Rijeke was our first stop, after our usual "run" from whatever airport, a need after the customs and car-renting, to just get out on a road and go. There are fine motorways in Croatia, and we used them when we wanted to get somewhere fast. Our first day somewhere after being cooped up in a plane is usually a "run." Then when we are far from the airport, we poky up.
We headed immediately for the Rijeke hilltop area, where the old fort-castle is. The center city and port area are predictably busy, see this slide show of a "virtual walk" from 1999 in the center city area, www.appleby.net/splash. Most of the sites resulting from a search for "Rijeke" are in Croatian. A lady named Lorraine has this site, with photos and narrative, and it is especially good for the Frankopan castle, Trsat: at cmrs.osu.edu/rcmss/Photojournal/Croatia/lorraine3. She must have her entire family there as well, so stop with the knight's crypt if you like.
See the town overview also at www.croatiatraveller.com/Kvarner/Rijeka/Sightseeing. Note that this is a big ferry port. If we had not wanted to drive the whole coast south, and there are long, twisty, mountain barren stretches, we could have taken a ferry past all that. We broke our own rule to take every ferry we see, but for good reason.
Signs for points of interest are good. We saw "Trsat" with arrows and went right up.
Here is a good overview of the Istria peninsula, starting just after Rijeke - the address is in long form, so start after the "English" and only use the later terms if you get lost in the website. http://www.croatia.hr/English/TurizamPlus/KongresniCentri/TuristickeRegije.aspx?idDestination=6.
The home page lists the tourism areas covered all over the country.
Remember the names "Frankopan" and "Zrinski"- prominent and old families in Croatian history. Try Wikipedia for a start on any country's history - here at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankopan.
No comments:
Post a Comment