14 December 2007

Zbilje Lake and Jamnik

On November 1 the weather was glorious - sunny and warm. It was All Saints' Day, but it would almost be a sin to only visit the local cemetery so I decided to go and take a few photos of the fall foliage.
First I drove to Zbilje Lake, which glistened yellow and orange.



After driving around for a while I ended up on Jamnik, a hill rising above the town of Kropa which has spectacular views of Gorenjska, the Kamnik Alps and the Karavanke range. And the chapel there is very photogenic too. :)



More photos here.

06 December 2007

Frosty morning

One morning last week I looked out the window in the morning and saw a magical sight: everything was covered in frost and sun rays were fighting to penetrate the mists. I grabbed my camera and walked to the fields behind my apartment building. Ah, advantages of living in a small town! :))











More photos here.

01 December 2007

Around Kamnik on a fall day

Most leaves had fallen. The red carpets in the woods moved from the canopies to the ground. Lone exceptions make your eyes go wide though, such as a bright green fern surrounded by fading orange maple leaves, or a few yellow leaves that haven't abandoned their branches yet.



And then a short hike to the top of Stari grad above Kamnik revealed even more fall colors:


The views were fantastic, as usual. The later it got, the sweeter the light was.




More photos here.

10 November 2007

Lovrenc Lakes and Rogla

I'm sooo behind with post-processing my photos and publishing them here. :( Hopefully things will get better soon, time-wise.
Not long ago I visited Rogla and its famous Lovrenc lakes. I'd been there before, but it was many years ago and I don't think I even had a camera with me.
We arrived at Rogla, a mountaneous area with a ski resort at 1500 meters above sea level, relatively late in the day for any serious hiking, at about 2 p.m. After a hearty meal at the nearby restaurant we went for a hike to the lakes and back. The walk takes about an hour in one direction and is not strenuous at all -the path leads across the pastures and through some woods without any steep ascent or descent. Recommended, even for families with small children!

Across the pastures:
A lonely bench with a view:
After an hour's walk you emerge from the forest and this is what you see from a viewing tower. The area is a high peat swampland and a few small lakes are only fed by precipitation as there is no groundwater.
As the ground is boggy, an elevated path was built for the visitors.
One of the small lakes:
Water or sky? :)
Playing with the fisheye.
The light was perfect. It was late in the afternoon and we just had enough daylight to make it back to Rogla.
After a bit less than one hour we returned to Rogla just in time for the sunset.
Cows were still hungry.
One last look before going home.
As usual, a few more photos here.

25 October 2007

Barcolana

Every year, the biggest regatta in the Mediterranean, Barcolana, takes place in the bay of Trieste on the second Sunday in October. About 2,000 sailboats from many countries flock there to compete. I'd never seen any regatta before, except on TV, so this was quite a sight for me! We rented a small sailboat and observed the race from the sea, about half a mile from a buoy where the boats made a turn.

First, we headed north from Izola. We weren't the only ones.
After arriving at the scene, the sailboats were just white specks in the distance.
Soon they grew larger.Some of them had really huge sails.
Does anybody know what this sailboat is called?
When most of the regatta was over, we headed back to Izola and then on to Piran.Punta and a red sail.Piran houses.
Sail and ropes.
An old fishing boat .Reflection I.
Reflection II.Dinner in Izola was fantastic and we even got to see a nice sunset.
Time to go home.
More photos here.