Even if I keep insisting I don’t miss the sun, it feels nice to walk in Varaždin under the sunlight. The colours have changed. The green is slowly shifting to warmer colours such as brown, yellow or red and the rain from the first two weeks has, at last, subsided.
Every city looks better when you don’t need to run to the closest roof or when you don’t have to look at the ground, avoiding (successfully or not) the puddles. There are some cities that look equally good under the rain: Santiago de Compostela is one of them.
The dim orange lights casting shadows over the wet streets of stone look like some scenery for a fairy tale. Varazdin shows its charm under the clear light of a clear sky, when you eat ice cream without fearing the rain pouring on you, even under a covered sky.
The way to Vidovec is framed by houses with visible piles of cabbages by each entrance. Today is hot for the first time in weeks and the smells intensify once we arrive in the outdoor venue. This saturday afternoon is covered by warm tones. The sandy ground and the wooden stands are brown and the sunlight filtering through the fabric of the tent tinges the people eating with a surreal red shade. Cabbages are the only green dots splattering the view.
It’s lively like every local party should be. You can hear music in the background and the chatter from the people having fun. When it’s time to eat, after some dance and speech, people crowd in front of the tables that guard the sarma and start pushing for food and I can avoid thinking back when there was some local fest and giant paellas were prepared for everyone to eat. I guess everyone crowds together when it’s about food.
After what seems hours, we managed to get something to eat and finish it quickly. We arrive in Varazdin again and 16.00 and the day has barely started. With the sunset people gather to listen to what will be the first concert of the varaždin Baroque Evenings, an organ concert.
The different blue shades of the twilight seem to slip in the cathedral. Even under the loud light accompanying the loud notes played by the organ, blue seems to settle in as the colour of the early evening. The soundtrack looks taken out of a movie, out of some epic story that doesn’t belong to this time and everything that happened that afternoon seems far away only reminded by the enthusiastic clapping of the audience at the end of the concert.
Before the week is over, the atmosphere shifts again. The lazy sunday morning welcomes us relatively early in the cemetery. After breakfast morning turns grey again and the sunny week is hidden after the cloudy sky. Time seems stuck between the dense branches covering graves from last century. There’s no one here, no one walking around that we know of.
The dark green of arches framing the graves, the black marble and grey stone crosses covered by mold put an end to a week that started with lively and warm colours and faded to mild winter tones.
That Sunday morning times stops before the rain starts falling again.
Andrea participates in the Eurodyssey programme organized by Varaždin County, whose aim is to provide conditions for young people to gain professional experience. Varazdinski.hr is one of the employers which have expressed interest to participate in this Programme.
