Opatija is
undoubtedly one of the most beautiful concert locations on the Croatian coast:
its natural setting in Kvarner Bay, right by the sea, the colour of the sea
itself, the buildings which herald from the glamorous eras gone-by and the
climate, which has made this area Croatia's first health resort. It is because
of all this that Opatija is often described as the "Nice of the
Adriatic".
It was
Maria Anna, the wife of the late Kaiser Ferdinand of Austria (1835-1848) who
discovered Opatija and stayed in the Villa Angiolina during the bathing season
of 1860. Kaiser Franz Joseph (1848-1916), as well as almost all the members of
his family, often visited the Camellia Coast. The Kaiser's lover, Viennese
actress Katharina Schratt, also stayed in the Villa Madonna on the Lungomare.
The real driving force behind the tourist development around Opatija
came from the Austrian Südbahngesellschaft railway company, under its director
Friedrich Julius Schüler and the opening of the railway line between Vienna and
Rijeka, which now also serves Opatija, in 1884.