Croatia Online - Tourism Fair

I trust readers will forgive us for featuring a photo from Bosnia and Hercegovina's extensive area at the "Sajam Gast" taking place in Split between 5th and 9th March 2008, rather than a Croatian stand. The event is essentially a trade show for those in the Croatian tourism industry featuring the whole gamut of consumables (wine, cheese, beer, coffee, local delicacies...), serious equipment (restaurant kitchens, furniture, barrells) and much more.

The Bosnia and Hercegovina Tourist Board were the main commercial partners in the show and had an impressive array of stands and literature as well as a number of presentations throughout the length of the fair.

Today's photo shows an artisan at work, making by hand the copper vessels for the essentials of turkish coffee - coffee pots and sugar bowls for example. The small bowl in the picture takes 7 hours to make and the craftsman we spoke to claims to have made the Guinness Book of Records for the largest turkish coffee pot ever made. In a short space of time, we were unable to corroborate this on the internet but we did find a link with the statistics of the feat and the fact that it was made as part of the celebrations for the opening of the new Mostar bridge - http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200407/s1165175.htm

The BiH (Bosnia and Hercegovina) area was a treasure trove of delights for those seeking the more hidden aspects of our part of the world. We have a mountain (and hopefully not a rainforest) of literature to digest and need to remind ourselves that BiH is easily accessible from Croatia and has much to reveal. Great news that a major Croatian trade show sees the sense in bringing BiH tourism on board and vice versa.

More news on what we picked up in future postings but, in the meantime, readers may be interested to learn more about:

General Tourism in BiH - www.bhtourism.ba

The Pyramids - www.piramidasunca.ba

Having spoken to some of the key players in the BiH exhibition area, BiH seems to be taking 21st century tourism very seriously and recognising the role that Croatia and BiH can play together. That's got to be good news for both republics and a very welcome step forward for all concerned.

For those in the area, there's just one more day of the fair - sorry we didn't get to it sooner. Website www.sajamsplit.hr. Maybe next year we'll see some English pages that might just allow international visitors to make new discoveries and bring the fair to a wider audience.