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PORTRAITS OF ISTRA - Episode 8 - PULA : IN THE OLD TOWN, part 2

PORTRAITS OF ISTRA - Episode 8 - PULA : IN THE OLD TOWN, part 2

January 2020 · 6 min read · Grad Pula

I'm on the top of the hill in the middle of the old town ...

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... watching the city of Pula, the largest or more precisely, the only, real city on the Istra peninsula, spreading on the morning sun, below and around me ...
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... this is the place where the traces of the first human settlements in the city area were found ...
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... the ancient fort of the people called Histri, that settled on this Istra peninsula that is still named after them, about the year 1200 B.C, was once here to overlook the surroundings ...
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... after the war from 221 to 177 year B.C when the Romans definitely defeated the Histri, this became Roman castrum, another fort basicaly :D ...
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... and what we see here, on the last three photographs, is the well-preserved Venetian fort, built in between 1631 and 1633 ... interesting little fact, those were the years of bubonic plague in the area, and all the hardships and dying that this disease brought ...
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... from some angles, the massive walls of the fortress, look like a big ship made of stone ...
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... with a bit of zooming capability at hand, this is a great place to observe and photograph the old Pula ...
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... and enjoy the urban vistas from the seagull prospective ...
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... everywhere you look ...
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... you can see a cool mix ...
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... of architectural styles ... varied textures ...
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... and different layers of history ...
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... in every direction ...
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... there is some interesting motif ...
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... ready to be discovered ...
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... on the following two photographs ...
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... the fishing boat is passing slowly across the bay, returning from the night hunt in search of sardines ... and with a bit more zooming ...
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... looks like a flying ship above the sea of rooftops ...
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... this iconic old chimney was built soon after the World War one, for the tobacco factory that is no more there ...
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... here is the same chimney from another prospective ... while walking on a cloudy autumn day ...
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... and here is the last look at some shipyard constructions ...
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... before starting to descend this fortified hill in the heart of the city ...
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... and along the way ... is time to discover ...
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... that all the hill ... from top to bottom ...
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... is an amazing archeological site ...
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... echoing the times of the Roman Empire ...
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... when Pula, laying on its seven hills, with the large amphitheater and elegant triumphal arches and temples, was a nice smaller version of the capital city ...
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... I can never get bored with this hill ...
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... like in all such places with rich history still visible, sprouting from the contemporary asphalt and generic urban vegetation ...
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... the immersion comes natural ...
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... and one can easily get lost in daydreams and imagination ...
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... on the following few photographs ...
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... you can see ...
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... the small Roman theater ...
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... is still used for the concerts in summer ...
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... while I was minding my photography business here by the open theater ...
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... this little European robin (Erithacus rubecula) ...
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... was jumping around, observing my work ...
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... here you can see some contemporary teenage writings on the ancient stones ...
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... and now ... I'm continuing downhill ...
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... on the fresh green carpet ...
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... decorated with fallen flowers ...
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... from the surrounding backyards and gardens ...
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... of the old neighborhood ...
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... that still preserves traces of the old Austro - hungarian atmosphere ...
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... another defining period in Pula's history ...
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... with this, the central theme of the post ... regarding the main fortress hill, is over ...
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... and for the rest of this photographic scroll ...
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... I will ramble ...
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... all around the old town ...
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... in a relatively chaotic way ...
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... without a clear purpose ...
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... showing you ...
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... unrelated street views ...
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... and details ...
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... that caught my attention ...
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... a view from the big elongated window of an old building ...
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... a funny example of twin windows ...
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... a green, self - seeding moment on some old wall ...
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... a bird silhouette in the park ...
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... a strange inter dimensional passage in the dirty small alley ...
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... a long line of underwear sprouting from the old palace ...
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... two similar facades ...
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... from different neighborhoods ...
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... walking through this street ...
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... after I passed by ...
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... this, not particularly happy - looking, building ...
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... I came across this cat ...
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... and a dish ...
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... with a fish ...
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... I mean the fish was only a picture ... an illusion ... and was funny to see the cat trying to catch it ...
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... then I went to the area around the open market ...
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... to spy on people there ...
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... and collect ...
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... a handful ...
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... of street view shots more ...
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... I don't know for sure ...
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... I mean, I never got the diagnosis ...
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... but I think that I'm slightly addicted on this kind of shooting ...
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... I really like to do these easy walking shots ...
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... hope you won't find them too much of the same ...
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... or boring ...
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... here you can see a nice bunch of chimneys ...
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... and here ... on another vertical composition, for a change ... is a rugged old building withe some cranes from the shipyard in the background ... to give you a bit of city's industrial, working - class atmosphere ...
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... on this photograph ... is a nice old tree from the marketplace area ...
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... another randomly selected rooftop ... if you didn't notice already ... I really like rooftops ... and chimneys ...
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... and another one ... I mean, rooftop ... because I like rooftops … a lot ...
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... but ...
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... as you can see, there is a bit of action on this one ...
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... so hopefully ...
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... you'll find it more interesting than the usual empty rooftop ... that I'm usually serving you in these posts ... and now ...
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... with this closing shot of the surrounding suburbia ... taken from one of the hills of the old town (you can see elements of some old buildings in the foreground) is time to end this post ... have a good day ... or night ... wherever on the planet you are ... as always in these posts on Steemit, all the photographs are my work ... THE END.
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