A few hundred kilometers inside Croatia we find ourselves in Zadar. Getting in and out of Rijeka was a bit stressful, with a lot of heavy traffic on the coastal roads. It was all white-line riding and looking into the rear-view mirror to see what was coming next. If two trucks met, it was best to find a place to bail rather than have the drivers decide what to do. To their credit, the drivers have been extremely courteous overall, perhaps more than at home. Lots of friendly waves and honks help ease the nerves, too.

After Rijeka was the Island of Krk, which offered a much better campground and our first dip in the Adriatic. The Bora winds come down from the huge coastal mountain range and leave Krk without trees (or vowels).

We changed course and decided to head to the Island of Cres next, which looks more appealing than Rab and Pag Islands, our intended route. Immediately off the ferry on Cres Island we’re met with a 9-10% grade for 6km, topping out at 350m. Then back down to sea level, and back up to 340m before finding a campground down by the water in Osor. When you ride next to a cell phone tower, you know you’re at the highest point around, and I think we rode by all the cell phone towers in Cres.

At the campground we heard conflicting information about the ferries south, but it turned out that the ferry to Zadar only ran on Thursdays. Unless we wanted to stay four days, we’d have to backtrack to Krk and go another route. Back over the two huge climbs the other way made for a day of 4100’ of climbing in 71km. Our mantra during all of this, “at least it’s beautiful.”

Back in Krk, we learned that the ferry to Rab wasn’t running this time of year striking down that plan, too. The ferry system was very frustrating and lacks clear information. As our waiter put it, “Why would I, as someone who lives on the Island of Krk want to go to the Island of Rab?” Evidently the ferries were mainly for the tourists and would start in June.

Rather than more backtracking by bike, we decided to bus our way to Zadar to get back on track and have a rest day after all that climbing.

We feel good, are getting tan, and have been eating well, including some form of squid the last 5 of 6 days for me. As for Cašcaiš, she’s enjoying all the stinky fish delicassies that she seems to like.

Tomorrow, further south, and no ferries to mess with.

Trieste - Obrov - Opatija
77km
5:16 ride time
14.5 avg speed
3250’ of ascent

Our first day came with much intimidation for European driving, although that proved to be unwarranted — the drivers were generally courteous and gave plenty of space… no worse than at home. However, we seriously underestimated the roads getting out of Trieste. The small neighborhood road kept getting steeper — much steeper than exits anywhere in Seattle. We found ourselves pushing our bikes, barely, up to a highway on the ridge above town. Today was not going to be a warm-up.

>From there we continued going up. It was a harsh reminder that border crossings in Europe involve high mountain passes — none of this “49th parallel” business like we have in the New World.

After crossing into Slovenia, we climbed some more, to 2200’. This section of the country is a 30km ridge before dropping down into Croatia. Slovenia happened to be the first country I’ve visited where I shamefully don’t know how to say “hi”. (And now Croatia would be the second.)

We rode downhill most of the way to Opatija, a small riviera-type place that’s kind of a playground for German tourists. The campground is no more than a weed patch, but offers hot showers. There’s a great walkway along the water for several kilometers, where we can see tomorrow’s route along the bay and onto the island of Krk.

The final preparations for the trip have been a series of stresses: the stress of fitting the bikes in the boxes, fitting our panniers and gear in the suitcases, finding a large enough taxi at 1:00AM for a 4:30AM departure, and checking-in at the airport. We got lucky at the check-in counter and the agent let us check in a fifth item at no charge (I’d heard of exorbanant unwarranted charges for bikes at the whim of the agents, but this guy was aware of the rules).

More than 24 hours later on the ground in Trieste, we found a Mercedes wagon taxi that we loaded to the gills, and after unpacking at the hotel, the bikes arrived in good shape.. The TSA unpacked Susana’s, and bent the rear rack mount when they repacked it, but it bent back and it’s a piece that isn’t structural.

The bikes are assembled and now very little stands between our bike tires and the pavement. We begin tomorrow morning.

We’re asked how we plan to communicate with locals throughout the course of our trip. Fortunately, between Susana and I, we speak four of the local languages we’ll encounter plus English (Susana speaks Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and English; I speak English). I understand that many Croatians also speak Italian, and Greece will certainly be a challenge.

Maps

While Susana handles our communication, I’ve been researching our routes and choosing maps. We ordered most of our maps in advance, and the map quality and availability has varied greatly by country. Resolution is one thing that matters a lot for cycling. 1:200,000 is perfect — enough to cover the smallest roads, but not too detailed that you have to buy too many maps. Campgrounds and places of interest and road grade and topography are other things to look for.

That said, Michelin maps of France are the best road maps in the world: they’re packed with information but not cluttered. Bright, distinct lines allow you to focus on one set of data such as roads, without confusing it with terrain or boundaries. As a graphic designer, I appreciate this superior cartography greatly. The paper is high quality and feels good in your hands, and it implies that it’s a precious document that you’re holding.

Another good find was the Greece Road series created by the Greek National Guard. These maps contain an incredible amount of information, including topography, campgrounds, footpaths and more, only slightly more cluttered than the Michelin maps, and waterproof, too. Since Croatia has only recently re-opened for mass tourism, this was the hardest good map to locate but the Dalmation Coast Euromap looks like the best available. In Italy we chose Touring Club Italiano and Spain we bought Michelin.

Route Selection

After choosing the regions of Europe we want to tour (near the Mediterranean, mostly to areas neither of us had been), route selection became a practical matter. Cyclists want to be away from major highways and out of congested, sprawling cities. Often this is impossible given where we want to go, but I consulted Eurovelo, an organization dedicated to creating and promoting cross-Europe cycling routes. None of the routes that concern us are complete, but we still printed out their draft itineraries that contain much practical advice and suggested routes. They work with local cycling groups to establish their routes although some of their documents seem fairly outdated. They’re evidently funded by the EU, so hopefully they’ll continue to be around to complete their goal of 12 cross-Europe cycling routes.

I also joined a bicycle touring mailing list, one that I had belonged to ten years ago during my first tour. It was refreshing to see that many of the same knowledgeable members still belong. I got some advice on route selection from posting our general itinerary, such as the existence of a 120km bicycle path that will lead us from Trieste into Croatia for the first two days. Already we’re changing our route based on this bike path, and we haven’t even started the trip.