Two brothers Marin and Zoran and their families are doing what everyone is doing around here for 60 years – tourism. Our apartments in Tučepi are 3 minutes from the beach, and to tell you the truth they don’t need my help at all. I wanted to help them, and help you by telling a story: our story, and the story of our area.
Old times
Life in this area was very different only decades ago. Up until 1961, people lived out of time. I remember asking my grandmother, who was a teenager in 50s, if she listens to Elvis Presley, she laughed and said she had no idea who he was. She was too busy taking care of sheep.
After the big earthquake in 1961, life gradually stepped into the present day. The old village houses on the Biokovo slope were mostly destroyed and Tučepi folk started moving to the waterfront and embracing tourism as a new way of life.
Golden times
The house was slowly built from 1968 by my grandfather. They spent winters in Belgrade and summers here. The house, like most others, looked like a box of matches. The marina wasn’t built yet and most of the houses were immersed in nature.
The house today 
The house before
They kept coming back and forth between Tučepi and Belgrade until my grandparents finally decided to stay in Tučepi. Their sons were living the best life a Yugoslavian young man could imagine – summers waterskiing, and dancing at hotel Jadran, and winters enjoying Belgrade, the centre of the world. At least, that’s how they saw it.
Eventually, my dad met my mom and decided to stay here, and my uncle stayed in Belgrade with his family.
Turbulent times
And then the war happened. Yugoslavia fell apart, tourism stopped, and my grandparents died. I was also born somewhere in that period, so it wasn’t all that bad.
What came was a 10-year separation. When they reunited, they decided to give our little matchbox house a new look. A perfect family project.
So here we are today, spending summers together again in Tučepi, still a favourite destination to guests who started coming here well before the war. Tourism is more than alive.
Check out our apartments in Tučepi, or learn about the area in our blog.