Rijeka Carnival

Colorful, wonderful, magical... these are just some words to describe one of the largest carnivals in Europe. It´s not because of the city, the organizational staff or masks...It´s all about people who love it. And trust me, the number is pretty high. Now we also belong to them. As Erasmus students in Croatia we could not miss such a big event, so we ordered a bus and made a trip to the third largest city in Croatia. So, dear reader, welcome to Riječki karneval. Enjoy and feel the atmosphere. It is UNFORGETTABLE!

When we came to the city, on Saturday morning, the first order of business was to accommodate. The hostel was really small and you would not describe it as the first or even the fifth class, but as students, that have everything but money in their pockets, we did not complain.

What we did complain about was the city tour. Although our guide was dressed in an interesting way, trying to look like a Morčići – which worked out really well – we still did not get a sense of the city with the trip that was just a short walk combined with a very long speech about the history of Rijeka.

But in the evening before carnival, after this exhausting trip with our educated guide, we still needed to get into the climate of the city. And what is a better way to do that if not to party?! ESN organized for us a James Bond themed one. We dressed up and went to Rijeka´s center in the night. Some of us partied until the morning, so this night was a very good introduction for the carnival.

The real fun started for us on Sunday when we all came to the  venue. By „all” I mean not only people who are studying on Erasmus in Dubrovik, but all Erasmus students in Croatia who like to be someone else for a moment. By the venue you should imagine a mysterious place, something like a Riječki triangle, where students get lost and change into crazy red foxies.

And the result is:

As we are studying media connected with sociology, we should describe you from the scientific point of view, what is exactly happening with the fox which is part of a big carnival parade: The red fox species individual appearing in a large number on Rijeka Carnival lost as a part of a parade all it´s barriers, because is totally indistinguishable from other red foxies. It manifests by doing the big snake with the others, dancing crazy on the What does the fox say song in the centre of the town, enjoying it´s 5 minutes of fame, posing to photographers and during the man with a microphone talk about it in the way it´s a communistic fox, it shakes hands with the human species individuals who have came just to enjoy the parade.

Practical sample:

                                         

However we were the part of the parade ourselves, we were fascinated with other masks. We met chimneyers, sunflowers, a big dragon, cakes, smurfs, minions and more and more creatures, who got alive only with the outbreak of the carnival. However there are many tourists, those, who enjoy the parade the most are the Croatians. They prepare their masks months earlier and they also take attention to their specially adapted cars used as a vehicle, snack bar and the dance floor.

We came, we saw, we won´t forget..

On Monday we also stayed in Rijeka, just to enjoy the city a little more, to get to know it to the roots. We had a few hours of free time, which people spend by walking and drinking coffee, but before that we had a really good time when we went to the famous castle on a hill – Trsat Castle. For many people that was the best view from Rijeka and one of the most important parts of our trip.

After a calm Monday afternoon, which we could spend how we wanted, we entered the bus and went back to Dubrovnik. This was the end of our trip. But we hope, that we will have some more :)

On Saturday one of us decided to go on football match. HNK Rijeka played with RNK Split. For Norbert it was great opportunity to watch live his first match in Croatia and see one of the prettiest stadiums in Balkans.

After interesting 90 minutes on the pitch, HNK won 4:1. Totally different situations was on stadium’s stands. Capacity of Kantrida stadium is 10 000, but that day there were aproximatelly 5 000 fans. There were no fans from Split. During the whole match Armada (fans of HNK) supported their team, but the quality of support could have been better. Armada didn’t make any choreography and except of one torch, which was used after one of the goals, there was nothing interesting on the stands.