Croatia

April 12

Rijeka - 2117 Km, Avg = 16.1 Km/hr, Cycle time = 6 hrs, 9 mn

We woke up to pouring rain this morning. Unlike Venice we couldn't put off leaving so we packed up our camp in the rain, feeling lucky it was the first time this trip. We headed toward Trieste on the S14 about 8:30am, arriving about 10am. Stopping at the train station for sandwiches, coffee, and Croatian money; we got back on the road again about 11 am in continuing rain. With great difficulty we obtained instructions from the tourist office on how to get on the highway to Rijeka. I’ve never run into a tourist office with no one who spoke English. It turned out to be important to get directions, as there were no road signs anywhere along the desired route, nothing to show us the road to Slovenia, or Croatia, or Rijeka. The road started to climb almost within sight of the train station. I felt cheated somehow; I couldn’t believe the road would climb right out of town and so steeply up to the Slovenian border. I expected a little time to prepare my self after all that flat country in Italy. We climbed for maybe 10 km until we got up on a high ridge, which we followed all the way across Slovenia to Croatia. The border crossings were easy; they just looked at our passports and waved us through. . We didn’t stop in Slovenia, no money. Along the way we did pass a little snow lying along the road, left from the winter but slowly melting in the cold rain. The mountains here are covered with dense brushy deciduous forests. At the Croatian border station the guard asked why were traveling by bicycle from Spain to Turkey, I answered "for fun" which he seemed to have difficulty understanding. Cold and wet and looking miserable, I can see why he was unconvinced. From the Croatian border we started a long ride down to the sea, mostly down hill for the next 30 Km.

By the time we reached Rijeka it was raining harder, a downpour really. It was cold and working our way thru the traffic was tedious wet work. We hadn’t eaten much during the day so I was pretty much running on empty. I think maybe this was the lowest point for me on the trip so far. We took the first available hotel and started drying out. The best feature was the bathtub! Relaxing now, warm, dry, fed, it seems like an eventful day and a tough introduction to Croatia. My knee seems OK, the medicine seems to be doing it’s job.

April 13

Senj - 2187 Km, Avg = 17.1 Km/hr, Cycle time = 4 hrs, Travel time = 6 hrs, 27 mn

We got up at 7am to pack and go find the tourist office for directions to a cycle shop. My bicycle's left shift control is breaking so I would like to get it replaced if possible. It was pouring rain as I cycled to the office, found it was moved to another spot, went to the next spot only to find it closed too. Eventually I found two bicycle shops but neither had a replacement shifter. So, I’ll have to nurse this one along.

Back to the hotel we had breakfast and then noticed that our joint fund was missing, apparently dropped it at the breakfast table. We went back, where the manager put on quite a show of questioning the staff. I wasn’t convinced, who would expect some hapless staff member to just admit to taking the purse, thus losing the money and his job. Anyway, we lost only about $60 so it was a fairly cheap lesson.

After searching for the lost purse we finally started cycling about 11am. Magically the rain almost stopped, we only had sprinkles. As the day wore on it got warmer and drier till eventually, by the end of the day we were in shorts and sunglasses. Attire we had not worn since southern France. We continued south on highway 8 passing through undeveloped scrub forest and along a road clinging to the mountains high above the small towns along the coast. We’re traveling on a newly paved road here; about half of it has a descent shoulder. Near Rijeka the traffic was heavy but thinned as we went further south. We stopped at Senj, a perfectly delightful little fishing village that is just beginning to attract a steady tourist trade. We found the menus and other instructions mostly in German and Italian.

Most of the tourist facilities are closed until later in the year so we started to ask around for a hotel. We approached some young boys who replied in a rather unfriendly way that there was no hotel! Anywhere in Senj, nada, zip, zero. Fortunately, we sought further information, we met another tourist couple that told us about a hotel. On the way we saw as sign for "room" and found a very nice room for only 100 Kuna, about $12. Food is also quite cheap. We had a steak dinner (small steak), wine, salad, and desert for two for about $25. We ate next to the small harbor, watching the sun set on the Adriatic casting a red glow on the stone village and indigo blue water of the harbor.

April 14

Pag - 2276 Km, Avg = 15.2 Km/hr, Cycle time = 5 hrs, 53 mn

Up about 7:20am, we got off about 8:30am continuing south toward Zadar. Right away we climbed up away from the coast onto a kind of bench several hundred meters above the Adriatic. The road goes up and down on this bench with occasional steep climbs and descents. After about 20Km the hills smoothed out a little and we made better time. Along the way for the past couple days we have noticed an amazing number of stonewalls cutting across the land. The land is quite barren here, with dry scrub forests and thick brush. It's hard to see any value in the land to justify the endless amounts of stonewalls, enclosing all sorts of odd areas. I assume that in the past these were small gardens or terraces for olive trees, but don’t know. Later, on Pag Island we saw more orderly, walls, laying out the land in a rectangular grid. These walls keep in sheep and goats that the farmers use to make a distinctive local goat cheese.

At Prizna we dropped steeply down to a ferry, both of us worried that the ferry didn't run in the winter, having only read about the ferry in our guidebook. The ferry was operating so after a short delay we went over the Pag Island and headed south again. The road is tiresome here; it crosses the main ridge of the island three times, keeping our average speed slow. Pag Island is like a moonscape across from the ferry, almost completely barren, white limestone rocks covering the land as far as the eye can see. In the summer the white rocks must reflect the sun like a solar furnace, and with no trees for shade I wouldn’t want to cycle here in the summer. However, the beach resorts are closed here in April, they evidently don’t open until July. Finally, we rolled into Pag city and found a room for only 150 Kuna, about $18 for two.

Listening for the flute-song:
Sal picked up a flute some days ago, which he plays a little badly. It is interesting to hear him slowly figure out how to play the dam thing, progressing one note at a time into some as yet unidentified tune. Still, somehow as the days pass he has started sounding better and better. I've begun to find the garbled tune pleasing, relaxing, pretty even. I look forward to the sound, at night when drifting off to sleep, during the day when it's quiet. Is he getting better, skillful? It's hard to say, he does learn quickly, but I still haven't figured out the tune. Finally, today I found the answer. Sal's a much stronger cyclist than me, and he usually finds rather too much time on his hands waiting for me at the top of every longer hill. Practicing his flute, he waits in the shade while I continue sweating up the incline. Sweaty, tired, when I hear the flute I know I'm near the top. It may be that Sal's getting better, or maybe he's training me, like Pavlov's dog, to associate pleasure with the flute-song.

April 15

Zadar - 2347 Km, Avg = 17.2, Cycle time = 4 hrs, 30mn

We got off today at 8:30am continuing south toward Zadar. The first 30 Km go over rolling hills with no difficult or long climbs. The scenery remains desolate with white limestone moonscapes and occasional scrub trees. The relentless wall building has gone on here too, with miles of nice well maintained stonewalls. The traffic was light but picked up as we approached the bridge connecting Pag Island with the mainland.


Near Razanac we switched to an unnumbered road heading directly to Zadar. This road crosses the grain of the land created by a series of steep sided ridges that run north-south. This system of ridges forms much of the distinctive shoreline of Croatia.

We’re now practicing “rest break discipline” to keep our breaks from growing into hour ling gab fests and laughing binges. By staying disciplined on our rest breaks we made very good time, even in the hilly country of the last 20 Km. We got to Zadar by noon and started to check out the ferry schedules. It turns out that the weekly ferry from Dubrovnik to Bari runs on Tuesday nights. Since we can't make the ferry tomorrow night we'll shoot for the ferry 8 days from now. This means that at best we will be 4 days late to meet Al in Athens. But it also means that we'll be able to follow a leisurely schedule over the next week, enjoying more of Croatia than expected.

April 16

Sibenik - 2430Km, Avg = 20.5 Km/hr, Cycle time = 4hrs, 2 mn

We had a leisurely start, eating pastry in town and getting some extra cash. Finally getting out of town about 10:30am we easily found the highway headed for Split under a cloudless blue sky. We had a nice wind at our backs and an almost flat road so we made some very good time. The average speed on my bicycle computer doesn't show the actual speed because it includes lots of walking around the town before we got on the road. I think our actual average cycling speed was closer to 25 Km/hr. We rolled through gentle olive growing country with a steady flow of traffic. Occasional wonderful views of the Adriatic highlighted the route. At times the land is covered with small pine trees, at other parts of the route the land has small olive orchards and scrub bushes. The Adriatic ocean is incredibly blue and clear here, not many beaches but quite beautiful.

April 17

Trogir - 2480 Km, Avg = 16.5 Km/hr, Cycle time = 3 hrs, Travel time = 4 hrs, 22 mn

Left our overpriced hotel about 9 am after the included breakfast. We decided to take highway 58 to Trogir instead of the coastal highway 8 because it saved 22 Km and promised some variety in terrain from the usual coastal scene. We had an easy time finding the road by following the signs to Split until we came to a fork, both directions heading toward Split. By looking at the secondary destinations we were able to choose the correct road and get on our way. The first 15 Km were rolling hills with occasional steep but short climbs. Finally, about Boraja we started to wind out way up ever steepening roads toward the head of the valley. It was not hot but quite humid so we were sweating profusely working in the sun.

The land alternates between pine forests and cultivated olive trees. In Boraja it seems they specialize in roasting pig because we saw many rotisseries with a pig on the spit. Unfortunately, it was too early for lunch so we kept going. Somewhere around Prapatnica we topped out and started the long downhill descent toward Trogir. There were only a few uphill stretches to remind our legs or the work they had done in the morning. Rather suddenly, we came out on a curve high above the town of Trogir. We could clearly see the old town on its island and the newer buildings clustered around it on the mainland and another larger island just to the east. It was a wonderful view so we settled down by the side of the road for lunch before the final quick descent into Trogir. In Trogir we checked a couple hotels but they would not reduce their prices from summer season levels, we were just about to give in when we found a "Sobe" sign and got a room for 150 Kuna ($ 18).

Trogir is my favorite Croatian city so far. The old city is quite small, with ultra narrow winding streets barely separating Renaissance era stone buildings. The church tower has a delicate construction with nice windows and a light feel compared to most of the towers I've seen. We have begun seeing regular tourists for the first time, a Japanese tour group looked out of place only because we remembered it wasn't Florence or even Assisi. Trogir also has a couple of hotels, more than Sibenik even though it was larger. Still, Trogir and the parts of Croatia we have seen make me think of Europe before the great flood of tourists arrived. It appears that later in the summer Croatia is flooded with Germans and Italians looking for beaches and warm water. The beach resorts are usually out of town so the main cultural attractions have very little support from or for tourists. I imagine it's like Europe thirty years ago, or more.

Generally things are inexpensive. Even three and four star hotels cost only $50-60, and restaurants are easily half the cost of restaurants in Italy. People react to RoadBoy differently than elsewhere. Here, people have more of a tendency to laugh, sometimes hysterically. The Children especially think RoadBoy about the funniest thing they have ever seen. The attention sometimes borders on the frantic; as with one time when a group of school children surrounded me and wanted to take turns riding. Other times groups of people have gathered around, the best English speaker asking and translating questions.

April 18

Split - 2513 Km, Avg = 17.5 Km/hr, Cycle time = 1 hr, 50 mn

I hated to leave Trogir, such a pleasant little town. But, we decided to move on to Split, just 20 something kilometers down the road. The cycling was a drag, coastal road with relentless development and constant traffic. Still, we had occasionally nice views of the Adriatic and we got into Split with plenty of the day left. Joshua found a room at the tourist office that was quite nice. The room is located in the old part of town, inside the former palace, a few dozen meters from the Mausoleum. The landlady had done her own carpentry work to fix it up, and a nice job it was too.

Split itself is a great city, at least the old part. The surrounding suburbs have nothing to commend but the old town has a great deal of charm and atmosphere. Much of the old palace is still intact but built into medieval buildings. The Mausoleum was converted into a church but one can still see much of the original structure, especially inside where it was protected from the elements. After touring the city and giving up on a movie I settled into a little corner of the old town square with a book to await the evening. I was reading a history of Venice I had borrowed from Joshua and soaking in the history around me. More than most places, it was easy to visualize the semi-retired Roman emperor Diocletian radiating power and activity to this fortress city built just for his retirement. Now, since medieval times, the old city is given over to small shops, apartments, and a few museums, it’s perhaps easier to appreciate the scale of construction devoted to housing a single emperor.

April 19

Makarska - 2580 Km, Avg = 17.7 Km/hr, Cycle time = 3 hrs, 48 mn

Near disaster struck today. I was trying to get money from a cash machine, tried one and failed, so tried another and failed, finally found a third to try and on my third attempt the machine confiscated my card. A little panic stricken, I asked at the bank only to be told I couldn't get the card back for at least a week. Amazingly, they can't just open the box, let me prove that I own the card, and then return it to me. So, I used my backup card to get money and called my wife to check with the bank. Evidently, when the Croatian bank contacts my bank and get the OK, they will send the card to my bank in the US. None of this does me any good but at least I have a backup card. Just one, maybe I should carry three cards in the future.

The cycling started out dismally, with another 20+ kilometers of vacation homes and industrial plants. Finally, the development thinned out and we found ourselves with occasional pine forests set against the blue Adriatic. We had a couple moderate climbs and one longer climb up to meet highway 39. We did enjoy the reward of a wonderful view and nice cycling down to Makarska. Markarska doesn't have much to offer in the way of cultural or historical sites, but the scenery is wonderful and the town small and pleasant. We found a nice room for about $24. The weather today was nice, cool but humid. We sweated quite a bit working our way up the slopes, and got a bit or rain just after lunch.

April 20

Banici- 2700 Km, Avg = 18.6 km/hr, Cycle time = 6 hrs, 27 mn

One of the best cycling days I’ve had yet. I left about 8am, ahead of Joshua who promised to catch-up before noon. The next 50 kilometers presented some of the best most scenic cycling on this trip yet. Directly south of Makarska the highway heads up on a moderately difficult climb, then back down to the coast. Later, another longish climb again, then back down to the coast at Ploce. Mixed into the longer climbs are a number of shorter steep climbs and dips. Not much flat land here but just glorious scenery, lush pine forests and sparkling a blue sea. From the top of the climbs one can see the islands set off in the sparkly blue Adriatic.

Joshua caught me at Ploce, where we enquired about the road thru Bosnia. Bosnia Herzegovina has a small finger of land that touches the coast just south of Ploce, cutting Croatia into two parts. It's possible to take the ferry from Ploce to a long peninsula that regains the mainland south of the Bosnia finger. But, according to our informants there is no problem on the highway so we cycled on. At the border we found an exit station and a similar station on reentry to Croatia, no apparent presence from the Bosnia government. The shops in this part of Bosnia use both Kuna and Bosnian currency.

We kept pushing south, looking for but not finding any attractive places to stay, either in the private room category or for wild camping. We had thought to wild camp tonight but the landscape changed about 30 km south of Ploce to steep hillsides and scrub vegetation, not the attractive pine forests north. Finally, after another longish climb we found a small collection of buildings which after enquiry yielded a couple places offering rooms. We choose a room for two for 100 Kuna. We were a litttle worried about finding a local restaurant because we wern't carrying much food, but when we asked about a restaurant the landlady offered to cook us a meal, which turned out to be the best meal of our trip, well at least our travels in Croatia. She prepared fried Calamari, pommes frites, and a wonderful green salad. The salad had some mint mixed in which contrasted with the vinaigrette dressing in a wonderful fashion. After dinner we relaxed with some homemade liqueur with Rose leaves for a subtle and altogether pleasant flavor. Relaxing with the liqueur and satisfied with a long but wonderful day of cycling we chatted and reminisced about our trip so far. We're at that stage of the trip, it seems like we've been traveling forever and just started yesterday. We've seen much, we've come more than half way, we're regretting the things we didn't see and looking forward to the things we'll see ahead. The next day would take us to Dubrovnik and a ferry to Greece. So, we’re close to finishing up a major part of our trip, and looking forward to linking up with Al in Greece.

April 21

Dubrovnik - 2750 Km, Avg = 17.4 Km/hr, Cycle time = 2 hrs, 49 mn

Up at the usual time but no need to hurry with only about 40 km to cover. We had a wonderful morning chating with the landlady (Nika Kola), her daughter (Maria Pendo), and daughter's husband (Ivo Pendo). The main topic of conversation was the poor state of the Croatian economy after the war and the slow comeback of the tourist trade. Maria is a schoolteacher and amazingly had seen us in Makarska the day before. RoadBoy had made quite an impression on her grade school students, now she could go back and explain a little more about the bike and the driver Joshua claims to have had the best coffee ever here, evidently prepared in some Turkish manner that is extra special good. A concept lost on me, “good” not being a word I associate with coffee, poor benighted barbarian that I am. Eventually, we had to pull ourselves away from the hospitality we found here in Banici and head on down the road.

Entering Dubrovnik we worked our way up to the top of a very steep hill and were about to descend to the walled old town. Belatedly checking the guidebook we realized that most of the lodging was back down the hill we had just climbed. Finally starting back, just before descending back down the hill we found a sign for Sobe, the private rooms we favor, that we had evidently missed as we struggled up the hill. Only 200 Kuna for two, with a great view of the old city and the Mediterranean beyond; we happily stayed.

April 22

Dubrovnik - rest day
Dubrovnik is a stunning old walled city, very well preserved but with a curiously modern layout. Apparently the city was largely destroyed by earthquake in the 17th century, it seems that they rebuilt on a rectangular grid street plan. So, finding our way around turned out to be much easier than usual for old walled towns and their maze like streets. While appreciated the rationality of the grid layout, it lacks the romantic appeal of the medieval warren I've found in most old towns. The walls rise 15-20 meters completely surrounding the city. Set along the Mediterranean, it has a fortified marina and the remains of a moat, now a park. Not yet crowded with tourists, it has more tourists than we have seen elsewhere in Croatia. The sidewalk cafes bubble with assorted languages, even the occasional American English. The old town hides the effect of the recent war quite well, but evidently many of the restored building facades hide burned out interiors waiting to be restored. Also, climbing up on the walls you can see many roofs with patched roofs using un-matching colored tiles. It appears that the original tiles are no longer made and the best efforts to reproduce the original tiles has not be able to exactly copy the color. We did find some very nice restaurants just off the main street. Joshua was seduced by an attractive young hawker but the food turned out nice and since she hadn't had much luck today getting customers for her restaurant we were glad to help her out.

April 23

Dubrovnik - rest day

We're leaving Croatia today for Bari Italy and then to Petras Greece. I had a last day to tour around Dubrovnik and see some of the things I missed yesterday. The Maritime museum isn't worth going to, mostly a collection of pictures of ships from Dubrovnik, sailing ships to modern steamers. Not much in English so no way to learn about the history of navigation in Dubrovnik. I walked the walls, it provides stunning views of the old town and surrounding coastline. Dubrovnik has a very good English bookstore, the best I've seen while traveling anywhere in Europe. It had an especially good collection of history books, so I had to buy two more. Fortunately, with the ferry ride ahead I should be able to read them quickly.

April 24

Bari - rest day

The ferry ride was uneventful. We met a few backpacking tourist also headed for Greece, except for one from Australia, they were headed for Corfu. The ferry to Patras is more crowded than I expected. Last year, on my way from Patras to Bari in May the boat was mostly empty, maybe a handful of other people on the deck. This time, the deck is crowded with several groups of backpackers around to talk with.