I am experiencing difficulty with the typeset on the blog and the web administrator is in the USA so I will not be able to address it during this trip. I am going to write today’s blog but please let me know if it is readable. If it is not readable, I will curtail writing blogs this trip.

There are Croatian towns that look like they were designed by someone who has a very successful career designing postcards. Split which we will visit tomorrow reminds me more of Morocco than a town on the Adriatic coast. Rijeka’s history has left it with layers of Italian, Croatian, Hungarian, Austrian and broader Central European influence. It has a complicated past ruled by Yugoslavia, Italy and France before gaining its independence in 1991. Rijeka’s pier has a salty sea breeze, an industrial vibe and a multicultural populus from all those previous rulers. Rijeka is Croatia’s principal seaport and although not as cosmopolitan as Dubrovnik, it appears gritty as though it has lived several lives.

We are in Rijeka and the entire Adriatic coast at a beautiful time of the year. The hot summer months are over, and it was historically hot in Europe this year with temperatures hovering around 100 degrees unheard of in this part of the world. A contributing factor I’m sure as to why the Rhine and Danube dried up. Today the temperature was around 51 but not too cold for this gritty Rijekain woman trying to get her last swim of the saeson in.

In many Croatian coastal towns, the sea is the star of the show. In Rijeka, the sea is also at work.

Ships arrive, cargo moves, cranes tower above the waterfront, and the port remains central to the city’s identity. Rijeka’s industrial heritage is not an inconvenient background that needs to be cropped out of photographs. It is part of what makes the city believable.

Don’t get me wrong, Rijeka is not an unattractive city. We came across this beautiful cove that was as attractive as any you would see in the Netherlands.

As you can see, October in Rijeka does not necessarily mean sweaters, pumpkin spice and dramatic autumn walks. The city looked like it was wearing its summer clothes. I told you a gritty people.

There is something lovely about visiting at this time of year. Chongae and I always travel in the spring and fall (what is known as the shoulder seasons) when crowds begin to thin, daily life comes back into focus, and the city has room to breathe after the busy tourist season. And Rijeka feels lived in. People meet for coffee. Locals shop and walk their dogs. The city has ordinary neighborhoods, working people and familiar routines that appear to continue regardless of whether a cruise ship has arrived or not.

But it is still the waterfront tells Rijeka’s story better than almost anything else. There are ships, old buildings, modern infrastructure and the broad Adriatic stretching away beyond the harbor.

We sailed away at sunset and even the industrial landscape seemed unexpectedly beautiful. The light caught the water, the buildings glowed, and the cranes stood against the sky like enormous metal sculptures.

I found myself thinking that this industrial city seemed rather romantic.

Rijeka is a working city, not a film set.

That, I found, oddly enough, to be part of its charm.

Thanks for travelling with us.