Zadar Croatia, the Coast and a New Plan

In between rain bursts, I head out for a walk around my little pocket of Zadar.

I see these old churches.. ev..er..y.. where!!!  Most often I see them from the road as the only building perched on top of a hill..

Built long before cars, I think to myself... they must want their congregation to hike up the steep rocky hill, to work hard, sweat and suffer their way to the top.. and prove their dedication and faith every Sunday!! (Or they were built on hills so the people could see it and find their way??)

Really bad blurry picture, but just so you get the church on the hill I see so often point... I can't imagine 100 years ago, the older people hiking up there in the summer heat!

 

Mmm, maybe I shouldn't go this way... it's been raining so much, the Adriatic Sea is overflowing!!

So back in my croatian room, more rain days without my very-much-missed-computer, and bored to pieces, I am trying to figure out my next move... using my iphone.. ha!

There are two options for me on how to handle winter from here on a motorcycle journey.  1) head toward the equator to stay warm.  2) stop and wait it out.  Equator meant going into Africa, and having been to northern Africa twice in my life, I wasn't excited to go back alone on a motorcycle.  So my other brainy idea is to see about the possibility of housesitting.  If I am going to stop for a couple months, it's not smart for me to pay rent or hotels for that long!!  I looked and looked at housesitting websites, and nothing came up that interested me or worked for me.  (due to time frames or location)  Maybe I'm going to Africa anyway!

Until, I got an idea to check local newspapers, rather than online websites.  There was an english-speaking ad for a housesitting requirement in Tuscany, Italy.  On a whim, I sent a quick letter from my iphone, and they responded!  We decide I should travel to the home to meet as well as get an idea of what I may be in for.

How do I get from Zadar Croatia to Tuscany Italy?  Flights are far too expensive.  Ride the bike? (At this point I intend to continue through Montenegro, Albania and Greece, so to take days out of the way in the cold rain to ride to Italy and back just for a two hour meeting didn't seem good.)  Last idea was to take a ferry across the pond to Ancona Italy and from there take the train to Florence.. with this plan I can reverse around 5 pm and be back on the same 10 pm ferry to Croatia.. one day job!

So down to the ferry office in Zadar I ride to get a ticket.

And check it out, it's a sunny morning!!

Ticket to Italy in a couple days time achieved!  So my next job for the rest of today is to ride around and see how things look in the sunshine! FINALLY.. this is exciting!!!!

There is no shortage of rocks in this country..

I really enjoy the sunshine and I have to admit it makes me extra snap happy today, so most of this blog will be photos. You'd much prefer than to listen to me waffle on about strangeness anyway.. I heard ya!

  There's my bike up there above the house..

It does look like an amazing place to visit in summer.  But I like being here now too.  From what I understand, the road I am on is very slow going in season as it is FULL of tourists.. All rooms rented out, everywhere are crowds of people.  I find it hard to believe it is that bad, but I have been told this time and time again by Croatian people.  I get to enjoy the peace and beauty of it all... albeit in between massive rain days!!

Okay, I hope you enjoyed this sunny day excursion with me.  What a gorgeous country!! I'm so happy I came here!

I'm in Croatia for 3 weeks, so there is much more Hrvatska to come..