PORTRAITS OF ISTRA - Episode 22 - IN THE PORT OF KRNITZA

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There is a long narrow bay ...

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... with the small sheltered port ...

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... and a payphone ...

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... on its end. It was a surreal encounter, didn't saw a phone like this for ages.

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There is a curious seagull ...

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... and a winding road on the opposite side of the bay ... I mean, not only narrow, but winding and pretty steep too.

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With this post about the port of Krnitza, I didn't move far from the yesterday's post about Rakalj. This place is only about 7 or so kilometers from there.

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The village of Krnitza is situated a couple of kilometers further, on the hill above the port ...

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... and I took a few shots while passing through.

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One of the main attraction in the port ... for me at least ...

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... are the many stranded boats of quite a few different types, waiting to be repaired.

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They look a bit like whales ...

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... there is always interesting makeshift stuff scattered around them ...

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... and I like to watch and photograph the work in progress ...

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... like the one that's being done on this small fishing boat.

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You can always find cool details on old wooden boats out of water ...

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... this rudder is covered with oysters, limpets and sea worms ... it looks a bit like a sea turtle shell or the skin of some old whale.

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You can also come across some cool or funny combinations of machinery ...

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... like this small, pretty cartoonish tractor that drags a boat like some big fish ...

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... and, like in some open - air museum, you can even see a public payphone, a very strange thing in this mobile phone's era.

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There is a good chance to see some quiet, ordinary scenes, quite photogenic moments involving the local fishermen and tourist's kids. This man is repairing the long dragging net and the young boy is fascinated by this.

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Then another kid enters the scene, and they all have a little talk.

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Not far from there ...

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... the seagull is exploring some other nets.

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Many fishing boats are chock - filled with stuff, and I like this visual chaos with many textures.

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The shoreline is also a repository for a colorful collection of old, rusted, or half - functioning objects and various spare parts.

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You can sense some slight post-apocalyptic feel in the atmosphere ...

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... and I like that ... because it reminds me on some of my favorite books, comics and movies.

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On one of the trees, there near the boat carcasses stranded by the docks ...

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... I found these Cherry plums ... they mature in summer and are pretty juicy and sweet.

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This shot was taken while driving uphill, from the port back to the village.

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This is another shot along that way, closer to the village. The weather was moody, the sky overcast with shape - shifting clouds ... so at this point, in the late afternoon the scenery looked pretty wide and dramatic, everything had some kind of CinemaScope look because of that wild sky.

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I didn't stop to take more pictures of the Krnitza village that day ... so on the following set of photographs ...

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... you'll see Krnitza on the day after. This is a large crossroad at the entrance that functions as some kind of town's center. I mean, most of the people are hanging here if not at home, at work or at sea.

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While photographing this part of the village ...

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... a few jokes flew from the local osteria in my direction ... so I met these people ...

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... we did a bit of small talk ...

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... and I took these shots.

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Some time later, after photographing some more cool details there, I decided to buy some bread and burek (a Balkan version of the leafy meat-pie ... or something like that) and then I discovered ...

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... that the man I met before is the owner of the only bakery in Krnitza ... so I took another shot :)

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The archeological findings show that the area was inhabited in neolithic and during the dominance of Roman Empire ...

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... in written sources Krnitza is firs mentioned in 13th century ...

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... but then there is a big void, when the village was abandoned due to the plague and wars, till the year 1520 ...

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... when the place was populated with refugees that flee from southern Adriatic, parts of Dalmatia threatened by the Ottomans.

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The Church of St Rocco, the biggest of the tree churches in Krnitza, was built in 1631 ...

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... and now has some lovely self - seeding fig trees on the top of its tower.

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This tree sprouted very high ... it looks almost like the vegetation is competing with the cross on the top.

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Here you can take an enlargeable look at the scene.

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One interesting old news that I found while preparing this post ... is that in the year 1903, a chest filled with gold and bronze coins from the Roman Empire was found in the cave, somewhere in the dense Mediterranean vegetation near the village ...

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... I don't know who found it ... but this information got me fantasizing about treasure hunt the next time I visit this area.

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I took this photograph on my way back home ... on that second day, when I photographed only the village.

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With this ...

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... and all the following photographs till the end of the post ...

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... we are back in time, back into the atmosphere on my way home, on that first day, when I was photographing mostly the boats and the sea.

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The clouds were spectacular above this area ...

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... and I could watch the distant rain on the horizon ...

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... in the direction of my hometown ...

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... when I arrived home, the streets were wet and shiny, it was raining there. It was a short but heavy rain.

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And now ... with the last two shots taken in the town called Vodnjan, about 20 kilometers from home ...

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... while waiting for the train to pass ... is time to end this journey ... as always in these posts on HIVE, all the photographs are my work - THE END.



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7 comments
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Manually curated by ackhoo from the Qurator Team. Keep up the good work!

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"Post-apocalyptic atmosphere..." - that's exactly what it feels like

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That old boat graveyard is pretty cool! I'd be pretty fascinated by it, too. What a great character-filled port.

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