Majestic, Victorian structures. A sumptuous prom that meanders alongside the rugged sea coast. Parks, that simply as smartly may well be present in Vienna. Opatija looks as if no different the town at the Istria, and even Croatia. As soon as the most popular summer time lodge of the aristocrats of Austria, this enthralling seashore town has a chic air to it, and invitations you to walk alongside the Lungomare for hours. Uncover with us Opatija: Queen of Kvarner Bay.
Beginning of a Vacationer vacation spot
It was once more than likely below a dinner round 1845 in Villa Angiolina, that Empress Maria Anna, consort to Ferdinand I of Austria, first set eyes on Opatija and were given a style for the gentle local weather and majestic perspectives of Kvarner Bay. When Emperor Franz Joseph I additionally was enamoured with the world, Austrian the Aristocracy started to construct posh villas and majestic accommodations within the Victorian taste.
Villa Angiolina, inbuilt 1844 by means of Rijeka patrician Iginio Scarpa and Lodge Kvarner from 1884 are two gorgeous examples of Opatijas victorian structure, but in addition structures like nowaday Lodge Imperial from 1885 and Lodge Palace Bellevue from 1889 are sumptuous accommodations that also lately are value their 4 stars.
Now not best accommodations have been constructed; additionally sanatoriums, pavilions, bathing spaces, promenades and parks. As early as 1889, Opatija was once declared the primary seashore climatic well being lodge at the Adriatic and nonetheless lately provides sumptuous leisure and holiday to its guests.
A turbulent and sudden historical past
The historical past of Opatija is, in fact, a lot older than its Austrian acme. It’s simple to consider that Illyrian ships have sailed the shores of Opatija again within the iron age. Like many of the seashore dwellings alongside the Adriatic coast, Opatija has an extended historical past. When Illyria was a Roman province it’s additionally simple to image posh Roman villas at the slopes of Opatija, taking in kind of the similar view as we do lately. The Romans established their Castrum Laureana in nowaday Lovran, best 6 kilometres south of Opatija and likewise Tarsatica, nowaday Rijeka, 13 kilometres to the east. Opatija has been proper between the ones two Roman settlements.
The towns and settlements in Kvarner Bay suffered the similar destiny below other rulers within the following centuries: Ostrogoths, Byzantines, Langobards, Croats and Franks. And because the western a part of Istria got here below Venetian affect, the jap a part of Istria, from Kvarner Bay and the entire method to the southern borders of Dalmatia, was a part of Kingdom of Croatia from 925. When the ultimate king died with out an inheritor, the crown handed into the fingers of the Árpád dynasty, with the crowning of King Coloman of Hungary as “King of Croatia and Dalmatia” in 1102. Croatia was once now, and for greater than 400 years, below Hungarian rule.
It was once within the Center Ages that Opatija in the end got here into citing. Its title is a medieval affair, stemming from the Italian Abbazia (abbey), because the small hamlet advanced round San Giacomo della Preluca; a Benedictine abbey devoted to Saint Jacob, first discussed in 1453.
Following the autumn of the medieval Kingdom of Hungary, the Croatian the Aristocracy voted to change into a part of the Habsburg Empire, below the Austrian king Ferdinand I von Habsburg in 1527 and stayed below Austrian rule till the top of WWI.
Best 5 attractions in Opatija
- Lungomare coastal prom
The 12 km prom meanders alongside the sea from the fishing village of Volosko, abit north of Opatija, to Lovran within the south. It’s formally referred to as Franz Joseph I Prom and was once constructed over a path of twenty-two years, completing in 1911. - Villa Angiolina
The summer time villa that modified the destiny of Opatija is positioned within the pretty Angiolina Park by means of the seashore and now – slightly accurately – serves as Croatian Museum of Tourism. - Lodge Kvarner
The oldest lodge at the east coast of Istria is an impressive, seafront construction from 1884 that lighting fixtures up the prom even if it’s overcast. - Maiden with the Seagull
The gracious statue within the water was once created in 1956 by means of the artist Automotive and is a point of interest whilst you’re strolling alongside the Lungomare - Sea baths
Chances are you’ll depend as many as 100 small stone staircases main from the Lungomare into the sea, however the sea baths on the concrete seashore of Slatina are simply obtainable and permits a dip even if the ocean is turbulent.
