At the risk of sounding like a MasterCard commercial I will claim the following: priceless experience doesn't cost the Earth. In fact for a measly sum of 10€ you can get the experience of a lifetime. That's exactly how much the trip to Zbilje cost including gas fare, renting the boat for an hour and some bird seed. But this is all insignificant compared to the fact, that I got to see these magnificent swans so up close.
Mr. C and I really love to come here as often as possible to do a bit of rowing but most importantly to see the swans. These birds aren't stupid, they can see from a great distance where people are throwing seeds in the water and flock to the location.
Zbilje Lake is a popular location on a sunny day with every poseur in town stretching on a deck chair sipping macchiato. Flashy sunglasses are a must. The bigger the logo the better.
Mr C. and I are usually the only one to walk straight past the cafe to the boat house. But once people realize rowing is on the menu we'll inevitably see more people renting boats. At times like this I don't have anything encouraging to say about Slovenes, it's like we are a nation devoid of any original thought. What a sad prospect!
This last photo shows a couple of geese. We saw them just as we were leaving the lake and the photo is taken from a considerable distance. I'm not an ornithologist, but I do believe this was a rare sighting. These birds are definitely not indigenous to our area.
Thank you for sharing the wonderfully bright and beautiful pictures. I´m not sure if I ever saw so many swans in such a small area.
ReplyDeleteI´d say, that you exchanged your 10€ to a wonderful live show!
What a beautiful display!
ReplyDeleteI love swans - so magnificent. And like Mette said, I've never seen so many together. Could you tell which ones were "couples", as swans mate for life. The lake, the swans, the rowboat, all quite romantic.
ReplyDeleteThat's a lot of swans! And the water is such a gorgeous color. Here in New Orleans, we have several huge parks - but my favorite is City Park. There are always swans (but never that many) and plenty of ducks and geese. It's so nice to see them swimming around doing their thing. Your photos are beautiful. Sounds like a perfect day indeed :)
ReplyDeleteCertainly was a bargain for such a wonderful day out with nature.
ReplyDeleteWe have many large hidden lakes up here owned privately or by Nature conserves with many wild swans and we both enjoy visiting especially in the Spring.
Glad you both had a happy day its the small things of life that makes us happy.Ida
I'd like to thank every one for your lovely comments. I think Ida described my sentiments best: life really is about the little things that make us smile :-)
ReplyDeleteKathy: we saw a couple of swan couples swimming in the distance, but with such a large pack of them it's impossible to tell. We can always spot the alpha male though, they're very aggressive particularly towards baby swans so I have little tricks on how to distribute the seeds equally among all of them ;-)