Day 8-10: Croatia Part 2

Ben arrived in the late evening. We spent a lot of time talking about our plans and comparing our cars. Ben's Nissan was modified pretty well. He had an auxiliary heating system and a second battery with 230V power output.

The next day, we had an extensive breakfast before entering the National Park. Plitvicer Lakes is a spectacular place. Small basins located next to each other are connected by countless waterfalls. The water is that clear that you can see the lake bottom in several meters depth.

At the end of our walk around, we talked with a South Korean tourist. Daesu is on a world trip too. He crossed Russia with the Trans-Siberian Railway and visited half Europe. We talked for a while, showed him our cars and planned to stay in contact.

We left Plitvicer Lakes heading for Zadar. On the way, we crossed Paklenica National Park. In this area, the Winnetou films have been produced. The landscape is breathtaking.

In Zadar, we had a couchsurfing opportunity at Brigitte and Markus. They are both German. Brigitte works as German teacher and Markus does his social year, working with Brigitte in the school. We had a great time with them and decided to stay two nights in Zadar.

The city was nice and authentic. All shops, bars and restaurants were open. Several ancient buildings and the sea organ make Zadar well worth visiting.

The sea organ: Pretty silent when the weather is good. I guess I need to come back once more :)

The university of Zadar

Markus, Ben and me (from the right to the left)

With the experience of Plitvicer Lakes in my mind, I was looking for some snow chains. Brigitte was very helpful and i got some within 24 hours. By accident, we figured out, that Ivan, the Spanish biker, planned to visit Brigitte too. And the circle was complete as Daesu contacted us for a ride to Split. We all met at the bus station.

Ivan, Ben, me and Daesu

Day 5-7: Croatia Part 1

 

At the border of Croatia, I had to show my passport. Croatia did not accept the Schengen-Agreement. Fortunately, they didn’t search me because I had two pepper sprays with me. If you don’t declare them, you will be fined with 300,-€ per spray as I learned the next day. Anyway, I didn’t do it intentionally and I disposed the sprays two days later.

Instead of a fine, I got a friendly “Willkommen” from a smiling Croatian border officer. Northern Croatia was another surprise to me. There were so many vineyards that I almost felt like being at home.

In Croatia’s north-west, I drove down the west coast of Istria to Rovinj. I really needed a shower, but Istria was like deserted. Campsites, Restaurants, Tourist-Agencies and Exchange-Stores were closed. November is off-season… I was just too late. In Rovinj, I found another closed campsite, but the gate was opened. An older lady, living in a house in the middle of the site, allowed me to stay for the night.

I visited Rovinj during the evening and also the next morning. It is quite a nice town, but kind of artificial. During the summer probably crowded, in the off-season completely deserted. I saw roundabout 10 people during my 2-hour visit in the evening on a Saturday evening.
 

There was no possibility for a shower, but at least, I could organize a hostel for the next day and started a couchsurfing profile. That was a great recommendation of Ivan. During his ride from Spain to Slovenia, he payed for accommodation only three times.

After a quiet night, I left Rovinj and followed the coastline to Pula. Pula is known for its roman history which left a huge amphitheatre for example. But I was also excited about the big harbour. Huge cargo- and Ro-Ro-ships were being reconditioned.

After visiting Pula, i followed the coast in eastern direction and found a bikers paradise. Curves after curves, just pure joy. 5 kilometers before reaching Rijeka, a bicyclist out of Lidl. And who could it be? Ivan! He slept the night at the border and pushed fast forward to reach Rijeka, where a couchsurfing host waited for him. We planned to meet n the city later on. 

I drove to my hostel and experienced a lovely welcome at Darma Hostel. Neved and his wife took care of me. Because of a lucky situation, I got a private room with private bath. Great! I really enjoyed the hot shower.

The weather became stormy and I had no updates from Ivan. So I decided to have a look at the city on my own. Rijeka is not a big city, but there are a lot older houses and some modern art. I really liked the friendly atmosphere in the city.

 

 The next day, I started with a healthy and tasteful breakfast. Then I drove to the famous Isle Krk.

Krk is beautiful, but not that much of a difference to the rest of the Croatian coastline. I enjoyed the warm temperature and visited the town Krk itself. When the wind stopped, it almost felt like holiday in summer.

In the afternoon, I headed for Plitvicer Lakes. The Bora was really strong in the shore, but disappeared in the mountains. Instead, 30cm of appeared. I asked myself, if I was prepared well enough for this trip.

I arrived at the entrance of Plitvicer Lakes National Park at sundown and prepared my car for the cold night. I even spilled half of my water to assure that my water containers won’t splash if the content should freeze. Afterwards, I contacted Ben and we decided to meet at the entrance.

  

Day 3-5: Slovenia

When I left Venice, I crossed the boring flat fields of southern Venetia. The landscape changed dramatically at the border to Slovenia in Nova Gorica. Rough mountains and deep valleys appeared. I drove up to Tolmin and proceeded my way in the mountain chain, led by the cyan-blue river Isonzo. 

The street began as an usual state route as I know them from Germany. It didn’t take long and it started to get narrow. At some point, the lines on the roadway disappeared and finally, the street was like a work trail in the vine yards of my hometown. The speed limit remained 90km/h. I tried very hard but I couldn’t reach 90’ once. Luckily, the area was like deserted. Only a few times I passed gatherings of houses that could be called “town”. 

 

The people seem to live mainly from the wood industry. Some towns had bigger saw mills then housing areas.

I crossed a completely snowed pass and in the evening, I reached “Bled” with the famous lake surrounding the church on the isle. It was getting dark, but I found a parking spot right behind a spooky, ruined villa in perfect position to the lake and with view on bled and its castle.

In the dark, I had a short walk-around through the city. There I saw a green Nissan Patrol with offroad-equipment and german license-plate from Freudenstadt. Unfortunately, the owner was not at the car.

At sunrise, a climbed castle Bled but there was a lot of fog spoiling the view. The beauty of Bled was also disturbed by huge hotel complexes on the southern side of the town. In summer times, the place must be crowded.

From Bled, I drove to Slovenia’s capital, Ljubljana. The city impressed me. Even on a rainy day, the mixture of older but renovated buildings and modern influences is lovely. Of course, there are huge and dirty suburbs as a heritage from the seventies, but the city center is clean and groomed. In comparison, some other European metropoles seem to be ugly sisters.

I like those small electric cars called “Kavalir”. They are meant as a help for older or handicapped people and are even allowed to drive through the pedestrian area.

  

The same day, I drove to Škocjan. The cave system of Škocjan includes one of the highest caves in Europe and is declared as UNESCO world heritage. I arrived late and it was raining pretty badly so I just hid my car at the farest end of the bus parking area.

The rain became a storm during the night and even my 2,5-ton- car was shaking. At dawn, I spotted a tent in the bushes on the other side of the parking site. Who the f*** would sleep outside in a tent during these weather conditions?!? We had around 1 degree Celsius outside!

It was Ivan. Ivan is a spanish “crazy bastard” as he uses to describe himself in his couch surfing profile. That fits quite well with my first impression. He rides from Spain to Vietnam by bike. After a brief talk, we entered the caves together and left them as friends.

 

  

Unfortunately, I wasn’t allowed to take pictures from inside the cave. The height of the caves is astonishing. In return, I visited the collapse dolines around Škocjan and they are beautiful too. 

 

As we came back from the caves, I saw a green Nissan Patrol on the parking spot next to my car. Once again: The guy from Freudenstadt. His name is Ben and he already sticked a letter on my wipers. 

I talked with Ben but his cave tour started soon and we decided to stay in contact, as our routes were similar and we could drive some parts of the trip together.

After some days of a little loneliness, I left Škocjan with a good feeling after meeting those two fellers and headed for the croatian border.