The city of Rijeka was really pretty. It was so nice to get out of Zagreb for a day. Zagreb can get sort of depressing, with all the grayness and graffiti and rain. Rijeka is right on the coast, so it was sunny and pretty warm for most of the day. It took just over two hours to get there by bus, plus the required coffee break at a little stop in the mountains (we had similar coffee breaks on the trip to Vukovar - I think they think that a two hour car trip is reallllllly long).
Since the parade lasted so long, we hiked up to the top of the mountain that surrounded Rijeka, to see Trsat Castle. The were thousands of steps that went straight up the side... but we made it to the top in about 20 minutes. I was sucking air! The view was totally worth it. We could hear all the noise from the parade clearly.
So, anyways, there were a ton of groups marching. They were all mostly funny, some were pretty scary though. I think all the marchers were drunk (every float had at least one keg that we could see...), so things got pretty crazy at points. There was a lot of satire about the EU (see pictures). Some of the groups just got lost in translation, so I can't really explain them.
In Rijeka and the surrounding area, the boys and men traditionally dress up in sheep skins and wear these bells that clang really loudly. They are meant to chase away winter. There were two big groups of them. I got a little replica of a bell as a souvenir. Here's a short clip I filmed-
and of course, photos from the day
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| Karneval - Rijeka |
1 comment:
So, I find out on Thursday afternoon where I got placed for RA next year (if I even got rehired...), so I'll let you know as soon as I find out! *fingers crossed*
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