Our next goal was the seaside resort of Opatija, mainly for its architecture. The Hapsburgs ruled these lands for only a half-century or so, until the end of WWI, but they made their mark, bringing infrastructure, railroads, building ports (Austria-Hungary was land-locked, so they were really pleased to gain miles of natural harbors on the Adriatic, not really all that far from Vienna), and resorts; and architecture. All this as Art Nouveau was growing.
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The mom-and-pop campgrounds are always the best; not for the amenities, but
for the sincerity and charm; the manager here, in an apple and other unidentified
fruit orchard, told me we were his first American guests; his favorite NBA team
is the Golden State Warriors--this elicited when I told him one of our daughters lived
near Frisco--as evening approached, he carried a tray of schnapps to each of the
several campers on site; powerful stuff, too, and I had to drink Vicki's as well...
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The interior of Croatia is war-torn, too; after the depredations of Milosevic's
Serbian troops and their "ethnic cleansing," the Serbian population of this area
left, leaving perhaps a third of the homes and lands vacant |
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| Mile upon mile of land, tillable, graze-able land, untouched |
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Homes vacant--perhaps a Croatian family "cleansed" or a Serbian family departed;
"Christian" vs. "Christian"; this has been going on for centuries... |
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A defunct aircraft museum; or perhaps these are the craft that couldn't get off
in the fighting |
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| Yes, well, moving right along, the road snakes down to the coast...serpentina |
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| Below great limestone cliffs |
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And finally Opatija and the challenge of finding parking space in a 19th century
resort town |
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| We were sort of underwhelmed by the architecture; traces of Art Nuvo... |
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| The glassy Adriatic |
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| Kiddie beach |
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| Pigeon spa |
1 comment:
When we visited, we were told that because of taxation rules, many houses were unfinished. I cant remember the details, but something like they did not have to pay taxes until the home was completely finished, so the people would build some and add to it every year and even though it might take years to finish the house, they did not have to pay taxes until they moved in. We saw lots of houses that looked under construction and vacant. Obviously, some were war damaged, but many just were not finished.
Sounds like you had a really good RV Park owner. I'll bet you were really sorry to have to drink Vicki's portion!
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