For this episode I didn't have to go far ...
... didn't have to drive, for a change ... a nice, relaxing walk was enough ...
... all downhill, about ten minutes, from my house to the beach in the bay.
This is my hometown ... Medulin ... or more precisely, this is in my hometown, small town in the bay near the southern cape of the Istra peninsula. The beach and the area, a bay inside the larger very dynamically shaped bay with many smaller inlets and peninsulas, it's called Bietza ...
... and the whole post will be only about that small stretch of coastline ... strictly about Bietza.
When arrived at the beach, on the day when these photographs were taken - the 4th of December 2020 ...
... I found a nicely desolate atmosphere ...
... summer restaurants were closed ... but you could feed your eyes on their advert boards ...
... there were only a few deciduous trees among many pines ...
... but they were able to produce large quantities of dead foliage ...
... and add a classic autumnal touch to the overall atmosphere.
Moved by the wind that blew some days ago ...
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... the fallen leaves conquered the area completely ... the beach, the sidewalks, the small one way street that's winding along the coast ...
... entered every covered terrace ...
... decorated all kinds of floors and surfaces ...
... and filled with colors ...
... this small, gray, partially broken fountain.
The tide was low that morning ...
... there was a large belt of pebbles between the road and the sea ...
... and there, near the summer terraces ...
... the surfers and kiteboarders had left some of their stuff ... they were waiting for the wind, standing along the sidewalk, dressed mostly in black, like patient old crows.
I continued sniffing around for a while ... in search of details, perspectives and vistas ...
... shooting stuff along the way ...
... then I took one last look at the sea ...
... and after photographing these flowers under the porch of one of the summer terraces ... I went home to eat something ... as I was walking uphill to my neighborhood near the center of town, the wind must have been on its way across the sea ...
... because an hour later ...
... when I returned, with the car this time ...
... the atmosphere wasn't so sleepy and static anymore.
This southern wind that blows from the sea is always relatively warm ...
... and it wasn't particularly strong this time ...
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... but it was enough to put things in motion.
Kites were flying ...
... like some alien visitors above the bay ...
... people were jumping ...
... falling ... diving ...
... at times even looked like they will fly away with the kites.
I saw the yellow kite floating in the distance ...
... it was the only kite that landed on the water ...
... and it looked pretty cool ... so I zoomed in ...
... and watch it raising ...
... soon the yellow kite was in the air again ...
... flying with the others of its kind ...
... and with that ...
... the show wasn't over ...
... the kites and sails were constantly moving ...
... back & forth across the bay ...
... and I was busy shooting ...
... trying to freeze the action, and collect it in the form of memorable still images ...
... that can convey that joyful, windy atmosphere.
After a few more uplifting shots ...
... I decided that it is enough for a decent post ...
... so I put my camera back in the appropriate bag ...
... sat in my car, and drove back home. The wind was getting stronger during that afternoon, in the evening turned into the storm ... and during the night, I heard on the local radio that it broke some records for that year ... it was a memorable storm, and I was listening to the music of wind and rain almost till dawn. When I returned to the bay, late in the morning on the 5th of December 2020 ...
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... the tide was high ...
... the neighborhood was slightly flooded ...
... things were broken ...
... damaged ...
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... overturned ...
... some seaweed ended up trapped under the broken wooden planks of the summer terrace ...
... and ... do you remember the flowers? Those flowers that you saw at the end of the first segment of this post? ...
... they left their container and disappeared in the storm ...
... only stems and roots were still on the terrace ... and the plant didn't look very healthy that day.
It's true that the raging sea made a mess along the beach and broke quite a few things while taking away some other ... but ... it would be unfair not to mention some cool, new stuff that the storm brought to replace the old stuff ... I saw plenty of these nicely shaped pebbles on the terrace ... instead of the fallen leaves ... and among them ...
... I found some clams ...
... a cigarette ...
... and this sophisticated handgun made of some beautiful, translucent material.
It seems that some people were well aware of the fact that storms can bring unimaginable treasures ... so they were exploring the beach ...
... some with their own fingers ...
... and some with tools and technology.
I was (and I still am) so curious about their findings ... but felt too shy to ask ... so, that secret will never be revealed, I guess ... not in this post, at least.
The lantern - like lamps on one of the terraces ...
... enveloped in nylon bandages ...
... looked a bit like some artsy interpretations of Prussian helmets from the World War I ...
... like ghosts ...
... or mummified soldiers ...
... the undead guardians of the beach.
I passed by the tree that looked like it grew through the planks of the terrace ...
... a very old Wild pear (Pyrus pyraster) ... that was there when my grandfather was young ... he and others of his generation used to mention this tree, when talking about times when there were no other trees nor buildings around and the World War I was a thing of the very recent past ...
... and I continued exploring the surroundings ...
... terrace after terrace ...
... like some insurance inspector eager to catalog the damage ...
... I took quite a few shots as evidence ...
... and photographed the most damaged terrace from all possible angles ...
... some of these shots may seem slightly unnecessary now ... but back then, I was somehow convinced that they have to be taken ... so they entered the post, although not to illustrate the external damage after the storm - but my state of mind in those moments.
After a few different shots ...
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... of the same flooded road ...
... seen from different angles ...
... shown through a few, slightly different compositions ...
... it was time to catch some reflections ...
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... and this lovely parking rack for beer - loving bicycles.
One of my neighbors from the town's center was also enjoying the cloudy day, and was pedaling in the same area ...
... when he arrived to the flooded part, it was the end of the line.
A bit later I encountered some people that didn't mind getting wet ... they were running across the sea headed to the floating city ...
... on the sunny advert glued to the small wooden stand.
I like the look of these white summer cabins ...
... especially on a gray winter day.
After a few more generic shots of the high tide ...
... and rolling sea ...
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... it was time to go home ... and end this story ... as always in these posts on HIVE, the photographs are my work - THE END.