Croatian culture has a word — pomalo — that roughly translates to slowness, ease, a life without problems. Croatians are famous for spending hours over coffee.

What I didn't expect, after a month in Split: that the pomalo doesn't extend to working from cafes. Most places I tried explicitly didn't want laptops at the tables.

Hours of unhurried conversation? Yes.

Hours of typing? Politely, no.

Every place we romanticize as "slower" has a specific definition of what slowness is for. It's worth knowing the local version before you arrive expecting it to match the picture in your head.