Abazia /Opatija

Hello form Opatija!!

Monday morning we arrived at Opatija. We have been for two days searching and discovering the different objectives seeked, ans we just have a further interview to go, with Doctor Amir Muzur.

First of all we found ourselves, just by chance, in the gardens of Villa Angiolina, which at the end of the day can be considered as the central point of Opatija. It is a beautiful residence that was built by the mid XIXth century, the first really stylish house at the time.

   

The views of the bay from the house and from its gardens are astonishing. It is situated in a privileged place.

   

The zone of the spa is placed at the right hand side of the house. There we can see the zone where the little wooden bath booth of the Scarpa was situated.

A little further to the right we can see the Kvarner Hotel which was constructed in 1884. It is an impressive hotel just besides the sea.

A few steps from the Kvarner, we find the church of st. James, which finally is not situated on an elevated spot as the french translation of the Archduke’s book suggested, also there a statue by the sea on the rocks, which was not there when by the time of the Archduke. Today it is one of the representative images of Opatija.

   

In between Villa Angiolina and the Kvarner Hotel a large spa was constructed some time after the Archduke wrote his book. This spa burned in 1989.

   

Just in front of Villa Angiolina there is now a huge peace of land that was added at the beginning of the XXth century. This place, which is now a trendy place, is known as Lido.

   

The idea was to build a large hotel / spa in this place; however, the first world war stopped this plans, and now we just see the space occupied by some trendy businesses.

If we leave Villa Angiolina’s gardens from its left side, we go straight into the “new port”, the one that Scarpa started to built long time ago.

In the little way that takes into the old port we find also the conical rock; however, it is now half buried into the new walk, and the view is of Fiume / Rijeka is blinded by several tres.

The old port is an enchanting place where we still see very small boats. Instead of the gondolieri that the Archduke used to mention, we find now small boats with engines that serve as sea taxis.

   

http://youtu.be/AKz6pbC_O4w

If we keep on going even further away from the old port, we can see several beaches that were also spa at the time. In this zone a huge hotel, the Ambassador, was build during the 60’s; this hotel really changes the shape of the coast.

Not far from this last Hotel we arrive to the Hotel Miramare, which was Villa Neptune before, and even before Villa Maine, even though this last name has been forgotten by most of the locals. We can still admire its octogonal tower.

   

The greatest dilema at Opatija has been going around the search of the Pasquale spa; and consequently, the situation of the Hotel of Tourists, where the Archduke mentions that he was staying.

The search has not been easy this time, and finally, thanks to the kind help of Maja Karic, who works in the museum of tourism at opatija, we have been able to identify the exact spot. In the first place, just besides where now we find the little well known statue on the sea, we can place the old Pasquale spa.

   

Therefore the Hotel of the Tourists was placed where now we find the hotel Milenium. Maja shows also to us some historical documents that record the sale of this peace of land that was done by the Pepic family.

We have still some details to share with you, and an interview to do concerning the city of Opatija. We’ll be back with this topics.

That’s all for today.

Tomorrow we are heading for Bakar and Kraljevica.

Best wishes!!

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