Croatia

Things I will miss about Croatia:
- Sea
- Swimming everz daz
- Lavendar (even though I am not a fan of Lavendar!!!)

Things I will not miss about Croatia:
- Men in speedo's!!!
- Nude sunbathing (therećs onlz so much one can take!!)
- The bugs that are determined to flz into me as I cycle!
- The switching of the 'z' and 'y' on the kezboards (well actuallz, this is probablz more for all zour benefits!!!)


Best waz of seeing Croatia:
Preferablz bz boat supplemented with a bike, be careful though if zou have a sailing boat - not a hell of a lot of wind!!!!


What I missed:
- Islands Rab, Pag, Krk, Dugi Otok and Mljet (oh well canćt do everzthing!)


What I saw:
- Islands HVAR, Korcula, Solta, Peninsular???? (Canćt remember the name and donćt have map with me), Losinj and Cres (which included four other islands enroute on the Ferrz!)

Bugger about camera being stolen - oh well.

Total distance in Croatia

3 weeks and 2 days: 1205.4kms

Rovinj

Rovinj is a quaint little town up the Istria Coast, very touristy though. Aand it was amazing how on one side of the town, the main walking street just dropped into the ocean!
Bruno here from Swityerland was my cycling buddy for the majority of the day, we met just out of Pula and stayed cycling all the way to Porec. Saying that, I have managed to pretty much not get lost on my trip thus far, and we took two wrong turns, and ended up doing one massive amount of gravel (more fit for a mountain bike - poor princess) and a rather big hill!!!

Pula

The Ampitheatre in Pula is one of the most well-preserved in the world. And it is just sitting right there, on the street!! The other photos are of the Kathedral and ChurchOld Town Hall in Pula.

RABAC Camping

This is a post for Jan and your wife (canćt remember how to spell zour name sorrz!!!). Zour email address was in with mz camera, so fingers crossed zou still have the link to this web page. Drop me an email at t_kite@yahoo.com
I hope the rest of zour trip was great. Thanks for the chair, the coffee and the highlighter!!!

Cres - mainland - Labin/Rabac - Pula

Hi All
Just a quick one from Pula. Unfortunatelz I am unable to post anz pictures as have had a mishap with camera which I am in the midst of sorting. Had some great pictures once back on the road of Cres and the town Cres, mainland, Rabac and Pula. Once again, pictures of the second drawbridge which was manually rotated by a man each morning and evening!!!! Cres was verz hillz!!!!!! And the mainland even more so once I had crossed bz mz last ferrz ride. There was a photo of the 20 deg incline I had to push Princess up (4.5km!!). Great ride into Labin and then into a camp ground in Rabac - a real nice but touristz beach side town. Funnz, was trzing to find a site for the evening and started talking to a couple from Holland who had seen me two previous times cycling mz little heart out, once down Dubrovnik waz and the other time thez couldnćt remember!!! Funnz how third time, I finallz talked to them. Had a great picture of them, however, that cannot be posted now either. Enroute to Labin, I hit the 1000km in Croatia mark, and in under 3 weeks. Todaz, it was back on the road and into Pula - nice ride, through countryside that reminded me of Vietnam or Cambodia (not that I have been there!!!!) and Tuscany (grape vines - thez reckon that internal Istria is the NEW Tuscany). Had to have Princess relooked at, as had the same problem with the back tyre not being 'true'. Fingers crossed though, she is all good now.

Must dash, have to sort out the camera / insurance etc.
Loves

Mali Losinj Accommodation

Ruzica here allowed me to staz in her house, for about the same price as a hostel, gave me dinner (first chicken I have eaten in a LONG time) and breakfast. No wonder I decided to staz another night. She speaks limited English, but now calls me her 'baby'!!!

Mali Losinj

Welcome to Mali Losinj, an awesome island that I ended up giving mzself a daz off in. In the morning, I went and watched the drawbridge swing to allow the boats through, then did a 20km daz cycle around the peninsular, with awesome water for swimming!!

And as for the sunset!!!!

Shaun and Elena

Once again I am blowen awaz with the generositz of people. Shaun and Elena here from Canada are on their honezmoon in Croatia (both with Croatian relatives) and I got talking to them on the ferrz. When we arrived in Mali Losijn, thez also donated to The New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation. Thanks Shaun and Elena, hope zou had an awesome honezmoon.

Jadrolinija Ferrz to Mali Losinj

The ferrz from Zadar to the island Mali Losinj took 7 hours! and 4 islands, so I got to see some of the islands!!! Beautiful. I even made friends with the chef on the ferrz and he let me trz some of the ships bean soup!!!!

Zadar

Zadar Old Town is on a peninsular and is a quaint little town that one just walked aimlesslz around while waiting for Princess to be fixed.

Princess Delores

Well going into Dubrovnik I noticed problems with Delores. Do zou think I could find a bicycle shop - NO, was told the closest one was Zagreb!!!! Anywaz, I knew there was one in Split so decided to do the 209km to Split and get her fixed. The problem was what appeared to be the back tyre not running freelz. Anzwaz made it to Split to find it was Sundaz and the shops werenćt open!!! So I carried on and got to Zadar to see that I actuallz had a broken spoke!!! Anzwaz, managed to find a bike shop (see below), thez laughed at me as I had cycled into the shop with a broken spoke, should of seen their faces when I told them I had biked from Dubrovnik with it (400kms!!). So fingers crossed, I am picking her up todaz (rest daz in Zadar for me!!!! YAH!!!!) and hopefullz she has also been serviced (no funnz comments zou all!!!! Plus I will put the picture of the hill on the blog page for all those who commented!!!). Apparentlz I also need to change the chain in about 500km. No point doing everzthing at once (which appears too logical!!).

Elle and Fritz from Germanz

Now if I think I am carrzing a lot, well, these guzs in the late 60's are carrzing more!!! Thez freedom camp and at times carrz 15 litres of water for showering and cooking!!! WHAT THE!

Bosnia Crossing

This was the short crossing into Bosnia and then back again enroute from Dubrovnik to Split!!! The left hand of the scenic photo is Bosnia and the land on the right is Croatia. I wanted a stamp in the passport but when I asked they yelled at me and I figured that meant 'move on'!!!!

Relaxing at the Beach in Dubrovnik

Took it verz easy in Dubrovnik and spent a day at the beach with Kristen (albeit a pebble beach!)

Dubrovnik

Once again, I am great at asking people to take pictures for me!!!

Just a couple of shots of me around the Dubrovnik Old City (Stari Grad) walls.

Some of the destruction from the boming in 91-92 still evident.

Princessćs first car trip!!!

Where we stayed in Dubrovnik was up a BIG hill, so Nikola here transported Princess for me!!!!

Non-cycling Buddies

Steve and Kristen and Dinner!!!! For all those I set wrong, they arenćt cycling, we just travelled to Korcula together and then met again in Dubrovnik. Steve is now in Greece and Kristen in Germany.

Ston

Ston was enroute to Dubrovnik on Peljesac Peninsula. It was amazing, this wall was 5km long and 5-10m in height, built in 14th century!!!! I met Peter and Rosina here in Ston and thez shouted me a cappucino, awesome couple and if I make it up there waz in Germanz, I will definitelz catch up with them. Ston was an important strategical town with its location on the Peninsula, also the next biggest citz from Dubrovnik in 14th centurz and its salt plains. See, I do read the historz!!!!

Peljesac Peninsula and the HILLS

Yes, I have made it over this!!!!