WALKING WITH DINOSAURS

On my way back home, after a bit of aimless driving around the area in between the towns of Porech and Pazin, I accidentally entered a strange portal ...

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... and ended up surrounded by dinosaurs ...

... and other weird stuff ...

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... but, yeah - the dinosaurs were the main attraction.

Dinopark Funtana it's a theme park near the seaside village that goes by the same name, Funtana. The mini Jurassicc park offers various Dinosaur-themed entertainment, mainly for children.

I didn't enter. Partially because I'm a bit too much of a miser to pay thirty bucks for fake reptiles, but also ...

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... because I had enough free stuff to photograph in the parking lot in front of the park ...

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... and this living fossil at the entrance was too scary. I know that this isn't a real dinosaur. It's just a machine. But machines can go crazy, you know. Haven't you seen the Westworld movie from 1973? That was one of my favorite things on TV when I was a kid. I saw it five or six times, something like that. It was appearing regularly, every year in the early eighties.

I spent an hour or so walking up & down and all around the parking lot.

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At one point, a pterodactyl appeared in the sky.

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It was a domesticated pterodactyl, trained to carry the young tourists.

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I watched him flying along the wire ...

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... and I have to admit that it was a cool scene.

This colorful bus was going in circles near the main gate of the park.

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Two relatively small but very dangerous dinosaurs were balancing on its rooftop.

I always liked to watch drawings and paintings in natural history books that are trying to portray dinosaurs and their environment. Well, who doesn't, especially as a kid. When I first saw the CGI dinosaurs in the now pretty old Jurassic Park movie, I thought that the beasts are great but I didn't care much about the plot and the people in the movie. I remember thinking back then: " Hey, wouldn't be great to watch some CGI speculative documentary with dinosaurs in the everyday activities and no people around."
When the BBC series Walking with Dinosaurs appeared on the TV in 1999, I wasn't a child anymore, but I felt like one while watching it every Sunday. I remember thinking: " Yes! Finally the real thing. It only lacks David Attenborough sitting in the Tyronosaurus nest to be perfect."
Nowadays you can find all kinds of CGI dinosaurs even on Youtube, and I have nothing against that. The more the better. Dinosaurs were, are, and will always be cool - period.

I encountered some fish as well while rambling around the parking lot.

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A line of well-made, pretty realistic fish models was hanging on the wall of the small restaurant in between the parking lot and the wall of the park.

This one looks like a Dusky grouper (Epinephelus marginatus). After taking this photograph ...

... I walked to the opposite corner of the parking lot ...

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... where I encounter a lovely pink car ...

... an ordinary van ...

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... and the pretty tall Transformer behind that van.

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This other robot was photographed nearby, closer to the fence of the park ...

... and closer to this pirate ship swing.

It had an intimidating emblem near the top of its mast pole.

Here you can say hello to one of the mighty pirates that operate the ship.

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I took another portrait of the old pink car ...

... photographed another merry-go-round ...

... and then ...

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... walked back to the entrance of the Dino Park.

There I encountered this great piece of Hanna-Barbera paleontology.

Here you can see the baby dinosaur on the rooftop of the Dino - taxi.

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In this photograph, you can take a look at a contemporary Dino - car ...

... with three species sprouting through its roof.

Here you can admire the same scene from a different angle.

And that's it.

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At that point, it was time to leave the Jurassic and return home.

AS ALWAYS IN THESE WALKS ON HIVE, THE PHOTOGRAPHS, AND THE GIFS ARE MY WORK - THE END.

This photograph was taken by a friend who was there with me. You can see me photographing stuff behind the blue dinosaur and the prehistoric taxi.