Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
coffee-sippers, its parks tickle gardeners, and its beaches lure sunbathers. Nearby, the big
industrial port city of
Rijeka
is an important transit hub; if you wind up changing buses or
boats here, consider a quick stroll through its run-down but gentrifying urban core.
Opatija (oh-PAH-tee-yah) is not your typical Croatian beach town. In the late 19th-century
goldenageoftheAustro-HungarianEmpire,thisunassumingvillageneartheportofRijeka
wastransformedintotheEasternRiviera,oneoftheswankiestresortsontheMediterranean.
While the French, British, and German aristocracy sunbathed on France's Côte d'Azur, the
wealthyelitefromtheeasternhalfofEurope—theHabsburgEmpire,Scandinavia,andRus-
sia—partied in Opatija. Baroque, Neoclassical, and Art Nouveau villas popped up along its
coastline as it became the sunny playground for barons, dukes, and other aristocrats.
Though the Habsburgs are long gone, Opatija retains the trappings of its genteel past.
Most of Croatia evokes the time-passed Mediterranean, but Opatija whispers “belle
époque.” It may be the classiest resort town in Croatia, with more taste and less fixation on
postcards and seashells. Most people don't come to Croatia for this chic scene. But if rus-
tic seaside villages are wearing on you, cosmopolitan Opatija—which hosts equal numbers
of tourists and convention-going businesspeople—is a pleasant return to high-class civiliza-
tion.
