Fri 17.May.2013
Lovran, Croatia
A near-sleepless night crossing the Alps, but I did see the first light of morning
on the Julian Alps, the rugged eastern knot of the Dolomites that dominates the
northwest corner of Slovenia. My train was just across the border in Austria, crossing
into Italy a few minutes later.
Sadly, the Italian side of the Alps was mostly tunnels until we emerged onto the
flat Friulan Plain. A painless transfer in Udine brought me in to Trieste Centrale
station by 8:00am. I strolled next door to the bus station, and by about 10:30 I was
stepping out in Opatija (oh-PAH-tee-ya) Croatia, on the east side of the
arrowhead-shaped peninsula called Istria.
Finally, a local bus got me the last few miles to my destination, the village
of Lovran, the last, smallest, and most relaxed of a string of towns known
rather grandly as The Opatija Riviera.
The view from the balcony of the nice room that the tourist office found for me.
The water is the Kvarner Gulf. The major city you'll see across it sometimes
is Rijeka, the Adriatic's major seaport.
The cove at nearby Ika has two of these circular areas where
the water is suddenly flat. I do not know the story.
A century ago, this ten-mile stretch of coast was the prestige vacation spot
for the aristocracy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Today, we plebs get to relax
among the old mansions and spas, with tacky modern box accomodations scattered in.
Each little cove along the coast has its little harbor. This one, Lovran's is the
most picturesque of the lot.
This tuxedo-clad local hangs around the supermarket. He must live nearby.
The Opatija coast has a first class lungomare, i.e. a seaside walkway, nicely
sculpted onto the rocky coast, with rails, benches, bridges, ... whatever it takes.
I use it for my daily exercise walk, or for idle strolling. On sunny days, sunbathers
avail themselves of the rocks and concrete piers.
