A Trip to the Countryside

Saturday I met another American working in Rijeka, Mariellyn, who is an English Language Fellow working at all the law faculties in the country (to help them improve their English) throughout this whole year (and maybe next year too). She is a former attorney herself, from San Francisco, and she is very friendly. She travels quite a bit, to all the law faculties (colleges) in the country, so apparently she is not here too often, though her apartment is in Rijeka. Now she is gone for another week to Split. But anyway on Saturday I took the bus to this new part of town and met her and her friends who were visiting from Split. One of these -- Stephanie -- is also an American who is married to a Croat. Her husband (a merchant marine) and a few friends from their village were all visiting.

It was interesting to see inside another apartment; this one a three bedroom, also with a view of the sea (though nearer to Opatija). I think her view of the sea is better than mine, and she has a large terrace. But my apartment has bigger rooms and more charm. I liked her place though, and wouldn't have minded something like that, though it's a longer walk into town too. I think we pay about the same amount in rent. And I think the rents are probably inflated for foreigners.

It was also interesting to get to talk to people who have been here a while and ask them questions about life here. They had planned an excursion to some Croatian friends to drop off something Stephanie's husband brought back for them from a recent trip to the States. So I went along for the ride. We went to a seaside village about 45 minutes Southeast of Rijeka (on the way to Split). It was a beautiful drive to a beautiful spot. The houses in the village were all quite nice, and many had out signs that they have rooms for rent for tourists on holiday. It's apparently quite common in Croatia for people (especially in touristy areas on the seashore) to have rooms or apartments for rent in private houses. The government even helps promote these to some extent, with tourists agencies in most town that will help you find the kind of accommodation you are seeking.

These people spoke English very well, since they have lived in the U.S. for years. So we had a nice visit, and this was the first Croatian house I saw the inside of, except for my landlady's. It did not seem much different from an American house, though there was some Croatian traditional "naive" art on the walls. These are basically paintings in a "naive" or folk style of village life in the countryside. We were served coffee, wine, a liquor, and some "cake" the woman had made, a kind of baklava type dessert. It was a really pleasant afternoon. One exciting aspect of it was that when they found out I have Croatian ancestry they asked me for the family names. One of them, my Grandfather's mother's maiden name, Gasparivich, they said was a name from a village right nearby (ten minutes away). They said this is the only village in the country where people were named Gasparivich, so I might try to get back there and search church records or something.

I also went to church with this whole group (who were visiting Mariellyn) on Sunday at Our Lady of Trsat -- the church I have described before. By the way, this is the third most popular pilgrimage site in the country. Catholics are big on pilrgrimages. This particular spot is considered sacred, and the church is here, because the house where the annunciation was made (to Mary) is believed to have been magically transported here, where it rested for three years before it was again magically transported to Italy, its final resting spot. So this spot is blessed, and apparently is particularly visited by women.

The church was so crowded for mass that at least half of the people there had to stand all through the mass. Of course I did not understand any of it, but it followed along like mass anywhere. There was a nice choir and organ. One interesting thing I noticed was that there was a confessional in the back of the church, near where we were standing, that was open (i.e. a priest was hearing confessions), and there was a big line of people waiting to have their confessions heard -- during mass. I guess it's common here, and fairly practical, since you can then be sure of taking communion with a clean slate. But it also struck me as kind of odd, because if you're in the confessional, you are not paying attention to mass, which I always thought you were supposed to do. I am not, by the way, a practicing Catholic (nor a practitioner of any religion), though this was the religion I was raised in, so the rituals are familiar to me.

After mass let out many people, mostly all dressed up, strolled around the area, took their picture in front of the statue of the pope there, or went to cafes nearby. We in fact went to the cafe in the courtyard of the castle, a beautiful spot. It was a bit chilly while the wind blew, but when the wind died down the sun felt lovely. After our coffee we strolled around and saw many people visiting the courtyard and chapel devoted to Mary. There is an image of Mary under a kind of arbor in the courtyard (of the church), where many people light candles and leave them to burn, probably in remembrance of departed loved ones or as part of particular prayers. Many people also approached the actual "statue" -- sort of a bas relief image on a wall -- and touched it reverently as part of their prayers. There were hundreds and hundreds of candles burning away on a table in front of the main image and also on side tables. So there was a lot of smoke and people praying to "the blessed virgin." I was struck by the similarity between this scene and similar scenes I have seen in China and Vietnam, of people praying either to Buddha or female goddesses of fertility. Similar to the candles, they light incense, or burn money, or somehow create smoke, that helps send prayers (I think). And they pray before the image of the goddess or god, and sometimes they touch the image reverently.