Adriatic Coast - Croatia and Slovenia
By Johan - After our side trip to Bosnia and Serbia we returned to the Croatian Coast via the Neretva River Valley - a beautiful flat way to return to the coast; it was an easy enjoyable ride. 
We backtracked from Mostar along the Ciro Trail for the first half to Čapljina and then just followed the river out to the border and the coast.
The Croatian Coast is beautiful; mountains dropping into the ocean, crystal clear oceans to swim in and to top it off a myriad of old towns with a mixture of Roman, Venetian and Hungarian architecture.
European summer is in full swing here with calm blue sky’s and 30 to 34 degrees Celsius in the afternoon. Too hot to bike really so we stuck to a regime of biking from 7am to 1pm. By that time steam started coming out of our ears and we both got to rage stage so time to set up the tent and dive into the ocean for the afternoon. Not a bad lifestyle at all. Mostly rocky beaches though so don’t forget to bring your beach/sand shoes.
We are not really city people so our old town visits were generally short and sharp. Beautiful old architecture though with some very romantic streets and town squares. There are a significant number of towns like this all along the coast. The photo above shows the palace court yard in Split.
Leaving the old town of Split.
Rather than continue the same pattern all the way up the coast we decided to take the ferry from Zadar to Pula. It saved us having to bike inland around the bays and instead we were keen to see some of the islands. Unfortunately the boat ride was a complete washout because the illustrious thunderstorms that the forecast had been talking about for so long finally hit; and they hit with a vengeance. We were happy to be on a big boat rather than on our bikes and we were also happy we had already decided to book an apartment in Pula because the Ferry arrived late in the evening and it was still lightning and raining when we arrived. It was great to be able to roll into the shelter of our own patio after a short hairy bike ride through the city in the dark and rain.
The Arena is definetly the main event in Pula. Very impressive to see it in such good shape. It still has its three levels and you can also still see some of the underground tunnels that were used by the gladiators to enter the arena. Apparently it was also used for tournaments by the Knights of the Middle Ages so they helped with the up keep too. Wouldn’t it be awesome to travel back in time to see this unfold (would like to be on the right side of the spectacle though)
The arena is definetly worth the visit to Pula. We found the rest of Pula somewhat disappointing though. It has some good old buildings but most of it is overshadowed by newer (and very average) buildings.
And after going through so many large and small ancient cities, it doesn’t take much to be inspired to start a bit of your own masonary work while you are chilling on the beach ( and mighty comfy too I may add)
The D8 track we followed along the Slovenian Coast is an old train track converted into a cycle way. Awesome after the severe lack of cycle ways along the coast in the other countries we visited. Unfortunatley our visit to Slovenia was short. The campground we aimed for just before the Italian border was no longer in operation so we skipped across the border into Italy to camp.
We backtracked from Mostar along the Ciro Trail for the first half to Čapljina and then just followed the river out to the border and the coast.
The Croatian Coast is beautiful; mountains dropping into the ocean, crystal clear oceans to swim in and to top it off a myriad of old towns with a mixture of Roman, Venetian and Hungarian architecture.
European summer is in full swing here with calm blue sky’s and 30 to 34 degrees Celsius in the afternoon. Too hot to bike really so we stuck to a regime of biking from 7am to 1pm. By that time steam started coming out of our ears and we both got to rage stage so time to set up the tent and dive into the ocean for the afternoon. Not a bad lifestyle at all. Mostly rocky beaches though so don’t forget to bring your beach/sand shoes.
We are not really city people so our old town visits were generally short and sharp. Beautiful old architecture though with some very romantic streets and town squares. There are a significant number of towns like this all along the coast. The photo above shows the palace court yard in Split.
Leaving the old town of Split.
Rather than continue the same pattern all the way up the coast we decided to take the ferry from Zadar to Pula. It saved us having to bike inland around the bays and instead we were keen to see some of the islands. Unfortunately the boat ride was a complete washout because the illustrious thunderstorms that the forecast had been talking about for so long finally hit; and they hit with a vengeance. We were happy to be on a big boat rather than on our bikes and we were also happy we had already decided to book an apartment in Pula because the Ferry arrived late in the evening and it was still lightning and raining when we arrived. It was great to be able to roll into the shelter of our own patio after a short hairy bike ride through the city in the dark and rain. The Arena is definetly the main event in Pula. Very impressive to see it in such good shape. It still has its three levels and you can also still see some of the underground tunnels that were used by the gladiators to enter the arena. Apparently it was also used for tournaments by the Knights of the Middle Ages so they helped with the up keep too. Wouldn’t it be awesome to travel back in time to see this unfold (would like to be on the right side of the spectacle though)
The arena is definetly worth the visit to Pula. We found the rest of Pula somewhat disappointing though. It has some good old buildings but most of it is overshadowed by newer (and very average) buildings.
And after going through so many large and small ancient cities, it doesn’t take much to be inspired to start a bit of your own masonary work while you are chilling on the beach ( and mighty comfy too I may add)
Rovinj, about 30km north of Pula is a real little gem. Ideally we would have spent some less time in Pula and more time here.
It is fair to say that Croatia isn’t really well suited for biking; similar to what we saw in Greece, Albania and Montenegro, these countries really haven’t made any significant investment in cycling infrastructure. Often you end up on busy roads with no shoulders and bridges where bicycles were clearly not on the architect’s mind. This all magically changed when we crossed the border into Slovenia. Immediately after the border the D8 cycle way emerged as a welcome gift from the cycling gods. And the Slovenians carried this through for the rest of their 30 km coastline or so. Not sure if the rest of the country is the same but certainly some big thumbs up for the Slovenians to make cycle ways such a prominent part of their infrastructure.
It is fair to say that Croatia isn’t really well suited for biking; similar to what we saw in Greece, Albania and Montenegro, these countries really haven’t made any significant investment in cycling infrastructure. Often you end up on busy roads with no shoulders and bridges where bicycles were clearly not on the architect’s mind. This all magically changed when we crossed the border into Slovenia. Immediately after the border the D8 cycle way emerged as a welcome gift from the cycling gods. And the Slovenians carried this through for the rest of their 30 km coastline or so. Not sure if the rest of the country is the same but certainly some big thumbs up for the Slovenians to make cycle ways such a prominent part of their infrastructure.
The D8 track we followed along the Slovenian Coast is an old train track converted into a cycle way. Awesome after the severe lack of cycle ways along the coast in the other countries we visited. Unfortunatley our visit to Slovenia was short. The campground we aimed for just before the Italian border was no longer in operation so we skipped across the border into Italy to camp.
Comments
Post a Comment