Dear citizens of Zagreb, dear guests!

After the end of Advent in Zagreb and another award for the best Christmas market in Europe, we have prepared a host of happenings for you. We have a great many exhibitions this month where there is something for everyone. Apart from the exhibitions Valentine's Day awaits, as does Carnival time, so there is fun aplenty for visitors and tourists alike.

Zagreb has for some years now held a Carnival with a programme of culture and entertainment together with a variety of Carnival traditions. You can take part in parades by groups in fancy dress andvaried entertainments and enjoy the food and drink on offer.

Whisky lovers can visit the 2018 Zagreb Whisky Fair where they can peer into the world of their favourite drink and get to know the top brands which hold centuries of tradition, flavour and quality. And an unmissable destination for those who are soon to say “I do” is Zagreb Arena where at the beginning of the month the Zagreb Wedding Fair will be held for the 19^th year running. The Wedding Fair at Zagreb Arena is the largest, most spectacular and most original event on the theme of weddings in the region. In Hotel Palace the first Education Fair will be held where you can learn about registering for school or university and the many loans and scholarships on offer. At the Mimara Museum coffee lovers can visit the Zagreb Coffee Break, a two-day festival of coffee where manufacturers and distributors of coffee and related equipment from Croatia and the region will present their wares, as will our dear guests from Indonesia, this year’s guest exhibitor country.

The Nautical Fair will also be held at the Zagreb Fair this year, and will for the 27^th time present to keen sailors the many new vessels from Croatian yacht builders as well as craft from international manufacturers. We expect that more than 30,000 people will visit the Zagreb Nautical Fair in 2018. At the same time the Hotel&Gastroteh fair will be running, the 10^th international fair of gastronomy and equipment for the hotel and catering industry. The Zagreb Olive Institute in partnership with the Zagreb Fair are also holding the 3^rd Zagreb Olive Festival at the end of the month. The Zagreb Olive Festival is an event aiming to educate the people of Zagreb and other visitors about the nutritional value and health-giving properties of olive oil and products made from olives, and to demonstrate the quality of Croatian olive oils through a competition where oils will be judged through sensory analysis and a panel of judges. You will also be able to buy olive oils and related produce.

Our youngest visitors will be able to enjoy the Children’s International Film Festival which will be held in Zagreb’s Kino Europa. Some thirty international films, mainly live action, for children up to 14 years of age, will be shown and there will also be a competition for recent films and a number of supporting programmes which will include film classics for children. As well as the KinoKino Festival programme there will also be workshops for children run by experts from various cultural, artistic and social arenas.

Sincerely yours,

Mayor of the City of Zagreb

Milan Bandić