Today I had to do some stuff in Pula, the nearest city, and then when everything was done, I continued northwards in search of something cool to post about.
I drove about seventy kilometers and stopped in the town called Vrsar. The weather was sunny along the way, and as you can see in this photograph, it was still clear and sunny when I stopped in the parking lot just outside the town to take a couple of scenic shots before entering the historic center. About half a kilometer further ...
... I noticed what looked like smoke hanging low in the air ...
... so I stopped in the large parking lot of the town's bus terminal ...
... to see what was going on there. A better look through the gate of the terminal revealed a foggy townscape on the other side.
As the smoke-like formations were accumulating, I felt the cold humidity in the air, and soon was clear that what looked like smoke was actually fog creeping from the sea.
I stood there, in the quiet station with no bus coming or going away, busy observing and photographing ...
... the changes in light and visibility. From a photographic perspective ...
... this was pure atmospheric gold.
Landscapes and vistas look great in fog.
Half an hour later, I drove another kilometer or so ...
... and stopped in the parking lot across the waterfront promenade.
From this point on, I was walking and exploring the foggy harbor and the steep, narrow streets of old Vrsar.
The car was parked in the same place until I decided to drive back home.
Before continuing this journey through the shifting fog ...
... I would like to show you a couple of sunny shots taken about ten-twelve kilometers from the destination ...
... in the small roadside village Flengi.
A man on the tractor was entering the yard of one of the homesteads by the side of the road that leads to Vrsar ...
... and if someone had told me at this point of the trip that foggy weather awaits further down the road, I probably wouldn't have believed it.
With this photograph ...
... I'm in the fog again.
Here you can see one of the house-shaped boxes with books free to use that recently started appearing in small towns all around the region. The little house is open so you can take a book, and return it when you read it. You can also add some of your books and put them in circulation.
Here you can see the line of houses just across the street from the harbor. In the following shot ...
... I'm walking uphill ...
... towards the labyrinth of narrow streets around the old center on top of the hill.
Here I passed by one of the many seagulls that rest on the boats, street lamps, and rooftops of Vrsar. Normally this scene wouldn't be interesting enough to stop and shoot, but the fog created a nice background that made the bird stand out. In the following set of four shots ...
... I stopped to photograph a sleepy white cat that looked great under the mailbox.
There was always something going on in this area.
This whole peninsula, Istra, was inhabited since prehistoric times. Remains of neolithic drystone walls were found in quite a few places very near to today's Vrsar.
Iron and Bronze age tools and pottery were excavated in some sites near the sea.
The Roman period left fragments of buildings and ancient writings engraved in stones incorporated in newer buildings.
Down in the bay ...
... traces of the Roman waterfront were found.
In the late Roman period, the settlement was called Ursaria. The archeological findings from that period show the existence of a Christian community in the 4th century.
In the Middle Ages, the buildings are getting concentrated on the hill ...
... around the castle of the Bishops from Porech, the bigger town situated ten-twelve kilometers northwards along the coast. Vrsar was the summer residence of those Christian big shots of the period.
The Castle was first built in wood, and then in the 13th century during the rule of the Bishop called Oton, it was rebuilt in stone.
It was restored and changed again in the 17th century, but this time the changes weren't so big and the older elements were well preserved and visible. The castle is still there, on the top of the hill, but it isn't visible in this post because I didn't reach it today.
I got lost in many cool details in the streets hallway to the top ...
... and after an hour or two of rambling and photographing it was time to slowly descend to the car. I'll show you the castle in one of the future posts.
Here you can see the Church of St. Anthony of Padua. It was built in 1656.
The combination of the rooftops in the foreground and the foggy boats in the background look pretty surreal and Photoshoped. I'll be kind of suspicious about the authenticity of this shot if I didn't take it myself.
Here you can see the seagull that I photographed a minute later.
At one point, when I was more or less halfway to the top ...
... the fog started dissolving above me ...
... while it was still dense down in the bay.
Here you can see one of the generic shots that I took while walking downhill ...
... back to the car.
When I reached the waterfront the overall atmosphere was slightly sunnier ...
... and the church tower was now visible through the mist.
The Parish Church of St. Martin the Bishop can be seen in old drawings from the 17th century, it was mentioned in written sources from the 12th century, but its final shape dates from the second half of the 19th century.
The fog's density was constantly changing the visibility of the tower and other buildings on the hill.
When this photograph was taken the fog was rapidly getting thicker ...
... and a minute or two later ...
... the top of the hill was invisible again ...
... so I turned my focus to the sailing boats ...
... that looked great in this atmosphere. On an ordinary day with no fog around the great number of details in the background can easily destroy the simple and elegant composition made of vertical lines in the slightly surreal landscape.
The reflections in the water alone can also create some cool abstract imagery.
From a slightly different angle, the scene has a more mundane look.
At this point, it was almost time to go.
I took only a few more very similar shots that show only slight changes in the fog's density ...
... before driving away.
I left Vrsar and after less than a kilometer of driving through the fog ...
... I surfaced in a considerably different atmosphere ...
... with great visibility and a clear blue sky. This photograph was taken near Flengi, the small village mentioned at the beginning of the post.
Ten or so kilometers further ...
... I stopped by the road.
Some conifer trees were freshly cut down in that area ...
... and a beautiful, refreshing scent was coming from the big pile of logs.
After taking this shot, I sat in the car with the intention of driving straight home ...
... but only five or six kilometers further, near the long, narrow bay that goes by the name of Lim Bay ...
... I stopped again, took a couple of photographs, and only then ...
... drove straight home.
AND THAT'S IT. HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE JOURNEY. AS ALWAYS IN THESE POSTS ON HIVE, THE PHOTOGRAPHS ARE MY WORK.