during that period, as opposed to33,000 as initially planned by regional authorities.The strategy specifies 15 top locations, which are:Rovinj, Pula - St. Katharine, Rijeka - Porto Baros, No- valja, Pakostane, Zadar, Sibenik - Mandalina, DugiRat, Split - Znjan, Marina, Vis, Dubrovnik - Gruz,Slano, Orebic and Vela Luka. Over the next ten ye-ars the Croatian Government estimates and plans toconstruct 5 thousand new berths in existing portsand marinas; 5 thousand berths will be built in newlocations along the Croatian coast and islands, as well as 5 thousand sites for the accommodation of vessels on land, i.e. dry docks. Further plans inclu-de the building of marinas for mega-yachts close toairports and large cities where currently the already existing infrastructure is not able to accommodatelarge vessels. All the mentioned steps are expectedto secure growth in the nautical tourism in Croa-tia during the next ten years at estimated rate of 10 percent. Croatian Adriatic is one of the leadingnautical destinations on the world and the CroatianGovernment is taking steps to secure that position.
THURSDAY APRIL 30
TH
2009.
sibenik times
3
DID YOU KNOW?
•Vodiceisacoastaltownlocated
in a wide bay, 11 km northwestfrom the town of Šibenik, the cen-tre of Šibenik-Knin County.
•ThefirstsettlementsdevelopedintheVodiceinteriorasearlyas
the prehistoric age.
•In1891,Vodicebecameaninde
-pendent municipality comprisingof seven different boroughs.
•TheresortofVodiceisoneofthe
most well known tourist destina-tions on the Croatian Adriatic.
•GeorgeBernardShawoncevis
-ited the Kornati islands, and wrotethe following “On the last day of
theCreationGoddesiredtocrown
his work, and thus created the Kor-nati Islands out of tears, stars andbreath”
•ThecityofSibenikhasapopula
-tion of 51,553 taken in a census in2001, making it the eleventh big-gest Croatian city.
•DuringtheCroatianHomeland
War, Šibenik was heavily attackedby the Yugoslav National Armyand Serbian paramilitary troops.
•In1412thecityofSibenikwasconqueredbytheVenetiansand
fell under their rule.
•In1966amodernartificialis
-land-marina was built in the townof Rogoznica.
•Onthe28thofAugust1895
on the Krka Falls, one of the firstmulti-phase electricity grids in theworld was put into operation.
•In1518theinhabitantsof
Rogoznica fled in fear of the Turk-ish army to the safety of the near-by islet.
•Thehighestmountainpeakin
Croatia is the mountain of Dinara
whichis1831metersabovesea
level.
CROATIA - ONE OF THE COOLESTDESTINATIONS FOR THE BRITS
SIBENIK SCHOOLS OFFER SPECIAL PROGRAM
THE FIRST SOLAR-POWER PLANT WILL BE BUILT IN SIBENIK
British newspaper "Mirror" selected Croatia,Egypt, Turkey and Hungary as the most attractiveand the coolest destinations for British tourists forthis year. "Mirror" claims that, because of the globalfinancial crises if holidaying in one of these four co-untries you’ll get the best value for your money. Al-though Greece and Spain remain high on the holiday wish list, the real bargains are outside the Euro Zone, where you can enjoy the sun, sea and fine food formuch less. In Croatia prices for hotels, restaurants,spa centres, and boat travel, are usually around 20percent lower than in other European countries.The maritime school "Adriamare" inSibenik is starting a new educational pro-gramme the aim of which is to teach sea-farers how to deal with pirates. Adriama-re head Nikolina Cigic said today (Weds)Croatian seafarers would be among thefirst in the world to learn about piratesand their tactics and aims. Cigic addedstudents would also learn how to avoidtheir ambushes and how should one beha- ve if captured by pirates. The educationalprogramme will also provide informationabout negotiating with pirates, the daily Slobodna Dalmacija has reported. CaptainGordan Baraka, one of Adriamare’s fo-unders, said: "At this moment, more than20,000 Croatian sailors are on 5,000 to6,000 ships around the world, and that isa huge number. All of them are potential victims of pirates, who are becoming theglobal threat of the 21st century." In itseducational programme, Adriamare willuse the experience and knowledge of Isra-eli maritime companies, the ships of whichpirates avoid because Israeli crews knowhow to deal with them. The programmehas been set up according to the criteria of the International Maritime Organization(IMO). Lecturers will be Croat seafarers,maritime inspectors, managers and capta-ins who have dealt with or been capturedby pirates. The course will start in June. Adriamare was the first school to offereducational programmes for seafarers onsafety on the sea 20 years ago, and it ho-sted a world conference on safety on thesea two years ago. The school is also pla-nning a world conference on piracy.The first Croatian solar-power plant willbe built in Promina municipality, northe-ast of Tribunj, in Sibenik-Knin county. Themunicipality’s urban plan reserves around250 hectares of land for the power plant,the daily Jutarnji list has reported. If thelocal government agrees, the first solar-power plant will be build by the ZagrebNexus investment fund. Nexus represen-tatives Miha Jager and Marko Mahek said today (Tues) the solar-power plant would have a capacity of 60 MW, 10 MWmore than the first and only Europeansolar-power plant in Spain. The plant,construction of which will take two yearsand employ 300 workers, will cost aro-und 80 million Euros. Once finished, theplant will employ almost 100 workers, 80per cent of whom will be specialists. TheNexus representatives added that Croatiantechnology and equipment would be usedin construction of the plant. Jager and Ma-hek added Nexus wanted to build anothersolar-power plant near the town of Drnis.
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The Sibenik Times, April 30th
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