Sretan Uskrs! Happy Easter!  Croatia is located in southern Europe and this country offers many activities for adventurists.

Plitvice Lakes National Park is home to 126 species of birds of which 70 breed in the area. This would be a good place to bring your binoculars and go bird watching. It is heavily forested which makes a good home for the brown bear, wolf, eagle, owl and wild cat.

The park is open all year round. The entrance fee for November through April is a modest 55 kunas while May through June increases to about 85 Kunas. There are numerous hiking trails and winding footbridges over water. Hopefully you will be able to see those tall waterfalls.

I strongly recommend that you pay a tour guide because they would know the current condition of the walking trails. A three hour guided tour costs about 22 Euros per hour. That is expensive but then again your life is priceless.

There are three hotels near the park but one is located in the park itself.

What is cooler in Zagreb than an ice bar? The Heineken brand ice bar is located in Trg kralja Tomislav which means King Tomislav square. There is room for only 20 people inorder to maintain -10 degrees Celsius. This cold temperature keeps the ice chairs and ice sculptures from melting and your toes blue. Even the bar itself is a huge slab of ice. The bartender enjoys wearing a hunting cap and warm jacket because he stands in front of a wall made of ice bricks. On page 8 of Vecernji List a woman plays an air/electric chello, a curiously strange thing. You will recognize the ice bar's "igloo" which is a white geodome. Maybe this is a good place to chill out.

Maksimir Park is a 316 hectare oasis in the east side of Zagreb, the capital city of Croatia. Maksimir park first opened to the public in 1794. The park is named after its founder archbishop Maksimir Vrhovec. This is a good place to exercise your camera, go people watching, walking or bird watching. There are 100 species of birds that can be found in the park. It is a nice place to walk off calories from the Croatian made fajitas and enchiladas. Yes, there is a popular Mexican restaurant in the heart of Zagreb.

Maksimir has four lakes, 100 year old oak forests, weeping willows and littleleaf linden trees. In June linden trees bloom releasing a wonderful sweet aroma. The linden flowers make a nice herbal tea. Summer is the season for planned events. Last year in Maksimir park people did yoga as part of a large group and there was also a tango competition. The sculpture "Sleepwalkers" is a new addition to Maksimir park located in the first lake. Sleepwalkers is an eerie artform that resembles whales and a dolphin.

The word toplice means spa and it is pronounced toplitse. Stubicke toplice is a medical center located 30 km from Zagreb. Krapinske toplice and Varazdin are spas that emphasize natural spring water. Varazdin spa is 400 years old with Roman architecture and is fully renovated. What is charming about these spas is that they are located in and around vineyards. If you go to one of these spas you might walk around vineyards and see the residents. Many people have small vineyards and 2 story brick cottages that are called vikendica which is pronounced veekenditsa. Numerous spas are located around Croatia and many are along the coast near Pula and Rijeka.

http://www.turizam-vzz.hr/eng/toplice.htm

http://www.travel-tourist.com/centralnahrvatska_en.htm

Vecernji List means the Evening Paper in Croatian. This wonderful website is saturated with photos, news , celebrities and great blogs. The Vecernji List gives you the pulse of Croatia.

It is written in Croatian but it uses a lot of English words. You can find out about the latest business conference such as the Negroponte conference in Zagreb about technology and business. Stay tuned for the annual wine conference.

Economy

Manager is the business section and it lets you know about stocks, inflation, about the latest IKEA plant near Knin. Even though Croatia has been experiencing rising cost of eggs and food in general, the Croatian government decided to lower the price of food like milk this year 2008. Konzum is the major grocery chain and you can find about its lastest global efforts. Croatia has been vigorously reaching out to Asia. Pepsi has built a new plant near Osijek. Business wise I think Croatia is the one to watch because it is in the process of becoming a part of the EU so it naturally uses both Euro dollars as well as its own Kuna currency.

Other News

Crna Kronika means the "dark chronicles" which is appropriate because it deals with crime and accidents. Culture and Scene deals with the latest concerts and celebrities. Last Christmas there was a Christmas jazz concert in Bjelovar. Zanimljivost means interesting and it can deliver odd news very fast. In the interesting section I found an article about the rare lemur nicknamed Raz, and an octopus that has its favorite toy, a Mr. Potato Head.

Best UFO/ Paranormal Blog

Preko Ruba Znanosti means "over the edge knowledge". Kresimir Misak's blog is very impressive. He writes every few days about secret UFO documents and that there is evidence that humans and dinosaurs coexisted.

If you love pictures Vecernji List excells in that. They covered the Hindu festival in India and the Carnival in Brazil, and celebrities like Michael Jackson. They even posted a video in which one could hear Croatian spoken with a Brazilian accent.

http://www.vecernji.hr/home/index.do

Diving for a lobster dinner might sound like fun. You can get diving lessons at one of Croatia's 150 diving centers. Hopefully you will be able enjoy the coral reef, sunken ships, and at least one of Croatia's 1500 underwater caves. Begininng divers as well as advanced drivers might explore Margarina reef near Susak. Margarina reef can be explored at depths ranging from 5 to 40 meters and a ship wreck can be explored at the underwater canyon that desends 5 to 17 meters. The ship had been hauling construction materials.

If you love deep clear blue waters then you might make Kornati a part of your journey. Beginng and advanced divers can examine coral beds teeming with sea life.

Where are those strawberry cocktails and ambient nightlife? Hvar is the town with trendy cocktail bars and backpacker dives. Hvar is protected by a series of jigsaw shaped islands which are known as the Pakleni islands. Scuba divers of all skill levels can enjoy searching for sea urchins and the colorful undersea wall.

If you miss a sandy beach then head on over to Rab, a town with well developed tourism but if you're an experienced diver then you might choose to visit Peljesac and see a well preserved German torpedo ship which sank on October 19, 1944. The ship rests 25 to 39 meters below the sea. Sorry but no one is allowed to enter the ship.

Some people travel between islands on ferries but you could travel from Croatia to Italy and maybe even to Greece.

Some people feel that the most beautiful beach on the Adriatic ocean can be found in the town of Bol on the southern shores of the Island Brac, which is pronounced Brach. This beach symbolizes Croatian tourism. Lush green forest follows the triangular shape of the beach forming generous panoramic views. People on the beach can enjoy watching other people sail which is a strange sport that resembles hard work. International rock climbers are attracted to the area because they have 80 routes to choose from. There is a thermal spa called Istraske Toplice near Motovun which hosts yearly film festivals. http://www.istra.hr/en/what_to_do/sport_climbing

The title on Vecernji.hr photo series is "Zlatni rat between the most beautiful beaches in the world". Zlatni rt is a famous beach in the town of Bol which means golden cape but Vecernji List got creative with the spelling. In Croatian rat means war while rt which is pronounced as eart means cape. Naughty online newspaper suggests a competition for the most beautiful beaches. What makes Zlatni rt unique is that this beach changes its shape and orientation with the wind. Photos include views of beaches in Turkey, Vietnam, Long Island Beach in Vancouver. http://www.vecernji.hr/newsroom/zanimljivosti/3035705/showPhotoSerie.do

Words You need to Know

a) BRZO

b) TRCI

c) BIJEZI

d) POSKOK

e) POZAR

f) VATRA

g) VJETAR

h) OLUJA

i) BURA

Answers

a) The word brzo means fast as well as speed.

b) The word trciti which is pronounced terchiti means to run.

c) The word bijezi means escape and is pronounced as beeyeahshi.

In the year 2007 the phrase "brzo, trci" came in handy when policemen told residents to run because the street had collapsed in a sink hole. The street literaly ran underneath resident's feet. That kind of scary stuff doesn't happen often.

d) The word poskok means jumping snake.

e) The word pozar is pronounced as pozhar and means fire.

f) The word vatra means fire.

g) The word vijetar is pronounced as veeyeahtar and means wind.

h) The word oluja which is ponounced as oluya means storm.

i) The word bura means strong winds and usually occurs along the coast.

When you are driving along the coast you will see wind speed signs that usually posted around tunnels. Strong winds make driving more dangerous so be careful.

Words You Don't Need to Know

a) VUKODLAK

b) NLO

c) DOBRA VILA

Answers

a) The word vukodlak means werewolf. Vuko means wolf and dlak literally means hair!

b) NLO is the english equivalent of UFO.

Neidentificiranog letecog objekt. The word let means flight.

c) The word dobra vila means good witch.

Please note that I don't have software for the appropriate symbols for ch, sh, zh sounds which resembles a little v over the c, s and z.

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