9 September 2017
Festival. That’s about it for today. Being part of the culture, the people, and a bit of their past.
On the Liberty square, where the main festivities are happening, the main attraction seems to be the stall where you can dunk a rather cheeky guy. If you have an accurate arm for throwing a small piece of wood, and you hit the target, he goes plunging into the water. In between, he really just chirps at the crowd. Quite amusing to see the macho guys step up, full of confidence, and then sheepishly steps down again. But, at times, when a very small child wants to try, the chirpy dude will strangely just drop into the water anyway.
We also so dancers, drummers, and sword-fighting knights. Unfortunately the weather decided to not play along just when the Lipizzaners were about to give a bit of a show, and with the very smooth and slippery marble paving on the streets of the historic town, the horses were wisely taken away rather.
We really love being in Poreč. It’s obviously busy because of the festival, but we don’t feel overcrowded, and the locals are all so very friendly and helpful. It’s really just been a day of being part of this beautiful place.
After an early supper, we went to see the real attraction. The Giostra tournament. This tournament is a resurrection of one held on the 14th of April 1745. The same rules are used, and the list is quite extensive. The target, or Saracen, is a round board with a rather unimpressed face painted on it. Points are rewarded based on where the knight’s spear hits the target. And points can be deducted, for example, should the knight drop his spear. What I loved most was the obvious involvement of the entire community. If only more countries could preserve their history this way.
On our way home we stopped at a bar where three guys were playing some good music. We were absolutely amazed at how good these local musicians were. ANd the obliged with a Pink Floyd song – an acoustic version of Hey You, that we were sure even Pink Floyd themselves could not have performed as brilliantly.
It’s quite late now. Outside our bedroom window, some rather large yachts are moored. They seem quite quiet, unlike the casino’s disco, blaring flashing spot-light music. I wonder whether the knights of 1745 would also have been dancing to bad music into the small hours of the night.
