Yugoslavia's Sunny Side: A History of Tourism in Socialism (1950s–1980s)

My Own Vikendica: Holiday Cottages as Idyll and Investment

My Own Vikendica Holiday Cottages as Idyll and Investment Karin Taylor Josip Broz Tito had a holiday cottage, so did Tonči the mechanic. Tito enjoyed a chic home in landscaped gardens on an Adriatic island reserved for the president. Tonči’s hillside cabin in a village close to Zagreb had a photograph of Tito on one wall and a picture of the Madonna on the other.1 Both men pursued wine-making as a hobby in their free-time getaways. The diverse sizes and styles of holiday cottages in Yugoslavia reflected the many social and cultural distinctions that permeated society. As a retreat from the city and an attainable symbol of personal contentment, the holiday cottage developed into a cherished trapping of urban life shaped by popular notions of how to spend leisure time in an agreeable and meaningful way. Holiday cottages began to dot the tourism regions and rural surroundings of the larger cities of Yugoslavia in the early 1960s. At a time when workers were becoming accustomed to regular holidays in the framework of the social tourism system, an increasing number of urbanites sought leisure away from the collective. Others who took their vacations in hotels and household accommodation yearned for unrestrained relaxation and a sense of sheltered privacy. Vinko, from continental Croatia, described his emotions towards the seaside holiday home he built for his family in later life: “We have ‘ours’ here, it is simply different to being a tourist. It’s a totally different feeling, a different relationship. You’re comfortable, free […] In your own property you live your own life.” 1 Interview held in Zagreb, 2006. I conducted the interviews used in this article in Croatia, Serbia, and Montenegro in 2006 and 2007. My thanks to all who shared their experiences with me. 172 Karin Taylor Although second home or holiday cottage ownership appeared to challenge intrinsically core socialist beliefs and planning models, private holiday properties boomed. By the 1980s, clusters of cottages of varying size and ostentatiousness had grown into whole holiday colonies, especially along the Adriatic coast. Significantly, Yugoslav property law never completely did away with the concept of private property. Property was permitted for the “personal use” of owners and their families, as will be discussed further on in this chapter. This enabled the ownership of what was officially termed kuća za odmor (house for rest), or in an even more utilitarian manner kuća za odmor i rekreaciju (house for rest and recreation). The popular name for the holiday cottage , however, was vikendica.2 This affectionate derivative from the English “weekend” reflected the leisure character and pleasures of the getaway residence. Depending on the era and location in which it was built, as well as on the status of the owner, the vikendica—as I will generically call the Yugoslav holiday cottage here—could be anything from a one-room hut without electricity to a spacious second home with all conveniences. Geographers and urban planners began to take note of the vikendica in Slovenia and Croatia in the late 1960s and predicted further expansion across the country.3 Statistics from the 1980s subsequently showed a dramatic five-fold increase in the number of holiday cottages registered in Yugoslavia between 1971 and 1981. Estimates saw the recorded figure of 216,204 more than double again to 550,000 in 1986.4 However, experts doubted that the statistics accurately reflected the real situation. Firstly, inadequacies in property law failed to define the kuća za odmor or vikendica in precise terms, and secondly, the implementation of planning regulations was prone to flaws.5 A substantial number of holiday cottages remained unregistered or were constructed illegally and consequently failed to show up in official surveys. 2 For an early definition of vikendica in Croatian, see Klaić (1974). Vikendica was also used in the languages of the other republics. The word vikend first appears in dictionaries of Serbian and Croatian in the 1960s. 3 See Jeršič (1968). 4 Alfier (1987, pp. 237–8). See Table 1. 5 Anton Gosar noted that municipalities frequently ignored 1950s and 1960s urban planning regulations stipulating that they must issue permits for second homes in suburban areas. See Gosar (1986). My Own Vikendica 173 Of course, holiday cottage ownership and the creeping urbanization of scenic regions were not unique to Yugoslavia. The mass creation of second homes as a leisure destination marked landscapes across...