I loved this piece and being introduced to Field School of Hvar. This is an interesting idea (like an expat Croatian resort kibbutz?) and so appealing if you have younger children and a portable career. I would argue that the most oppressive thing to the majority of Americans is the dependence on our car in daily life. It is only on vacation that we can savor a pedestrian life, even if that is a copy-and-paste tourism experience. One experiment I've subjected my three kids to every weekend is walking to our farmers market -- a good 35 minute walk from one part of downtown Santa Barbara to another. We have had such magic on those walks. Discovered cool hidden corner stores, abandoned lots, ancient monkey trees you don't notice when driving past at 35mph. And we hold hands, and we talk. It is like what we do on vacation -- but we do it every Saturday. That is my modest experiment in slow culture.
Hey Olivia, thanks so much for your addition! The appeal of the walkable city (or island town) is definitely there, as is the farmers market vibe. Trying to make your everyday life more like vacation, slowing down, is very admirable. We'll be sure to share this comment in the next newsletter, too. — KC
This is beautiful - thanks for sharing. My mom was a librarian & thoughts of a multi-lingual library here on Hvar have been circling my mind since I arrived. Great inspiration.
That sounds like a wonderful addition. I used to be involved with the organisation that runs this multi-lingual kids bookshop. It was a real shop but is now online. https://shop.lostinbooks.com.au/
Slow culture is staying at Dalmatian grandma's house with one or two rooms available inside her own house, who will serve you homemade pršut and the octopus her husband fished this morning. I understand that's it's hard seeking these places as they don't have the publicity of these others, but that's exactly the point of slow culture, isn't it? Spending the time and effort to find something precious and authentic
I'm sure this lady has great intentions and her "project" is based in sustainable practices, but let me offer a different perspective. A perspective she's well aware of, talking about the guardrails coming off and seems like she's very concerned aboard it. (gatekeeping much?)
This is a rich American woman coming to a remote island, buying property (not interested in scaling because conveniently she has 16 apartments phew) and then renting it to other rich Americans thus making it unavailable to locals. You can call it slow culture, but we have another helpful term here, gentrification.
I was born a couple hours from Hvar and moved to the US as a refugee after the war. I also have a tough time not seeing this as as gentrification! But, as Zelikow said, that's something that's happening anyways. When I get to revisit Split, Kotor, or Budva, I see vastly different cities than those from my childhood, now catering to a rich foreign clientele. Field School *appears* to be a much more conscientious approach to tourism and preservation of the island. Are they doing this to make money? Of course! I suppose I'd rather see that happen with this amount of thoughtfulness, so I'm less against it.
Elena - As a Macedonian, I'm sure you know that gentrification has been well underway in Dalmatia for at least half a century. Pressure on our housing stock comes from locals who refuse to rent their properties year-round, because they are dependent on inflated summer-time rental revenues. If local wages were higher, then the balance would tip. Essentially, the island needs fewer, but more invested tourists. In order to achieve that, we need a deeper tourism offer than "sun and fun."
Travel destinations everywhere, from Bali to Venice, are searching for a path forward that balances sustainability with the vital economic opportunities offered by tourism. In this project, I'm trying to see if slow travel can displace fast travel. It is far better from a local perspective to have 30 people stay for 1 month than to have 300 people stay for 3 nights each.
I'm also trying to enrich the educational landscape for children here, of whom my son is one. Our program for kids is priced to be accessible to local families and has been received with enthusiasm.
As for my personal circumstances! I live on a Croatian salary (I work for a local sustainable development firm), as does my husband, who is from the island. It isn't always easy and I don't own 16 apartments. I partner with a local property developer.
I loved this piece and being introduced to Field School of Hvar. This is an interesting idea (like an expat Croatian resort kibbutz?) and so appealing if you have younger children and a portable career. I would argue that the most oppressive thing to the majority of Americans is the dependence on our car in daily life. It is only on vacation that we can savor a pedestrian life, even if that is a copy-and-paste tourism experience. One experiment I've subjected my three kids to every weekend is walking to our farmers market -- a good 35 minute walk from one part of downtown Santa Barbara to another. We have had such magic on those walks. Discovered cool hidden corner stores, abandoned lots, ancient monkey trees you don't notice when driving past at 35mph. And we hold hands, and we talk. It is like what we do on vacation -- but we do it every Saturday. That is my modest experiment in slow culture.
Hey Olivia, thanks so much for your addition! The appeal of the walkable city (or island town) is definitely there, as is the farmers market vibe. Trying to make your everyday life more like vacation, slowing down, is very admirable. We'll be sure to share this comment in the next newsletter, too. — KC
One of the loveliest 'slow' projects I've come across in recent years is Anna Iltnere's Sea Library in Latvia https://beachbooks.blog/about/
This is beautiful - thanks for sharing. My mom was a librarian & thoughts of a multi-lingual library here on Hvar have been circling my mind since I arrived. Great inspiration.
That sounds like a wonderful addition. I used to be involved with the organisation that runs this multi-lingual kids bookshop. It was a real shop but is now online. https://shop.lostinbooks.com.au/
Slow culture is staying at Dalmatian grandma's house with one or two rooms available inside her own house, who will serve you homemade pršut and the octopus her husband fished this morning. I understand that's it's hard seeking these places as they don't have the publicity of these others, but that's exactly the point of slow culture, isn't it? Spending the time and effort to find something precious and authentic
I'm sure this lady has great intentions and her "project" is based in sustainable practices, but let me offer a different perspective. A perspective she's well aware of, talking about the guardrails coming off and seems like she's very concerned aboard it. (gatekeeping much?)
This is a rich American woman coming to a remote island, buying property (not interested in scaling because conveniently she has 16 apartments phew) and then renting it to other rich Americans thus making it unavailable to locals. You can call it slow culture, but we have another helpful term here, gentrification.
I was born a couple hours from Hvar and moved to the US as a refugee after the war. I also have a tough time not seeing this as as gentrification! But, as Zelikow said, that's something that's happening anyways. When I get to revisit Split, Kotor, or Budva, I see vastly different cities than those from my childhood, now catering to a rich foreign clientele. Field School *appears* to be a much more conscientious approach to tourism and preservation of the island. Are they doing this to make money? Of course! I suppose I'd rather see that happen with this amount of thoughtfulness, so I'm less against it.
Elena - As a Macedonian, I'm sure you know that gentrification has been well underway in Dalmatia for at least half a century. Pressure on our housing stock comes from locals who refuse to rent their properties year-round, because they are dependent on inflated summer-time rental revenues. If local wages were higher, then the balance would tip. Essentially, the island needs fewer, but more invested tourists. In order to achieve that, we need a deeper tourism offer than "sun and fun."
Travel destinations everywhere, from Bali to Venice, are searching for a path forward that balances sustainability with the vital economic opportunities offered by tourism. In this project, I'm trying to see if slow travel can displace fast travel. It is far better from a local perspective to have 30 people stay for 1 month than to have 300 people stay for 3 nights each.
I'm also trying to enrich the educational landscape for children here, of whom my son is one. Our program for kids is priced to be accessible to local families and has been received with enthusiasm.
As for my personal circumstances! I live on a Croatian salary (I work for a local sustainable development firm), as does my husband, who is from the island. It isn't always easy and I don't own 16 apartments. I partner with a local property developer.
I love this; and wasn't aware at all so thanks a ton for sharing. We will definitely check this out.
Our biggest frustration lately has been how unwelcoming to kids many places tend to be so this is awesome to discover.
We kinda 'slow travelled' non-stop for the past 15 years. Mathilde wrote about it here: https://open.substack.com/pub/objet/p/079-15-years-moving?r=2cys&utm_medium=ios