Mountainous coastline but great views!
With Rick, the Australian chap who looked after me in Split
Sunset
Camping in Rogozica
Rogozica, making supper
Tribanj
DannyI stayed a further night in Ljubljana, however the hostel was full, so I found a campsite that was pretty close in to town, and saved some much needed cash!
The alarm went off the following morning at 4.45am to rouse me for the 5.53 train back to Koper, which I caught by 15 seconds. Phew! It would have been a pretty depressing 2 and a half hours to wait for the next one!
I explored Koper for an hour, which is a charming sleepy old port town in its centre, but highly industrial on the outskirts. The star attraction (not to detract anything from the town!) was a visit to the Tourist Bureau, and a long chat with Tina, the stunning girl who works there who gave me tons of history, maps, and advice for what to eat when I get to Mostar!
The ride up to the border with Croatia was steep, but it was great to finally have to show my passport at a border crossing, and to leave the cursed Eurozone. The borderguards, who was pretty stern at first fell about laughing when I asked if I could fill my water bottles! They helpfully obliged nonetheless.
In Rijeka, neaerly at sunset, when consulting my map I ran into Danny, a Swiss chap who is cyclinig the same direction as me. He has the same bag setup as me, and is going in the same direction. We camped side by side in the closed campsite at Kostrena, just east of Rijeka. It turned out that we had both asked the same group of police officers outside a football match for directions to the nearest campsite, which may explain why they were so very bemused to see me!
The next morning, Easter Sunday, we enjoyed a decent breakfast at a restaurant with a great view of the Adriatic. The first omlette for a long while went down a treat. We then parted company as he was going a different route, through the islands.
Easter weekend is not a great time to arrive in Croatia, as all shops were closed, and I had to eat out a couple of times, which was a bit pricey. The calamari were however exemplary.
That evening I camped at Sinj, in a closed campsite (FREE!) right on the sea. The only annoying thing was that as the nightclubs closed an afterparty kicked off at the other end of the field which was a little noisy.
That evening, I found another campsite right on the sea, this time unfortunately open at Kruscica. The neighbours were Italian, and not at all friendly which was a bit of a shame. It was good to have a shower, however my sleeping mat developed a hole that night, making for a poor night sleep. I mendee it this morning, so fingers crossed!
Despite the shops being open again, the little ˝Markets˝as they call them were expensive and badly stocked which was a bit of a shame. I found myself buying ˝the choclate bar˝at one of them, which must have been there for a while. Communist Cuba has better stocked shops. Thankfully, towards the better populated areas supermarkets do exist, and it was great to have finally found one that evening! The evening of the 14th April found me in another closed campsite in Biograd.
I have noticed that the locals don't have front lawns, as every available inch of land is cultivated for veggies, seemingly out of necessity due to the high prices in the shops. I am always seeing people tending their little patches. It is the asparagus season, and there are ladies on the side of the road everywhere selling the stuff.
I got to Split yesterday, and just as I had found the street where the hostel was based, a friendly Australian chap befriended me, and asked me if I wanted to stay in his flat. He is a coordinator for student volunteers who come over here to lend a hand at various improving activities. He is very knowledgable of the city, and showed me all the great viewpoints (Diocletian's palace is a maze of ancient streets, highly impressive!), and took me out for some great drinks, and cooked me a superb supper.
This afternoon I am going to start cycling toward Bosnia!
The alarm went off the following morning at 4.45am to rouse me for the 5.53 train back to Koper, which I caught by 15 seconds. Phew! It would have been a pretty depressing 2 and a half hours to wait for the next one!
I explored Koper for an hour, which is a charming sleepy old port town in its centre, but highly industrial on the outskirts. The star attraction (not to detract anything from the town!) was a visit to the Tourist Bureau, and a long chat with Tina, the stunning girl who works there who gave me tons of history, maps, and advice for what to eat when I get to Mostar!
The ride up to the border with Croatia was steep, but it was great to finally have to show my passport at a border crossing, and to leave the cursed Eurozone. The borderguards, who was pretty stern at first fell about laughing when I asked if I could fill my water bottles! They helpfully obliged nonetheless.
In Rijeka, neaerly at sunset, when consulting my map I ran into Danny, a Swiss chap who is cyclinig the same direction as me. He has the same bag setup as me, and is going in the same direction. We camped side by side in the closed campsite at Kostrena, just east of Rijeka. It turned out that we had both asked the same group of police officers outside a football match for directions to the nearest campsite, which may explain why they were so very bemused to see me!
The next morning, Easter Sunday, we enjoyed a decent breakfast at a restaurant with a great view of the Adriatic. The first omlette for a long while went down a treat. We then parted company as he was going a different route, through the islands.
Easter weekend is not a great time to arrive in Croatia, as all shops were closed, and I had to eat out a couple of times, which was a bit pricey. The calamari were however exemplary.
That evening I camped at Sinj, in a closed campsite (FREE!) right on the sea. The only annoying thing was that as the nightclubs closed an afterparty kicked off at the other end of the field which was a little noisy.
That evening, I found another campsite right on the sea, this time unfortunately open at Kruscica. The neighbours were Italian, and not at all friendly which was a bit of a shame. It was good to have a shower, however my sleeping mat developed a hole that night, making for a poor night sleep. I mendee it this morning, so fingers crossed!
Despite the shops being open again, the little ˝Markets˝as they call them were expensive and badly stocked which was a bit of a shame. I found myself buying ˝the choclate bar˝at one of them, which must have been there for a while. Communist Cuba has better stocked shops. Thankfully, towards the better populated areas supermarkets do exist, and it was great to have finally found one that evening! The evening of the 14th April found me in another closed campsite in Biograd.
I have noticed that the locals don't have front lawns, as every available inch of land is cultivated for veggies, seemingly out of necessity due to the high prices in the shops. I am always seeing people tending their little patches. It is the asparagus season, and there are ladies on the side of the road everywhere selling the stuff.
I got to Split yesterday, and just as I had found the street where the hostel was based, a friendly Australian chap befriended me, and asked me if I wanted to stay in his flat. He is a coordinator for student volunteers who come over here to lend a hand at various improving activities. He is very knowledgable of the city, and showed me all the great viewpoints (Diocletian's palace is a maze of ancient streets, highly impressive!), and took me out for some great drinks, and cooked me a superb supper.
This afternoon I am going to start cycling toward Bosnia!
hy Humphry, It's Christian, man who sold you a towel in Split, and give you a map to Mostar.
ReplyDeleteI just want to say that you wasn't in Sinj, You were in Senj. "That evening I camped at Sinj, in a closed campsite (FREE!) right on the sea."
Sinj is another place in my country.
GODSPEED...
TAKE CARE...