These small rounded buildings, that look a bit like Igloos made of stone, are scattered all around the cultivated (or once cultivated) fields in the southern part of this peninsula.
More often than not, they are connected to the dry stone walls surrounding the vineyards, olive orchards or gardens with mixed vegetables. Just like the walls, they are made of stones collected from that parchment of land to make it suitable for agriculture. Here you can see only the roof, peeking behind the wall ... while on the following photograph ...
... the entire building is revealed. This Kazun (that's the local, and only name for these little houses) is still part of the small agricultural complex that still produces the local stuff. You can see a small vineyard in the background and olives on the first photograph, making the scene almost timeless.
This other one, a kilometer or so further, although pretty old and authentic ... is now situated on the border of some generic meadow ...
... and preserved in more sterile circumstances, like an open air museum exhibit ... but don't think that I'm ranting about that fact, I like this Kazun as well :)
It has a nice, relatively clean interior, so is great and easy to photograph from the inside.
I don't know, how old this particular buildings are ... but this shape, this simple but elegant and fascinating architecture that blends beautifully into the local landscape, like the work of ants or spiders blends into the architecture of the surrounding nature ... is very ancient.
In the Neolithic they were real homes for the early farmers and shepherds, and they really functioned like some Igloos made of stone. Here is a look at the ceiling ... and on the following photograph ...
... I put a friend in the picture :) to show you the proportions, and breathe a bit of life into this museum stuff ... to make easier imagine a person cooking or working on something there. Later, when the civilization brought other, more complex buildings, Kazuns became tool sheds and shelters from the storm for people who worked the land, and remained that through many centuries.
I took these shots about a month ago ... approximately ... and while me and a friend of mine were exploring the little buildings ...
... wild roses were blooming all around ... some were white ...
... some were pink. On the following series of shots ...
... taken about a decade or so ago ... at the end of winter ...
... you can see another Kazun in the same area ... but this one is now situated among the bushes and trees ... the surrounding landscape became more wild, less agricultural ... so the little house now looks like something out of the fairy tales, a home for some mythical creatures from the woods.
I took all these photographs in an area of about 5 square kilometers, between towns of Vodnjan and Svetvinchenat ... so the place on the map will be a bit an approximation, but not far from reality.
As always in these posts on HIVE, all the photographs are my work
[//]:# (!pinmapple 45.055346 lat 13.925686 long d3scr)