Saturday, September 4, 2010

Mediterranean Moods

- From A Summer Holiday In Croatia -
Our trip in summer 2010 took Lena and me to Croatia, with memorable along-the-way stopovers in Regensburg, Sexten (Southern Tyrol), Cortina, Vienna and Prague. Approaching Croatia in late June we were alarmed by weather reports indicating unprecedented cold and wet weather in all of the Alps and the Adriatic area. But just in time everything turned to sunshine and warmth, eventually hitting 39 degrees C.
The images in Mediterranean Moods are from the towns of Porec, Rovinj, Pula, Labin and Valun. This area was Roman once, then part of the Venice Republic before becoming a part of Italy (and briefly Austria!). No wonder that Italian is almost as widely spoken as Croatian. Older people often have a working knowledge of German, while the younger ones embrace English. Many artifacts and buildings go back to Roman times. The Pula Arena was one of the biggest and most sophisticated amphitheatres for gladiator "games". It featured an amazing outdoor air conditioning system where a water spray could be directed from the highest rim down to 25 000 sweating spectators. You can also marvel at the remnants of an impressive fast-food dispensing system with e.g. some huge ceramic soup cookers in good condition. The arena is still in use, now for less bloody events like rock concerts and such.
Some additional pictures are from Zagreb, the Croatian capital.


 

To go back to the blog after full screen viewing: Press "Esc" button on the keyboard or click on the "Exit full screen" symbol in the film's toolbar.

No comments:

Post a Comment