The morning was cold but sunny on the 10th of January this year when I decided to spend a couple of hours in Porech, a small city on the west coast of Istra.
I drove about seventy kilometers to get there and I took plenty of photographs while rambling through the narrow streets of the old town, around the two fairly large squares, and the long waterfront.
Porech is a very small city, but one with a long history, and therefore filled with treasures.
Here you can see one of the mosaics in the Euphrasian Basilica, the most important heritage site in the city. I'll return to that well-preserved old church later and show you more details, because now ...
... I would like to start this tour from the outskirts of the old town.
From the large parking lot in which I left my car. In this and the previous shot, you can see the stuff I photographed from there.
Soon I passed by the closed beach bar introduced in the previous photograph ...
... and continued towards the peninsula covered with beautiful architecture and quite a few layers of history.
Before reaching the old town, I stopped two times on my waterfront walk. First to o photograph some small boats, and then ...
... my attention got caught by this group of buoys. A seagull entered the scene at the right moment to enhance the upper part of the composition. I haven't noticed the bird in the background while photographing, only later at home, on the PC screen.
Another seagull was riding the waves closer to the shore.
Here you can see the buildings on the other side of the road.
I wasn't far from the large square when this photograph was taken.
A bit further I stopped to photograph some jewelry displayed in one of the storefront windows. I liked the arrangement of the rings, earrings & necklaces and the way in which the whole collection was lit. I'm not interested in this kind of jewelry usually, but the scene looked like something cool to shoot along the way.
Here you can see another small street. This one doesn't lead to the square.
In this photograph, I'm approaching the Church of Our Lady of the Angels. The baroque church is here since 1746.
The memory of the last Christmas was still fresh in the cold air and seasonal decorations weren't dismantled.
This is the Freedom Square. The largest square in Porech.
Despite the cold, some people were enjoying their drinks outdoors.
On the terrace of the most popular café bar on that square. I mean, is hard to tell if it's really the most popular since all the other places around it were closed. Let's say that is certainly the most popular café during the winter.
Here you can see the front facade of the church presented earlier in the post. The one called Our Lady of Angels.
The name of this sculpture is "Summer"
I don't know when it was created and mounted on the square, but I found out that the sculpture was vandalized in 2006. It was damaged and thrown into the sea. The "Summer" then returned in 2015. I found dozens of articles on the Internet that repeat the same sentence about the sculpture being vandalized in 2006 and returned to the square nine years later, but nothing about the year of the creation of the artwork is mentioned anywhere.
Here you can see some decorative plants that grow near the sculpture. In the following photograph ...
... I caught a glimpse of life that goes on behind the impenetrable walls of the surrounding buildings ...
... and here, I zoomed in to bring closer a trio of distant old chimneys.
After photographing this standard Christmas ball surrounded by small lamps ...
... I entered one of the small side streets that lead from the square to the sea on the other side of the old town peninsula.
There, my attention got caught by some colorful details of a relatively new building surrounded by older ones. I mean, I suppose the other buildings are older because of their style. Can't tell you what was built when here.
In this tryptich, I collected three colored patterns from the mosaic-like decorations on the facade.
Here you can see the windows of the building across the street reflected in the windows of the building I'm presenting in this segment of the post.
Simple geometries always have a mesmerizing effect on me so I took another portrait of these decorative red tiles.
Masts of the sailing yachts were the first signs of the harbor I noticed while approaching the sea.
A minute later I saw the fishermen. They were doing some work around the nets and I zoomed in to take a better look at the action. In the following photograph ...
... I zoomed in on a group of chimneys. Just like people, each one was unique.
A seagull looked a bit like a sculpture on this solitary chimney of another building in that area. The bird looked like a monument to all seagulls that contribute to the memorable atmosphere of this and other seaside towns around the globe.
This round tower was built in 1475, under the Venetian administration. It was part of the series of fortifications built in those years in fear of the Ottoman attacks from the sea. Nowadays, the trace of the nearby café bar is situated on its top. The terrace was closed when I took this photograph but will be accessible again in summer.
Here I zoomed in on some good-looking buildings further down the waterfront. At least one of them is a hotel, I think.
Here you can see a friend that was there with me entering the labyrinth of small squares and narrow streets in that part of town.
This elongated bike that serves as a table, a bar, or more probably as the place for flower pots, was the first interesting find. It was a surprising little piece of inventive design.
It looks in this photograph that a friend of mine will enter the pizzeria soon. But nope. Like most restaurants and bars in Porech, The Old Saloon is closed till summer. "STARI" means old in Croatian.
Here you can take a look down one of the narrow streets that lead back to the waterfront. The building near the end of the street has some lovely Venetian Gothic elements. In the following photograph ...
... you can take a look in the opposite direction. The interplay of shadows and light created an interesting atmosphere and a person entered the scene at the right time to make the shot look better.
Soon I entered a very narrow alley that leads deeper into the old town. The restoration works on one of the buildings turned part of that little street into a pretty dark tunnel.
The pirate-themed candy shop looked like a real pirate den in this gloomy place.
Here you can see the light and the mosaic at the end of the tunnel.
I mean, on the gate that leads to the architectural complex of the Euphrasian Basilica.
There is plenty to see and photograph in this church.
Let's start from the beginning. In this shot, I just passed through the gate that leads into the well-preserved complex of sacral architecture that encompasses a few artistic styles and layers of history. This place isn't only about the Basilica.
But the basilica is the star of the show. Since the church still functions as a temple, the show has to be silent.
Some parts of the complex were closed due to the restoration work that will be suspended in the summer. Here you can take a good look at the atrium.
Here you can see the intricate floral ornaments on the capitel of one of the columns. In the following photograph ...
... you can take a look at the figures in the ancient relief on the facade.
I wasn't able to explore all the place has to offer, but fortunately ...
... the basilica was open ...
... so I entered.
The morning sunlight passing through the windows created a line of beautiful, almost angelic projections ...
... and the mosaics looked fantastic.
Decorated Christmas trees were a nice addition to the atmosphere inside the church.
The Euphrasian basilica or The Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption of Mary was built in the 6th century, during the administration of Bishop Euphrasius, and it has for the most part retained its original shape.
You can see some amazingly well-preserved examples of early Byzantine art here. In the straight upper line of the part of the mosaic shown in this photograph, you are looking at Christ with an open book surrounded by his bunch of apostles. The arch below contains medallions with female portraits and a picture of a lamb in one of those medallions. Christ is represented as the Lamb of God in that central medallion. The ladies are female martyrs. Their names are written under the pictures. Twelve apostles and twelve martyrs are shown in the mosaic, but not all can be seen in this photograph. Some of them are out of the frame. In the following photograph ...
... you can take a good, up-close look at the scene under the arch. The vault over the apse is decorated with a mosaic in which Mary with the child holds the central place. She is sitting on the Heavenly throne, surrounded by angels and local saints. Bishop Euphrasius can be partially seen at the end of the left side of this photograph. He is holding the model of the church. If you explore some of the previous shots you'll find the entire scene. The wreath held by a hand above Mary's head is a symbol of God the Father. The meadow on which all the figures are standing is covered with some lovely flowers.
Since this is the third church built on the same site, it encompasses some details of the previous buildings. The earliest basilica, for example, was dedicated to Saint Maurus of Parentium and dates back to the second half of the 4th century. The floor mosaic from its oratory, originally part of a large Roman house, is still preserved in the church's backyard but I wasn't able to see it because that part of the site was closed to the public on the 10th of January. Hopefully, I'll show you more of this remarkable complex of historic buildings in some future posts. In the above photograph, besides the already shown and explained mosaics, you can also see the elegant marble ciborium added in 1277, during the administration of Bishop Oton. The ciborium in architecture is a canopy over the altar, supported by four pillars.
Here you can take a look at the basilica and surroundings from a distance.
The 35 meters tall church tower as we see it today was definitively shaped in 1522. The tower in that place was first built in the 11 century and then changed a few times in the centuries that followed.
With this photograph, we are indoors again.
In the smaller of the two side chapels from the 15th century.
This open breviary ...
... on the pretty tall wooden pedestal made for comfortable reading while standing was photographed near the entrance to the larger side chapel, the one closer to the main entrance of the basilica.
In this photograph, I entered that chapel. In the following photograph ...
... you can take one last look at the oldest part of the cathedral before exiting the building.
I was out in the street when this photograph was taken.
The street was named after Bishop Euphrasius.
Just across the narrow street from the gate that leads to the complex of the basilica there is a gift shop with many colorful things displayed in its storefront window.
Here you can take a better look at that gift stuff. If you enlarge the picture by clicking on it, you'll be able to see all the little details.
Twenty to thirty meters further down that street, I stopped to photograph another storefront window.
In this one, football stars and black madonnas were displayed near each other but in separate compartments.
Stuff in this shop was showcased in two storefront windows. Here you can see the second one.
This photograph ...
... was taken on the square behind the compact neighborhood that includes the basilica.
Here you can see the interesting old door of a building that stood in the place that is an open square now. The building behind me had an outer staircase ...
... that allowed me to take this wide shot from an elevated position. From the square ...
... I continued exploring the narrow streets ...
... that led me ...
... to another small square ...
... in which I photographed these lovely windows in Venetian gothic style.
Here you can see the entire building. In a post published a few days ago, I stated that this is the Zuccato Palace. But now I see that it was a mistake. I ended up more confused than informed by the information found on the internet. This isn't the Zuccato Palace, and the following link can take you to that old post if you wish to go there. @borjan/ten-architectural-monochromes
I have no information about the building shown in this photograph.
After photographing a group of four windows and the balcony belonging to the same palace ...
... I took one of the streets that lead back to the waterfront. On my way there ...
... I stopped to photograph a butterfly ...
... and some other stuff ...
... displayed in the storefront window of a jewelry store.
My obsession with insects ...
... tricked me into exploring the kind of jewelry that I'm not interested in usually.
I reached the waterfront when this photograph was taken.
Here you can see another group of seaside buildings and the lovely Phoenix canariensis palm in front of one of those palaces.
Do you remember the fishermen introduced earlier in the post?
They were still busy around the nets.
Here you can see some lovely architectural elements ...
... on the front facade of the hotel called Hotel Dua Residence. The pretty large square in front of the hotel is called People's Square.
The old tower from the 15th century, introduced earlier in the post, is just across the street from the hotel. By following that street ...
... I reached another ornate front facade.
This is the building of the Public Open University, an independent institution for adult education and culture founded in 1960.
Here you can take a good look at the statues on the roof. Next to the Open University ...
... with just a small park between the two buildings, there is the Town Hall of Poreč. It was built in 1910. I zoomed in to get this photograph ...
... and then I took another street.
The one that leads back to Freedom Square.
I took only one photograph on my way across the square ...
... and continued toward the outskirts of the small city.
Soon I passed by some small boats.
A minute later I stopped to photograph this Christmas deer ...
... and some red pennant-like things that were advertising the Algida ice cream in the park near the large parking lot in which I left my car.
AND THAT'S IT. HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE TOUR. AS ALWAYS HERE ON HIVE, THE PHOTOGRAPHS ARE MY WORK.