91Èȱ¬

Jennifer Reoch and Joe Lindsay head to the Kvarner Gulf in northern Croatia. First stop is the country’s original holiday resort, Opatija, famous for its villas, spas and gardens. A fashionable destination in the 19th century, it has been called 'the grande dame' of Croatian tourism, and it once attracted royalty, aristocrats and celebrities.

Jennifer visits the beautiful Villa Angiolina which sparked Opatija’s popularity and attracted the A-list crowd of the day, including Austrian queen Maria Anna, wife of emperor Ferdinand I. The Hotel Kvarner was Opatija’s first hotel and catered for the influx of wealthy European visitors, including playwright Anton Chekhov and dancer Isadora Duncan. The town developed a reputation as a wellness holiday centre and that health tourism tradition continues today, prompting Jennifer to try a treatment at one of the town’s spas.

A half-hour drive from Opatija is Rijeka, designated as the 2020 European Capital of Culture. Here, Jennifer and Joe’s discoveries include a secret military tunnel under the town, a torpedo factory, a Titanic connection, a yacht that once belonged to Tito, and a museum that specialises in old-school style computing. Joe takes in the impressive views of the town from Trsat Castle, while Jennifer admires the town’s magical theatre with ceiling paintings by Gustav Klimt.

They take a day trip to the nearby island of Krk where they come across a sparkling wine with an unusual provenance – it is placed in chests, lowered 30 meters into the sea, and left to ferment underwater for months.

And in this week’s Short Getaway, Kirsty Wark introduces her holiday favourite, the Isle of Arran on Scotland’s west coast, where Brodick Castle is the first call on her itinerary.