Kaprije – perfect alibi for a serene vacation

While looking at the old photographs, I’m counting and calculating. This is the forth summer we have been spending on Kaprije. In a row! I’m getting that strange feeling of disbelief, familiar to people in long (and happy) relationships. That fatal number, rounding up the period of time spent together never seems real. In one moment it looks as if the time had flown by, and in another one, as if there had never been life before “you”, that “you” have always existed and that you will last forever (the feeling that one usually lacks in an argument).

In any case, it took two people to do this hard mathematical calculation, to put everything into one equation: two different apartments, discounts we’ve had as regular customers, newly opened bars and restaurants, people we’ve met, cameras we’ve changed; and we realised that, already after the first year, we stopped making our minds about the location where we planned to spend twenty precious days off, about the place that will be our home away from home, that is Rijeka. The decision in this case is not at all rational.

Despite our own property in Dalmatia, summerhouse in attractive tourist village of Petrčane, and my own family house in Šibenik, we, on everyone’s surprise, decide to rent accommodation on the island we have no connections with (at least according to the general opinion). So, really, what is it that brings us back exactly? Why do we, especially I, see Kaprije as Prozac during the year, when I feel overwhelmed by my working obligations? Let’s just go back to family and family reunions I’ve mentioned earlier. Don’t take me in a wrong way, family reunions are fantastic. Doctors should be prescribing them, in limited amount and number of days to spend together, I’d add. Family houses and summerhouses are burdened with investments, maintenance, repairs, demolitions… An extra problem is if they are situated on the mainland, because it means that we are easily within reach for all eventual urgencies and obligations that might unpredictably come up at work.

The internet connection at Kaprije is slower than the life on the island, which is in slow- motion itself. That fact, with several photos of natural beauties, inspired the head office of T-Mobile in Austria. And, not to fix the conditions, but to escape to an oasis of peace where it is possible to read e-mails and surf a little, but any kind of serious work connected with upload or download is out of the question. You can also claim that you were out of reach to those whose call you don’t want to take, even if the signal is btw ok, but you know, you can always say that you were on a boat, on the hill or something like that, where that wouldn’t be a lie.

The best thing is that the mainland is difficult to reach. There are several regular lines and simply, whoever wants to reach you or call on you, needs to think about it early enough. It’s the perfect alibi for vacation.

Let’s also mention that there are no motor vehicles of any kind on the island, apart from a motor cultivator that can be used only in specified time of the day.

The island is rather undiscovered by the tourists, and that’s why I’m worried about writing in superlatives, because it would be wonderful (and totally selfish, I know) that it stays like that.

The prices of the apartments for rent very convenient compared to some more popular tourist destinations.

Fresh fish is easy to find on one of many fishing boats and you can grill it every day if it pleases you. If not, there are plenty of restaurants to choose from, from pizza to fresh fish. The sea is, of course, perfect, with cute and carefully designed little beaches in front of little houses by the sea.

Kaprije is not an island for younger people eager for action and parties, but it’s perfect for us (khm) young and older ones, who long for hedonistic delight, to everyone who wants to combine complete isolation with good company, simple to find on the island.

If you want to spend your day with the best Mojito (the way we spent most of our summer vacations) you will settle in Liberty. You can grab a quick, tasty bite (reasonably charged) in the restaurant bar Neptun, where you can also say hello and goodbye to guests, and if you dream of exotic combinations in your own arrangement you need two days of (passive) exploration and research – you will discover everything, meet everyone and go everywhere.

Five days later, you start to behave somewhat like the locals, you soon become one of them yourself, and already in the first week of vacation, you’ll forget the stress, the work, the crowd and the noise… And instead of travelling anywhere else, instead of changing islands and destinations, instead of exploring something new, we don’t have any doubts. Kaprije is the only place where we spend our summer vacation and everything there seems like home already, it is actually our summer home. The only certain vacation. (Petković)

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