Wow! What an amazing thing to stumble upon in Jelsa. Directly across from Zen Beach Bar you'll find this gem. There are no signs prohibiting entry but if you do wander around be aware there are many dangers like broken glass, old burnt mattresses, trash galore, and breaking and falling concrete.
The architecture of this old hotel is amazing. And of course, I love that taggers have their way with it. Below is a gallery of some shots I took while wandering around the beautiful ruin.
When I got home I started to do some research and found this great article on Total Croatia News that shows some old photos of what life was like at the resort in its hay day - it was actually a resort and rehabilitation centre for children from Belgrade at the Zenčišće Bay.
I have not been able to find any new plans for the space. In 1991 Danko Koncar, a Croatian businessman and chromium magnate bought the hotel from Serbia, but no work ever began. Though he purchased and paid for the property Croatia and Serbia prevented any construction to begin without offering any reason why.
I found this article from 2015 that says the municipality was able to secure the resort for a 40-50 year lease but as of August 2021 no changes have been made. The city used to pay a guard but that ended and all of the fixtures, doors and even the wire has been stolen from the space. The city was paying to try to keep trash and rubble from piling up but from what I have seen that has also ceased. In fact, the space is much dirtier and decrepit than in this pretty cool video I found on Youtube.
I'll continue to dig and report back with any further knowledge.
I actually lived there for 2 years in the 70s as a child, my parents worked at the facility. I remember every little detail of it (except where I was prohibited to go). I went there again with school in the 80s, it was still the same. I feel very nostalgic about it, and visited again in the 2010s when it was already deeply in disarray, but I spent hours remembering where I first learned to drive a bicycle, where I saw my first snow (yes, it snowed there once but it disappeared quickly), where I fell and badly scraped my knee, where I "fought" with another 6-year old about a girl called Pipica.... My family has many old photos…