Opera does have some wonderful tunes! I had an old cassette tape, many years ago, called "Opera Without Words" which was exactly what it said on the tin: it made me realise what glorious melodies could be found and I now have a CD of famous arias including One Fine Day, the Duet from The Pearlfishers and that fabulous piece by Mozart which was used to such effect in The Shawshank Redemption.
So I would have said I don't like opera, but in fact I find that some of my favourite pieces are from operas. And growing up on a North London council estate, I definitely didn't get exposed to this sort of music in the womb!