One of the things I was most curious about Zagreb Digital Nomad Week was how the city would be perceived by visiting digital nomads. Perceiving things from within Croatia is obviously quite different from someone who has a more global overview, as well as multi-country experience of this alternative way of living.
And despite temperatures up to 37 C that week, the Croatian capital shone during Zagreb Digital Nomad Week. So many people commented on the quality of the co-working spaces, the unbelievable English spoken by EVERYONE, the food, the safety, the great Internet. Dean Kuchel of Digital Nomad World summed it up best of all when he was asked what Zagreb is missing to cater to the global digital nomad community.
“The only thing Zagreb is missing is more digital nomads.”
Fast forward a couple of weeks to the second phase of the project, Zagreb Digital Nomad Ambassador Project. Six digital nomad ambassadors, staying a calendar month each from July 1 to December 31, as guests of the city. American Veronica Mulhall duly arrived on July 1, as the first ambassador, and you can get to know her here.
Veronica was accompanied by her partner Julian, whose roots are from Manchester and Zimbabwe but has a base in Ghana. From the moment we met at the welcome drink at Bornstein Wine Bar, I knew that I had to get Julian on camera. SUCH a positive force and appreciative of everything.
As he explains in the interview below, Julian knew almost nothing about Zagreb prior to his arrival, and yet he had already fallen in love with the city by the time they parked their car at their accommodation at Doma Zagreb in the centre. That initial enthusiasm for all things in Zagreb a few days after his arrival was really refreshing to witness. It is always instructive to see a destination through the eyes of a new arrival. The parks, the food, the people, all the boxes were being ticked. There are even discussions about buying some real estate and using Zagreb as a base.
Julian seems to have entered Zagreb life with gusto. He has joined a gym, been to the dentist, even had his hair braided by a Congolese hairdresser. And he was more than surprised to meet a hairdresser specialising in ethnic hair at his gym. A really nice interview of someone who knew little about the city before arrival, but who is totally in love with it now that he has had the chance to experience it.
And what is Zagreb missing to attract more digital nomads, in his opinion?
Just the information about what a cool city Zagreb is, how EVERYONE speaks English, the people, the architecture, the food, the parks. Did he mention the people? Julian also has some interesting observations on his experiences as a black African in Croatia.
There is a momentum builing about Croatia as a destination for digital nomads, and Zagreb is now coming more and more onto the radar. With enthusiastic ambassadors such as Dean and Julian, it will not be long before the word is heard far and wide.
Zagreb Digital Nomad Week & Zagreb Digital Nomad Ambassador Project is a cooperation between Saltwater Nomads, Total Croatia News, and Zagreb Tourist Board.
For more on Zagreb Digital Nomad Week 2021 & Zagreb Digital Nomad Ambassador Project, visit the Saltwater Nomads website.
Would you like to be a Zagreb Digital Nomad Ambassador? Applications are open until November, with the last ambassador taking up residence on December 1. Find out more here.
For the latest news and features about digital nomads in Croatia, follow the dedicated TCN section.
