BIKES AND MUSIC ON FRIDAY THE 13TH ( 31. EUROPEAN H.O.G. RALLY IN MEDULIN)

A few weeks ago, my hometown was the home to an event that included many bikes, bikers, and plenty of heavy rock n'roll music that is rarely heard in public places nowadays. In my neiberhood, the bikes often sounded like distant thunder, but occasionally the rumbles were just outside my yard. Sometimes the engine's sound was accompanied by a Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, or Deep Purple song, which made the audio much more palatable.

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The official name of that summer gathering is The European Harley Owners Group Rally. This year it took place in Medulin, my hometown, and the nearby city of Pula, from the 12th to the 15th of June.

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I didn't visit the part of the rally located in Pula becouse I wasn't in the mood to drive the congested roads and search for a scarce and expensive parking place not too far from the center, but on the 13th of June, I thoroughly explored all that H.O.G. rally had to offer in Medulin, and ...

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... and I had a good time doing it.

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Here you can see a bunch of bikes parked on the square at the beginning of the seaside promenade. They are all Harley-Davidsons, I think.

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Only one Harley was parked by the sea, on the nearby promenade.

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Being alone in that place made that bike stand out from the crowd of similar ones. It looked kinda special without looking special at all. More extravagant Harleys got lost in the crowd, while this one stood proudly in the right place, at the right time. By the way, the time was half past noon, and ...

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... and it was damn hot in Medulin.

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All the bikers-related stuff was going on in the seaside part of the town, where the tourist infrastructure is more developed. Here you can see the bikes parked in a circle around the roundabout near the entrance to the biggest campsite in Medulin. The name of the place is Arena Medulin Campsite. It's a stretch of coastline where the water isn't very deep, and there are some nice sandy beaches in a few inlets.

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This shot shows the atmosphere under the old, tall pines of the Arena Medulin Campsite.

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The heart of the Medulin part of the European H.O.G. Rally was situated right there, under the trees.

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The place looked like a summer village in the forest. There were stands, little shops under the tents, stages for musicians, trailers that offered fast and not-so-fast food, and some places that were there to exhibit Harley-Davidson bikes and related technology.

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I visited the biker stuff two times that day.

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First, around noon, and then, after a few hours' pause to do some chores at home ...

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... late in the afternoon, a couple of hours before sunset.

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The temperature was pretty high, and the sun quite intense on that first, midday visit.

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After the seven hundred-meter-long walk from my house to the Arena Medulin Campsite, the refreshing shade under the trees in the "Harley-Davidson village" felt so rewarding.

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This is a scene from a shop that offered a wide variaty of colorful motorcycle helmets with cool designs.

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I don't have a motorcycle, but a helmet with some drawings on it still could be useful as a decorative object in a house.

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Different music was playing in different places across the biker village under the pines. In this shot, you can see a small, portable restaurant that was offering the local seafood. Born to Be Wild by Steppenwolf was in my ears when the photograph was taken.

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I was trying to walk to the rhythm of Purple Haze by The Jimi Hendrix Experience until a few seconds before photographing this scene. I had to stop to take the shot.

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A bit later, the music changed to Hotel California by the Eagles.

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The Spy by The Doors was the soundtrack to this scene.

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I took this photograph in front of the fast food restaurant that was offering only sausages. The variaty of those sausages was quite impressive. Free Bird by Lynyrd Skynyrd was coming from that place.

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As I photographed this place, which looked like a shop that sells spare parts, The Passenger by Iggy Pop was playing in the background.

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Here you can see a small stage on the other side of the "Harley village". Two guitarists were playing some cool electric blues. One of them was singing from time to time. The music sounded vaguely familiar, but I couldn't recognize the songs. When I visited the same place in the evening, other musicians were there, but more about that later.

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This photograph shows the billboard at the entrance of the campsite, and the billboard, among other things, shows the map of the place with biker rally-related spots colored red.

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I photographed this scene about twenty or thirty meters from the entrance shown in the previous shot, at the roundabout you saw earlier in the post.
One of the short, narrow roads led from the roundabout to the bikers' area, closed for all other traffic except the Harley-Davidsons and some supply vehicles. Here you can see the two guys in charge of opening and closing that road when needed. They tried to make a bit of shade for themselves with a black umbrella. It was a damn hot and challenging day for those who had to stand there at the circular crossroad.

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Here you can see a group of bikers on that little seaside road.

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One of the places the aforementioned road led to was this circus-like thing. I'll tell you more about it later.

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This photograph proves that parasols and Harley-Davidsons look fairly good together. I took it near the sea ...

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... on the large parking lot in the harbor.

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One can see all kinds of vehicles in that area on ordinary days, but from the 12th to the 15th of June 2025, only the motorbikes of the European H.O.G. Rally were allowed to park there.

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This shot from the same parking lot shows a line of gray and blue motorbikes with a red one that stands out from the crowd.

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Here you can see a modern Harley-Davidson parked in the part of the parking lot that was still empty.

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These motorcycles were photographed about a hundred meters further, in a smaller parking area that serves as a pedestrian square on ordinary summer days.

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Here you can see a stretch of the seaside promenade and a lawn with some lovely palms. In the following triptych ...

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... the focus is on the Harley-Davidson pennants fluttering on the wire above the promenade.

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This shot shows the same lawn and the same palm trees, but from a slightly different angle.

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This slick, nicely decorated Harley-Davidson motor trike looks like a very comfortable machine, ideal for lazy leisure drives on hot summer days when one longs for a refreshing breeze.

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This is a detail from another parked motorcycle. A relatively ordinary helmet has somehow caught my attention this time.

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Here you can see a biker riding along the stretch of the road closed to non-biker traffic. One of the things waiting at the end of that road ...

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... was a relatively big concert stage. I mean, it was much bigger than the stage in the "Harley-Davidson Village" inside the campsite I showed you earlier in the post. The stage didn't look very good in the harsh midday sun, and no one was there to play, so I didn't photograph it. The only thing that stood out visually was this set of drums. The stage was assembled on a square at the end of the promenade. Across the road from that square is a parking lot, and on that parking lot ...

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... you could see this lovely portable building with a small circus tent on its top. It looks like a small circus, and in a way, that's what it is. Just like the stage, it was there only during the four days of the 31st. European H.O.G. Rally.

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The lovely, probably hand-made poster states that this is a Motor Circus, and I agree. It's an old-fashioned motodrome sideshow I saw only a few times as a kid.

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Reliving it again as an adult, in 2025, among all the modern, digital stuff around, was a warm, slightly surreal experience.

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When I checked the Internet a few minutes ago, I found out that the motodrome in question, the Fearless Devid, has quite a history.

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It's an authentic 1937 structure that is still working. One of only twenty of its kind.

This motodrome was built in the Netherlands in 1937.

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I first noticed the motodrome around noon, but I saw only its exterior back then.

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Only later, in the evening ...

... I decided to buy the ticket and see the show.

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In a few minutes before the show started ...

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... as part of the audience was still climbing the stairs to the terrace from which we'll watch the stunts ...

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... I took the oportunity to take a few shots of the surrounding flat landscape from that elevated place.

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The view was really nice from the motordome's terrace. Here you can see the nearby Argentinian Grill, an open-air restaurant with plenty of meat and beer to offer. The yellow and green structure behind the Grill belongs to the Family Park, an amusement park for small children. You can also see part of the harbor and the old town of Medulin in the distance. The following photograph, taken from the same place ...

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... shows the canopied terrace of the Argentinian Grill, the concert stage across the road, and another chunk of the harbor behind all that H.O.G. Rally stuff. On the lateral tarpaulin of the Argentinian Gill terrace, some biker-themed footage was being projected when I took this shot. That added another layer of depth to the image.

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This set of four photographs is here to take us back into the motordome.

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The show was a lot of fun.

I really liked it.

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When the stuntman started climbing the motodrome in circles, the atmosphere got tense ...

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... and then, when he reached the top, and the motorbike got very close to the audience, things became really exciting.

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As the stuntman was circling on the motorbike like a whirlwind caught inside a wooden barrel, the circus act was going progressively more difficult.
At some point, he drove without holding the handlebars, and then with his legs on the handlebars and hands behind his head, in a pose more appropriate for sitting on the chair in front of a TV screen, but I didn't catch everything in photographs.

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Two kids were also there inside the motodrome. A boy and a girl.

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At some point, the girl started preparing for a stunt ...

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... in a small go-kart. In the following photograph ...

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... the toy-like vehicle is circling the motodrome.

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In this shot, the stuntman and the stuntgirl are on the motorcycle together. Their hands aren't on the handlebars.

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The most exciting stunt started when many in the audience thought that the show was over.

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The stuntman announced that anyone who wishes to offer a tip can do it now by holding the money above the barrel-like hole in the center of the motodrome.

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People in the audience were offering the money in their outstretched hands ...

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... and the man on the old Harley-Davidson was entertaining the people by catching the small paper money between their fingers. The above photograph shows a moment when he missed only by a few centimeters the five Euro note. A circle or two later ...

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... he caught the note.

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This shot shows another successful five-euro catch.

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I took these four photographs at the end of the show, when the brave stuntpeople were ready to exit the motodrome through a door downstairs I hadn't noticed before.

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It was time to leave the exciting world of Fearless Devid.

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This is a scene I photographed on the evening walk from my house to the bikers' rally.

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The main crossroad between the old town and the harbor was very busy.

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There was always some activity in front of the lens of my camera ...

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... so I took quite a few photographs there.

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I mean, all you can see in these shots are some motorbikes ...

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... and groups of people crossing the street, nothing special really, but ...

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... but sometimes I find myself inexplicably inspired by mundane scenes like this.

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Here you can see a bunch of modern Harley-Davidsons parked on the square across the street, illuminated by the lovely light of the late afternoon.

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This photo was also taken there, in a square turned into a parking lot for a few days.

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Here you can see a stylish green helmet that caught my attention for a second or two.

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This sinuous detail from one of the motorbikes there on the square also looked cool through the lens of the camera.

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A minute or two later, I passed by this group of motorcycles parked very close to the small speedboats in the harbor.

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This photograph shows the people enjoying the H.O.G. Rally under the pines ...

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... inside the Arena Medulin Campsite.

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The evening atmosphere in the "Bikers Village" was nice and very relaxed.

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All the temporary little shops and exhibition points under the tents were open.

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Some people were selling, others were buying.

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Benches in front of the fast food booths and beach bars were nicely crowded.

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Two musicians on the small stage were performing a Neil Young song when this photograph was taken. The song in question is Rockin' in the Free World from the 1989 album Freedom. You can rarely, practically never, hear a Neil Young song on the radio or in public places here in my area. Fortunately, I have my YouTube, MP3s, and some old original CDs, so who cares?

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Here you can see a crowd by the official entrance to the "village". The following photograph ...

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... shows the same scene from the outer side of that entrance.

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I don't know what exactly the people were doing there at the entrance.

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It looked like the crowd was waiting for someone.

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Here you can see a scene photographed across the road from the entrance.

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This shot shows a few Harley-Davidsons in the midlle of the road.

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Here you can see two bicycles passing by their bigger, motorized relatives.

This motorcycle with a sidecar looks like a pretty old but well-kept machine.

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The low wall between the road and the beach it's an inviting place to sit on while having a drink.

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Across the street, inside the "Harley-Davidson village," people were sitting on wooden benches.

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These three uniformed characters are policemen from the Motorcycle Unit.

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They looked like members of a very distinct, exclusive motorcycle club. After taking the following photograph ...

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... I left the motorcycle village under the pines ...

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... and walked to the large concert stage in the harbor.

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It was too early for the crowd to be there, but a band was playing some heavy, bluesy stuff nonetheless.

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I never heard about this band from Slovenia, never heard their music, but I liked what I heard that evening very much. The bassist and the guitarist were a bit too static for a dramatic photograph that conveys a bit of rock'n'roll energy ...

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... so I kept the focus on the drummer ...

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... becouse his playing was visually more expressive.

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In this shot, the focus is on the stage lights high above the musicians.

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When seen upside down, all those lights looked like something photographed in the cockpit of an alien spaceship.

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Here you can see some people on the stretch of the road between the stage I just showed you and the campsite.

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This shot shows one of the buildings in that area.

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Here you can see a Harley-Davidson passing by the beach stuff & souvenirs shops on the ground floor. The upper floor is occupied by the apartments for the summer rental.

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This motorcycle of the same kind has stopped in front of the same building. A minute or so later ...

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... the motorcycle moved on.

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I photographed quite a few Harley-Davidsons in front of that building becouse they had to slow down or stop there while waiting for the parking lot ramp to open, and I liked the colorful background provided by the beach stuff displayed in front of the stores.

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This motorcycle doesn't look like a Harley, but who knows, maybe it's some very special model. I don't know much about motorcycles, definitely less than about insects and other small arthropods.

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Here you can see a group of motorcycles in front of a restaurant, not far from there.

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This shot shows two Harley-Davidsons and some people parked in that area.

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A bit later, while standing on the same corner ...

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... I saw a slow train coming.

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It's a funny little train that moves tourists around the seaside parts of Medulin.

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This is the most attractive traveling catering facility that came and disappeared with the H.O.G. Rally.

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The Vida Loca Road Bar, on the road since 2009, if I understood correctly what I found on the Internet. The two coolest things at the rally, this bar and the motodrome, came from Italy.

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Here you can see another parking lot for Harley-Davidsons only. This one was situated behind some pretty large buildings near the seaside promenade.

I took this shot on the way back home.

The light was getting low.

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Many bikers were coming from the nearby city of Pula to get a taste of the nightlife in Medulin.

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This is the crucial crossroads near the harbor.

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It's a busy place even on an ordinary summer evening without the bikers' rally.

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This is probably my favorite crossroads here in my hometown.

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Here you can see the motorcycles approaching the crossroads.

It was a cool scene to photograph.

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It looked a bit like a parade.

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Here you can see the people and the motorcycles in front og the restaurant across the road.

This is a portrait of the man who was photographing the traffic just like me.

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I'm pretty sure that I ended up in some of his shots, just like he ended up in two of mine.

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And that's it. The post could end right here, but ...

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... but I decided to show you the black and white versions of some photographs you already saw in color.

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The black and white presentation can give a timeless feel to the scene.

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That's especially true when it comes to the old-fashioned sideshows that were most popular in the 1930s.

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And now, this is where the post definitively ends. Hope you enjoyed the rally - THE END.