AFTER HOURS

It happened a week ago. On the first day of September. Quite unexpectedly, in the middle of the night, I spent a couple of hours in the city.

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In today's post, you'll see what I photographed on that occasion.

It all started around midnight when a friend in need of help came to me. His son had some health issues and needed a check in the emergency ward of the general hospital in the nearby city of Pula.

Pula is situated only ten kilometers north of my hometown, but first, we had to drive to Vodnjan, another small town about ten kilometers north of the city. Our patient was waiting there. In the above photograph, you can see my car parked near the house of my friend's ex-wife, in the midlle of one of the many narrow roads of the picturesque historic center of Vodnjan. Many houses in the old town are beautifully decorated with interesting, often surreal artworks. The one shown in this shot, due to its crepuscular imagery that includes a skeleton in an armchair, looks even better at night, illuminated by the subdued light provided by the street lanterns.

I took only three shots while waiting for my friends to get ready for the city.

Here you can see them in front of the hospital with a lady who works there. While they were waiting for their turn, I drove away in search of something to photograph and blog about.

My first stop was in the historic center of Pula, near the place called Korzo, some kind of promenade.

Here I zoomed in on the little lamps that form the name and some simple decorations above the entrance of a small casino a bit further down the road.

At first sight, the moon looked just like one of the street lamps above my head.

Only through the lens of my camera, when I adapted the manual settings to fit the occasion, the lunar geography was revealed on the little display of my reliable and versatile Canon PowerShot SX60 HS. In the following photograph ...

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... I used all the zooming power my camera can offer.

The fast food on the corner was still open and two persons were waiting for the meal.

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I can't tell you what exactly those little lights higher on that building, more or less above the fast food storefront window are, but they look like the real stars above the urban scenery in this photograph.

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Here you can see some other buildings on that same crossroad.

The city bus shown in this photograph stopped for a minute to onboard one single passenger and then continued its night drive to the suburban parts of Pula. Some minutes later, I drove away as well.

My next stop was the circus on the edge of the city ...

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... near the main ring road on which many people drive at a speed considerably higher than the one suggested by the traffic signs.

The lovely tent surrounded by big trucks and corrals for camels and bovines was situated in the middle of a large lawn by the side of the road. The scene, illuminated by many little lamps, looked very cinematic that night.

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Near the circus, I came across some impressively large anthills.

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Here you can see the anthills in the bright foreground illuminated by the flash of my camera while trucks and the circus are glittering in the dark background.

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I took one more look at the ring road before walking back to my car and continuing the journey.

In this photograph, my car is parked in the center of the city again.

Near the oldest marketplace of Pula.

Here you can see the entrance to the large old building that hosts the fish market, various small stores that sell local agricultural products, and some lovely small bars and restaurants on the first floor.

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In this shot, you can take a look at the terrace of the restaurant on the square in front of the building presented in the previous photograph.

Here you can see some other buildings that surround that square.

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When my friends were done all that had to be done in the hospital, before returning back home, we had to buy some stuff in the out-of-hours pharmacy situated on the crossroad I visited earlier in this post. The place where I photographed the fast food on the corner and the people in front of it.
The young patient didn't have any serious health issues, just a minor allergy, so the story ended in a carefree way.

AND THAT'S IT. HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE MIDNIGHT JOURNEY. AS ALWAYS HERE ON HIVE, THE PHOTOGRAPHS ARE MY WORK - THE END