Night sky over Opatija

Our hotel rooms overlooking the beach

The hotel next to us, looking towards Opatija

The promenade to Opatija

Nick and Olwen

Croatian romeo - youre so lucky Olwen (not)

What he was trying to sell

Maiden with the seagull

Paragliding - done it, great fun

Park next to hotel

One man and his dog (see video)

This is the life

Opatija sea-front

Nick

Chuffin Jean from Yorkshire

Mike

Olwen

Steve (behind the glass) from Wales

The drive back through the alps

View from room at the Sonnschein

Jane refreshed, relaxed and ready for the evening

The hotel pool in the basement

Hello my friend

Jane loves horses

Hotel lounge bar

Our driver

Second carriage

Our companions

A bottle of Schnapps

Ancient transport, modern communications!

Typical Austrian church

The end of the road and also our drivers home!

Back at the hotel

Jane trying to get the horse drunk

Wheres he going? - too much Schnapps

In the bar

On the balcony

The storks at Kork

Mother and baby

Is this a bull and whats it doing down Janes top

Last slide in this sequence

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Opatija

One Man and his Dog

The next day we got up refreshed and after breakfast walked along the waterfront to the beach at Opatija.  Jane and Nick went for a swim before lunch but it was quite rocky and I decided to go later with Nick on the main beach whilst the ladies had their nails done in a beach beauty shack.  Jane and Olwen were serenade by the local romeo who was quite keen to sell his wares (he promised them a good time as well); if he tried it on with every female tourist (and maybe male as well) he must be quite exhausted by the end of the day.  Jane managed to escape and left Olwen to it (well what are friends for).

We saw the statue on the seafront known as the 'Maiden with the Seagull'.  It has an interesting story which begins in 1891 when a local count (Arthur Kesselstadt) tragically lost his life in a spring storm in the sea in front of Opatija.  Devastated with grief, the count´s family put the statue of “Madonna Del Mare” on the reef to wake for her lost soul.  The statue has been replaced since due to storm damage and there is a gilded replica in St James´s Church above the Riviera, whilst the original is kept in the Croatian Museum of Tourism in the Villa Angiolina.

We had a really good time relaxing, saw a local man and his dog at play; he had taught his dog to jump in from a rock (see video right).  It was a great day, the hotel was good, the food was good and we had a very nice, helpful waitress called Martina in the bar during the evening; she was so helpful and we complimented her to her boss before leaving.  Just one more great day on this holiday.

The Journey Home

Well we enjoyed our relaxing stay at Opatija but all good things come to an end and we finally left Croatia and started our journey home through Slovenia into Austria for our overnight stay at the superb hotel Sonnschein.  This hotel is run by an English lady (Gill) and is used for overnight stops and for longer term stays by Leger.  The countryside is beautifull and we had a horse and carriage ride up into the hills beyond the hotel which, combined with a bottle of Schnapps was very enjoyable; in fact one of our companions had clearly had a bit too much and was last seen wandering off a bit unsteadily by himself into the hills.  The rooms were very large and comfortable and if we had had more time we would have taken advantage of the swimming pool in the basement.

The Sonnschein Hotel

On the drive back through Austria we stopped at a town called Kork near Strasbourg where we had a very nice traditional Austrian meal (wiener schnitzel, lamb and chips) and also saw the famous stork's nest which had mum and baby looking down from the top of the building.

There is not much to be said for the rest of the journey which as all coach travellers will tell you is the worst part.  A long drive with an overnight stay in Belgium with not much to look forward to other than the end of our holiday.   We saw the chaos at Calais where there must have been 500 lorries queued along the A16 leading to Calais; we were lucky as all cars and coaches were allowed to use the outside lane and by-pass the lorries.  The approach to Calais looked like a concentration camp as more and more wire fencing was being erected to keep the migrants out.  Anyway the rest of the journey was uneventful and we arrived home on time and full of good memories of Croatia, our fellow coach passengers, our 'friends for life' Nick and Olwen and of course our fantastice drivers, John and Tony.  We have been on many coach trips now with Leger and with J & T as our drivers and cannot say too much about how good they are at their job which must be quite stressful at times, but they are always kind, considerate and professional in their dealings with all the passengers, some of whom are not always very helpful in return.

Can't wait for our next trip with Leger which is the New Years cruise on the Rhine, which we did last year and had a thoroughly good time.  I hope we haven't bored you with our story or the photos (over 300) and that you will follow our example and have a coach holiday with Leger. Mike and Jane