Pula held two versions of the same day: the weight of Roman stone in the city and, only a little later, the lightness of swimming in clear coves reached through the pines.
In Opatija the landscape opened across the bay. The memory is quieter there — an open window, hills becoming silhouettes and the last light settling over the water before the streets switched to evening.
Rijeka felt more urban and less polished, which gave the route a useful ending. Together the three places made the Adriatic feel less like one coastline and more like a sequence of changing moods.
