Rijeka

After leaving Rovinj we headed for Plitvice Lakes National Park, breaking the journey for a couple of hours in Rijeka. Rijeka is Croatia’s 3rd largest city. Unlike many of the places we would visit on this brief tour, in Rijeka you were surrounded by locals going about their business rather than other tourists.

Rijeka Mosque

The image at the top of this article is Rijeka Mosque. It’s not actually in the heart of the city. During our research for this trip however I saw some images of the mosque and decided I would like to photograph it. For whatever reason I think it suited post processing it in black and white. The mosque, or The Islamic Center of Rijeka as it’s known was started in 2009. It was finally opened in 2013. More than 10,000 muslims live in Rijeka and the surrounding area. Most of them originally come from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The mosque’s designer Dušan Džamonja passed away in 2009, aged 80, sadly never seeing his vision completed.

Rijeka City Clock Tower

After leaving the mosque we headed to the centre of the city. I wanted to see the City Clock Tower which was apparently built in the middle ages. I won’t go into all the Habsburg history associated with Rijeka and the tower, it’s something you can Google if this interests you. It was interesting to note that the clock faces are a mixture of roman numerals and what we tend to use today (Arabic numbers).

The clock tower is situated on the Korzo, probably the most popular street in the city. It’s pedestrianised and full of shops and cafés.

Rijeka – Other Sights

There are a number of other sights you might want to visit if you have more time than we did. We didn’t see most on the following list:

• The Governor’s Palace
• Trsat Castle
• Capuchin Church
• Rijeka Harbour

We had only stopped in Rijeka for a couple of hours. It was time to get back on the road and complete our journey to Plitvice Lakes National Park.