Opatija to the Capital, Zagreb

 Lorraine and Terry with us

Some of the Austrian/ Hungarian architecture.

Interesting mix: Soviet on the left, Austrian on the right and very modern in the middle.

Two examples of buildings damaged by...

the earthquake of March 22, 2020.

Friday, September 27th.

We had time after breakfast to go for a walk down to the seashore and view some of the beautiful Austrian architecture of the old hotels and chateaux along the shore. We met up with Terry and Lorraine and enjoyed watching the waves crash over the barrier walls. Shortly after walking back to our hotel we boarded our coach and traveled inland for 2 and a half hours from Opatija to the capital of Croatia, Zagreb.We were on the same highway as yesterday which used numerous bridges and tunnels to cut through the mountains and valleys along the coast. It must have cost a fortune to build it.

We arrived at our new hotel, which is part of the Best Western chain housed in an historic Austrian building in the centre of town, checked in, dumped our bags and then immediately headed out for lunch (instead of dinner tonight) as a group. We ate in a restaurant in a mall. The food was a feast and included two types of salads, breaded fried cheese balls, bbq’d chicken wings, salmon, pork stuffed with cheese and little local sausages called ‘cevapcici’. Then we walked back to the hotel and we had the afternoon to ourselves. Some people went for walks or shopping, some to do laundry and Shayna wanted to visit a historic cemetery that has Christians, Jews and Muslims all buried in it. Angie, Angela, and Caroline decided to join us. Amanda walked us to the bus station to catch a local bus to it. In 2000 the region experienced an earthquake which damaged 2,000 buildings in Zagreb, many of which are still closed off for repairs. We saw evidence of this walking to the bus station.

When we got on the bus and tried to pay, the driver just smiled and waved us to our seats without paying… not really sure why, maybe he saw us counting our money, couldn’t be bothered and just waved us through; but it was nice. The cemetery was huge and we walked past hundreds of graves covered with large marble tops but didn’t see any Jewish ones. However, it was a lovely sunny warm day for a walk outside. When we finally got to the main gate we decided to take the bus back. Surprisingly it was the same driver and he did the same thing… not sure what the locals thought when we didn’t have to pay.

When we got back, Shayna and I decided to beg off going to dinner or drinks and just relax, catch up on our travel notes and read.