II. YUGOSLAVIA - FRIENDLY YUGOSLAVS

DAY 3

3) THURSDAY, 30 JUNE 1977 : 270 KMS. - RIJEKA

Villach - Photo : discoverthetrip.com / Google images search

Finally, I bought  a flat cartridge for powder puff for my mother, a colorful silk embroidery  with Cross Stitch pattern of  small flowers on a black cloth.  This embroidery style is one of typical characteristics of craft souvenirs of the TYROL region.  The workmanship was not really neat and I had to go back to change it twice (costed 118 shillings).

Route from Villach/Austria to Rijeka/Yugoslavia

About 10 o'clock in the morning , we were heading  for WURZEN PASS to cross the AUSTRIAN  border to YUGOSLAVIA.  Again like yesterday, we had to drive across mountain ranges as well. There were curves and slope of 18% steepness .   We climbed up very slowly with full acceleration. So I sat praying  all the way again, hoping  there wouldn’t be any problem  since we were successful yesterday in  conquering (crossing) the GROßGLOCKNER  already.

The scenery  from  WURZEN PASS to the city of NOVA GORICA was beautiful  and different from what we saw yesterday.  They were rugged mountains, less trees but  small waterfalls , glaciers and streams flowing  into a river. The highest part of the road  is at 2,000 meters above sea level.

 
 

Water in streams and river are very clear and  have really beautiful turquoise color, similar to that of the ocean. There were pretty little wild flowers with shocking pink color  on the way, that I asked Tilo to stop to pick up  4-5 flowers  for the vase (pretty much look like a carnation but very tiny  like “Zwergnelken” ).

Beautiful turquoise river along the way to RIJEKA - Photo : Bing images search

We passed through the border checkpoint today with no problem. It was more convenient than expected.  I was afraid that our small Ivy, planted in glass bottle in the van might be confiscated at the border but fortunately we were only asked to  open the rear doors for routine checking. We were  finally  allowed to pass into YUGOSLAVIA.

Photo : Bing image search

Gasoline fuel and diesel in YUGOSLAVIA  were cheaper  than in GERMANY . Anyhow, there were not many gas stations . Not long after passing the border, we  stopped to buy some fresh cherries from many stalls along the road. We thought it was so cheap but we were wrongly calculated exchange rate of the money.  In fact, it is more expensive than in Germany , about 50 Pfennig per pound.

  

High roads and Rijeka bridge, along the way to RIJEKA - Photo : Bing images search

From NOVA GORICA we  headed to the city POSTOJNA, crossings  to the south to RIJEKA, a major port  of YUGOSLAVIA.  The route between RAZDRTO  to POSTOJNA was a very good road and a motorway like an Autobahn in Germany but we had to pay using fee.  However, we didn’t want to spend extra money for this comfortable drive, we then turned back to normal route .

Rijeka port - Photo : Bing images search

From POSTOJNA we faced the bad weather, heavy rain and very dark road.  Tilo had to drive very carefully to RIJEKA . We arrived about 9.30 pm., still having time to walk around to see people and the city. 

Photo : Bing image search

In general,  RIJEKA is very modernized for a socialist country, shops,  merchandises,  and people. Teenagers  are not much different from any cities in Europe,  the style and outfits they dress just like those in other European  cities - quite modern .  But in small towns that we passed, I could see the poverty of the people .