The Green & Blue Rijeka project entails a network of footpaths that connect the largest and most beautiful forests around Rijeka with the sea.
The main forest trail, Kantrida – Adriatic Gate – Preluk, starts at the bus station across from the Children’s Hospital. By following the blue and white markings, we will quickly reach the information board that lets you know that you are entering Laurel Park. Before resuming your trek, we recommend visiting the park, which offers soothing forest trails, hidden corners with benches for resting, wildflower meadows, young orchards (cherries, mulberries, figs and medlars), a one-of-a-kind exhibition of works from the School of Applied Arts and the Academy of Applied Arts…
The Classroom (“Učionica”) is a fitting starting point for organised groups of visitors and a supposed lay-by for Mussolini’s cavalry at one time. The Tale Trail (“Pričaonica”) is intended for relaxed socialising in a fanciful living room in the forest. Rock Scene is a venue for jamming and dancing or taking a stroll in the nearby meadow lined with young cypress trees.
Then we proceed along the park’s middle path and pass the Home for the Elderly. After a few minutes, the blue and white markings will lead us to the information board at the entrance to the Stribor’s Forest educational hiking trail. Here, we continue on the forest paths with additional signage and genuine red and white markings. Soon we will reach the meadows dominated by two military structures in the form of WWII artillery bunkers. The trail blazes then point you toward the Stribor’s Forest lookout as we follow the blue and white markings straight ahead and out of the forest atop the steep local street Turanjski Put.
This is followed by a brief walk through Turanjski Put to the ramp and ultimately to the Adriatic Gate rest area. After approximately ten minutes, the main forest road branches off to the left toward Preluk. But after three minutes of plodding straight uphill, it is time, or should we say the “halftime” of our forest adventure, to have some well-earned respite. We cross the historical footbridge over the railway and find replenishment at the Adriatic Gate next to the Kvarner Tourist Board’s information centre.
After a good rest, we go back again for three minutes, cross the bridge and soon turn right toward Preluk. The city’s largest and most beautiful forest awaits us here. Its exceptional value as the backbone of green infrastructure has prompted the City of Rijeka to submit a proposal to declare the Preluk-Bivio Forest Park a protected area.
The trail leads us through select locations offering stunning unobstructed views of Kvarner as we walk amid historical dry stone walls akin to those found at Velebit and marvel at the stone water tanks along the way… We inconspicuously enter the deep oak forest teeming with butcher’s broom and ivy, taking the winding roads toward the nearest houses.
After walking across two pedestrian crossings on the main road, there is a short descent through the forest to a white tankhouse via a local cul-de-sac. We turn left here and continue for a few minutes through the forest to the Akademija bus station near Preluk. From there, it only takes a couple of minutes to reach the promenade on a forest path.
(You can also pass the white tankhouse and go down the narrow stairs between two houses and then head straight toward Preluk. However, this path leads to a road in the middle of a bend and therefore requires caution and is not recommended for families with children or larger groups of visitors.)
On the popular promenade, we transform from hikers to regular tourists. That means exchanging sturdy footwear for flip-flops and taking selfies at every cafe on the way. En route, we will test the sea temperature with our bare feet on each little beach. We will do this all the way to Kantrida, whence we embarked three or four hours ago. The Green & Blue Rijeka project encompasses a couple of other linking paths that descend to the sea from the main forest trail. Among them are the turnoffs to Bivio and Skalete (Hilton), which also bear the blue and white markings. Visitors, recreationists and athletes can create their own green and blue routes between the forests and the sea. They can be accessed primarily from Kantrida, the Adriatic Gate and the Preluk parking area.
