OnTheBall Travels (Croatia)
If we travel again, let’s see somewhere else–but after we travel the world we’ll retire in Split
I am writing this article late, but I wanted to let you know of this Balkan country along the Adriatic Sea! Croatia has received lots of attention as a place to beat some crazy policies and have some crime-free life with the old roman architecture to walk everyday. It truly is a beautiful country despite its low points. Some people argue it’s a great place for nomads too. Here are my thoughts:
Itinerary
We stayed in a unique AirBNB in Zagreb. A pretty place with a nice quiet night life and some memorable food. Our apartment was quite the experience however. I’m sure it was colder inside the builder than it was on the street. This building felt like it was built in the early 1900s; it had a large staircase that looked like something Dracula would slowly walk down. It had about 6 floors with many thin wooden doors on each floor, the only light we had was our cell phone torch most of the time with some floors looking haunted. Naturally…we were on the 6th floor + a separate storage room had been renovated to be a tiny apartment (the size of the rental would have been deemed unacceptable anywhere in the Western World).
In order to get to here we used an elevator (that we joked was made in the 1800s!) it required us to shut the outside and inside doors, not be over a certain weight (or it wouldn’t move), and hold on to each other (it shot up and stopped abruptly!). We could see how this elevator used to be operated by a controller (although I’m not sure how since it barely fit the both of us and 1 case of luggage). We had lots of luggage with us so it was a big pain moving all of us into this tiny little elevator but we got used to it after being beaten up the first 5 times.
By the elevator there was a massive hole in the wall that did not come from wear and tear over the years. We suspected it was from World War 2 or Balkan war bombings since it was close to a large open window space.
From here we moved over to Split and later Dubrovnik for a short period of time. These were hotels and professional Airbnbs, but still had tonnes of stairs and despite beautiful views had a severe lack of investment.
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People
While our hosts were extremely accommodating and very friendly, we genuinely found people to be far more reserved and quiet. One fellow stood up to me looking like he wanted to fight inside a grocery store—staring like a UFC faceoff.
Another lady at the check-out literally threw the items away from my partner’s outstretched hand and tossed the change and bills at her as if she was feeding pigeons.
Another waiter (speaking of Dracula…) at a restaurant stood almost over us with a smug look on his face, almost invading into our conversation.
A pizza delivery man refused to give us our pizza as he sang Spanish music to us (finding out one of us is Spanish). It was like that moment where you can’t eat your cake until they finish happy birthday–but 10X more weird.
A driver of ours was also totally consumed by the EU propaganda from the Ukraine war. It was literally like watching news out of Brussels, it was kind of funny and predictable. Another driver was very helpful but serious—I tried to make him laugh but I failed continually. Must have been the weather.
We had a lot of peculiar encounters that didn’t feel the best–and there were more unfriendly people than friendly. Serbia by contrast were far more friendly, outgoing and even if they were confrontational they were respectful.
Despite loving the place (I’ll get to that), the longer we stayed the overall vibe was that we felt that we were distinct from these people, unwelcome and would have difficulty blending into everyday society. We decided that living here we’d have to be aware of this reality. This was an eye-opener because we realized that we were willing to forego some pleasantries, some history, some tasty food if it meant having a sincerer social network.
Perhaps they are sick of foreigners showing up to their country, it sure felt like it.
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Thoughts/Research
Croatia is an aging population, there are a lot of older folks owing to its slower pace of life. Most of the young folks we saw were hanging out in Zagreb. We were told this too; the people coming back to live here are essentially coming back from Germany or Slovenia to die here–whereas the younger populations are just getting ready to go to Germany (however, I’m not sure this trend will continue looking at Germany’s economic numbers). The general vibe was that while it’s nice for retirement or a drunken vacation on the sea, the place is slowly dying.
Zagreb’s buildings certainly have war-written all over them. This was less present along the coast which largely remained unscathed. However, it was obvious that the people experienced some horrific sights.
Croatians are far less engaging than Serbians
Fiscal Mistakes
Croatia has made a number of mistakes by joining the EU, accepting the Euro (which will become digital in no-time), accepting their NATO bid and turning their back on cheap Russian gas. Their taxes are far more complicated and bureaucratic compared to other non-EU states and their policies are very anti-business.
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Split
Split is a somewhat different story. It is a long the Adriatic sea with proximity to a number of Croatian islands. It has everything you’d need, lots of old Roman streets but yet feels very abandoned and sleepy. The population there are old who are content with living the rest of their days out in this coastal city but with many restaurants, cafes, great views, overall quietness. It’s still an underrated location relative to Greece, Spain and Italy.
It was here where Muhammed Ali wanted to challenge me in the grocery store however.
It’s worth noting that since my trip Croatia is now being used as a highway for 3rd worlders to enter the EU
How to play it??
I think Croatia has an anchor around their ankle being connected to the European Union. Furthermore, by dropping the Kuna (currency) in favor of the doomed Euro they’ve only accelerated the exodus and made pensioners struggle. While times were hot, they certainly received more investment & infrastructure injected into their economy relative to their ex-Yugoslav neighbours, however they will now pay the price for doing so by being swamped by regulation, restrictions and sanctions.
Croatia’s economy is about 70% service-oriented and despite their problems, Spain, Italy and Greek tourism numbers are still doing well. Croatia is quite energy diversified with 26% coming from hydro, 14% coming from nuclear and an import of 28%. Moreover, they are quite food secure for the Balkans.
Croatia is simply not competitive with respect to their taxation policies relative to their Serbian and Montenegrin neighbours. Being in the European Union as well, you’re in one of the most anti-business, socialistic & totalitarian places on Earth.
Croatia is an interesting place for retirees. Split is beautiful, tranquil, tucked away yet you’re proximal to Italy and not too too far away from Zagreb/Dubrovnik. However, the taxes aren’t so hot, you have to deal with the EU policy makers, the weather isn’t as hot as you’d like year-round nor do they have very sophisticated banking or financial sectors.
If one were to stay within the EU, who could work remotely or retire than I’d say it’d be a good place to relocate. Otherwise, perhaps plan for a 1-3-week vacation to see as much as you can—and save the tax, banking and half year on the ground in another place.
Would I go back? Yes. Would I live there? Eh, it never really felt like it could be home—we felt the desire to find somewhere else for the reasons mentioned. Honestly, the juice isn’t worth the squeeze if we consider the people, the taxes & bureaucracy, the larger geopolitical threats & positioning, the immigration trends and similar culture as to other Balkan nations.
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