For all my Italian, Slowenian and Croatian friends I met on the road so far – and of course for all those I will meet in the future, I will write my blog in English. Sorry for all you Swiss guys out there, sorry mom and dad, but I think you’ll find someone who may translate… 🙂
Right now, I am already in Croatia. In detail: in Rovinj, a very beautiful small city in Istria – the northern part of the Croatian Coast. I’m staying in a small private Guesthouse, the pansion petra. The first shower since five days 🙂
Well, lets start at the lago di Garda, where I wrote my last blogpost. Lago di Garda might be very nice – we actually don’t know. It was too foggy, we barely couldn’t even see the street. 😉 We cycled pretty fast (maybe because of the good sleep and the awesome breakfast) to Verona, and then further through some wineyards direction Lonigo. On Friday, 16th of January, I did’t feel good. We tried to cycle, but after one hour and only 10km we had to stop for a cup of tea. I had a bad cough, and so we decided not to go too far. In Lonigo, we spontaneously stopped by Maura, who was welcoming us very nicely. THANK YOU VERY MUCH!! We stayed two nights in Lonigo, at Mauras place, because I got the flue… Then, on Sunday, it was time to leave. Me, off to East – and Franci back home. Franci, thanks a lot for a really great first week!
The first night alone in the tent was freezing. Really freezing. The outer fabric was covered with ice on the outside as well as on the inside, brrrr. Not that good for recovering from the flue, but it was okay cause I managed it easily by myself. 🙂 In Portegrandi, at the coast near Venezia, I stayed in a Bed and Breakfast again. The tent was really really wet, and so my sleeping bag (which was not isolating that good cause of the humidity), and all the other stuff. I couldn’t sleep because of the cold nights, and so I decided to stay one night in a cozy and warm bed. Best decicion! I could even use the washing machine 🙂
The next two days were not too special – it’s very flat in that part of Italy. The only viewpoints – so to say – where higher points like bridges. 🙂 Because the two friends of mine, Hansi and Franci were telling me a lot about Grado and Fossalon, I decided that I had to take a look… I drove though Grado – saw finally the sea – and stayed in Fossalon di Grado for one night. I don’t know what your problems were?! The people are really nice, and I could camp wherever I wanted. And I saw not even one Mosquito 🙂
The wind was coming up, and so I had to struggle against it on the way to Trieste. And from one point to the other, I found myself into the hills. It’s quite a nice road to Trieste, the views are awesome, and let you forget the uphill sections. My plan was first, to stay in the youth hostel in Trieste – but it was closed. Unfortunately, I’m travelling out of the season… And because I had no idea where to go after Trieste, I had to take a quick decision: riding along the coast would be warmer than through the mountains. So I went direction to Koper. It was quite difficult to find a good camping spot, cause there’s not more space at the coast than for the road. I cycled up the first suitable road, that was leaving the main road, and asked at the house if I could camp on the fields in the front. Cinzia directly offered me to stay in their caravan in the garden. THANK YOU SO MUCH for everything, Cinzia and Luca!!! The place they live, is like a small paradise on earth: view to the sea, nice and cozy old house surrounded by nature. Great!
The next day – yesterday – was funny: breakfast in Italy, lunch in Slowenia and dinner in Croatia. I cycled all the way on the coast, popped into Slowenia about five minutes after the start, passed Koper, and reached Croatia after lunch. The first border where I had to show my passport. The even stopped me, because I first wanted to pass like we’re used to do in Switzerland 🙂 The route goes through a lot of hills here. Sometimes, when I found the cycling-path, there were tunnels from an old railway which are now used for cycling.
After Umago, I stopped at a 4-star-campsite. Of course, every camping is closed, and so was that one. But I asked the consierge, if I could stay for one night, which was no problem. The sanitary rooms are all closed, but I am okay with that… Front row on a huuuuge campsite, directly at the border of the sea, with a concierge on the entrance. What do you want more? In the evening, I had a nice chat with Igor, who saw me already in Umago and then was passing by bicycle on the campsite. Thank you very much for the coffee this morning, and the istrian olive oil, it’s delicious!
