PORTRAITS OF ISTRA - Episode 21 - RAKALJ AND SURROUNDINGS

On this first, opening shot you can take a look at the landscape in the area about 30 kilometers from my home, a narrow bay that looks like river from some angles and quite a few stony hills ...

... near the town called Rakalj.

The contemporary Rakalj is situated in the place inhabited since 15th century ...

... but not far from the houses and tourist apartments still used by people ...

... about 2 kilometers from the living town ...

... you can see the quiet ruins of the old Rakalj.

Remains of the Castle built during the first decades of 11th century ...

... traces of human effort merged seamlessly into the stony surroundings.

There is a church not far from where the castle once stood, on the top of a smaller, neighboring hill.

The church of St. Agnes as we see it now was finished in 1495 ... but on the remains of older church that was a part of feudal property in the old Rakalj.

And now, after this short walk around the oldest layers of this place ...

... let's go back to the inhabited part of town ...

... which is also pretty quiet ...

... and looks like an open air museum from some angles.

Among some new apartment houses built for tourist accommodation, that you won't see in this post ...

... you can see quite a few old homesteads built in stone.

Some of them are still in use.

I photographed this lovely white dove in front of one of those old houses.

With every move the bird looked a bit different ...

... so I took three shots instead of only one.

In another old neighborhood ... the one on this picture ...

... I photographed this yellow cat among some old stones, concentrated on something down on the floor.

There was a car nearby. An old car that looked stuck in that place.

I found plenty of cool, photogenic details in this part of town ... but now, to keep the post's rhythm consistent, let's make another visit ...

... to the stony hills of the old ... I mean, the oldest Rakalj ...

... and enjoy the open view ...

... at the sea ... sky ... and lands across the bay.

This is a very indented coast ...

... so you can always find a lot of interesting details in this wide panorama ...

... but I'll return to them later ... right now ...

... is time to return to the residential part of town.

This is the palace of the Venetian family Loredan, administrators of this area in those times. It was built in 1543, and is situated in the center of town.

This is a closer look at the little loggia, a place to sit down when the sun is too strong or when is raining outside.

Here is one last look inside.

While walking aimlessly through narrow streets surrounded by old houses and gardens ...

... I came upon a small chapel built in the wall.

It wasn't a big surprise, you can see these old chapels with some contemporary religious stuff inside in almost every village here, and on some crossroads in the middle of nowhere too ... but this one had a cool, refreshing addition nearby ...

... two bottles of beer in the small niche in the wall. On the following shot ...

... I'm outside the town again ...

... walking across the stony terrain ...

... searching for interesting plants ...

... and attractive views.

... when I zoomed in on this part of the panorama ...

... I discovered a long, sheltered inlet with beautiful, clear water.

If you turn around your axis, and zoom in on the opposite side of the view, you'll see this sliced hill ...

... and the stone quarry ...

... strange little mountains ...

... surrounded by trucks ... cranes ... rusted machinery.

With this photograph we are back in town. Not far from a complex of old houses, merged together in a row ... and very close to the olive tree across them, you can see some branches sprouting in the foreground.

Here you can see some fig trees, covered with ivy and some other climbing plants, merged in this lush green island near the small road that leads out of town.

Here is a look at some big old house surrounded by many trees ... and on the following shot ...

... yet another old homestead near the center of town.

This is a detail of the old well in that neighborhood.

Here are some small buildings covered with vegetation ...

... homes for domestic animals.

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With this enlargeable photograph the post's focus shifts on the old, rocky Rakalj again. This is yet another look at the ancient fortress on the hill.

This is a short look at some coastal tree covered with colorful fruits with the sea in the background. ... while on the following photograph ...

... you can see this tree in wider view, as part of the landscape.

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This is a look at some distant harbor. You can see some industrial complex behind that peninsula.

This is a small village with industrial harbor adjacent to the cement factory, first built in the first decade of 1900, named after the local self - seeding plant, and still in use.

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Its name is Koromoachno. Koromach means Fennel in local dialect ... so you can call this place Fenellville ... or something like that.

Here you can take a good look on some relatively large sailing boat passing across the big blue of the bay ... while on the following, enlargeable photograph ...

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... you can see the same boat with more blue in the frame.

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Here is another enlargeable shot ... with a different, much smaller sailing vessel.

Here is another look on another bay on this indented part of the coast.

I took all the photographs in this post during one long afternoon about one month ago, and on this shot you can see that while the weather was mostly cloudy, small stripes and parchments of slightly sunny were appearing from time to time.

Here you can see a small lighthouse near the entrance in some narrow bay.

This is the last look at the old long abandoned Rakalj ... which means that now ...

... with the church and graveyard situated in between the residential Rakalj and the ancient ruins of the old one, on this closing photograph ... is time to end this excursion. As always in these posts on HIVE, all the photographs are my work ...

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... I mean, all except this one, this shot with me on it was taken by a friend - THE END.