Marcia Frost

After an exciting week with our Share Istria group , my friend Lynn and I were off on our own to explore more of Croatia. Our first stop was in Rijeka and we had a great first day there. In the morning, we had another great and filling Croatia breakfast after a good night’s sleep at the Grand Hotel Bonavia in Rijeka.  Before we headed back on the road we also had a chance to spend a bit of time in the Grand Hotel Bonavia Wellness Centre. I was extremely impressed with this spa that was complimentary to all guests. It included a relaxation area with chromo therapy, themed aromatherapy showers, a Finish Sauna, a Turkish Sauna, and a spa area where they offered massages. By the time we left there we were very relaxed and we hit the road to Split. Alenka, our guide the previous day , had told us a lot about the beach town of Krk so we made a short detour to check it out. It was indeed filled with beaches and a quaint downtown area along the water ...

Lynn and I woke up in Istria for the last time. We had breakfast with the group and said as our rental car pulled up to the front of Hotel Lone in Rovinj. The Croatia Tourism Board had arranged for us to have this Audi as we hit the road to check out two more areas of the country neither of us had ever been: Rijeka and Split. Rijeka was first and we had a scenic ride along the Mediterranean Sea to our destination. It definitely looked more city-like than anywhere we had been in Istria, and Rijeka was in fact filled with plenty to. This has made it a very popular cruise port in the last few years. We would be staying overnight at the Hotel Bonavia . It was centrally located and looked quite “grand.” It was raining when Dominik Damis of the Rijeka Tourist Board and guide Alenka Šuljić Petrc picked us up to tour Rijeka, but we weren’t deterred from seeing the sites. As we went through the city, we saw the cruise terminal, and heard about how inexpensi...