Croatia's Concept of Fjaka

“Online dictionaries (and Croatians from outside Dalmatia) often define fjaka as “laziness.” The term probably arrived in the Middle Ages, via Venetian sailors and traders who used the Italian word fiacco, which means “tired” or “listless” and comes from the Latin flaccus, for “flaccid.” Someone from Dubrovnik, on the other hand, will tell you it’s a sublime state of mind, a detachment from worries and anxiety about other goings-on in life. It’s 100 percent Dalmatian, an idea swirling in the warm jugo wind, drenching the azure shores, etched into the streets of centuries-old cities, and layered under the olive-hued skin of its sun-soaked populace. My plan was to plant myself in the city of 42,000 people for a month and see if I could learn how to unlock the Dalmatian secret to doing nothing and being happy about it.”

From “Unlocking Croatia’s Secret to Easy Living” by David Farley for Afar; Photo by Kevin Faingnaert (@kevinfaingnaert) 

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