Barbara

About Opatija

Opatija is a town in western Croatia, just southwest of Rijeka on the Adriatic coast. Opatija is situated in the Gulf of Kvarner ( Kvarnerski zaljev) in a sheltered position at the foot of Učka mountain, with Vojak peak at 1401 m. Opatija is located 90 km from Trieste by rail and 82 km from Pula by road. The city is geographically on the Istrian peninsula, though it is not in Istria county, but Primorje-Gorski Kotar county.

It is a popular summer and winter resort, with average temperatures of 10C in winter, and 25C in summer. Opatija is surrounded by beautiful woods of bay laurel. The whole sea-coast to the north and south of Opatija is rocky and picturesque, and contains several smaller winter resorts. The old 14th-century Benedictine abbey, San Giacomo della Priluca, from which the place derives its name (abbazia and opatija mean \"abbey\" in Italian and Croatian, resp.) is located in Park Svetog Jakova or Saint Jacobs Park. The Saint Jacob church, built in 1506 and enlarged in 1937, now stands on the same spot. The neo-Romanesque Church of the Annunciation with its pronounced green cupola, was designed in 1906 by architect Karl Seidl. The city\'s most prestigious sight is the Villa Angiolina, which was built in 1844 by Iginio Scarpa, a rich merchant from Rijeka. This villa, tranformed into a hotel, gave a boost to tourism to this town. It became a fashionable destination for the Austrian imperial family and Austrian nobility. Soon more luxury hotels and villas were built, such as the Hotel Kvarner, built in 1884. A new railway line was extended to Rijeka, from where one could go by tram to Opatija. The Austrian emperor Franz Joseph I used to spend here several months during winter. Many of these late 19th-century luxury hotels and villas have survived to present times.

Opatija is known for the Maiden with the seagull, a statue by Zvonko Car (1956), which is positioned on a promontory by the Juraj Šporer art pavilion. It has turned into one of symbols of Opatija. A gilded variant of the statue Madonna, that once stood here but was demolished by a storm, now stands in front of the Saint Jacob Church. The town park Angiolina contains many species of plants from all over the world. It has been protected since 1968. Close-by, vis-a-vis Hotel Imperial, stands the statue The Fountain - Helios and Selena, a work of the Austrian sculptor Hans Rathautsky from 1889. The lungomare is a 12 km-long prom