Everybody Get Back! It's a Funeral!

As we drove through the picturesque Slovenian countryside on our way back to Croatia, we passed through the town of Ilirska Bistrica, a few kilometers shy off the border. Sitting atop a hill overlooking the town and surrounding valley was an impressive church with a red roof on its tall bell tower. With the late afternoon sun beginning to fade, we thought we would stop for a picture or two.

We located the turnoff, and began the twisty ascent to the Church of St. Peter. The narrow street adjacent to the church was full of cars, but not too unusual since most streets here are full of parked cars. We had to drive a short distance past the church to park before starting the climb up a rather steep walkway.

Ben was in the lead, several yards ahead of me when we reached the back side of the church. I took a picture and waited for Tammy to catch up.  Over the stone wall to my left was a cemetery, which had probably been there for centuries. Ben had disappeared around to the front to get a picture with the setting sun at his back.

Just before Tammy reached me, the church bells began to clang loudly, but not in the methodical rhythm of bells marking the hour. This was a non-stop cacophony of ringing. I looked at my watch. It was 3:45pm. Hmm. That seems like an odd time for the bells to be ringing.
I looked up to see Ben scurrying quickly back urging us to retreat back down the walkway as quickly as possible.

As Ben had stood at the front of the church with his camera focused on the belltower and the bells echoing through the hills, the doors of the church swung open and a priest in full vestments emerged holding a tall pole adorned with a wreath and the photo of a person.  He was followed by a processional of a couple hundred mourners. It was that awkward moment where being a tourist collided with the real lives of the local populace.

We hurried as fast as we could back down the hill, periodically glancing over our shoulders to watch the somber procession pass the spot where we were standing moments before. Once we were rolling again, we had good laugh about being American "funeral crashers". So, I only have the one photo to include with this post.