Back on the Tourist Trail

When we were talking to Petar and Nena about leaving Ernestinovo and not really being sure where we should go next, Petar was adamant that if we wanted to see more of Croatia we should definitely head for the Istrian Peninsula and told us the most beautiful place to be was a town called Opatija.  We had never heard of it but listening to his description we were convinced!  We found a nice looking hotel that offered a reasonable rate and included breakfast.  We have learned that most European hotels don’t have coffee and tea making facilities and if they don’t offer breakfast getting a coffee in the morning can be painful and everybody knows I’m not a nice person before I get coffee!

We booked in for three nights and then arranged for a bus that would take us from Osijek to Rijeka.  Rijeka is a port town close to Opatija and a major transport hub with everything from buses to planes to boats servicing the area.

The bus trip was uneventful and took about 6 ½ hours but I have to say the buses are nowhere near as comfortable as the trains, the seats are narrower and closer together and you can’t get up and stretch if you need to. 

As soon as we stepped off the bus there was a taxi waiting to stuff our bags and ourselves in and take us to Opatija, about 20 minutes away.

Our hotel was called the Grand Hotel 4 Opatijska Cvijeta, it was quite a mouthful and it turned out to be a great choice!   

We asked our usual million questions at reception and found out that the dining room offered a buffet dinner every night for about €20pp and served traditional Croatian cuisines from a different region each night.  We were sold!  The food was not as good as the food cooked by Nena and her parents but we were still happy with the range and quality :)

We woke up the next morning to the first bad weather we had encountered in the whole holiday.  It had been a dream run of blue skies and sunshine but we weren’t disappointed to actually have an excuse to stay in our hotel and catch up on Facebook, emails and the blog. 

We had a huge buffet breakfast, it was hard to choose with a range that included everything from salad to cereal, bacon to pancakes, a whole leg of ham that you could carve as much as you wanted, salamis and breads, eggs and cheeses, eating and drinking yoghurts, fresh fruit and fruit salads and excellent steaming hot coffee, something that I had been missing as you can never get a hot drink at high altitudes and we were finally back at sea level!

About 4pm we started getting a bit hungry so decided to go for a wander, explore the local area and find a place to have a coffee and a snack.  We ended up in a pizza place and the pizza was so freaking good that we ate the whole thing and then couldn’t eat again until 9pm!

Day 2 and the weather had cleared so we went out after another amazing breakfast and started exploring. 

We walked to the waterfront and chose a café for later, then went and explored the Park Angiolina, not just a park but a horticultural monument covering an area of 3.64 hectares. It is divided into 60 fields and about 159 plant species grow here. A great number of them originated from other countries but are thriving here.  The most beautiful of all was the Japanese camellia (Camellia japonica) which is now the symbol of Opatija.  The Villa Angiolina and the Church of St Jacov are also in the park.

Back down at the waterfront the views are breathtaking!  The sea is calm and clear and there is a walking track that takes you in both directions from Opatija…one way to Volosko and the other to Lovran.  We decided to do the short trip to Volosko and got some lovely photos.  Everywhere we looked there were murals and flowers and beautiful gardens, I can see why Petar said this is the most beautiful place.

We also decided that we needed to extend our stay here by another day as we didn’t feel ready to leave and only had one more night booked.

This morning we followed our usual routine of buffet breakfast then lounged around in our room for a couple of hours.  We had managed to get another night here but not managed to keep the same room so we slowly packed up all our stuff ready to check out at 11am and have our bags transferred to our new room. 

Then it was time to stroll to Lovran….12km down beautiful winding paths that follow the sea and occasionally direct you back to a gelati shop or café along the way.  One of the gelati shops looked too good to resist so Nathan and I stopped and grabbed a cone each, he got Tiramisu and I got Latte and they were both yummy!

2 ½ hours later we were in Lovran and decided that since there was a bus due in a few minutes we would go and visit Rijeka since we had only seen it for about 30 seconds between getting off the bus and getting into the taxi!

The bus fare was a bit of a shock though, we were so used to everything being very cheap here and when the driver said 42 Kroner I thought I had misheard!  This works out to about €7 and compared to other places was very expensive!

We did a bit of window shopping and stopped at a café for a Croatian hot chocolate which is similar to the hot cioc we get in Australia, so thick you need to eat it with a spoon :)

I was tempted to try the Palatschinken but was a bit worried when I noticed it came with Corso, Mascarpone and Viagra….and yes the photo of the menu board is on my Facebook.

We then caught a taxi back to Opatija since it was only twice the bus fare but a lot more convenient!

For our last night in Croatia we thought it would be nice to find a traditional Croatian grill and eat as many Ćevapi as we could.  We found a place called Boćarija and while it was no frills inside they made a Meat Platter that had us licking our lips and our plates :) It had most of the same meats as the one at Josic, the amazing restaurant that Petar and Nena took us to but it also had mushrooms and French fries!

So here I sit, writing this blog, full of Ćevapi and a bit worn out from the huge walk.

Tomorrow we have a very early start, our cab driver from the other day is back to pick us up at 6am and drive us to Trieste in Italy to catch a train to Rome.  Strangely it is cheaper to get the taxi than the bus!

So this time tomorrow we will be in a hotel in Rome, 10 minutes from the Colosseum :)

PS. Yes Petar, your choice of towns is MUCH better than your choice of wines! ;)