Opatija, truly a gem in the jewel-studded Adriatic coast. With the city of Rijeka being the main port of Croatia (and previously a main port and shipping artery in the former Yugoslavia once Triest was handed over to the Italians after WWII) Opatija became the place where the rich and industrialists went for peace and quite, just 12 kilometers from Rijeka it has long provied this service among locals and tourists alike as a nice get-away town for weekends or just a walk by the sea and coffee at a seaside café. In some ways it reminded me of what Trogir is to the other main port town of Croatia, Split, thought they are very different apart from that they both serve their larger cities needs for peace and fine dining in their unique way and historical treasures and architecture.
A friend and I decided we could no longer just look out at the sea but we wanted to see and feel it and walked along the coast just to smell the sea air and hear the waves crashing would have been enough to make our 5 km walk worth it but we also found quant harbors and old villas and alleys starting in Volosko and on into Opatija along the seaside that really made it a wonderful Sunday afternoon walk just wonderful. We did not make it to the heart of town, though I’ve been there before and will defiantly visit there again this was just a nice seaside walk and yes, (as I’d have it) exploring old abandoned villas like ‘Villa Irena’ that tragically looks like it burned down quite some decades ago (no signs that I could tell that it was ever electrically wired as a modern home) and all three wooden floors collapsed inside of itself. Surly it must still be worth millions with the grounds and location and the owners or city are presumably just waiting for a good offer for it and it will be restored to its former glory or better and serving as a hotel or private estate like it once was complete with seaside access and roman yard sculptures.
This part of the coast is doted with hotels and these villas dating and named after the various ones who happened to be occupying it at the time built, you see names suggesting Italian, Germanic (Austro-Hungarian) and even Russian (though they never occupied), we even found an Albert Einstein street, and much of the architecture follows a similar pattern thought it also includes the much less glorious socialist era and strictly convenience styles that are just ugly boxes and built with poor materials but thankfully this town was spared the worst of it and is balanced out with many, many artistically created structures of the early 1900’s like much of this area.
I’ll end this with pictures from today of this beautiful place.
The main road through town.
A castle of a place, currently a hotel.
Shoring up success, a new villa to be.
Welcome back. Great to see you blogging again.
Aww the memories.. missing Croatia
Hey! I visited Opatija two summers ago, really nice place. I though the same when I saw the refinerie…
Regards