4 Best Sights in Kvarner, Croatia

This is an entire museum dedicated to telling the amazing story of a single ancient artifact found on the bottom of the sea near Mali Losinj in 1996. After six years of restoration, the bronze statue, which is presumed to date back to the 1st or 2nd century BC, is an awesome piece of Greek work that is displayed in an artistic and mesmerizing way, making a remarkable impression of what may have happened when the statue fell into the ocean thousands of years ago (but also about the process of its restoration). The building itself is reason enough to buy a ticket and enjoy a guided tour (offered twice-daily at noon and 5 pm).

In a cube-shaped building on the grounds of the Governor's Palace, the museum has more than a dozen different permanent collections that capture the history of the city and the people who have left an indelible mark on it. The collections range from music to visual art and postage stamps, as well as cultural and scientific displays representative of the heritage of this historic port city. One of the most interesting is the Rijeka Torpedo Exhibit, the first of its kind in the world.

Housed in the former city hall near the cathedral, this museum contains one of the oldest archeological collections in Croatia, including artifacts from across the Roman empire.

Exploring the geology and biology of the region at the Rijeka's Natural History Museum invariably involves holding a sizable chunk of marine life up to the eyes. The shark and ray display here is predictably popular, starring a brigade of stuffed sharks swimming in strict formation while suspended from the ceiling. A multimedia center based on an aquarium adds to the extensive collection of nonmammalian species, some 90,000 specimens in total, but also includes rocks, plants, and other less animated elements of the locality. The botanical garden contributes more exotic plants to the array from the museum's grounds. Considering the fearsome appearance of some of the more fascinating inhabitants of the museum, it may be worth considering putting off a visit here until the end of your stay on the coast, lest your imagination get the better of you while bathing on the beaches.