For the first time this year a rather interesting festival will take place in Vrgorac – Festival of Adventurers “Mate Svjetski” on August 21 and 22, 2015. Organized by the Vrgorac tourist board, here is more information from their Facebook page about the event:
Festival of Adventurers and an annual meeting of major world-wide travellers, travel writers, adventurers and adventurists and those interested in travelling. Organized by the Vrgorac tourist board for the first time this year to take place in Vrgorac, where two greatest Croatian, if not even world travellers, travel writers and adventurers were born – Stipe Božić and his publicly just discovered fellow townsman Mate Svjetski.
Host of the festival will be Stipe Božic, Croatia´s most successful world Alpinist and adventurer who was standing on the highest peaks of all seven continents and descended into some of the deepest pits, with an international expedition arrived at the North Pole and recorded plenty of film and documentary material with his professional camera in the most remote parts of the world.
Just recently all those great adventures of Mate were discovered by the general public, only thanks to Stipe Božić, who met with the treasure of Mate´s trips through a series of articles published in the local newspaper Vrgoračke novine in 2008, which resulted in publishing a book and filming a documentary.
Born 50 years before Božić, Mato Šimunović (called Svjetski) from Stilja near Vrgorac was a world traveller and travel writer. He left Stilja in 1928 and in 19 years with a dog Globus, Mate has travelled by bicycle, on foot and sail boat 360 thousands of kilometers on five continents. He visited 70 countries and thousands of islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, where he met with natives not yet touched by civilization. Everything is documented in his travel book (signed by a number of heads of state and celebrities) and in 26 diary notebooks, documented by over thousand photographs done by Mate. His trave book was published in 2013 by VBZ, named “Ja, Mate Svjetski” and a documentary by the Croatian Television was filmed by Stipe Božić.
Program of the festival:
21.08. Friday – City Park Vrgorac:
20:00 Promotion of the documentary and book “Ja, Mate Svjetski” (Mato Šimunović) by Stipe Božić and Drago Glamuzina
21:00 Željan Rakela: “S Rakeolm po svitu – Mojih prvih 100.000 km” (With Rakela around the world – My first 100.000 km) – motocycling traveling through Marocco, Nordkapp, Nepal via Iran and Pakistan, Around the World)
22.08. Saturday – Stilja (in front of culture center of Stilja) near Vrgorac
20:00 Dvina Meler: “Nepodnošljiva lakoća putovanja – 100 savjeta koji život znače (Unbearable Lightness of Travelling – 100 life savers)
Nikola Baraka: “Kako obići svijet u 60 dana (How to Go Around the World in 60 Days)
21:00 Stipe Božić: “Sedam vrhova” (Seven Peaks) – a lecture about climbing the highest peaks of all continents and exploring remote places of the world
Two Photography Exhibitions
– Photos of Mate Svjetski at the Culture centre in Stilja
– Photos of Stipe Božić at Hotel Prvan in Vrgorac
More information and pictures at the Vrgorac tourist board.
