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It was once a hub for transatlantic steam boats and a popular holiday spot. Now things are looking up again for this sleepy Croatian harbour city as the tourists are returning. Tom Chesshyre reports
Everyone has heard of Zagreb, Croatia's capital, and everyone's heard of Split, Croatia's vibrant second city, with its Roman remains and dozens of buzzing restaurants and bars. The wonderful medieval walled city of Dubrovnik is rapidly becoming one of the most visited tourist destinations in the Adriatic.
However, few people know about Rijeka, the country's third-largest city and home to its biggest harbour.
The world is more likely to hear about it now, as Rijeka began receiving its first low-cost flights (one flight weekly) this summer from the UK, with Easyjet flying to Rijeka Airport, which is in fact 20 miles away on Krk Island. The flights are seasonal, with seats going on sale for next spring at the beginning of this month.
But what is there to do in Croatia's forgotten city? The answer, I discovered, is plenty. My flight arrived in Rijeka at 10pm, and it took half an hour to reach the Grand Bonavia Hotel in the city centre, a hotel that was recommended to me by the local tourist office as the best place in town for business travellers. My room, costing just Ł63 a night on a three-night deal, was excellent. I was staying on the seventh floor and my room had a balcony overlooking the port. I could see the lights of a ferry in the inner harbour, and the terracotta roofs of old buildings stretching down to a square where people were bustling about, enjoying their Friday night. I sat in the small conservatory-like section of my room, checking my emails on the free internet connection and listening to the city get ready for what sounded like a big night out.
Rijeka doesn't attract many tourists, according to my guide, Sandra Bandera, from the tourist office. She explained that Rijeka is the main port bringing supplies to the north of Croatia and Zagreb, which is about 75 miles inland. The morning after my arrival, we took a two-hour stroll around the main sights, heading down Corso, the principal shopping street, which is pedestrianised and lined with cafés and fashion shops. There are a huge number of cafés and most of them were full as we passed. "People drink coffee all day long here," said Bandera. "We are great coffee drinkers. We drink when it's sunny. We drink when it rains."
Most tourists here are those passing through on their way to Dubrovnik in the south, or coming from the south to visit the Istrian peninsula. This peninsula is just to the west and has already been discovered by package tourism. In fact, tourism in Istria was important for many years in the 1980s, but came to an almost complete standstill during the 1991-1995 civil war in the former Yugoslavia. Now it is beginning to *** up again: 200,000 Britons visited Croatia last year, up from a low point of 30,000 in the mid-1990s. In the late 1980s, 400,000 Britons visited annually.
"It's taken a while for people's perceptions to change," a spokeswoman for the tourist board in London told me. "Now it has been boom-time for two or three years. There are daily BA flights to Dubrovnik, which began in 2004. BA is also going daily to Split [both of these are three-times weekly in winter]. And now we've got the Easyjet flights here." She said that Croatia expects 300,000 Britons to visit in 2007. Hotels cannot be built fast enough around Dubrovnik, with many visitors now staying in private homes that have been opened to tourists.
Things are not moving quite so fast in Rijeka, which adds to the "undiscovered" and pleasantly sleepy feel of the place. Bandera told me about the glory days of Rijeka in the 19th century, when there were 20 hotels and the city was a popular spot for people from Vienna and Budapest, taking breaks on the Adriatic coast. At the time, there were six steam boats a week leaving for the United States – Rijeka was a major departure point for emigrants to the US, and had an American consulate to deal with applications for citizenship. Now there are just four hotels in the city itself (the best being the Grand Bonavia), while many others stay in the upmarket hotels and villas in Opatija – a small, pretty resort located 10 miles to the east that was built for the wealthiest people from central Europe.
We stopped by a charming 17th-century church, St Vitus's, on a slight incline above the Corso. This has a cannonball lodged in its wall, fired by the British who were attacking the French during the Napoleonic wars. The story goes that a local woman called Karolina approached the British and begged that they cease the assault. The British officers found her so attractive and beguiling that they stopped firing and many lives were saved. There are several shops and businesses that have "Karolina" in their titles – one of the best cocktail bars (a great place for a sunset tipple) is called the Karolina, and is right on the harbour front.
Three bustling covered markets selling fruit and vegetable, meats and seafood are also by the harbour, next to a small park with a grandiose theatre with big classical columns on its façade. The markets are open seven days a week and are popular with people renting villas locally. Meanwhile at the top of the hill, there is the Trsat Castle, which dates from the 13th century. From here you get a sense of the landscape around Rijeka – you can either climb 500 steps up the hillside or catch a taxi (like I did) to the top; taxis are very cheap. From the ramparts you can see Krk Island, and Cres, a lovely secluded island with just 2,500 inhabitants and some wonderful eco-friendly walking trails. You can also see the legacy of Tito's communist days: large swathes of grey tower blocks that are blots on the landscape, but are unlikely to be pulled down, according to Bandera, as they provide essential housing.
Rijeka went through a lean period during the 1990s, with tourism dropping away and the city feeling the effects of the closure of its huge paper mill, once the second-largest in the world – supplying a large proportion of the cigarette papers used by Marlboro. Lots of other businesses went bankrupt during the war. But Rijeka has just secured a US$155 million grant from the World Bank to build the biggest marina in the whole of Croatia. This is due to be completed in 2008, and will be accompanied by new hotels, according to Petar Skarpa, member of the regional chamber of commerce and director of the local tourist board.
He said: "The city in the past was just a transport hub – a big industrial place. Now the city has an opportunity to [develop] in a touristic way. We get 100,000 people coming through Rijeka a year. It is not many; we want more. We have museums, nightlife, shopping. Cruise ships will be able to visit the new marina. Things will change for us."
The nightlife in Rijeka is fantastic. People from miles around come to dance the night away at the bars and clubs, which are packed until the early hours of the morning (at least they were on my visit). The best are down by the harbour, and the absence of tourists adds to the charm; they are full of locals having fun, which makes a pleasant change from most areas of the Mediterranean.
Another big attraction, of course, is the coastline. On the last day of my weekend visit, I visited the ACI marina in Icici, a small resort with a pebble beach, two miles beyond Opatija. Here I met Gracia Krainer, the marketing manager for ACI, which also operates marinas in Dubrovnik, Split and Rovinj. She told me: "People come from all over the world and say the coast here is more beautiful than anywhere else. America's Cup skippers have told me so." Krainer can provide people with yacht charters, along with skippers if needed. She added: "Many British people like it here. They are buying properties in Istria. Prices are getting very expensive."
Tomislav Korosec, assistant general manager at the Grand Hotel Bonavia, is hopeful that Easyjet's flights will help bring Rijeka to the attention of British tourists. Over a coffee in the cosy bar at the Bonavia, he said: "We were pleasantly surprised when Easyjet came. I hope that people will come. We are putting deals on the Easyjet website. People can come here for a cheap weekend – they will have fun."
I couldn't help but agree. Rijeka has a great feeling of being off the beaten track, yet it has everything tourists could ask for on a "cheap weekend" – nightlife, great restaurants, interesting history and beautiful coastline. Definitely worth a try.
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