Croatia at the Crossroads

 CROATIAN HOUSE and AMAC-North Capitol

invite you to attend presentation

“Croatia at the Crossroads: Foreign policy challenges facing the country following recent national elections,” by Jeffrey T. Kuhner.


Jeffrey T. Kuhner is a historian and the New Europe columnist for The Washington Times. He is currently writing a book, "Fatal Embrace: the Croat-Serb conflict in the 20th century." It is expected to be completed by the end of 2004. Several recent articles written by Mr. Kuhner for The Washington Times can be found at Croatian House web site at www.croatianhouse.org

The event will be held at 7:30 P.M. on February 12, 2004 at McLean Community Center, McLean, VA.


Address:1234 Ingleside Avenue, McLean, VA 22101
Telephone: 703-790-0123
Web Site: www.mcleancenter.org 
E-Mail: mcleancenter@hotmail.com 
 

Do Skorog Vidjenja

Hi Nenad,

Heading home immediately, but thought I'd give you the links I found today. The dictionary one is a subset of the dalmacija one. The dictionary has an English-Croatian converter that doesn't seem to work. But, it has a list of common words that I used to start learning some basic Croatian. My goals are modest here, I started taking "French 101" when I was in the 4th grade, and am still working on it!

http://www.dalmacija.net/dictionary.htm

http://dalmacija.net/home/


Dovidenja!
Dino

rullid@yahoo.com

For virtual Tour please click on the following link:

http://www.mariogallery.com/vt/vt.php

Hello,

I finished Virtual Tour of the exhibit and I would like to remind you about reception this Sunday 3-5 pm at
Great Neck Arts Center
113 Middle Neck Rd
Great Neck, NY

For virtual Tour please click on the following link:

http://www.mariogallery.com/vt/vt.php

and give it some time to upload, there are 6 different views of the Gallery,

I'm looking forward to see you there,

Sincerely,

Mario Novak
Mario.N@MarioNovak.com
 

Melem za ranjenu dušu

NISU STAROMODNA TRADICIJA KOJU JE PROGUTALO VRIJEME KOMPJUTORA I MOBILNE TELEFONIJE

Melem za ranjenu dušu
Ljubavna pisma su cista, materijalizirana ljubav
Kad ste posljednji put u životu napisali ljubavno pismo? Jeste li pažljivo birali boju i velicinu kuverte te olovku kojom cete svoje osjecaje ispisati na mirisnom i podatnom papiru? Koliko ste truda uložili da romanticno pismo bude ispisano lijepim i citkim rukopisom i koje ste rijeci koristili? Pamtite li strepnju pri odlasku do poštanskog šaltera ili nakon ubacivanja ljubavnog pisma u sanducic? Što ako ga netko ukrade, a možda nikad i ne stigne do voljene osobe?!
A nekoliko dana nakon toga redovito provjeravanje dolaska pošte na kucnu adresu, ispitivanje ukucana o pogrešci otvaranja pisama s vašim imenom... Hoce li mi odgovoriti?
Jesu li ta vremena u kojima je ispisivanje pisama izabranicima svoga srca, supružnicima, ljubavnicima, bio civilizacijski ritual i cesto jedina moguca komunikacija medu udaljenim dušama zaista dio romanticne prošlosti iz bivših stoljeca?
Ne, ništa od svega toga nije opravdanje za cinjenicu da smo postali emocionalno lijena i osjecajno zapuštena generacija, kojoj su najbolji prijatelji postali kucna racunala i televizori, tvrdi americki psiholog John Dawson. On ipak upozorava da ne treba biti previše dramatican ili okrutan prema modernom dobu te da još ima nade za sve nas koji se barem malo zamislimo nad svim pitanjima postavljenima na pocetku teksta.
- Ljude treba razbuditi iz elektronickog sna u kojem žive, treba odškrinuti vrata i pustiti malo svježeg zraka medu ustajale dane i mjesece u kojima samo jurimo za novcem i zadovoljavanjem osnovnih životnih potreba.
Treba im u ruke gurnuti "Malog princa", da ga još jednom procitaju, a za terapiju sentimentalne komunikacije predlažem i moju knjigu nazvanu "Pedeset najvecih ljubavnih pisama" - porucuje Newyorcanin David H. Lowenherz.
Godinama skupljajuci i otkupljujuci originalna ljubavna pisma koja su poznati svjetski politicari, pisci, glumci i umjetnici pisali svojim najdražima odlucio je objaviti posebnu knjigu u kojoj je predstavio najintimnije detalje iz njihove ljubavne korespondencije. Knjiga je u Americi doslovce razgrabljena, ali važniji od financijskog ucinka upravo je onaj emocionalni, kojim je i sam autor najzadovoljniji, jer je potaknula rasprave o snazi ljubavnih rijeci i pisama, o vremenima kad se nije ismijavalo one koji se ne stide napisati i recenice koje pršte od emocija, obicno skrivenih.
- Živimo u vremenu elektronske pošte, brzih poruka ispisanih na malim uredskim papiricima, poruka poslanih preko mobitela ili ostavljenih na telefonskim sekretaricama.
Tko u 21. stoljecu ima nekoliko sati za duga lamentiranja o ljubavi i osjecajima? Postoje li uopce posljednji Mohikanci medu romanticarima - pita se Lowenherz.
Odgovore je pronašao u velikim ljubavnim pismima iz prošlosti. Poznatom skladatelju Wolfgangu Amadeusu Mozartu dok je 1789. godine boravio u Berlinu toliko je nedostajala supruga Constanze da joj je u deset dana ispisao 11 pisama. U jednom od njih, ciji se original cuva u Pierpont Morgan knjižnici u New Yorku, talentirani glazbenik tepao je ženi da je mali mišic i opisivao svoja stanja cežnje opravdavajuci se da su šašave rijeci dopuštene izmedu dvije voljene osobe.
"Molim te, voli me zauvijek kao što ja tebe volim. Šaljem ti milijun poljubaca", pisao je Mozart. Engleski kralj Henry VIII. koji je imao šest žena toliko se zaljubio u posljednju, Anne Boleyn, da je prekinuo odnose s Vatikanom i osnovao Anglikansku crkvu. Prije vjencanja Henry je napisao da "svojoj ljubavi nudi sve što poželi i obecava da ce sve druge žene zaboraviti ako ona bude njegova".
Napoleon Bonaparte svojoj Josefini redovito je slao pisma sa osvajackih vojnih pohoda moleci je za vjernost i ljubav. Boraveci u Italiji 1796. godine Napoleon je pisao: "Draga Josefina, što radiš, što jedeš, što oblaciš i s kime se družiš? Mislio sam da sam ljubomoran ali ne, draga Josefina, ja te volim. I vjeruj mi, bio bih sretniji da ti sam moram naci ljubavnika da se zabavljaš nego da budeš nesretna i tužna bez mene. Josefina, izlazi van, zabavljaj se, idi u grad, ne boravi na selu. Još samo sedam mjeseci i vracam ti se. Cekaj me, Josefina!"
I Ernest Hemingway cesto je pisao ljubavna pisma, a cini se da nitko nije više uživao u tome od Nancy i Ronalda Reagana. Romantican je u mladosti bio i George Bush senior, koji je o svojoj Barbari sanjao dok je kao najmladi americki pilot sudjelovao u Drugom svjetskom ratu.Psiholog John Dawson tvrdi da ljubavna pisma iz naše mladosti svakako treba sacuvati, ali ne preporucuje ih citati nakon tragicnih ljubavnih prekida ili drugih emocionalnih potresa.
"Ljubavna pisma imaju pozitivnu energiju i unatoc vremenskom razmaku ona pobuduju tople vibracije i sjecanja na ljubav koja se cuva medu recenicama. Pisma su tragovi naše duše, oni su cista, materijalizirana ljubav koja poput svetih slicica ili amajlija mogu lijeciti naše emocionalne rane.
Kažem vam stoga da stanete na trenutak, ostavite sve obveze, neka cekaju djeca, kasnite na posao, otkažite dogovorene sastanke i otrgnite vrijeme za sebe i svoje nakupljene ljubavne recenice. Ispišite ih i pošaljite onome koga volite.
Ako nema takve osobe, ispišite pismo i darujte ga slucajnom prolazniku ili ubacite u nepoznati poštanski sanducic u susjednoj zgradi. Ne možete ništa izgubiti, a dobit cete puno!", porucuje Dawson
Jadranka Jureško-Kero


http://www.vecernji-list.hr/ONA/2004/01/31/Pages/melem.html

If you live in the United States, you can now order advance tickets for the film. It is now one of the best ways to show your support of the film. It is opening in over 2,000 theaters nationwide on February 25, 2004. For more details, please visit the following link:http://www.passion-movie.com/english/tickets.html

CLICK ON THIS LINK TO INSERT BANNER OR MOVIE POSTER:
http://www.passion-movie.com/promote/banner2.html


http://www.passion-movie.com

THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST is a vivid depiction of the last 12 hours of Jesus Christ's life.
 

Sometime around the year A.D. 30, in the Roman province of Palestine, an obscure Jewish carpenter named Jesus of Nazareth began to teach publicly and to proclaim the coming of a 'Kingdom of God.' For centuries, the Jewish people had expected the appearance of a promised deliverer known as the Messiah --a figure who would restore their ancient dignity, and free their sacred homeland from all evil and despair. In the minds of many, Jesus appeared to be this Messiah. Surrounded by a core group of twelve disciples, Jesus began to attract a massive following from among the common people of Galilee and Judea, who eventually praised him as their Messiah and King. However, Jesus also had many enemies in Jerusalem. The Sanhedrin, a governing senate composed of the leading Jewish priests and Pharisees, conspired to put Jesus to death.

With the aid of Judas Iscariot, a member of Jesus' own inner circle, the Sanhedrin succeeded in arresting Jesus, handing him over to the Roman secular authorities on unsubstantiated charges of treason against Rome. Although Jesus consistently maintained that his Kingdom was a heavenly and spiritual one, the Roman procurator Pontius Pilate, faced with the possibility of a riot, ordered that Jesus be taken outside the city and crucified as a common criminal.

MUKA KRISTOVA: živopisni prikaz posljednjih 12 sati života Isusa Krista.

Negdje oko 30. godine ljeta gospodnjega , u rimskoj provinciji Palestini nepoznati židovski tesar imenom Isus iz Nazareta poceo je s javim poducavanjem i proglašavanjem “Kraljevstva božjeg”. Stoljecima, Židovi su ocekivali dolazak obecanog spasitelja znanog kao Mesiju - osobu koja bi obnovila njihovo drevno dostojanstvo te oslobodila njihovu svetu domovinu od svog zla i ocaja. U srcima mnogih, upravo Isus je bio ocekivani Mesija. Okružen jezgrovitom grupom od dvanaestoro ucenika, Isus je zapoceo uvelike privlaciti svoje buduce sljedbenike među obicnim ljudima Galileje i Judeje, koji su ga na kraju krajeva slavili kako njihovog Mesiju i Kralja. Usprkos tome, Isus je imao i puno neprijatelja u Jeruzalemu. Sanhedrini, vladajuci senat sastavljen od vodecih židovskih svecenika i farizeja, zavjerom Isusa osuđuje na smrt.

Uz pomoc Jude Iskariotskog, jednog od njegovih dvanaestoro ucenika, Sanhedrini uspješno uhicuju Isusa, predajuci ga rimskim sekularnim vlastima pod nestvarnim optužbama izdaje protiv samog Rima. Iako je Isus naglašavao da je njegovo Kraljevstvo nebesko i duhovno, rimski prokurator Poncije Pilat, suocen s mogucnošcu pobune, naređuje da Isus bude izveden iz grada i raspet kao obican kriminalac.


Thanks for supporting THE PASSION. Can you help promote the film? We need to get as many supporters signed up on our website as possible. While THE PASSION will most definitely be released in theaters, your participation will help to get the movie into as many theaters as possible. By taking a moment to encourage others to visit the website and to complete the 'Support The Passion' form on our website, you can increase the likelihood that Mel Gibson's THE PASSION will be shown in a theater near you. For more details, please go to: http://www.passion-movie.com/
Help us get out the word! If you know of anyone who would be interested in this film, please let them know about it and ask them to visit the website. If you have your own website or newsletter with visitors who might be interested in this film, please feel free to post a link to our website. You can find graphics, text, and links for this purpose at the following link: http://www.passion-movie.com/promote/banner.html

If you live in the United States, you can now order advance tickets for the film. It is now one of the best ways to show your support of the film. It is opening in over 2,000 theaters nationwide on February 25, 2004. For more details, please visit the following link:http://www.passion-movie.com/english/tickets.html
 

Hi Nenad,
Here is most of the information to the movie.
Thanks for your help on this, I can't wait to see the movie myself.

Thanks again,
Katherin
katherin@mossprecision.com

Complete Croatia

Better sailing than Turkey, islands to rival those of Greece,
and a cuisine to match Italy's: it's the hot spot that
came in from the cold, says David Wickers

Ask anyone: Croatia is the hottest destination in the
Med this summer. The Dalmatian coast, they will tell
you, with its close-hauled constellation of 1,000
islands, is the "new Riviera"; while the Istrian
peninsula, with its Italian looks and flavours, is "the
new Tuscany". But these slick phrases miss the point.
Croatia isn't really a "new" anything: it is still very
much its old self. In the late 1980s, half a million
of us came to play here and almost universally loved
it, but during the civil war, we shifted our allegiance
to Spain, Greece and Turkey ? even though most of
Croatia was never touched by the conflict. Well, we're
finally back. About 170,000 British visitors are
expected in 2004, and 24 holiday companies are
featuring the country for the first time.

The smart set are already there in force. Steven
Spielberg, Pierce Brosnan, Andre Agassi, Gywneth
Paltrow and Sean Connery are all among the celebrity
names to appear in the hotel visitor books. Some like
the country so much they bought a piece: Robert De
Niro, Clint Eastwood and Sharon Stone are each rumoured
to be buying their own private island.

If you visited back in the 1980s, you'll find Croatia
largely unchanged. A few designer hotels have opened,
welcome alternatives to the rather drab 1960s
structures, but otherwise its glittering coast remains
just as it was 20 years ago ? and all the lovelier for
that. And if you can't afford to buy an island, don't
worry: you can certainly afford a holiday, because
Croatia now offers perhaps the best value for money
anywhere on the Med.

Unless stated, prices are per person per week, based on
two sharing, and include transfers. Where packages
include flights, prices are based on London departures.
Operators using scheduled carriers can often arrange
connections from UK regional airports or Ireland,
usually for Ł50-Ł100. In several cases, we have given
two prices, the first for departures in June, the
second in August, to give an idea of the savings to be
made outside school holidays


CROATIA FOR BEACHES

CROATIA HAS more than 1,000 miles of mainland littoral,
as well as those 1,000 islands. The swimming is
sparkling ? 58 resorts fly Blue Flags ? although the
beaches tend to be narrow and pebbly.


TUCEPI

The 40-mile Makarska Riviera used to be the gold coast
of Yugoslav tourism. Most of its resorts are not worth
a look, but Tucepi is attractive, friendly and low-key,
with a beach, a marina and a good hotel. The town of
Makarska is within easy reach if you want some livelier
evenings, while a ferry to the island of Brac makes
split weeks an easy option.


BRELA

This is a cluster of gorgeous white-pebble beaches
backed by a thick fringe of fragrant pines, with
watersports on the main strand and a shaded coast path
to some smaller, quieter neighbours. If you want to up
the tempo at night, walk to next-door Baska Voda.

CAVTAT

An elegant resort of waterfront cafes, palm trees and
whitewashed houses. It has access to some good beaches
and is linked to Dubrovnik by regular boats and buses.

BOL

Most tourists to the island of Brac head for Supetar,
but the south of the island, around Bol, is where your
beach mat wants to be, spread on the famous Zlatni Rat
or Golden Cape. The beach looks like a shark's fin and
stars on all the posters (although the pebbly texture
is a tad disappointing). Bol itself, a mile or so from
the Rat, is a pretty, stone-built town with a good
gallery of 20th-century Croatian art.


KOVERSADA

Croatia has long been a popular nudist retreat,
especially for the Germans and the Dutch. Koversada, on
the Istrian peninsula, is the oldest of about 30
official naturist resorts (there are scores of
unofficial strips, so to speak). Visit www.cronatur.com
for more details.

Sample package: Ł349/Ł401, half-board, with Peng Travel
(0845 345 8345, www.pengtravel.co.uk), including
scheduled flights from Gatwick (add Ł20 from
Manchester).


CROATIA FOR CULTURE

From Roman to gothic, renaissance to baroque and on to
art nouveau, Croatia has a wealth of historic
architecture.


THE ISTRIAN PENINSULA

As you'd guess from looking at a map, the Italian
influence is strong in this northern corner of the
country. The area was ruled from Venice for 400 years
and its influence is stamped on the local architecture
? in the spectacular walled towns, many bear the
imprint of the Venetian lion. Most towns have two
names, one Croatian, one Italian; there's lots of
spaghetti, risotto and pizza on the menus; and there
are also some impressive Roman ruins.

Istria is low on beaches, but makes up for that in
fascinating, appealing little towns. Both Rovinj and
Porec have handsome horseshoe harbours, lots of cafes
and restaurants and a potterer's treat of narrow
backstreets jumbled together on peninsulas. (The hotels
on their outskirts are not so charming, so be sure to
stay in the centre.) Venice itself is an easy hop away
by hydrofoil.

Sample package: the Neptun, overlooking the harbour in
Porec, costs Ł445/Ł489, half-board, with Thomson (0870
606 1470, www.thomsonlakesandmountains.com), with
flights from Gatwick or Manchester (from Ł35 extra). Or
try Balkan Holidays (0845 130 1114,
www.balkanholidays.co.uk) or Holiday Options (0870 420
8372, www.holidayoptions.co.uk).


DUBROVNIK

Byron's "Pearl of the Adriatic" is a handsome
aristocratic town encased in 15th-century walls. Along
with Venice, Pisa and Genoa, Dubrovnik was one of the
power hubs of the medieval Med, its vast wealth the
reason for its Renaissance palaces, baroque towers,
cloistered monasteries, churches and treasuries of art
(Tintorettos, Titians and more). Although it took an
almighty hammering during the war, restoration is now
more or less complete and remarkably seamless, barring
the glare of thousands of new roof tiles.

Sample package: push the boat out and stay at the
19-room Pucic Palace, the only luxury boutique hotel in
the country, converted from an 18th-century nobleman's
house within the city walls, overlooking the daily
fruit-and-veg market on Gundulic Square.

THE KVARNER RIVIERA

Opatija is one of the most sophisticated of Croatia's
resorts, its buildings, formal gardens and promenade
still redolent of its 19th-century heyday, when its
sheltered climate made it the winter playground for
Austro-Hungarian toffs.

THE PELJESAC PENINSULA

A place to escape the crowds, even in August. As well
as being home to Croatia's best vineyards, this is also
where you'll find the 14th-century fortifications of
Ston, a Dalmatian version of the Great Wall of China,
which rollercoasters up and over impossible contours.
The town, once rich from salt, has a tiny harbour, Mali
Ston ? a centre for oysters.

Sample price: the waterfront Ostrea (00 385 20 754555,
www.ostrea.hr; doubles with breakfast about Ł80) is a
superb family-owned 10-room hotel. The owners also have
the nearby Kapetanova Kuca (Captain's House)
restaurant, where local molluscs and black risotto
(made with squid ink) can be combined with local wines.
Also bookable through Bond Tours (01372 745300,
www.bondtours.com).


THE BIGGER PICTURE

Rather than concentrate on one area, it's perfectly
possible to take in many of Croatia's cultural
highlights in one trip: the country is relatively small
and transport links are good.

Sample package: ACE Study Tours (01223 835055,
www.study-tours.org) has a two-week trip in May
(leaving on the 14th) that scoops up most of the
cultural must-sees on the mainland. It starts in the
capital, Zagreb, exploring the old fortified upper
town, home to the cathedral, churches, palaces and
museums, and the newer, Vienna-like lower town with its
elegant pavement cafes. It then continues by coach to
the Plitvice Lakes National Park (where a duckboarded
footpath leads you right over the top of spectacular
waterfalls); Zadar, home to a Roman forum and Sacred
Art Museum; the Roman emperor Diocletian's palace in
Split; nearby Trogir, a perfectly preserved outpost of
La Serenissima; and Dubrovnik. It costs Ł1,755, B&B,
with scheduled flights from Heathrow to Zagreb and back
from Dubrovnik, excursions and entrance fees. Or try
Bond Tours (01372 745300, www.bondtours.com); Consort
(0845 345 0300, www.consorttravel.com); Cox & Kings
(020 7873 5027, www.coxandkings.co.uk); Martin Randall
(020 8742 3355, www.mar
tinrandall.com); Page & Moy (0870 010 6460,
www.page-moy.co.uk); or Titan (01293 440033,
www.titantravel.co.uk).

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CROATIA FOR ISLANDS



WHAT CROATIA does best, almost on a par with Greece, is
islands. No two are alike, most having grown up in
isolation from their neighbours. The way to enjoy them
is to hop. It would take a whole, delightful summer to
work your way down the chain, flying in to Pula or
Rijeka in the north and home from Dubrovnik. On a more
realistic time frame, you should fly into Split and
work your way south along the Dalmatian archipelago.
Here are the best stops along the way.


BRAC

Aside from Bol and the beaches, its interior is covered
in olive and lemon groves, vineyards, wild herbs,
free-ranging sheep and quarries whose pale stone was
used to build the White House in Washington, DC and the
altar in Liverpool cathedral.

HVAR

The most Riviera-chic of Croatia's islands, its main
town is a Renaissance show of palaces, with a Venetian
main square flagstoned in polished marble as slippery
as an ice rink. The old arsenal is part gallery, part
17th-century jewel-box theatre, while overlooking
everything is a fortress with a tiny museum of
shipwreck finds.

KORCULA

Roughly the size of the Isle of Wight, its main draw is
the 14th-century walled Venetian town, supposedly the
birthplace of Marco Polo (lots of De Polos live on the
island today). There's even a St Mark's Cathedral,
housing a Tintoretto, as well as an impressive
collection of art in the Bishop's Treasury, which
boasts a Tiepolo.

VIS

The sleepy old fishing village of Komiza serves as the
departure point for excursions to Vis's sister island
of Bisevo, to see the Blue Cave, the Balkans' answer to
Capri's Blue Grotto. It's at its best at midday, when
the sun angles in to illuminate the cave in iridescent
blues.

MLJET

This is the most natural of the islands, covered in
ancient pines and oaks and mostly protected as a
national park. Explore by rented bike as well as by
canoe across a pair of saltwater lakes. At the southern
end are some of Croatia's rare sandy beaches.

Sample packages: last year, I sailed on board Bozidar,
one of a handful of historic vessels that carry
passengers between islands on the Dalmatian coast.
Built 100 years ago to ferry fruit from Alexandria to
Venice, the Bozidar has been converted into a simple
cruising boat, a living, creaking, romantic example of
Mediterranean maritime heritage, all wood, balustrades
and louvred shutter doors. It sailed from the Unesco
World Heritage town of Trogir, just 15 minutes from
Split airport, visiting each of the islands described
above. It's chartered throughout the summer by Explore
Worldwide (01252 760000, www.exploreworldwide.com): a
week-long trip on the Bozidar, which has 10 pocket-size
double cabins with shared facilities, costs Ł689,
half-board (June or August), including flights. You
could charter your own boat: a group of friends in an
old-fashioned schooner sleeping eight would pay a total
of Ł8,300/Ł9,636, half-board, including flights from
Heathrow to Split, with The Ultimate Travel Company
(020 7828 7
778, www.theultimatetravelcompany.co.uk). Or, if you
are looking for cruising with more hotel-style
comforts, consider Hebridean Spirit (01756 704704,
www.hebridean.co.uk). The ship has three one-week
itineraries in April, May and October visiting several
islands, from Ł3,590, including all meals, drinks,
tips, excursions and flights. You can also hop
independently but with prebooked accommodation.
Croatian Affair (020 7385 7111, www.croatianaffair.com)
has four itineraries, two for one week, two for a
fortnight. A two-weeker, divided between Hvar, Vis and
Brac, costs Ł526/Ł765, B&B, including flights from
Birmingham, Bristol, Gatwick, Manchester, Norwich or
Edinburgh to Split or Dubrovnik, and your first ferry
ticket.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


CROATIA FOR SAILING

WHY TAKE a chance on Croatia rather than stick with
Greece and Turkey, the established haunts of
warm-weather sailors? Simple answer: the coast of
Croatia has statistics to make sailors spill their
grog. With those 1,000 islands, 500 harbours, 48
marinas and hundreds of safe anchorages, it makes for
some of the best sailing in the Med ? and it's a lot
less crowded than the old favourites.

Sample package: Sunsail (023 9222 2222,
www.sunsail.com) has three bases in Croatia: Kornati
(near Zadar airport), Kremik (near Split) and
Dubrovnik, with a choice of both flotilla sailing (five
different itineraries to choose from) or bareboat.

. Ł820, with flights from Gatwick to Dubrovnik or
Zadar(also Manchester to Dubrovnik). Or try Neilson
(0870 333 3356, www.neilson.com), which has a base on
the island of Mljet; Activity Holidays (0845 345 7418,
www.activity- holidays.co.uk) in Murter; Sailing
Holidays (020 8459 8787, www.sailingholidays.com) in
Kremik and Tucepi; Nautilus (01732 867445,
www.nautilus-yachting.com) in Pula, Zadar, Biograd,
Murter, Split and Dubrovnik; and The Moorings (01227
776677, www.themoorings.com) in Dubrovnik and Trogir.


CROATIA FOR FAMILIES

Croatia isn't in the first division of family
destinations in the Med ? the lack of sandy beaches is
a serious disadvantage for many ? but there are a few
good options here.

KOLOCEP

Just 30 minutes from Dubrovnik, the traffic-free island
of Kolocep has several sandy coves and just one hotel,
the family-friendly Villas Kolocep, on a wooded
hillside above the sea. Children's entertainment is
laid on during the school holidays and there is also
tennis and watersports.



ACTIVE IN THE ALPS

Families looking for adventure could consider a
two-week trip that combines Croatia with the Slovenian
Alps, with sea- kayaking, rock-climbing, white- water
rafting, mountain-biking, night canoeing,
hydrospeeding, canyoning and boating on the agenda.



CAMPING IN CROATIA

A good budget alternative if you can face the
1,000-mile drive. Eurocamp has three sites in Croatia:
the large and lively Lanternacamp, at Porec, with
pools, hot tub, shops, restaurants and sports; Simuni,
on the island of Pag, which is quiet, unspoilt and
ideal for relaxation; and Poljana, on the tiny island
of Losinj, a small, friendly site with a restaurant,
gelateria, shop and a programme of activities.


STILL HAVEN'T FOUND WHAT YOU'RE LOOKING FOR?

DIVING

Croatia offers great visibility, wrecks, wall and cave
dives, with Biograd na Moru being one of the best
bases. Bosmere Travel (01473 834094) has a week's B&B
in a pension and 10 dives (courses can also be
arranged) for Ł275/Ł300, excluding flights. Also try
Neilson (0870 333 3346, www. neilson.com).



KAYAKING

Explore the Dalmatian coast by sea kayak, based at
Villa Vilina on the island of Lopud: Ł800/Ł875, B&B,
including flights from Gatwick and three days' guided
kayaking, with Original Travel (020 7978 7333,
www.originaltravel.co.uk).


ESCAPING

Croats say that when God made the world, he took the
offcuts, tossed them into the sea and left them where
they fell. The result: the Kornati, a national park of
about 100 wild, barren mostly deserted, limestone
islands. You can rent a handful of simple fishermen's
cottages, where you have to draw water from a well and
have your groceries delivered by boat. They come with
the option of a motorboat or rowing boat and cost about
Ł525/Ł565 (June/August), including flights from
Gatwick to Split, a night in Split and six on an
island, through Bond Tours (01372 745300,
www.bondtours.com).



MULTIACTIVITY

St Michael's Hotel, in Trilj, 20 miles from Split on
the banks of the Cetina River, has an Adventurer Club
that arranges rafting, canoe safaris, trekking,
kayaking, mountain-biking, riding, paragliding and
canyoning. A week costs Ł699, half-board, between June
and September, with Hidden Croatia (020 7736 6066,
www.hiddencroatia.com), including activities and
flights from Stansted to Split. Also try The Adventure
Company (01420 541007, www.adventure company.co.uk).


David Wickers travelled as a guest of Explore Worldwide

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Create your own Croatian holiday: the flights, the
ferries, the places to stay

Croatia has no cheap-as-chips flight deals (yet), but
independent travellers need not think of it as
difficult territory: there are several ways to get
there, and accommodation options galore.



SCHEDULED FLIGHTS

With Croatia's popularity taking off in 2004, don't
expect to pick up a flight at the last minute ?
especially in high summer. Direct, scheduled fares from
London to Zagreb start at about Ł175, if booked with
an airline. Alternatively, try Travelocity (0870 111
7060, www.travelocity.co.uk), which has flights to
Split (via Prague) with Czech Airlines from Ł223, from
Birmingham, Edinburgh, Manchester and Heathrow; or
Opodo (0870 241 7051, www.opodo.co.uk). Aer Lingus
(0818 365000, www.aerlingus.com) has flights from
Dublin to Dubrovnik from €251.

Dubrovnik is served by direct flights from Dublin with
Aer Lingus (0818 36500, www.aerlingus.com); from
Gatwick with British Airways (0870 850 9850,
www.ba.com) and Croatia Airlines (020 8563 0022,
www.croatiaairlines.hr); from Glasgow (Croatia
Airlines, June 22 to July 27 only); and from Manchester
(Croatia Airlines).

The other airports with direct flights (all with
Croatia Airlines) are Pula (from Gatwick and
Manchester); Rijeka (from Heathrow); Split (from
Manchester and Gatwick); and Zagreb (from Heathrow).


CHARTER FLIGHTS

It is not just scheduled airlines that are heavily
booked: getting a good flight-only deal with a charter
airline is becoming more tricky too. Flightline (0800
036 0777, www.flightline.co.uk) has fares from Gatwick
to Dubrovnik from Ł198, or to Pula from Ł296. There are
also charter flights from Birmingham, Bournemouth,
Bristol, Glasgow, Jersey, Manchester, Norwich and
Stansted. Contact Airtours (0870 900 8639,
www.airtours.co.uk); Hidden Croatia (020 7736 6066,
www.hiddencroatia.com); Holiday Options (0870 420 8372,
www.holidayoptions.co.uk); or Thomson Holidays (0870
550 2555, www.thomson.co.uk). For flights from Dublin
and Cork, contact Concorde Travel (01 872 7066,
www.concordetravel.ie).


GETTING AROUND

An extensive ferry network links some 40 islands, plus
60 coastal resorts. Most are operated by Jadrolinija
and need to be booked locally, but one exception is the
six-times-weekly service from Rijeka, which calls at
Zadar, Split, Hvar (Stari Grad), Korcula, Mljet and
Dubrovnik. Passengers cannot hop on and off at ports on
the way using the same ticket, but need to buy
individual sectors. To sail from Rijeka to Dubrovnik
costs about Ł50, for example, including a cabin (based
on two sharing). To book, call 00 385-51 666111
(www.jadrolinija.hr) or, in the UK, Viamare (0870 410
6040, www.viamare.com) or Dalmatian and Istrian Travel
(020 8749 5255).

Car hire costs about Ł200 a week for the smallest car,
including insurance, from Budget (0870 156 5656,
www.budget.co.uk). Or try Sixt (0870 155 5800,
www.e-sixt.co.uk).


HOTEL STAYS

Independent travellers should ignore the big hotels ?
they are geared for package holidaymakers and so charge
silly rack rates (about Ł40pp per night for a grim
three-star). Instead, stay in private rooms, which
you'll find through local tourist offices or simply by
looking out for signs reading "sobe" (or camere,
zimmer, chambres or just rooms). These are typically
offered by a swat team of quayside grannies who meet
every ferry. The price for a room for two, often a mini
flat with kitchen and bathroom, can be as little as
Ł25.

Further information: Croatian National Tourist Board
(020 8563 7979, www.croatia.hr ).

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,160-985721_1,00.html

Eight cities bid for 2009 world track and field championships

MONTE CARLO (AP) - Eight cities have submitted bids to host the 2009 world track and field championships, the International Asssociation of Athletics Federations said Wednesday.

The candidates are Berlin; Brisbane, Australia; Brussels; Casablanca, Morocco; Daegu, South Korea; New Delhi; Split, Croatia, and Valencia, Spain.

The deadline for applications was Jan. 31.

"I am delighted not only to have such a large list of impressive candidates, but that they are so widely spread geographically," IAAF president Lamine Diack said.

The host city will be chosen by the IAAF Council at a meeting next autumn.

Last year's championships were held in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis. The next two editions will be held in Helsinki in 2005 and Osaka, Japan, in 2007.

Edmonton hosted the championships in 2001.

http://canadaeast.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040204/CPS/7419019

STEREOTYPES CAN LET YOU DOWN

VIEWPOINT FROM LONDON


by Brian Gallagher

The Croatian Herald, Australia No. 1000 - 30.01.04

Recently, it transpired that the HDZ victory in
Croatia had a helping hand from spin doctors from
Ireland's governing party Fianna Fail. This led to an
angry response from Sinn Fein, the political wing of
the Irish Republican Army terrorist group who accused
Fianna Fail of helping a party guilty of war crimes.
This may puzzle some in Croatia who may be under the
misapprehension that the IRA are somehow sympathetic
to the Croatian cause because of a perceived
stereotype of Catholic IRA fighting oppressive
pro-Serb Britain. In reality, Sinn Fein was
sympathetic to the former Serb dominated Yugoslavia.
This demonstrates that many Croats must adopt more
sophisticated thinking to establish who their friends
and foes are.

The UK Sunday Times of 21 December ran a story stating
that Croatia's HDZ hired a Irish consultancy group
headed by PJ Mara, a former director of elections for
Fianna Fail to help HDZ reform itself and win the
elections. Mara hired other Fianna Fail figures such
as former general secretary Martin Mackin and Jackie
Gallagher - former adviser to Irish Prime Minister
Bertie Ahern. The HDZ campaign featured images of
Bertie Ahern. The article was distinctly unsympathetic
to Croatia, making unsubstantiated claims that HDZ had
"forcibly expelled" Serbs from Croatia.

Aengus O'Snodaigh, a Sinn Fein MP, attacked Irish
Prime Minister Ahern. "Ahern has to ask himself
whether it is right that his image as an incoming EU
president was used by a foreign party that has
harboured war criminals, just because his buddies are
helping them out," O'Snodaigh said.

This is a bit much coming from Sinn Fein. The IRA are
experts in atrocity; they murdered and tortured
civilians, police, soldiers, protestants and catholics
over the years. At least some in Fianna Fail clearly
have a greater understanding of Croatia.

It is worth pausing to remember that when people in
the EU - especially the UK - attack "HDZ" and "Franjo
Tudjman" they are actually using code to attack
Croatia itself. This makes them look "fair" rather
than simply anti-Croat which in reality is usually the
case. After all, if these people were really concerned
about matters such as human rights in Croatia they
would be demanding the arrest of all those involved in
the slaughter of up to 20,000 Croats during the war.
Instead, all they speak of is Serb rights.
Unfortunately, the former government of Ivica Racan
never understood this and appeared to seriously
believe such criticism really was about the HDZ. This
was never the case as shown by Britain's hostile
attitude towards Racan's efforts to get Croatia into
the EU.

This code can equally be applied to Sinn Fein. Sinn
Fein has an extreme left wing background and indeed
draws sympathy from left wing characters in the UK who
also sympathised with the Serbs during the war, such
as former MP Tony Benn.

This may seem rather confusing but other pro-Serb
sympathisers in the UK have often tried to link the
IRA with Croats. The commentator Richard West did so
in his biography of Tito. The Yugoslav state also
appeared to play on this by ostensibly backing the UK
in Northern Ireland. Yugoslavia always went to great
pains to equate Croats with terrorism.

That said, Croats have not been helped by recent
allegations of Croat arms smuggling to the Real IRA
terrorist splinter group. Fortunately, this has been
effectively counter-balanced by Croat officials
cracking down on such activities - which were probably
due more to organised crime than terrorist sympathies.
Pre-World War 2, Sinn Fein and the Ustasha were also
compared by commentators.

But it may come as a great surprise to some Croats -
and perhaps to some Serbs and their friends - that
Sinn Fein was sympathetic to the Yugoslav state and
found it to be a source of inspiration. Articles in
Irish magazine The Blanket - which covers Irish
Republican affairs - quote Sinn Fein's Republican News
on the party's policies in the 1970's, when IRA
terrorism was at it's height. They based economic
policies on Yugoslavia, amongst other states, and even
considered it a model for a united Ireland.
Furthermore, Tito's death elicited a fulsome tribute
from the then Sinn Fein President.

Clearly the rights of Croats in Serb dominated
Yugoslavia was not something Sinn Fein cared about,
and from O'Snodaigh's remarks they remain none too
sympathetic today. Given Sinn Fein's background in the
international left - never a friend of Croatia - none
of this should be too surprising.

It's also worth pointing out that Margaret Thatcher,
who championed Croatia's cause on the world stage was
an implacable foe of the IRA. The IRA narrowly failed
to assassinate her in the Brighton bomb in 1984.
Suppose they had succeeded? Croatia would not have
benefited from her powerful voice.

The point here is that Croats need to understand that
things are not always what they seem. Just because
something is identified as Catholic does not mean it's
pro-Croat. Catholic France is notoriously pro-Serb and
has little time for Croatia. Another example is in
Northern Ireland. As author Brendan Simms has pointed
out, Nationalist (Catholic) politicians such as John
Hume kept silent on the wars in Croatia and
Bosnia-Herzegovina. By contrast, Unionist (Protestant)
David Trimble criticized Milosevic.

Croats need to assess matters as how they are, rather
than on stereotypes that may not be grounded in
reality. Many people do view things on nationalist or
religious grounds; but some do on the basis of
ideology, and Croats should understand this when
seeking support in the world.

© Brian Gallagher

My 'Viewpoint from London' column appears fortnightly
in the Australian 'Croatian Herald' and thereafter at
www.croatiafocus.com

More Righteous Among Nations

The following is a translation of an article which appeared in the
January 29, 2004 edition of Slobodna Dalmacija and provides information
concerning those Croats who were recently honored as Righteous Among
Nations. John Kraljic

HEROISM AMONG OUR NEIGHBORS

Zagreb. Courage is doing something that one is afraid of doing most.
Vera Oberiter was not even conscious of her courage when in the
beginning of 1944 she took in a Jewish little girl, Sylvia Suzana Knoll,
daughter of the friend of her husband Ludvik Valentincic. Both had
previously come under suspicion by the Ustashe rulers. While a student,
Vera had already declared herself to be opposed to Nazism, while Ludvik
cooperated in the secret collection of weapons for the Partisans. They
enrolled Sylvia in the nuns' school in Gundulic Street [in Zagreb],
while they told their neighbors that she was the child of an
acquaintance from Ozalj.

This continued until toward the end of the War when Ludvik was arrested
and hanged, while Vera Oberiter was taken to the women's prison on
Petrinjska Street. The Jewish girl hid with Vera's parents, where she
awaited the end of the war. At the end of 1945, Sylvia returned to
Vienna with her parents and lost contact with her saviors, until 2001
when the story about this case was published in a Jewish Austrian
publication. Since then they are in regular touch.

"I did not think that hiding a small Jewish girl from Ustashe
authorities was courageous, but something that had to be done," said
Vera Oberiter, a retired professor of English, while accepting the medal
of a Righteous Among Nations, which the Israeli state awards to
non-Jewish individuals who saved Jews from the Holocaust.

Vera Oberiter is one of a total of 98 Croats who have been proclaimed as
Righteous Among Nations, and she received a special honor on Tuesday
when she, with four other Croats, received the award at a special
ceremony honoring Holocaust Remembrance Day in the presence of President
Stipe Mesic. The stories concerning the saving of Jews during World War
II are shocking and show humane greatness and courage in gambling with
one's own life to save others. It is in accordance with a saying from
the Talmud that he who saves one life has saved the world.

Doctor Dane Vukovic was the director of the Hospital in Gospic., where
as part of the Maksimovic estate, a camp for Jews was organized. When
the camp was disbanded, many of the inmates were taken to the Hospital
which became a small island of safety. Dr. Dane Vukovic hated the
racial laws, and protected and hid the inmates, among them many Serb
children. In the shadow of the Hospital's courtyard he placed the
family of a rabbi from Krizevac, he transferred the husband of 18 year
old Eva Akerman-Krajanski into the Italian Zone and also saved the
pharmacist Elza Polak and her two-year old daughter. All safely saw the
end of the War, thanks to the now late Dane Vukovic, a Righteous Among
Nations.

Doctors also played an important role in Bjelovar. Joza Jagodic, the
head of the surgery department at the Hospital, helped persecuted Jews,
while hiding a group of Jewish women in the hospital's basement. In
August 1942 he received a young Jewish man, Bozidar Erenfajda, one of 19
Jews from Pitomaca who had been imprisoned in Jasenovac. Erenfajda was
taken to the Hospital by a camp guard who was doing a favor to a young
girl, and the physicians' team, led by Dr. Jagodic, undertook a number
of operations on Erenfajda so that they could with more credibility hold
him in the Hospital and thus saving him from the camp. "My life was an
act," Erenfajda later wrote about his stay at the Hospital, where he
also saved himself by his knowledge of Christian prayers.

He remained in the Hospital for five and one-half months as he could not
leave without personal documents. At the end of January 1943 with the
assistance of a Serb he was transferred to liberated territory where he
remained until the end of the war. He now lives in Belgrade, and while
he was unable to attend the ceremony of awarding the title of Righteous
Among Nations to the late Dr. Joza Jagodic, he thanked his savoir as
well as the physicians' team at Bjelovar Hospital by a letter.

The family of attorney Dragutin Jakic lived in Prizren [in Kosovo], near
the Albanian border, and became friends with the Jewish family of Dr.
Jozef Tajtelbaum. In the summer of 1941 the Tajtelbaums were driven
from Prizren, the father ending up in a camp, while the mother and son
Raul were forced to live with the Jakic family for two years. In the
end, they went to Albania were Dr. Jozef worked as a camp physician
where they were arrested and deported to the concentration camp of
Bergen-Belsen. The father was killed, while the mother and son
survived. Upon their return to Prizren, they came into contact with the
Jakic family who during the entire time had held onto a suitcase with
their documents as well as a safe with gold which they kept hidden in a
well. Three years after the war Raul Tajtelbaum with his mother left
for Belgrade and later for Jerusalem. He continues to maintain contact
with Ana Jakic, the wife of attorney Dragutin, who today lives in
Zagreb.

Olga Neumann-Rajsek saved 12-year old Dana Stochhamer from Nova Gradiska
whose entire family was killed or taken to Jasenovac. Dana's uncle,
Zlatko Neumann, at the time a prisoner of war in Germany, succeeded in
having his fiancée in Zagreb, Olga Rasjsek, take in Dana. Numerous
Jewish families passed through her apartment in Derencinova Street,
while young Dana was introduced to the neighbors as a relative. He
remained there for months with Olga, until one of the neighbors notified
the police that a Jewish boy was being hidden in the building. Dana was
taken to prison, while Olga Neumann took all steps to get him set free.
She succeeded only after intervening with Archbishop Aloysius Stepinac.
The boy was placed in a home for unwanted children where he remained
until the end of the war. Afterwards he moved to the United States,
completed his medical studies and today lives with his family in
Chicago. He is in constant contact with Olga Neumann who admits that it
never crossed her mind that her care for Dana could be deemed to be a
heroic act.

Of the 98 Croats among the Righteous Among Nations, only 21 remain
alive. Their names are carved in stone in the memorial area of Yad
Vashem in Jerusalem, the largest archive in the world concerning the
Holocaust, were for the past 40 years they have been collecting the
names of Jewish victims.

Tomislav Klauski

Op-ed

Father and grandfather of the CROWN readers Deletis (Vedran and Katarina) is one of them.

Nenad

"Croatian Tales of Long Ago" available on Amazon.com

 

"Croatian Tales of Long Ago" available on Amazon.com

CD-ROM "Croatian Tales of Long Ago, Part One" hit the US distribution and is
now available on the world No. 1 online bookstore www.amazon.com!

The CD is a result of award-winning international animation Web/CD-ROM
project "Price iz davnine" ("Croatian Tales of Long Ago"/ "Kroatische
Marchen aus Urvaterzeiten"). The "Croatian Tales" project is a result of
international cooperation, based on a book "Croatian Tales of Long Ago"
(1916) by one of the most famous Croatian writers Ivana Brlic Mazuranic
(1874-1938). She was known as "Slavic Tolkien" or "Croatian Andersen", a
Nobel candidate, and her fairytales are based on Slavic mythology and
Croatian folktale tradition. The CD-ROM is in 3 languages - English, German
and Croatian.

The project, lead by Helena Bulaja and produced by the leading Croatian
multimedia publisher "Bulaja naklada" included elite of world Macromedia
Flash animators from different countries (more than 100 people were
involved!), and it won numerous recognitions (among others, winner on
FlashForward animation festival, San Francisco; Netfestival in Rio De
Janeiro, Brazil; Golden Award of Montreux; Switzerland; New Media Festival,
Georgetown, Canada; finalist of the competition animation festivals in
Annecy, France; Hamburg, Germany; Ottawa, Toronto, and Halifax, Canada;
Austin, Texas; Krakow, Poland; Linz, Austria; Seoul, Korea; Zagreb etc.).
The project was rated by the national Croatian television - HTV, and the
leading Croatian newspapers - "Jutarnjilist", as the best Croatian cultural
and film project "in the past ten years" (!).

The project editor in chief, Helena Bulaja, gathered together seven teams of
animators, illustrators, musicians, actors, translators, programmers etc.
from different parts of the world and different traditions: from the US,
Canada, Scotland, Australia, Denmark, Germany, Russia, France etc, and the
eight team was formed in Croatia. Each team picked one of eight tales and
transferred it to the digital world. The result was an exciting and really
unique adventure, because artists from different backgrounds, who were not
familiar with Mazuranic's work and Croatia and its tradition at all, and who
never met each other in 'real' life before, made completely new
interpretations of those beautiful fairytales. Eight main editors were well
known cartoonists Katrin Rothe from Germany, French animator Laurence
Arcadias who now lives in San Francisco, Ellen McAuslan from England, Al
Keddie from Scotland, Nathan Jurevicius from Australia, Edgar Beals from
Canada, Mirek Nisenbaum, New Yorker of Russian origin, and Helena Bulaja.

Along with four cartoons / interactive tales, the CD-ROM "Croatian Tales,
Part One" also contains very detailed information about Ivana Brlic
Mazuranic and her time, about this unique project and authors involved, a
short introduction in Slavic mythology and the text of the original book
"Croatian Tales of Long Ago" - everything in Croatian, English and German,
on a single disc.

To get an impression of what the "Croatian Tales" project is about, visit
its web pages on www.bulaja.com/fairytales/ . The site is in English, and
there are also available excerpts from the animations.

To purchaser the CD on Amazon, follow the link
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/953673706X/croatitalesof-20 . The
price is $24.97, postage costs included. The CD is packed in very nice and
sweet designed box, which makes it a very nice present for anyone interested
in Croatian tradition and world of the fairytales.

By purchasing the CD on Amazon you are also supporting the renewal and
reopening of Ivana Brlic Mazuranic's house and museum in her hometown
Slavonski Brod.

For more information visit www.bulaja.com/fairytales/  or write to
info@bulaja.com