Tag: carnival

Categories
foooood in slovenia

kurentovanje, the carnival in ptuj

around this time two years ago, we watched the kurenti come to ljubljana on a freezing day… and we were so in awe of the whole event that we decided there and then that the next year we would go to ptuj and see the real thing from the source.

so we did! about a year ago, we drove all the way to ptuj on a mission. i remember it was unbelievably cold and windy, and yet we sticked around through the folklore and performances, warming our hands on steaming mugs of glühwein (one of the best i’d tried so far!) until finally the kurenti came out. i froze my fingers off making a video of the whole thing, and with the move to berlin, never got around to publish it… so here it is now:

quite something, isn’t it? i don’t think carnival will ever be the same without these big guys and their cowbell cacophony!

and of course, we stopped at the famous trojane krofi house that everyone had told us about, and bought a bunch of them for the road!

i don’t think they were the best we’ve had in slovenia, but there were certainly up there in the top 5, and well worth the short detour on the highway! :)

Categories
in italy traveling

venice details

my brother has recently spent a few days with us here in ljubljana :) it was a trip of firsts for him: first time in a foreign country, first flight, first time eating mexican nachos, ćevapčići or krofs… and first carnival in venice!

being the right time of the year and so close by, we couldn’t pass the opportunity of taking him there. so we left ljubljana, bright and early on a 2am train and then… we walked and walked and walked, just taking it all in. venice is incredibly crowded but i think it is also a really happy place. the carnival feels a lot more solemn than we’re used to (which is refreshing), but it retains quite a bit of its colourful aura. we had a great day, enjoyed the sun and took a ton of photos of little things we liked.
>---->:) :P :(chewie!(happy) girl with balloonlike medusa's hair!the green fairies getting lost on the side streetsit's funny -really green almond cookievenice sweetsboom!
best costume in our book went to a guy dressed like ezio in assassin’s creed II. joão had spent half the morning commenting at how familiar everything in venice looked from the game, and how realistic it was, and “i climbed this and that building in the game!”, blablabla and then out of nowhere we see this guy and whoa! talk about a perfect moment! :)

Categories
in slovenia

kurenti

we left home saturday last week for going to the market and stumbled on the local carnival event! we were a bit unprepared, but managed to take some photos with the holga. there were people partying in boats on the river, lots of shops selling krofi (like bolas de berlim but filled with chocolate!) and even a parade, with tons of kids dressed up in themes and my favourite part, the kurenti:

Kurenti or Koranti (singular: Kurent or Korant) are figures dressed in sheep skin who go about the town wearing masks, a long red tongue, cow bells, and on the head multi-colored ribbons. The Kurenti from Ptuj and the adjoining villages also wear feathers, while those from the Haloze and Lancova vas wear horns. Organized in groups, Kurents go through town, from house to house, making noise with their bells and wooden sticks, to symbolically scare off evil spirits and the winter. (more on wikipedia)



they’re very loud, jumping around and ringing their heavy cow bells, yet friendly, stopping by to talk to curious kids. it was a real treat to watch, our timing was quite perfect :)