27^th May, 11; Opatija marina; Tour of Rijeka

We had intended to moor in Rijeka but realize that the town has extensive commercial docks but no marina, so we plow on to Opatija, another two hours further on. After the rather grim industrial appearance of Rijeka, Opatija has great charm, surrounded as it is by woods of Bay, Pine and Holm Oak. It is a late 19^th C seaside resort built for rich Austro-Hungarians in the late 19^th C; it became their equivalent of Nice or Cannes. The coastal road is lined with imposing Victorian villas painted in creams, pinks and ochres; the fancy cornices and plasterwork now, sadly, so often defaced by modern additions or conversions. The hillside on which the town lies is less arid than the Cote D’Azure but there are no beaches here to speak of and now, shorn of its political connection to Austria, the town is prosperous but has lost its former glamour.

Our Rijeka guide is Sandra Bandera; she walks us around the lack-lustre city center. In spite of its Roman origins there is little left of historical importance to be seen and the 19^th C architecture that must have been the chief glory of the place, is for the most part, in want of love and attention. It is a dirty, industrial town whose chief claim to fame is that an Englishman invented the torpedo here in the 1860’s. It is a distinction that, on both counts, I would if I were them, tend to keep rather quiet about.

Sandra tells us that her grandfather lived in the same house in the town under six different flags; Austo-Hungary, The Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the Fiume Republic, Italy, Communist Yugoslavia and Croatia. All that without moving house! Fiume has a large Italian population; in the 1930’s the town lay on the border between Italy and Yugoslavia, in fact the city was divided in two, rather like Berlin after the war. For a brief while it became an independent state under the aegis of the League of Nations but was soon subsumed into fascist Italy. What a tragic history and one so typical of the Balkans where people seem unable to live in peace with one another and borders are always a source of conflict.

We end the day at an imposing castle, Trsat, on a hill across the river that gave Rijeka or Fiume its name. Little is left of interest to see at the castle but we were bought a refreshing round of cool drinks that we sorely needed after a day of walking in the hot sunshine.

Saturday, 28^th May, 11; Day at Risnjak NP

We drove to the park to be met by our guide but, because the day is wet and foggy, there is no point in venturing into the hills to see the chief glory of the park, Risnjak mountain. Instead we drive down to the Slovenian border, into an area where the park has been recently extended, to visit some beautiful water meadows full of spring flowers and some very bedraggled butterflies that I identify as Black-veined whites. These are common here but a rarity back home. We dive along the banks of the river on dirt roads strewn with jagged boulders brought crashing down the hillside by last night’s heavy rainfall. Every few meters we stop to admire the rushing water and the profusion of wild plants in flower. There are many species new to me but we don’t have time to stop and identify them all. I make a mental note to return here again one day.

It is a long drive back to the boat and we arrive tired and hungry.