British Gillie Sutherland is a Part of the Digital Nomad Valley Zadar

 - I've only been in Zadar for only about six weeks, but I can already say that the city has a great vibe, so I'm thinking of staying longer. One of the most critical moments for me was connecting with the group Hiking & Adventure Croatia team. Every Sunday, we explore some of the local natural beauties. We went to Velebit, which is simply amazing, and this is a perfect way for us, Digital Nomads, to spend our Sunday - says Gillie, wellness ambassador, life coach, instructor of wild yoga, meditation, fitness and nutrition. 

This winter, the British lady is a part of the Digital Nomad Valley Zadar, recently opened in the Borik hotel complex in Zadar, where she has created a unique health and well-being programme for the community. Zadar Digital Nomad Valley is part of an initiative called Work Remotely Croatia. The starting price of accommodation in a prefabricated house by the sea is thousand euros a month. This price also includes co-working space and a community leader who designs activities for so-called Digital Nomads who perform remote work for their employers from all over the world or simply are self-employed and need nothing but living space. In the first three days since the Valley's opening in November alone, the online platform for accommodation GrabAhome and the executive director Mario Mrkša, who are behind this project in Borik, received almost two hundred applications. A real rush is expected in the first days of 2022 so that by the beginning of spring and the end of this project, the residents of the Borik Digital Nomad Valley will sum up their impressions and conclude the Zadar story. This, however, does not mean that some of them will not stay on in Zadar. Gillie, for example, is looking forward to the period after the project. 

- Will I stay in Zadar? It's a million-dollar question. This project officially runs until the end of March, but I can already see myself waiting until spring and doing adventure sports such as Stand Up Paddle Boarding and Sea Kayaking. Although I love Zadar as a place for winter wellness, I am all excited to experience it in the spring, when we will be able to go out to sea - she adds. The challenges of the British Digital Nomad are an integral part of her life. When Gillie Sutherland was 18 and dreamt of what she might do in the future, she wanted to be a professional dancer. After a car accident and a severe back injury, her youthful wish became an unfulfilled dream for Gillie. But the accident, she says, soon became a gift of life. 

- Eventually, it really turned out to be a wonderful gift. I found purpose in helping others take responsibility for their own health and learn to heal the body. As I have had a passion for human movement from an early age and considered dance a top art form, with the body as an instrument, I started working as a fitness coach - says Gillie. She then did various jobs in the health industry sector, studied Life Coaching, and realized that yoga brings together everything she has ever learned about health, mind, and body. Going to study in India was her next step.

 - In India, I extended my knowledge of yoga and Ayurveda. It was there that I understood what it meant to live and breathe yoga, but also that each of us had the right to find a way that suited us - says the British lady. Thus, Gillie will spend the first hours of 2022 in a mountain chalet in the Paklenica National Park. She says that she did not expect such a New Year's Eve, but she rhetorically wonders if there is a better way to escape from the madness surrounding us. And when she works, she stays in the Digital Nomad Valley in Zadar. 

 I teach online almost every day. I also like writing, but I am, first and foremost, a wellness ambassador in our digital resort. My role is to keep people strong, healthy and happy while in Zadar, whether they stay for a week or two, or maybe a few months. I am also trying to create new and inspiring experiences for those who come. One of them is celebrating the winter solstice at the Greetings to the Sun. I also realized that nature is the key because the closer we are to nature, the healthier we are. This also applies to food, exercise and the way we live our lives. And that is what attracted me to Croatia and Zadar. You have the best of all four elements - earth, water, sun and air - is the message of the British with a Zadar address. 

The Valley of Digital Nomads Is an Initiative of Mario Mrkša With the Great Help of the Zadar Tourist Board

Digital Nomads in Zadar have accommodation in one, two or three-bedroom prefabricated houses depending on their choice and access to a co-working space where they can work together. This project, unique in Croatia and realized in Zadar, in addition to the online platform grabAhome, is also the merit of the founder of the company of the same name, Mario Mrkša. 

- The Digital Nomad Valley and, in general, encouraging Digital Nomads to come to Zadar is a project of the present and future of our tourism. It is predicted that by 2035, about a billion people will work from any location, which opens up incredible opportunities for Zadar as a tourist destination. They are the best ambassadors of the destination. We already have people from about 30 countries, which is just the beginning - the founder Mrška proudly points out. 

- Digital Nomads are incredibly interested in getting to know the local community they live in, its people, customs, gastronomy, and their way of life. That is why we are glad that this project is taking place in Zadar because we have all the prerequisites for attracting digital nomads from all over the world - emphasizes the director of the Zadar Tourist Board, Mario Paleka.

In Croatia, Nothing is Speeded Up; it is Following the Laws of Nature

- You have forests and mountains, lots of sun, quality air and lots of space, and the Adriatic Sea is one of the most healing seas in the world - says the British national.

She also notices something else: - It seems to me that people in Croatia live more under the laws of nature where nothing is rushed. The fact is that I can get vegetables and free-range eggs directly from the domestic farm, that fresh fish and meat have not been transported thousands of miles to end up on my plate. I just love it. And above all, I love freedom.