Slovenia and Croatia

I think I only spent an hour in Slovenia, and it was pleasant. Good roads, with comprehensible signage, except for one part:  was I supposed to pay a fee for driving on their toll road?  I didn't figure that part out, but a guy that looked like a cop waved me through. I hope they aren't looking for me!

I rode down to Pula because I had read about it recently. It was not as I expected it to be, based on the book. My experience was also dampened because I could not get to the harbor area due to a maze of one way streets, fell over at a stop sign, was helped up by a woman in her fifties who didn't need MY help to pick up the bike, and I was too warm. So I left. 

I decided to head back up the peninsula and get to the eastern coast to find a place to camp. I took the long way, but it was an excellent motorcycle route. I'm riding myself back into shape after all the Italian food!

I did camp on the eastern coast south of Labin. Labin is an old city, with some walls remaining. The road goes through the old town, beneath the walls, through the walls, into the central market plaza, out the other side, along a cliff, and just to remind you what riding on cliffs is all about, past a cemetery. A big cemetery. With a new addition. Reminder noted. 

There was some construction, and an orange sign that said the Croatian word for "detour."  It had an arrow pointing back the way I came. I knew that wasn't right, because I had already been there, and that wasn't where I wanted to go next. So I noodled it out through some tall, concrete apartment buildings, which looked suspiciously like a Soviet design I've seen before. I made it onto the right road, and got headed north to Rijeka. 

The road along the coast, D66, is a beautiful drive along the edge of the mountains that rise from the Adriatic Sea. With pines, tall columnar Cedars, and some other oakish looking trees allowing views of the Adriatic, the road rises and falls, and follows the many curves of the mountain on which it was built. It is glorious fun on moto or in a car, and I had a great ride. 

The road passes through several villages, and bypasses many others. It finally gets down near sea level maybe 20km before Rijeka, and tourism flourishes. I rode through Rijeka itself, right along the water in the city center, and it seems prosperous enough. Some of the buildings need a good wash down and a new coat of paint, but it looks a lot better than Southern Italy. 

Out of Rijeka, I decided to take the coast road, D8, at least for the day. Great choice for a moto. It is a very well built and maintained two-lane highway that parallels the coast, sometimes right on the coast. It is a wonderful road for motos and I really enjoyed it. Just south of Crikvenica I was admiring a hillside with overgrown fields bounded by old rock walls, wondering why the fields were no longer farmed when I realized I was in a downhill right hand turn. Whoops!  Pay attention!

So later I was paying attention, and almost fainted. You know those infinity swimming pools where the far edge seems to disappear into the view beyond?  Rich people have them built on hillsides and rooftops. Well I came into a left hand corner, through a cut, and the far side of the road disappeared into the Adriatic Sea beyond. The road was quite a way up the mountain at that point, and no guard rail. The road just disappeared into the sea. The Pucker Factor Meter broke the peg going past 10. 

A word about shoulders and guard rails. Shoulders are half a meter from fog line to raised curb. Here is a photo of my boot with toe on fog line and the guard rail a few inches behind my heel. That is all you have to work with. 

Somewhere today I crossed the 45th Parallel. 

After I took this picture, a guy stopped to look at the bike. He was a nice guy, had ridden three hours that day, and was tired. Turns out I only rode about 6 hours today. I'm tired too. 

Senj was a pretty city. As I rode out, I noticed a square fort on a hill above the town. It turns out that it was an important fort it battles with the Turks. 

Some typical views of today. 

I stopped early today to camp, as I am going to do some autostrada tomorrow. I only did about 145 miles today, so I need to pick up the pace for the balance of Croatia. I am really impressed with the natural beauty here. Here are some views of my campsite tonight. 

I walked to a little restaurant nearby, and had freshly caught sea hake. I enjoyed the meal (with a salad) and afterwards, a German man who was traveling alone asked if he could join me. He worked for a shipping company for many years. He travels alone now as his wife died two years ago. This year he is traveling around the Balkans, much to the chagrin of his family who think he is too old at 75 to travel to Albania alone. 

A huge dinner was only $18. I'm liking this place.