Some of yesterday's activities included a two hour walking tour of North Tonawanda and going to the Serbian Festival...
Some of yesterday's activities included a two hour walking tour of North Tonawanda and going to the Serbian Festival (at the Serbian Orthodox church, of course.)
I've done walking and bus tours with this company before, and they're usually really good, but this one is obviously new and needs work. An hour and 40 minutes in, we hadn't even gotten to the good stuff, like the truly significant old architecture and the creek/canal. Oh, well. I can go back on my own when some of the building and homes and things are open to tour and it isn't 90+ degrees and humidity. There are supposed to be revolutionary war era graves in the cemetary, too.
The Italian and Polish and German and Irish festivals do not confine themselves to a single church, although there are some events that may center around one sometimes. The Greek festival centers around the big Greek Orthodox church in the city, but that's because of location. The Lebanese festival is at the Maronite church, which is essentially the Lebanese church in the area. I've never seen a festival open to the public advertised at any of the mosques. Maybe that's not a thing? Anyway, the Serbian festival was at the Serbian Orthodox church. Fun facts: it's less than a block from the Croatian church, which you drive past as you go to the Serbian one. Apparently, there was a Croatian festival last weekend, but it didn't get advertised the way the Serbian one did. Weird.
Fun things are getting to tour the churches, as well as eating the food and hearing the music. This church is apparently well known for being completely covered in hand painted frescoes, some done by a monk, and the rest done by a priest who was his pupil. One thing this will tell you is that there are a LOT of saints in the Orthodox church. Good grief. They also had their choir sing a bit, which is cool if you haven't heard Old Church Slavonic and microtonal music. If I can figure out how to post it here, I recorded them singing The Lord's Prayer on my phone.
Food was copious and clearly indicative of former membership in the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires. I did not avail myself of the pig on a spit or the lamb on a spit (or the stuffed cabbage, or the soup, or the, well, you get the idea.) I had some cevap, aka cevapcici, which were delicious and quite filling, and a cheese burek. Then I availed myself of the handmade desserts. Good grief, there were SO MANY GOODIES. My favorite was something called a Russian Hat (Ruske Kape). YOU MUST EAT THESE. Unless you hate coconut, or chocolate, or nuts, or cake.
More later on my ruminations on the interesting juxtaposition of the two churches (Serbian and Croatian).
I've done walking and bus tours with this company before, and they're usually really good, but this one is obviously new and needs work. An hour and 40 minutes in, we hadn't even gotten to the good stuff, like the truly significant old architecture and the creek/canal. Oh, well. I can go back on my own when some of the building and homes and things are open to tour and it isn't 90+ degrees and humidity. There are supposed to be revolutionary war era graves in the cemetary, too.
The Italian and Polish and German and Irish festivals do not confine themselves to a single church, although there are some events that may center around one sometimes. The Greek festival centers around the big Greek Orthodox church in the city, but that's because of location. The Lebanese festival is at the Maronite church, which is essentially the Lebanese church in the area. I've never seen a festival open to the public advertised at any of the mosques. Maybe that's not a thing? Anyway, the Serbian festival was at the Serbian Orthodox church. Fun facts: it's less than a block from the Croatian church, which you drive past as you go to the Serbian one. Apparently, there was a Croatian festival last weekend, but it didn't get advertised the way the Serbian one did. Weird.
Fun things are getting to tour the churches, as well as eating the food and hearing the music. This church is apparently well known for being completely covered in hand painted frescoes, some done by a monk, and the rest done by a priest who was his pupil. One thing this will tell you is that there are a LOT of saints in the Orthodox church. Good grief. They also had their choir sing a bit, which is cool if you haven't heard Old Church Slavonic and microtonal music. If I can figure out how to post it here, I recorded them singing The Lord's Prayer on my phone.
Food was copious and clearly indicative of former membership in the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires. I did not avail myself of the pig on a spit or the lamb on a spit (or the stuffed cabbage, or the soup, or the, well, you get the idea.) I had some cevap, aka cevapcici, which were delicious and quite filling, and a cheese burek. Then I availed myself of the handmade desserts. Good grief, there were SO MANY GOODIES. My favorite was something called a Russian Hat (Ruske Kape). YOU MUST EAT THESE. Unless you hate coconut, or chocolate, or nuts, or cake.
More later on my ruminations on the interesting juxtaposition of the two churches (Serbian and Croatian).
Heh. Google wants me to identify who is in that fresco of Jesus.
ReplyDeleteYou'd think!
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