Croatia

Arriving at 5pm the first thing on my mind was not the sheer beauty of the old town and the size and completeness of its walls, nor was it the breathtaking views over a crystal sea. My first thoughts were of food and where I can buy bread. Munching dinner overlooking the eastern harbour I really started to appreciate the setting for my feast. Two groups noticed the bike which provided some enjoyable mealtime chats.

You know its going to be busy when...

These are thick walls...

The guy in the picture eying the bike was just desperate to ask question, but I needed a place to sleep so I had to make a quick getaway..

The next day getting up early to tour the city proved to be the right thing to do. At 7.30am deliveries are being made, staff turn up for work and cleaners are out sweeping and emptying bins. I toured the city ticking off the monuments and churches.

At 8am the wall opens and the next hour and a half I walked an entire circuit of the old town. Many places are picture perfect and I tried to capture the general feel of the place with my camera.

Walk complete I headed back to the campsite on bus to pack the tent and pick up the bike to continue the tour. At 1pm I passed back through Dubrovnik and its was utter chaos. The cruse ship passengers picked up and dropped off, local Saturday day trippers, resort tour coaches, taxis and local busses swarmed around the west gate. Nobody was going anywhere. I ended up getting off and pushing the bike along the pavements to get past the worst of it. The walkway along the wall looked more like one very long queue.

A bike tour feels more like travel than a holiday.  A holiday in one place for a couple of days on your own gets a bit boring because there are certain things you cant do, such as relax in a cafe or bar, eat out and take your time for coffee (or usually something stronger). But 3 days holiday I have because my brother Thomas is getting married to his sweetheart Monica. Tickets are booked so I will stick around Dubrovnik in a great little simple family run campsite with 15 placements 6km south east of the city. Makes a change from the usual corporate campsites that dot the coast in Croatia. I really enjoyed my time in the little village of Komaji with fellow campers, on the beach, short walks, eating yogurts and burak and exploring the numerous bombed out hotels.

Cats, taken up residence on the old coast road, people drive up to feed them.

The old coast road.. imagine the trucks, busses and cars using this as the main road south from the city

spot the unlucky truck driver..

Of great interest are the shell damaged hotels. These 1970s mega hotels were dated in the 1990s and I can see why they were just abandoned after the war. The did provide some useful packing materials for transporting my wheel back to the UK. Ceiling tiles bound together with string make a great wheel protector.

Campsite kittens. One kept on trying to eat my food as I was cooking. Needless to say it lost the use of its wiskars

Campsite beach

Back in the UK the wedding and catchup with friends made for my second holiday. I had such fun it makes you think why I threw it all in to go travelling. Im sure I will have all the answers at the end of my trip, but I am certainly having an adventure finding out. Its not going to be a ‘road to Damascus moment’, given the current situation in Syria!

The campsite looked after the bike. I left  Liverpool on the first class train (it was only 30 quid!) at 7pm, the flight checking at 3am and departure 5am, arrival 10am (local) breakfast and then reassembled and serviced the bike till 3pm. ‘Re-integrated’ my took till 8pm. bed at 9.30pm. Shattered.

From Split there are many options by ferry boat. Surprisingly many of the services don’t allow bikes and I am limited to car ferries. The fast seacat is not an option as its foot passenger / luggage only.
The island south of Hvar is called Korcula, the guide book description and the fact it links quite nicely to Peljesac (another island) and then to Dubrovnik.

Korcula
Sometimes I try to avoid talking about bikes by changing the subject, but while waiting for my ferry in Split I really enjoyed giving advice to a French guy contemplating a long distance tour. To see my trip through someone else’s eyes reminds my how lucky I am to have the opportunity to do this.
The ferry lands on the eastern most side of the island in a town called Vela Luka around 9pm. A hunt for water and a ride out of town to the nearest secluded olive grove made for a convenient nights rest. The quiet southern road winds through terraced olive groves, pine forest, hollyoak scrub, vineyards and fig trees. It was delight to ride through after all the problems with traffic.

Valley where much of the wine is cultivated

There is a huge amount of terracing on this island.. a large amount of work has been put in to creating them by the ancient inhabitants

Today was some of the best and worst cycling. The road I took ended up at the bottom of a very large set of steps. Nearly an hour later I was at the top with the bike following a bolder strewn path going up at a crazy gradient, even I had to walk most of it. Near the end to the dirt track I treated myself to breakfast only to be swarmed by 10 or so wasps. These wasps are not like the ones in the UK. Their direction of travel oscillates wildly from left to right very quickly making and attempt to swat them impossible. They buzz around your face and land on your skin like flies. Fast and aggressive. I ended up running around in circles eating my porridge to stop them swarming me. The only one I managed to kill landed in my coffee and was scolded to death. Its a miracle I never got stung.
Then, the most perfect stretch of coast followed that made the day worth it.

There are many of these ‘hobbit houses’ so small, they can only be used to store tools or provisions. Some were really cute, in one place I found a mini village of them..

Hobbit house

View over the bay near Korcula town

Korcula town
Very pretty town walled town where the streets are so narrow cars cant pass. Explored the backstreets, hunted for food (Burak) and visited the monuments.

Peljesac
A 20 minute ferry ride took me the the next island. Dotted small villages that have transformed themselves into low key beach resorts offering rooms, apartments, ice creams, grills, beach bars and the usual seaside fun.

Ston
Peljesac is joined to the mainland by a isthmus that has a purpose built town and wall to divide it from the main land. Build by the French (or by the locals at the request of the French) it is quite a feet of engineering. The wall has been restored and it is possible to walk from shore to shore. The views are a sight to see. Nearly a whole day spent not cycling. When asked how many kilometers I do, its days like this that really brings the average down. Rightfully so!

Off into the distance the wall goes

Route to Dubrovnik
Once back on the mainland to avoid the busy coast roads you must head for the mountains. Delightful views, but you really have to work hard for them. Asked around for rooms and was surprised to be generally asked for around 50 Euro for B&B, even after explaining I have a tent and was also considering camping. The campsite was 25 Euro a night for the usual patch of hard stony gravel, which was a bit of a surprise.

I love Cyprus trees

You know its going to busy when...

Entry to Croatia

Roads near the border are always quiet and the crossing at Bano Polje is no exception. Dense woodland and more dense woodland affords few views of the countryside. There are some bullets holes on older buildings in the border town of Prezid, presumably they saw action in the 1990 here.

The drop down to the coast from 900 meters brings a noticeable change in climate, landscape and traffic. Cool green damp woods gives way to scorched scrub. Peeling off the layers I arrived at a convenient campsite near Rijeka, that was an astonishing 20 Euros a night. As per usual ear plugs are recommended if you wish to sleep outside the hours of 3am to 6am. Also this site in particular could be described more as a boulder field than a campsite, although it had all the mod cons and seemed well run.

Next day was a complete disaster. Set off for island of Krk, but after crossing the bridge and following the road for a few minutes its clearly unsafe due to the road width and speed / volume / type of traffic. I turned back and headed to the city of Rijeka following the old coast road to explore ferry options to different islands. Installed myself in a hostel for some planning.

Bridge to the island of Krk

Rijeka
The slow boat leaves at 7pm so a whole day to explore the city. This is when I discovered Burek. Its a half puff pastry / bread stuffed with cheese. Generous in size and calories!

Coastal town on the way to Rijeka

Looking down onto Rijeka

The town is laid back with backstreet shops to explore a long pedestrianised strip and a small museum that had an exhibition of clocks, yawn.. but a bit in the foyer mentioned they used to manufacture torpedoes here and had a few remnants lying around.. yay!

Overnight boat to Split
Camped out on the deck for the night. Was a happy holiday atmosphere and soon I was slumbering in my sleeping bag.

Me and the boat

Split
Famous for Diocletian’s palace, a huge residence of the late Roman period and like the empire, it didn’t last for long. A funny quirk is that in the 7th Century his mausoleum was converted into a cathedral and contains the bones the very people he martyred (fed to lions etc). The pulpit incorporates stone from his actual tomb. The irony.

Clock tower or campanile is not to be missed, although you’ve got to have a head for heights. A few people froze on the steps leading up.. ‘its been standing for years, so its not going to fall down anytime soon’, I said encouragingly to a Japanese girl, which kind of covered the fact we are in an earthquake zone and the scaffolding holding the steps looks a bit rusty.

Froggie Land
Are the Brits mad? Answer: not as mad as the Hungarians.
Gambling, drinking fighting, cavorting, dancing frogs. I’ve even seen a frog having his tooth extracted, the extractor clearly enjoying his/her task and the ‘extractee’ twisted and contorted in agony. There one question that plays on my mind, do frogs even have teeth?