This incredible December sunshine is making it all the harder, but the decision has been made.
With three days to go to Christmas, the morning cold one at the temporary Office at Tarantela was accompanied by warm sunshine reminiscent of August, and the locals were out in force to enjoy what has been one of the warmest and sunniest Decembers on Hvar during my time here.
And it has been quite a long time. After buying a holiday house here in 2002, I moved permanently to Jelsa in 2003, and having experienced 12 full-time winters in succession, I feel at least in a small way to becoming an adopted islander.
Life moves on, however, and new challenges appear, which is a good thing. After a lot of deliberation, and looking at some new opportunities professionally and some life decisions personally, we hae decided to relocate the Total Project from the very friendly Office on Jelsa’s main square for an entirely different experience – arguably Croatia’s most beautiful city in the north of the country – Varazdin.
We have already moved our stuff into our new home, and will be making the last journey north on Boxing Day, as school finishes and one last Christmas Day is enjoyed with my fabulous inlaws. The challenges which await are exciting indeed, not least the launch of Total Zagreb early next year (please contact us if you would like to be involved).
Where does this leave Total Hvar, I hear you cry?
Well, the honest answer is that I am hoping that things will remain relatively unchanged. The Internet is a wonderful thing, where one can find all kinds of useful info if one follows the right pages, and some of our most popular blogs have been written in bed with a cold one, using info and pics from friends who are out and about.
If anything, I would hope that Total Hvar will be even better in 2017. This year was a year of growth, with Total Croatia Wine, Total Croatia Cycling and an expansion of Total Croatia News, must of which is now under control, so that I hope Hvar will be covered better next year.
Some of that will depend on the material at my disposal, and while I have several sources of stories for Hvar, there is nothing link individual contributions from people on the ground to make things even better. SO…
If you would like to support Total Hvar moving forward – either through your written contributions (very welcome!) or sending us pictures, stories, events etc, we would love to hear from you. Send all to [email protected]
Although I will be based in Varazdin, I will be travelling a lot and envisage being on the island a fair amount, as well as of course those unmissable summer months, so I am sure we will see each other.
I would like to thank you all for your support and interest in the Total Hvar project – more than 5 years now, rather amazing.
Here’s to the next five! Cheers!
Paul
