A Few Postcards from Old Istria

Greetings from Opatija, or Abbazia, or Sankt Jakobi, in present-day Croatia

Reference is made to my earlier postings about old postcards, all linked via the below link (shout-out to

Martin Bassani

):

Greetings from Pre-WW1 Dubrovnik

More to come soon about my postcard collection…

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First up, a few ‘old’ ones from before WW2

Abbazia was located on what used to be called ‘the Austrian riviera’, i.e., the place for summer tourism of the well-off, as well as a renowned spa place, hence the many nice hotels at the waterfront.

The Eastern Adriatic is known for its rather strong autumn/winter storms blowing from the north-east, which is called ‘Scirocco’ (or Siroko). The statue of Mary—Madonna del Mare—was [source]

erected to keep vigil over the soul of count Arthur Kesselstadt, who vanished, not far off from that promontory swallowed by the pre-Easter waves in 1891. During that excursion the countess Fries also lost her life, but her son Georg was saved.

The statue was eventually replaced in the 1950s with the Statue of a Maiden with Seagulls.

And now for some Images from after WW2

Shown is Marshal Tito Avenue with the Hotel Palace Bellevue (it used to be called Bellaria, i.e., ‘Beautiful Air’ back then) to the left; the Strauss Cafe (Kavana) is the place right near the road. Today, it looks like this:

If you’re having a cup of coffee there, this would be the view.

Back in the 1950s and 1960s, to which we now return, it looked a wee bit different:

Finally, some ‘street views’ from the 1950s or 1960s; shown is, yet again, Tito Ave. outside the café:

I hope you like these images, too.