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| Rijeka street welcomes joggers |
Rijeka, at least the Center or “Centrum” as the Croats say, is not great for runners. The guide books tell us that Rijeka retained its Liburnian (i.e., pre-Roman ) layout, never acquiring an orderly grid like so many “castrum.” History aside, Rijeka is built on a series of steep hills.
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| Mussolini loved it |
Despite the geographic challenge, I have found a route that works for me. First, I jog to the top of the hill we live on to Kozala Cemetery. Its votive chapel, the design for which Mussolini himself is recorded to have admired, is a fixture of the Rijeka skyline. While Kozala tells City’s history in stone, it feels remarkably lived in due the Croatian fondness for caring for graves and decorating them with pictures of the deceased, flowers, candles, and even chocolate bars. I start running in the old sections, which are primarily Italian and include a Jewish section. The names speak of Fiume (Rijeka’s name before WW II) of the 19h Century and its vanished Austro-Hungarian multiculturalism of Croats, Italians, Jew, Germans, and Hungarians.
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| Old Fiume |
The graves have names like “Sigismondo von Lipschitz” or “Mustapha Albanucci.” I run past the older, 19th century mausoleums, with their lavish carvings and decorations, to the newer, post-WW II sections, build into a cliff-side, with austere, stacked marble mausoleums bearing only Croatian names.
After Kozala, I jog down the hill, passing through hideous 1970s Communist-era high rises to late 19th and early 20th century lanes and steps which could have come out of any Italian mountain town.
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| Charming picture, omitting Communist-era apartment blocks |
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| Rječina River |
I then pass over to the next hill, Trsat, cavalierly crossing, the Rječina river, which once served as a border between fascist Italy and the Croatian fascist puppet state. I often wonder, as I pass, the significance this river had to Jews escaping the Ustasi to the relatively friendlier Italian jurisdiction (at least before capitulation in 1944).
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| Who kneeds this? |
I then jog up Trsat via the “Holy Stairs.” These stairs are part of pilgrimage from the old church downtown up to the Church on top of Trsat. In August, the devout traverse this route on their knees. I find jogging hard enough—and have yet to make it up the hill without stopping.
I do not go to the top. I stop here:
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| Why take the stairs? |
A Rijekan legend holds that the man who built the stairs called upon Satan to aid in its completion. Satan agreed, provided that the stairs lead to the bar, which is precisely to where the sidewalk to the left leads. But, the tricky Croatian built a final flight of stairs (to the right) that goes right up to the Church—saving his soul and at the same time completing the pilgrimage route. At the very least it offers a tremendous view.
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| Sunset over Kvarner Bay |
Well, this blog entry is getting a bit long. I jog down the hill, head to the green market (which will get its own entry), and then jog up the 3km pier. It offers a view of the City. You can make out the narrow spire to the left (Kozala) and the hill with the Church to the right (Trsat).
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| Bad idea: Stalinist apartment blocks on hilltop |
