Summer in Croatia means concerts, and this year several big names are coming to visit us (or countries nearby).

Beyonce – April 26th – Zagreb, Croatia

Depeche Mode – May 21st – Zagreb, Croatia

AC/DC – May 26th – Belgrade, Serbia

Killers – June 7th – Ljubljana, Slovenia

Lenny Kravitz - June 8th – Ljubljana, Slovenia

Franz Ferdinand – June 24th – Zagreb, Croatia

U2 – August 10th – Zagreb, Croatia

Madonna – August 20th – Ljubljana, Slovenia & August 24th – Belgrade, Serbia

This list doesn’t include the numerous concerts in northern Italy, Austria and Hungary – who will have acts such as Linkin Park, P!nk, Arctic Monkeys, Sting and Moby perform (as well as many others).

Last week the Sabor (Croatian Parliament) passed legislation dealing with golf course developments.

Currently it is very difficult to organize a large parcel of land in Croatia for a golf resort as the country is divided into numerous small plots, many of which are owned by numerous owners, who may also be dead or living overseas. The newly passed law is a heavy-handed attempt to break this impasse.

The new law allows the government to use ‘eminent domain’ to confiscate land from its owners if a golf course resort is proposed nearby and the land is required for the development, even if the owners don’t wish to sell. There is no right of appeal.

The HDZ-controlled government, with Premier Ivo Sanader, is desperate to stimulate the Croatian economy and is hoping for a golf-led recovery; it is under pressure to create jobs, as the EU is forcing them to privatize the bankrupt state-owned ship-building industry, and they are struggling for ideas. The problem with Croatia as a golf tourism destination is that its climate isn’t conducive to a long golfing season, and it doesn’t have a golf-playing local population; its foolish to base a future economic plan on building these resorts.

The situation smacks of overt corruption – several golf developers have given sizable donations to HDZ and a local Istrian law firm, who has a number of large golf developers as clients, had a hand in drafting the legislation.

It seems that there is now no way to prevent Jupiter Adria from building its resort below Motovun. The advice from a government-convened committee has been ignored by the Environment and Culture Ministries and all other methods of blocking it have been circumvented, so its construction will go ahead.

This new law is another example of people’s basic rights being eroded in Croatia. Recently free speech has being attacked with the arrest of a Facebook user critical of the government, and several civil cases being brought against anti-corruption bloggers, including Ranko Bon (here and here), our friend in Motovun. Ranko is being sued by Motovun’s Mayor, Slobodan Vugrinec, for his scribblings, and the law firm representing the Mayor is same that advised the Government on the newly passed golf legislation!

Other political problems for Premier Sanader include assassinations in Zagreb of anti-organized crime reporters and a well-connected lawyer, and Slovenia blocking Croatia’s ascension to the EU.

For New Year’s Eve we drove north to Lake Bled, Slovenia. The town had been so highly recommended by many people coming into our laundromat in Split that we decided we had to visit.

The 6 hour drive up the auto cesta from Split to Bled took us around Rijeka and Ljubljana. The thick covering of snow on the ground in Lika got us really excited. However arriving in Lake Bled we were disappointed to see not so much snow on the ground.

In Bled we booked into Hotel Berc run by Luka and his family. It is not really a hotel, but a recently built pension. Luka’s brother already runs Pension Berc across the road in the original family house.

The next day, Luka told us that the temperatures were low enough for snow-making, so Aklie and I decided to try out Krvavec, about 35kms away, for his first day of skiing. We took the gondola up the mountain (approx. 1500m), well above the day’s clouds. We had perfect sunshine the whole day. Hiring skis was a nightmare as the rental store is tiny. It would have been better to rent equipment in Bled. Aklie enjoyed his first lesson on the ‘bunny’ slope and the round-about.

That night we had steaks at Gostilna Pri Planincu, a pub with car number-plates from all over the world plastering the walls. The first thing we noted, coming from Croatia, was the lack of smoke. Slovenia now has laws banning smoking in pubs, cafes and restaurants.

Instead of driving for 40 minutes and catching the gondola up the mountain, the next morning we simply walked 100 yards to the Straža, a small chairlift in the centre of Bled. Going there not only saved time but also money. Aklie again had a lesson and when he got tired we simply walked back to the hotel.

The variety of restaurants in Split is limited, so for something different we went to the Peking Chinese Restaurant. The family which own it arrived 10 years ago from mainland China – how do you decide to leave China and end up in a small town in Slovenia? The food was good.

Not only could we walk to the ski-slope or the town’s restaurants but next door was the Hotel Golf with its heated pools, spas and slides. We dove in for the day. One indoor/outdoor pool had a view across the lake to the 11th Century Bled Castle on the opposite side.

We were invited to join 2 English families and one from San Diego for New Year’s Eve Dinner and their Talent Show after. They had bought a couple of impressive bottles of Slovenian wine during the day and made a big pot of chilli. The Talent Show went from the absurd, with a Monty Python sketch, through the depressing, with a Wilfred Owen poem, to the post-modern, with Kerry’s contemporary adaptations of nursery rhymes. We then headed down the riva, or waterfront, to drink mulled wine, set-off fireworks and countdown to midnight.

The Elan Ski Factory is a 10 minute drive from Lake Bled. Thinking that they might have a factory outlet store selling factory seconds we went over. They don’t sell seconds but they were having a sale so we bought Aklie his first pair of skis. Given that we can go skiing in Kupres, just across the Bosnian border from Split, we hope to get much use from them this year – if there is more snow than last year.

Dinner was at the Union Grill. And though the mushroom sauce arrived late, it was worth the wait.

There is an uneasy relationship between Slovenes and Croats. Croats view their northern neighbours as arrogant and rigid; Slovenes believe Croats are just lazy Balkans. On the way back to Croatia, we stopped into the BTC Shopping Centre in Ljubljana and straightaway we felt like the country hillbillies. Croatia has very little choice in goods and what is imported is usually very poor quality. Seeing the range of shops we felt like we were in civilization again.

We then hit the road and drove 2 hours to Motovun to meet Anita, who is doing the drawings for our house renovation.

Thanks to Cameron Hewitt at Rick Steve’s for his advice.