Opatija Riviera
Trip Start
Jun 15, 2011
1
52
149
Trip End
Jun 15, 2012
Opatija, Istria, Croatia
Friday, August 26, 2011
The apartment was everything the first one was not. It was large, very clean and in a beautiful and impeccably maintained building in the home of a retired couple. It came with a huge balcony that looked out over the houses that lined the Mediterranean. It also cost a lot less than the one the previous night. For about 100 Euros we had a two bedroom apartment with a full kitchen, five minutes from one of the best Mediterranean style beaches anywhere. Who could ask for more? Well, wireless internet would improve things a bit. We moved in right away, there really wasn't doubt. I would have taken Ann Frank’s place considering the circumstances. Then the owner of the apartment, a smiling lady from Slovenia named Katia, came by with some carbon pills and a large bottle of soda. She was very concerned about Shelby and wanted her to recover quickly.
Shelby and Estela hung out in the apartment to let Shelby get over her sickness. I stopped by the restaurant where we ate and talked to the owner, and he emphatically insisted that there was no way somebody could have gotten food poisoning from his restaurant. He told me how fresh his ingredients were, and how they are cooked and that nothing is ever cooked before it was ordered. I believed him. Then he told me that there was an epidemic in the area of stomach flu among children, his son and young waitress both had it, with the same symptoms that Shelby had. To summarize, Shelby got stomach flu from the restaurant’s personnel, not poisoning from the food itself.
Then I took the snorkeling equipment and went down to the beach. Mason and I spent hours snorkeling around. He had bought a small net that morning and felt that it would be easy to catch fish while swimming around. I had to admit it sounded easy. Over many hours of swimming around and chasing the terrified little critters, Mason caught exactly one. It turns out that terrified fish tend to dart around, and a net being propelled through water by the noodly arms of an eight year old is no match for a frightened fish. However, he also caught about ten terrified shrimps and a couple of angry crabs. Later, we went for a walk to look at other beaches. This is quite easy to do here as all beaches are connected by a an interesting series of stone pathways, with arches and stair steps going down to a variety of beach areas lined with, sole-bruising pebbles instead of sand. Each area is different, but all of them are interesting. It’s as if a giant, slow-witted kid put the buildings and pathways together with buff-colored Legos, with the final result looking like something Picasso would have dreamed up. We found a headland bordered with water that looked particularly clear, and we put on our gear and went out for a swim.
The next day was much the same, except at our local beach we rented some chairs and an umbrella, where Estela sat and read while I spent almost the entire day in the water with the kids. The public beach had a bar where you can grab a cold beer at grocery store prices and take it back to your umbrella. The days were unbearably hot, about 37 Celsius (around 99 f), so it is important to have cold fluids in you at all times, at least that’s what mom always told me. Gotta listen to mom! Floating up to your neck in water helps a lot too. I actually spent much of the day shivering because Mason wouldn’t let me leave the water.
In the evening I was just getting ready to go for a run down that stone walkway for some exercise, when the owners of the apartment, Frank and Katia, were sitting in their yard finishing dinner and having a drink. They asked us to join them so we could get to know them a little before we left this place the next morning. The kids watched a movie while Estela and I sat and drank beer and wine with them and talked about travel. I was secretly relieved that I didn’t have to go for a run.
