Croatia Travel Blog

Archive for the ‘Life in Croatia’ Category

The summer season has barely started and Croatians visiting the coast and islands are outraged by the high prices of food. Accustomed to paying 5KN (€0.70) for a single scoop of ice cream in Zagreb, visitors were shocked to discover that the same little scoop costs 9KN (€1.25) in Rovinj. According to Vecernji list newspaper, it wasn’t only ice cream that seemed  expensive to seaside visitors. Readers reported paying 15KN (€2) for a cup of black coffee in Hvar, 70KN (€9.60) for a pizza in Rijeka and found that a seafood dinner ran about 170KN (€23) on the coast as opposed to 120KN (€16.50) on the continent. And that’s not even considering Dubrovnik which is generally even more expensive. When questioned, merchants offered the excuse that a short season leaves them no alternative but to grab as much money as they can as fast as they can.

With that kind of attitude, a short season may well become no season at all if tourists find they can get better value elsewhere.

See more on travel costs & prices in Croatia.

The gay and lesbian community in Croatia is preparing for the annual Pride Parade to be held on June 19 in Zagreb. The theme of this year’s parade is “Freedom of sexual expression and diversity of sexual practice”. Although there is certainly a lot of the latter in Croatia, the “freedom” part of the theme is a long way from being achieved. For historical and religious reasons, Croatia has long clung to rigid definitions of sexual identity which has disadvantaged the LGBT community. Discrimination is rampant and violent attacks on gays are not rare.

The Pride Parade has taken place yearly since 2002 and often draws angry and hateful crowds. This year may be no exception, particularly since a proposed constitutional change will protect sexual orientation. Introduced under pressure from the EU to bring Croatia’s human rights legislation into line with European standards, the proposed change has already provoked a public outcry.

The Pride Parade is the culmination of “Zagreb Pride” a series of local events celebrating LGBT identity and agitating for political change. This year’s schedule includes a roundtable with government representatives to discuss the proposed constitutional change. Despite this year’s slogan, “Croatia can swallow this”, it’s not at all clear that it can.

See more on Zagreb Pride and on gay travel in Croatia.

Once again, Croatia has changed its anti-smoking law. At the beginning of 2009, a strict anti-smoking law went into effect immediately followed by an outcry from the hospitality industry. The law was amended to allow a six-month grace period for bar owners to comply with requirements for no-smoking sections in bars larger than 50 sq m and ventilation systems for smaller bars.

Now, the government has announced a system of subsidies for those who cannot afford the ventilation systems. Also, bars can request special permission to become “smoking establishments” but the process is expensive. Few have applied.

See more on smoking in Croatia.

At the end of a suspenseful presidential campaign the results are in: the next President of Croatia will be Ivo Josipovic of the center-left Social Democratic Party. With 60.29 percent of the vote, Josipovic handily beat former Zagreb mayor, Milan Bandic who only received 39.71 percent. Mr. Josipovic carried all Croatia’s counties except historically right-leaning Lika-Senj. The Croatian diaspora can vote in Presidential elections and, true to form, voted for the more right-wing candidate.

The largest issue in the campaign was corruption. Mr Bandic was perceived as tainted while Mr Josipovic promised to restore confidence in the government, police and court system. A successful battle against corruption will smooth the way towards Croatia’s eventual accession to the EU.

See more facts about Croatia.

The Croatian government just can’t seem to find the right balance. At the beginning of this year an anti-smoking law banned lighting up in all bars, cafes and restaurants. Despite the obvious health benefits, the lucrative hospitality industry went into overdrive campaigning against the law. As the Croatian economy is touch-and-go right now, the government was under a lot of pressure to bolster anything that kept people spending money. So they caved in–more or less.

Last week a new proposal was cobbled together that aims to satisfy anyone addicted to smoking in bars. Restaurants and all public places will remain smoke-free but bars have a little more slack. Bars larger than 50 square meters must separate their smoking and non-smoking areas and improve their ventilation systems. Smaller places can decide whether or not to allow smoking, but if they do they must ventilate and ventilate well. Plus they must put up signs warning that smoking is dangerous. As if you didn’t know.

See more on smoking in Croatia.