This was an amazing stage. It made up for the previous two mediocre days. The climbing up the mountain was very difficult at times, some of the pitches were very steep and long. The views were rewarding.
I was in Himare around 3 PM. I found a hotel on the beach.
I took a swim in the new sea (to me) Ionian Sea. I waved goodby to the good old Adriatic. I would vote to change it to an ocean – it felt big. 🙂
Hotel Veizi, B – 20EUR
This was a long stage. The first 27 km are not recorded in the Strava segment. About half of the stage was a nice backroads going through Albanian villages. The other half was on busy roads with with high or medium traffic.
Getting through Fier was difficult because all the freeway traffic also went there. The freeway around town is not finished yet. Unfortunately the roads were all surrounded by garbage just like the previous day.
Hotel Miramare, B+B 30 EUR. The view was fantastic.
This was a challenging day. I saw a lot of garbage and I biked by a huge derelict factory in Lac. The huge hotel zone filled with huge hotels south of Duress was also very interesting.
I was glad to get a room at a nice hotel at Kavaje. Same as last night people here and the staff were very accommodating and nice.
Hotel Florian, B – 15EUR
The main event today was entering Albania. I did not know what to expect, I heard mixed things about a Albania. All was great and my first impression of Albania is spotless. Good roads, considerate drivers gave me a lot of space, I found an ATM quickly and I found very good lodging with excellent food and nice people running it. My last kilometers in Montenegro were also very nice. I got on a back road and cycled up above the valley through some villages with donkeys on the road.
Hotel, B+B 30EUR
Since the bay was at my doorsteps I went out this morning to swim. I visited Kotor town but it was very crowded with lots of tourists. On the way out of the bay I had to go through a 1 mile tunnel. It looked very scary, lot of traffic, dark and no shoulder. As I was waiting trying to get my courage together a local cyclist came by. He stopped and told me that it is bad but that he does it every day. He turned on his back blinkie and we went in the tunnel together. It was very bad, I was so happy when I made it to the other side.
Other than the tunnel it was a very scenic ride today. Montenegro seems to be very densely populated. There were hotels and houses pretty much all the way. Budva reminded me of Las Vegas – casinos and hotels.
Private apartment, B – 20EUR
This was a fantastic stage with the exception of the part around Dubrovnik. Lot of bad traffic and no back roads that I could find.
At a very remote view point I ran into a couple from Cle Elum Washington; small world. The Bay of Kotor is fantastic, both scenery and the architecture.
Private room, 15EUR
This was a beautiful stage. There was a lot of climbing but the views were unbelievable. For most of the ride traffic was pretty low. I biked through some wine country, wineries everywhere. I found a small campground right on the beach.
Camp Sladenovici, Dinner + Camp – 19EUR
This was a stage that came after a six day break in Vodice. The comfort and the company of my friends in Vodice was very nice but I was getting restless .
The day started on the busy magistrala road. After about an hour I took a left turn and went up the hills on some local roads. I spent about three hours on the back roads and it was very nice. The last hour before Split was busy and not enjoyable. The port in Split was also very busy and crowded. Split is a big city. I took the ferry from split to Vela Luka. I arrived after dark so I reserved a room while I was waiting for the ferry .
Apartments Franko, B – 26EUR
Today is my 5th night in Vodice. I am enjoying the rest. We are renting a two bedroom, two bathroom apartment together with my Czech friends from Opava – Iveta, Kamil and Eva. This is my third time at this house. I was here first time in year 2000 and Iveta has been here many many times in the last 19 years. Our hosts Drago and Maria are very friendly and take good care of us. The apartement is also very nice. http://www.dalmatina.info/drago/index.asp?link=4&lang=
We have been doing a lot of fun vacation stuff – trips, beach, swimming, sailing ferry trip, dinners, ice cream, wine etc.
Besides vacationing I also got my laundry done and I made a trip to the bike shop. I got a new chain and they checked my bike for potential issues. Because the more adventurous part of the trip is just ahead of me I am also doing a lot of planning and reading on Montenegro and Albania. I can’t wait to see the Bay of Kotor. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_of_Kotor.
I plan to start biking again on Friday and I will add posts as I go. In the meantime I am adding some pictures from our stay in the Vodice area.
This is probably the least scenic ride so far. After I got out of Zadar the road was flat with headwind and medium to heavy traffic. About 10 km before Vodice I took a turn off the main road and I was able to enjoy some nice scenery and visited a very pretty village Tribunj. I am meeting some very good friends in Vodice for a weeklong vacation. We have known each other since we were teenagers. I really looked forward to this week long relax. I pulled into the house just in time for the 2:30 delicious Dalmation fish lunch with our hosts and my friends.
The day started off really well. I got a great breakfast in the hotel. I didn’t know it was included in my nightly rate. The ride across the bridge with spectacular. After that I wasted some time by looking around campgrounds in the Nin area. I looked at three campsites and none of them were good. At the end I got a private apartment in a house in the north suburbs of Zadar. The apartment was very nice and the beach was just one block away. The owner invited me for a barbecue with his friends which turned out to be a biker barbecue at the backyard of the house. It was fun.
There were some spectacular sceneries today. I climbed up to the Croation coast magistrala after the ferry ride and it was not as bad as I expected. There was just a little bit of traffic and very pretty views. Looks like island Pag is very dry. I went to the old Pag city, it is very interesting the streets are very very narrow you can see that on some of the pictures.
Taverna, B+B – 30EUR
I cheated a little today with the ferry ride. 🙂
Private room, 20 EUR
This was a short biking day but it was not without events. The day started with running into my good old childhood friend in Rijeka in a coffee shop. What a surprise. Leaving Rijeka was a little painful because of the hilly streets and lot of traffic. As I was leaving town my planner took me on a little road which eventually ended up in some bushes. As I was trying to figure out where to go and looking at my iPhone a big black dog ran to me barking, this of course scared me. The dog turned out to be a friendly dog, what a relief. I had to walk the bike down the steep hill for a little bit and then I got on the road. From now on everything was picture perfect the scenery of the Adriatic is spectacular. On top of that I met some nice people from Germany in the camp – Thomas and Stephanie and we had dinner together.
I was motivated to see the sea. All went well with the exception of about a 20 km high traffic section. On the other hand I also had a few very low traffic sections.
I got a very nice private hostel room right in the center of Rijeka. I walked around the pretty town and enjoyed a good seafood dinner.
Hostel 1W, private B – 44EUR
