Every day from our apartment balcony and bedroom windows, we watch what's going on in our port city. There's a lot of activity--cargo ships, fishing boats (with birds following behind), sail boats, ferries to the nearby islands, and the occasional cruise ship (our friend Greta tells us that 33 cruise ships are scheduled to come to Rijeka this summer).
But we've been told that before the Homeland War (Croatia's War for Independence from 1991 to 1995), there was much more going on in this port. Since then, Rijeka has lost a lot of its industry, and today, in the wake of the global financial crisis, Croatia is experiencing great financial difficulties and high unemployment (officially the rate is 20%, but people here have said that they think the rate is actually much higher).
Recently, J.D. and I walked--and Caroline scootered--to the end of Rijeka's pier.
We happened to be on the pier during the month of "Pier Shear," which, as its website explains, is "a month long 'happening/art show' that brings seven sheep to live on the pier, while seven local artists transform raw wool into art installations that reveal the complexity of Rijeka's transitioning future." The sheep and the art work were supposed to help the people of Rijeka re-imagine what this pier--this representative of the city's once thriving industry--could be. While we were there, the sheep must have been hiding, but we did see the art and the wool:
While walking on the pier, we could see our apartment. It's pictured in the photo below.
Haha - reminds me of tapestry my mom had made using the family dog's hair spun into wool. (samoyed). I'm not sure there's a word to adequately describe it. :-) Looks like you're having gorgeous weather. (Jealous!) Thanks for sharing! xoxo gretchen
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