Day 1- May 15

We left Hotel Parentium Plava Laguna (Pava Laguna is Croatian for Blue Beach but in this case it’s the name of the Resort Developing company having multitudes of hotels with confusing names-mostly in the vicinity of each other) in Poreč in a luxury coach for the 3-day trip taking us from Istria to Opatija in Kvarner and then to Krk Island visiting the cities of Vrbnik, Marinska, Krk, Novi Vinodolski  and then to Šibenik in Dalmatia from where Zagreb was the ultimate destination; visiting  wineries, restaurants and hotels on the way

making it a dream visit through the coastal areas with Tastings that were complementary to the earlier judging at Concours Mondial de Bruxelles  on 12-14 May.

After leaving Poreč and Istria by coach we arrived Opatija after about 2 hours, where we were given a walking tour of this city built in 1884 and popularized by Austria and Italy. It was a part of Austria-Hungary Empire before World War I, ceded to Italy in 1919 and Yugoslavia after World War II. It was known for its Austrian Riviera in Europe.

Lunch and Tasting at Bevanda in Opatija

The city walk culminated at Restaurant Bevanda which is now a part of the 10-room boutique Hotel Bevanda. The luxury sea-facing restaurant is extremely charming and chic. We were greeted by Klaudio Jurćić (pronounced you-r-chich) who served and explained to us the wines of Kvarner. The Restaurant was really world-class, serving us excellent vegan fare. The wine cellar is also extremely impressive. Istrian Malvazija (Malvasia) whites and Teran reds, and a crisp white Žlahtina from Krk welcomed us.The first hotel in the city –Quarnero (Kvarner) was opened in 1884 and is currently undergoing refurbishing, as we walked past it.

Visiting Krk Island

We rode towards Krk Island-almost the biggest island in Croatia which boasts of over 1000 islands The Croatian archipelago lies along the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea, with 49 inhabited islands, all of which are located relatively close to the shore. Travel to these islands is by ferry except Krk Island which was also connected with Opatija through the city of Rijeka by a 1.5 km long Arch Bridge known as Krk Bridge, built in 1980.

Wines of Vrbnik

After a scenic ride on both sides of the road-most of us could not risk a shut eye lest we missed some of the beautiful natural sights, we arrived at the village of Vrbnik where we visited Katunar Estate winery just on the edge of the town.. Žlahtina is a rare white local grape which is being cultivated by 6-8 producers in the area and these are the only ones in the world that  make this delicious white wine which may be dry to slightly off-dry with a lot of personality. As primed by the Sommelier in Opatija earlier in the day, the red varietal Sansigot is the exclusive domain of this village too.

The roads are so small in Vrbnik that it was not feasible to drive to our hotel and indeed most places by coach. We were taken to our hotel in a combustion engine-run toy train which afforded us the view of the town and its residences. A small group of us was taken to Hotel Verbenicum. The hotel was beautiful with a 270 degree view. After checking in at the boutique property where we were treated to a local specialty, fig schnapps and a sparkling wine Nada Soubze Brut made from Žlahtina grapes in the traditional method (zingy, fruity, fresh and elegant bubbly) by Vinarija Nada. We walked to the second winery, Ivan Katunar Winery which seemed to be bigger and better organised than the previous one, with a bigger choice. The winery visit and a chance meeting with Ivan Katunar, the man himself, was very educational. The well-laid cheese platters were very impressive-especially as they had laid out one for the vegetarians-it was nice to sit alone at the setting for 4 and enjoy the view of the Mediterranean village around the bell tower.

These shoes are made for walking

From the winery we walked through the old town of over 900 years, through winding, narrow streets, one of them being only 40 cm wide and touted as the narrowest street in the world. Going past the famous bell tower, one finds oneself in the restaurant Konoba Nada known as much for its quality seafood as jazz concerts in summer, outside its wine shop, facing Vinodol Gulf. We were welcomed with the same Nada Soubze Brut by the owner’s grandson who works with his wife and looks after the restaurant presently owned by his octogenarian grandmother who is related to the owner of Hotel Verbenicum. The view from the platform on the water was surreal, accentuated by the quality bubbly with distinct bready notes.

Dinner at Konoba Nada

The dinner at the Nada Restaurant was exquisite with a group of Mexican mariachi singers (Actually Croatians who specialize in this genre of Mexican folk music but have won several awards in Mexican competitions) regaling our group at the private dinner.  A blizzard like situation had arisen by the time we had our dessert and the 10-minute walk to the hotel that followed was literally cutting into the heavy, wet and gusty winds- a forgettable and unpleasant experience, with no internet and hence a non-operational GPS to guide us back to the hotel.

Activities on Day 2 and 3 will be in Part 2 to be released next week.

Subhash Arora