A changing landscape again as we dropped altitude from the mountains from Hum, driving through villages and green fields, heading toward the east coast of Istria to our destination for night, the coastal city of Opatija.

And then, tunnels!

We marveled at the engineering and the sheer number of them but have to say by the end of the Croatian section of the trip, they had become a little bit everyday.

Opatija was quite a popular chic seaside city back in its day and still has an Austro-Hungarian feel.  In 1947, Opatija was given to Yugoslavia as part of the peace treaty with Italy and subsequently lost a little of its shininess and appeal (apparently).  It has now been revamped and is a popular destination.

I was a little miffed to read that it was a popular destination for “mature travellers”.  Are we in that category, surely not!

This was one city where Jeff hadn’t booked a room, but he did have a couple of hotels on his wish list.  Unfortunately, the first choice was fully booked.  The Hotel Bristol it was (by default).  There was a slight view from our room of the Adriatic Sea, if you leaned out far enough.

The Hotel Bristol was obviously a destination for large groups of bus tourists, so was a little noisy and busy.

We were exhausted from our day after criss-crossing Istria so we opted for the dining room banquet instead of going out in search of a restaurant.  It wasn’t too bad and the Seafood Risotto was delicious.

After dinner, we ventured out for a wander on the promenade along the water, stopping to enjoy an after dinner drink at one of the venues on the wharf.

The weather did turn a little cool as the sun was going down, but not enough to deter this lonely fisherman.

A much anticipated destination of Kobarid was on the itinerary for tomorrow.

Jeff & Catherine xx