When Summer Slows Down

The sun still feels like summer, daytime temperatures remain high everywhere, and the forest is still deep green. In Gorski Kotar, too, it is still very much summer during the day. For now, only the shorter days hint at a change.

When the sun sets, the temperature around Hillside Lodge drops to about fifteen degrees. After the heat of the day, it's just fresh enough for a comfortable sleep without the summer humidity. In the evening, a white terry bathrobe once again feels just right.

Out on the master bedroom balcony, you don't need much: bare feet, a cup of warm tea, and a view over the treetops toward the mountains. People often travel far for views like this, only to stare at them through a mobile screen. Here, the screen quickly faces serious competition.

The cup stays in your hands even after the tea stops steaming. Not because you're waiting for something, but because finally, there's nowhere you have to be.

Unplanned time off

Hillside Lodge is spread across three floors, and each part has its moment: the balcony when you want to look further out, the tavern when you feel like sitting at a large table, the terrace when it's a shame to stay indoors. And the sauna and water when your body says it has had enough of the usual routine.

You can go down to Lake Bajer, take a walk, or explore the surroundings. Or you can simply go nowhere. That option is often unfairly underestimated.

Staying in doesn't mean nothing is happening. Sometimes it's only then that you notice how the light shifts across the wooden floor, how the wind lingers in the treetops, or how the house falls quiet when you close the door to the outside world.

An hourglass you turn by hand

In the sauna, time isn't measured by a screen, but by sand. You turn the wooden hourglass and the fine grains begin to fall, indifferent to messages, deadlines, and everything that is considered urgent outside that room.

Water touches the heated stones and the space briefly vanishes in steam. What remains is warmth, the scent of heated wood, and a quiet crackling. Afterwards, a cold shower doesn't negotiate and leaves little room for overthinking. The first burst of water takes your breath away, the second brings it back.

It is a simple transition from warmth to freshness, but the body understands it without further explanation.

A massage, when you want one

With prior arrangement, a massage table can be set up on the terrace next to the open jacuzzi. No hotel corridors, waiting rooms, or artificial music from hidden speakers. Just the open air, the view, and the hands of someone who knows their work well.

The massage must be booked in advance, is subject to the therapist's availability, and comes at an additional cost. It is not a mandatory part of your stay nor a preset item on an itinerary, but simply a possibility to add a little more quiet to an already peaceful day.

A few drops of oil are warmed between palms. The movements are slow, the view remains open toward the forest, and the jacuzzi hums quietly in the background. But the true value lies in privacy: no one rushes you, and after the massage, you don't have to go anywhere.

Relaxing under the open sky

In the outdoor jacuzzi, the difference between summer and autumn becomes less important anyway. The air might be crisper, but the water stays warm. Shoulders disappear among the bubbles, hands rest on the edge, and your gaze returns to the mountains that have already managed to interrupt the conversation several times that day.

It doesn't take much for the moment to find its rhythm: two glasses, wet hair, droplets on shoulders, and a conversation occasionally paused by the view.

Perhaps that is exactly what September is in Gorski Kotar: during the day, it's still proper summer, with high temperatures and a deep green forest, while the nights sit around fifteen degrees, bringing a deep, comfortable sleep. The days are shorter, but summer hasn't ended.

Late summer here simply has two pleasant sides: warm days and fresh nights. A day can pass without a schedule, without a checklist of things to experience, and without the fear of missing out.

Sometimes, the whole point of getting away is that, finally, you don't have to go anywhere.