Why These City Professionals Traded Urban Chaos for a New Life on Mljet

The statistics circulating in public are not encouraging: in the last ten years, five thousand residents have left Croatian islands. However, while some are leaving, others are coming—driven by a longing for a simpler life, space, and peace. They are not seeking an escape, but a new beginning. And that‘s exactly what they found there.

Although the desire had been growing in them for a long time, three years ago, spouses Velinka and Ante Buljan finally decided to swap their address in the very center of Zagreb for one at the far south, in the picturesque village of Babino Polje on the island of Mljet.

Before packing their "life" into a few suitcases to start it, in their early forties, on her grandfather‘s land in a completely different format, she was an accomplished journalist and public relations expert, and he was a finance manager.

For them, there is no more "nine to five" job, and the almost always noisy Zagreb green wave has been replaced by a slow Mediterranean daily life on a generous plot that allows them peace, quiet, and the time needed for a thorough approach to every topic or task they set for themselves.

Today, they run the tourist property House Mouse together, try their hand at olive oil production, preserve traditional crafts such as making utilitarian objects from olive wood, and simply enjoy the moment and the day, which somehow seems longer on Mljet.

- We used to come here every summer because I am from Mljet, but the decision to move "fell" during the pandemic, specifically after the Zagreb earthquake, when we felt we definitely needed a change, that we needed a calmer and more natural environment, which we immediately knew was here, and for some time we had been dreaming of moving south - said Velinka, who, on her native island, not long after moving, started the association Mljetske koze with several local enthusiasts.

This group of locals, through joint work, wants to restore devastated dry stone walls that have been damaged precisely by local wild goats, teach the curious about their traditional construction, but also expand their activities to other islands facing the same problems.

- We recently visited Brač and exchanged best practices for dry stone wall restoration with the locals there, held workshops, and discussed next steps to further expand our activities - explains Velinka, whose goal in the coming years is to establish collaborations on other Dalmatian islands as well, in order to jointly preserve local tradition.

This couple is not thinking about returning to Zagreb, but several times a year they visit family and friends in the capital.

- We know that to people, Mljet sounds very far away, but it really isn‘t, especially after the construction of the Pelješac Bridge. We are really well connected in terms of transport; to Split, after a half-hour ferry ride, it‘s about two hours by car, so we can easily get to Zagreb in the same day - conclude Velinka and Ante, for whom, just like their four-legged pets, island life clearly suits them, so it‘s no wonder they no longer want to return to the mainland.