I’ve been traveling to Split so often, and documenting my visits here each time, that this will be the last time I write a website entry about it; what was once an exciting international destination feels unremarkable after many years of habitual visitation. This was the first time I was able to visit Split during the summer since the pandemic. Being unable to swim in the sea during the past few years has been really, truly difficult. I’m sure it must sound odd that plunging in the Dalmatian sea is a sort of ritualistic, self-baptism that I need to do from time to time. As I am enveloped in the dark water, I feel immediately purged and restored. That initial two-second chill after submersion (the heat escaping my body) is whatever dreadful spirit has accumulated within me, dissipating into nothingness. Being unable to release that from my soul had forced me to carry that extra weight inside me for too long. This time around my friends David and Marketa invited me to accompany them to the islands of Brač and later to Hvar (follow those links to see photos for each), during their customary island adventures. They also fed me […]
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Again I visited perhaps my favorite place in the world, Split, Croatia. Whenever I fly through Europe it is increasingly difficult to not stop in Split on my way through. This time was spent reconnoitering with friends during a Christmas that would otherwise be spent alone. The visit also necessitated getting a Covid vaccinated as my forthcoming entry into Brazil necessitated it.
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This summer I spent three months in Split sandwiching a two-month trip around eastern Europe (Belgrade, Kiev, Odessa, Krakow, Warsaw, Minsk, Latvia). But before that, in June, my vacationing sister and her family met me in Cavtat (where I spent a month back in 2015) and Dubrovnik before returning to Split. In June I visited one of the islands off of the Croatian, Dalmatian coast, Vis. A small island only a few miles across with two towns. I rented a scooter and explored it for a day. Surprisingly, even though Vis is one of the most photogenic destinations I have visited, it was almost vacant of foreign tourists. In September, when I returned from my eastern European sojourn, I was happy to have a respite from changing destinations each week, and focused on work, yoga, swimming and fitness for the month. I made new local friends and it became our habit to congregate on Saturday nights for homemade thai cuisine, gin and tonics, and a marathon of competitive cooking shows and American television. One weekend I hosted a meal and cooked macaroni and cheese, orange chicken (my favorite recipe) and even a chocolate cake for my friend Dado who had […]
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For the fourth time in three years I returned to Croatia to work, swim and be barefoot. The waning Indian summer of October served as a re-calibration to the internationally-remote lifestyle I had set aside during 5 months living in Denver, Colorado; as such, I focused on walking everywhere, eating healthier and undoing the harm of rigid routine staying in one place always brings me. I did do a couple of touristy things during my first week in Split — a tour of the ship building yard and an excursion to a nearby cave (click link to see photos from each). Other than that though I focused my 5+ weeks more on living a healthy, happy and comfortable life along the sea and developing the daily routine to support it. My apartment was near the beach and afforded a beautiful view of the ever-changing sky between dawn, dusk (here are some highlights). The irony of escaping Denver, only to reinvent a routine elsewhere is a funny pattern I always repeat. My Split routine is really great; in the morning I walk to the gym, only two hundred meters from my front door. Afterwards I walk down to the sea, 300 meters […]
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This year I have been experimenting with living in single cities for longer periods of time. Each time I return to the United States I feel noticeably unhappy; not a typical reaction to returning ‘home’. Aspects of of American society that are incompatible with the way I now want to live my life are frustrating: the cost of living, traffic, public transportation but also cultural considerations like politics, media, news and the collective, schizophrenic personalities comprising the ethos of the USA. Increasingly it is a struggle to locate the parts of America to which I feel a shared set of values. To such an effect that it feels a misnomer to refer to myself as an American. I wanted to try living in Split, Croatia where I visited last year for the first time for three months to see how it would feel staying in one place. It turned out to be the best summer of my life. I was barefoot all day, and got plenty of work done in the amazing co-working space that I was a short walk from the apartments I lived in. The accessibility of the Adriatic sea being only 150 meters from the office was […]
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Fourteen months ago I was in Cavtat, Croatia for a month and it was pretty good; smooth, 72 degree Adriatic sea water for morning swims, grilled octopus lunches sunsets the color of the Rosé I was drinking. My excuse time was that I needed to flee the Schengan zone in order to return this winter to Switzerland (stay tuned); Split was perfect because my friends recently opened a co-working space there and I wanted to go work from it. So I booked a flight from Munich and an AirBnb just north of Old Town for six nights. Split is a old town on the shore of the Adriatic sea. It’s much larger and busier than Cavtat – but during the Autumn most of us tourists aren’t around because the weather isn’t as beachy. For me this was ideal– as a travel hipster I enjoy visiting places in off-peak season and it was easier to get work done in the cooler, cloudier weather. I was still able to explore and even meet a lot of new friends at WIP, the co-working space I worked from. Highlights included learning to play spike ball – a sport my friend Travis taught me, showing new friends […]
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Cavtat, Croatia is 11 kilometers south east of Dubrovnik and an utter paradise. I start a typical weekday morning by riding my bike to the gym 5 minutes away, exercising, and then swimming laps in the Adriatic sea. The temperature of the water is 79 degrees — the salinity of the water makes staying afloat easy. There are no waves and the water is clear enough that I feel like I am flying while I have my goggles on. Swimming in such a vacant, accessible and wonderful place is immensely freeing — the shores are uncrowded or busy and you can plop into the ocean from anywhere around the city quite easily. This makes an impromptu swim on the way home from the office simple. After my morning swim I return home to shower and prepare for a day at the office – a nice 10 minute walk to the conference room in Hotel Croatia. I have been living off of grilled squid, fruit salad (fruit and vegetable vendors are 100 meters from my apartment) whatever I stir up in my tiny kitchenette. My friends organize potluck dinners regularly and finding others to share dinner with or help cook is always a breeze. This lifestyle […]
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