Our Croatia Adventure Part 1

I have been thinking about a one word title to sum up the entire trip and I have come to the realization that there is no word strong enough in the English language. Therefore, I am going to make up a word and that word is SPECTABULOUS.

I kept a journal of our trip and, for my own sake, I am going to record it here on my blog. I welcome you to read all of it, some of it, or if you like, just look at the video montage below or the photo link that will appear at the bottom of each day’s posting. Sorry these next few blog entries will be so long winded. This is a trip that I don’t want to forget.



Friday, June 29, 2007
We made it to Croatia at last! It was a long trip and it looked pretty shaky for a while in Washington. I was convinced that we were not going to make it onto the over booked flight to Frankfurt, but it all worked out. My first impression upon arriving in Zagreb was that it was very similar to Austria and Switzerland – at least inland it was. We rented (a very expensive) economy car and drove ourselves to the hotel. That was a bit of a fiasco, but the 2+ hour drive through the mountains was beautiful. Our hotel sits only a few feet from the marina where our boat will be docked and waiting for us on Sunday.

This place is amazing. At times it looks like Italy (Isle of Capri) and at other times it looks like Utah, with huge bare rock formations. The streets are crazy narrow and wicked twisty. There is no shoulder for biking and holy crap will we have some climbing to do! Karlo wasn’t kidding when he said that we will climb 3,000 feet in one day. Gulp. I’m thinking drinking beer on the boat sounds more appealing.

Saturday, June 30, 2007
I thought we would have trouble filling our day today, but that was not a problem. We slept until 9 am and had a leisurely breakfast . . . if you can call bread and cheese breakfast. We had a little language problem with the hotel staff. Nobody spoke English and Karlo was not prepared to try out his Croatian. So we sat there hoping they would just bring us more food, but no luck.

We spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon sightseeing. Karlo brought me to Opatija, where his relatives live, and we tried to find them, but no luck there either. That place was gorgeous. It reminded me of the French Riveria, but much nicer. So far I’ve only been in Croatia for one day and already it’s the most beautiful place I have ever seen.

After returning the rental car we had lunch at the “Opium Budda Bar” then strolled around until our bus left to bring us back to Omisalj. We found the nicest little place to have dinner. We sat outside under a huge fig tree and I had super yummy fish pizza and beer. Afterwards we walked back down to the hotel for what would become our “nightly gelato.”

Monday, July 2, 2007
This is our second day on the boat. Yesterday’s bike ride was dreadful and today’s was . . . well, worse. Yesterday was, thankfully, a short ride – approximately 15 miles, but the first 7 were straight uphill. It was about a 10% grade forever. We climbed 380 meters and I’m not sure what that translates to in feet, but it’s a stinkin’ lot! And the climb wasn’t the worst part. It was the sun and heat and the absurdly small amount of water they gave us. But enough about the bad part of yesterday. The ride brought us up to a great vantage point where we could see all the way back to Rijeka (on the mainland). It sure is beautiful here. After dinner we strolled the cute little fishing village of Cres. I slept good last night and I’m sure I will again tonight.

Today’s biking was more dreadful . . . partially our fault, but not all our fault. We forgot our wallet so that meant no food or extra drinks during the ride. It was tough because our original lunch plans got changed and instead of biking 35 km and eating at 12:30, we had to bike 60 km and eat at 2:45. Uuuugh. I was so hungry, thirsty and tired. We had non-stop 15-20 MPH headwinds the entire ride and strangely, that was a good thing! The sun is so strong that I truly don’t know how we will bike without the winds.

The worst part of today’s ride was the road construction. It was dangerous and scary and hot and hard. Yuck! But now life is good again. I’m clean and full. I tried to go swimming, but that didn’t quite work out. I’m not sure who I was kidding with that attempt. Maybe I’ll try again. I’m determined to get in the water over my ankles at some point during this trip!

At the end of today Karlo and I both agree that the next island hopping trip to Croatia will be on motorcycles!

More photos from this segment of our trip can be found here: http://picasaweb.google.com/paulasworld/CroatiaPart1