Since roman times the settlement situated on the slope slightly inclined towards the sea, with narrow coastal zone, well protected bay and with many generous sources of drinking water had nice predispositions to develop into important harbour and trading town.
After the 4th century the city was rededicated to St. Vitus, the city's patron saint, as "Terra Fluminis sancti Sancti Viti" or in German "Sankt Veit am Pflaum" (meaning: "the river of St. Vitus" in Latin and German) and in honour of the small river "Rječina" that runs through town ("Rječina" means: "the big river"). Tip: If one combines this cache with GCs: „Delta“; „Šetnica Rječina – Volim grad koji teče“; „Lujzijana – vidikovac“; „Mt. St. Catherine“ and „KVARNER Cache 03 – Veli vrh“ will cover nice part of our „big river“ flow.
In medieval times the city acquired its Croatian name - "Rika svetoga Vida", and today the city is known by the Croatian name "Rijeka" and its variations (Slovene - Reka, Croatian dialectal - Reka and Rika), as well as by the Italian - Fiume. These names mean "river" in each of the languages.
The Church/Cathedral of St. Vitus was in Middle Ages a small and one-sided, romanesque church dedicated to the patron saint and protector of Rijeka. The Cathedral as we see it today was founded in 1638. It’s a rotunda, which is unusual in this part of Europe, with baroque and gothic elements, including fine baroque statuary inside.
The cathedral is depicted on the reverse of the croatian 100 kuna banknote!
On the left side, next to the main entrance the people of Rijeka preserved the embedded cannonball in remembrance of the English attack on the Napoleon's troops stationed in the town at that time. They even put an ironic inscription in Latin, which in translation means: "This fruit was sent to us by England when it wanted to oust the Gauls from here."
Start from here!
There ISN'T a pen in the box!
Checksums:
A+B+C+D=13
E+F+G+H+I+J=23