Croatia – Destination of the famous

American TV network CNN was right to announce at the beginning of the year that Croatia would this summer be one of the most desirable destinations for famous stars of the world. In support of this announcement are definitely the photographs of Hollywood actress Eva Longoria dancing and one of the best tennis players of all time, John McEnroe at Stradun in Dubrovnik. The Croatian coast and islands are visited each year by more and more famous guests. Some of them did not hide their enthusiasm about Croatia, like Bill Gates, one of the richest people in the world who recommended Croatia as one of the ideal places for a holiday in Forbes magazine. The founder of Microsoft and his family visited Skradin, a town in central Dalmatia and the National Park Krka.

Eva Longoria and her husband, the famous NBA player Tony Parker and friends, amongst which were actors Amaury Nolasco and Jennifer Morrison, cruised the coast and visited Mali Lošinj, Zadar, Kornati, Šibenik, Skradin, Trogir, Split and Hvar, where they, judging by the photos published by the world’s media, had an amazing time. They also ended up in a club in Vodice called Hacienda, where they held the «DJ Cut Killer and Tony Parker Show». They also visited Dubrovnik, which is the place visited by most celebrities. Amongst them was also the famous American actor Morgan Freeman, the guest of honor at the Dubrovnik Film Meeting Festival, which has been organized in the past few years in collaboration with the Sarajevo Film Festival. In the past few years Gillian Anderson, Mickey Rourke, Steve Buscemi and Kevin Spacey were also among those who visited. Even at the beginning of the season, walking the streets of Dubrovnik were the world’s most famous flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucia, the tv crime show star Dennis Franz and former German chancelor Gerharda Schroedera. The first days of summer were spent in Croatia by the Hollywood couple Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell, who arrived in Dubrovnik from Rome.

This year’s Libertas film festival was marked by the new acting star Gabourey Sidibe, who was nominated for an Oscar for her first role in the movie Precious. At the opening of the festival there were many more famous faces to be seen, like the Czeck film director and Oscar winner Jiřij Menzel and one of the most productive film makers of Hollywood,Dantea Spinottija.

Dubrovnik was also host to a charity tennis match between Wimbledon winner Goran Ivanišević and one of the best tennis players of all time Johna McEnroea, who was accompanied by his wife Patty Smyth and their children. The second ranked tennis player, Novak Đoković was having a good time in Split, and also spending his summer in Croatia after seven years, was the French handball representatives, who has Croatian roots, Nikola Karabatić. He visited his relatives in Poljice, close to Trogir, visited Dubrovnik and went to a concert in Primošten.

Some of the musical greats didn’t only come to Croatia for a holiday but also for performaces, either individual of as part of the many summer festivals.Concerts in Zadar were held by Seal and the soul-jazz diva Natalie Cole.

Because of the Garden festival, one of the best European summer events, a samll fishing village Petrčane next to Zadar was visited by many stars of electronic music such as Hercules & Love Affairs, 2020 Soundsystem, Crazy P, Dave Bee-ar, Tristan Da Cunha, Horse Meat Disco, DJ Stu Patterson, Greg Wilson, Norman Jay i Henrik Schwarz. The Garden festival is highly ranked in the second position of the best summer festivals according to a leading European on-line magazine for electronic music Resident Advisor, while the British The Times last year included it amongst the twenty best European summer festivals, not just because of the choice of musicians but also because of the special location on the penninsula Pinija in Petrčani and the pine woods close to the sea.

Beautiful Croatian beaches, many hidden coves and excellent cuisine have already been discovered by stars such Steven Spielberga, Andre Agassi, Gwyneth Paltrow, Robert De Niro, Clint Eastwood, Sharon Stone, Tom Cruise, Bono Vox, Beyonce and Jay Z and many others.

For more information visit The Croatian Tourist Board