A Little More of Rijeka

It's still cold and windy, but bright and sunny today. I had to pull up my hood on my walk to town, and a half hour after coming into the office after walking around mostly outside for about 2 hours, my cheeks still feel glowing. But I was determined to see something more of the town today. I found a church very close to the office, St. Vitus. It's a round church, mostly built and decorated in the 18th and 19th centuries. There is a statue of someone (St. Vitus?) under glass and people were praying to it. Maybe it even hold the reminds of the saint. In fact every time I've gone into any church here, no matter the day or hour, there are always a significant number of people inside praying. It's a very Roman Catholic country, and I think part of the new nationalism after the break-up of Yugoslavia and Croatian independence has been a big resurgence in religious sentiment and practice. It shows you are truly Croatian to pray (in a Catholic church). Of course this is not true of everyone, but it's noticeable to me how many more people here are always praying than when I've visited churches elsewhere throughout Europe. I'm not sure how popular the Eastern Orthodox churches are here, since it would be mostly Serbs attending (and I think many of them left after the war). But there are a few orthodox churches in town.

Several people have mentioned to me in emails that they wonder how Croatia is responding to Slobodan Milosević's recent death. I wonder myself. I can't understand Croatian to hear what they say on the news. So mostly I've followed it on CNN International and BBC World. I have asked a few people here about it and what they think. And everyone I've talked to just shakes the head and says what a bad man he was. I think there is a sense of relief that he did not do so much damage in Croatia as in some other places.

By the way, some of you may have received postcards that show Trsat, including a picture of a man depicted in statue. I did not know who that was when I sent the cards. The statue is outside the church and is quite prominent and large. When I've been there, many people go up to the statue, and some seem very moved and even pray before it. Anyway, I asked Vinko the other day who that was, and he looked at me like I'm stupid, "The Papa, Jan Pavel II," which of course means Pope John Paul II. And it does look like him. I just wasn't even thinking it would be someone I knew when I looked at the statue. I assumed it was a bishop or count or someone from Croatia. But apparently the pope visited here at some point and Croatians greatly revere him. Vinko told me that he really helped Croatia a lot in its quest for independence. So if you get one of those postcards, that's who the man in the statue is.

After my trip to the St. Vitus church today, I wandered through some interesting back streets, and eventually found the university library near the center. It houses the museum of modern art. But there was no exhibit today, so basically it was closed. There will be an American writer here giving a talk in a couple of weeks, and it will take place there, so it's good I found where it is. I also found a little Irish pub that sells Guinness beer (my favorite) that I hope to visit in the future (maybe when friends come to visit).

And then I found another vegan restaurant (the second I've found here), called "Macrovegan." I have eaten several times at the other such place near the Korzo called Ganesha. And they don't have a huge variety of dishes. So I was happy to hear that there is another vegetarian restaurant here. I had lunch there just now, gnocchi in a spinach sauce, a nice mixed salad, and a hearty, whole grain slice of bread, all for about $2.50. They also had some crepes with pineapple, carob, and nuts that I was eyeing. But I was so full after the food that I did not get any dessert.

I was speaking to a colleague yesterday who just recently spent a year in Oxford, England. She was apologizing for the lack of vegetarian restaurants and shops here in Rijeka. I told her that I had already found more here than in my town of Milledgeville, Georgia (which used to have one but now has none). I think she was surprised, but I told her that I live in a conservative (and I think I might have said "backwards") part of the country, and people are not sympathetic to vegetarians there. So I'm very happy to be here for a while (which I am). Anytime someone here asks me how I like Rijeka, I sense they really want me to have a positive impression, and they are very happy when I tell them how much I like it. So that has made me think that people are very proud of the country and this city and region in particular.