Croatia Krk Island

Next stop, Krk Island Croatia!  After my overnight in Italy, I take the fast road back to where I was close to Rijeka, and aim for Krk Island.  Two reasons... 1) it was recommended as an amazing place and 2) I put out my Horizons Unlimited request for advice in Croatia and one of the responses came from a person there.

Can I just tell you that picture above with the road sign exists, not because I wanted a picture of that road sign.. but because I desperately needed that concrete barrier to jump behind for a quick pit stop.. which is never quick for me because it takes for-freakin'-ever to remove twenty layers during a time that is long over due needing to do so...  To be more specific, and to describe such a challenging part of my day, several times a day, every day!!  I have to scan for a place that is suitable to hide.  Once I find a place, can I park the bike there.. A lot of times, no.. no road shoulder and too steep embankment.  So when I do find a place, I stop and turn off the bike.  Disconnect the heated jacket and get off the bike. Take off the gloves, take off my glasses and attach to the bike.  Take off my helmet and attach to the bike.  Take the keys out of ignition so 1) nobody can take off with it, while I "step away from the vehicle", and 2) so as I know exactly where my keys are if I attach them to the same place on my jacket every time by habit.  Okay, now, take off big coat, buttons and zipper, then take off 2nd jacket,  and then suspenders, etc etc with remaining layers.. that's enough.. To add a visual, by this time I am usually dancing around like a little kid swinging jackets here and there needing to go so bad! Afterwards, another 5 minutes putting it back together again!  Sorry.. I will divert myself back to more interesting things.... !!!

Not far past Rijeka, you take a very high bridge that connects to Krk Island.  This can be a worry at this time of year, because it is common they close this bridge to ALL vehicles, not just vulnerable light motorcycles, due to high wind.  It is late fall and Croatia has a natural yearly occurance called the Bura. It's a very strong wind from the north-east, bringing clear skies, but cold air.

Lucky for me I have clear skies today, but no Bura... yay!  Anyway, I aim for my Croatian motorcycle advisors house as they have asked me to come and stay the night in the small village of Punat.

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It was a super easy day for me and I am on the island early.. which I wanted so I can ride around and explore.  This time I had actually looked online and researched it a bit, so I had a fair idea of what I wanted to see.  I know.... shock!

Krk

Krk is the main town, hence the name, and here I stopped at the marina for a little lunch.

Excited to see more, I go back out to the road and head south to Baska.

So so pretty, I really want to stay here a while..  a man notices me and walks up and starts asking questions.  He is on holiday from the city of Zagreb, and speaks English fairly well.  He had many many questions! But that is part of the fun for me.  If I was just a woman on a jetty, you most likely wouldn't get so much interest.  This also answers the question to so many people who ask me why I chose to ride a motorcycle around the world, surely there is an easier way!  Yes there is!  Much easier!  I have many answers to that, but in this scenario, as they ask if I get lonely, usually not!  I am always meeting people, simply because they see a motorcycle with a foreign license plate!

However, it is getting late, and I must get back on the road to Punat to meet Nikola.  Nikola had given me some good advice and mentioned their daughter also rides motorcycle.  I felt comfortable talking on email.  When I made my way to the house, a man comes out to greet me!  I was expecting a woman!!  It really threw me off for a moment..  I have a good friend from New Zealand who is a Nicola, and female!

It turns out Nikola is a common name here in Croatia.. for men.. ha!

So, again, I am surprised... it turns out that Nikola Mrakovcic is very well known in the motorcycle community as he has contributed his riding adventures and photos in several magazines! Right there is a great example again of how lucky I am to meet the most amazing people on this journey!

Have a look at his website... www.NMsite.com

Which I have only just seen now myself.. Because here, at Nikola's house, is where my computer decides to die.

We were exchanging stories about our Russia adventures, and at the point he explains he had an accident on a dirt road in Russia near Gorno Altai, a place I recently visited, I hear him mention Mark!  Remember Mark, the man in Novosibirsk who helped me so INCREDIBLY much!!  Years ago, he helped Nikola too!!  What a seriously SMALL world!  I was only "delivered" to Mark's house to stay in Russia after arriving his city at 11pm, never heard of him or knew where I was being taken.  Who would have thought I would meet a man in Croatia who was helped by the same man in Russia, nearly 5000 km away!! Weirding me out.. here is a photo from Nikola's site with Mark, third from the right in 2006

And here he is getting me an ice cream in Russia 2010!

Well, I wanted to show Nikola my photos from Russia, but my computer is not going to have that.

Oh well, I have had a fun day, and tomorrow, Nikola and his family want to show me around Krk before I continue my journey south.

Along the old town walls of Krk.  These walls were first built in the first century B.C.!!!  and they had their last major reconstruction in the 15th Century!!  That is just mind boggling, but must remember this is where the Romans used to roam!  Hey!  That just dawned on me!  Do you think the Romans were named because of their people who roam?  Or is the word roam derived from the wandering culture of Rome???         ;-) :-/

Just under the bar where we have a drink, I go downstairs and see all this history piled up in the corridor.


I really enjoyed my time exploring Krk with Nikola and his family.  He is a passionate motorcycle adventurer, so check out his website!

As for me, I know it's time to make a move towards Zadar down the coast.

Welcome to Croatia!

Since every moment in Slovenia and Croatia last night was riding through the dark and the rain, I had no idea where I was... and I woke up to this!  Hilarious!  Yesterday I was in a small snowy mountain town in the Alps, and today I am on the "Sea.. not See".. just to be clear to Austrian readers that it's not a lake out there.. ;-)  And warm enough to only wear a t-shirt!!!  Hallelujah!!!!!  What a difference a day makes!

This is like a huge reward for the last several weeks.. but looking at the forecast, it only reports rain, rain, rain and more rain..  so I enjoy the view while I can..

This is Rijeka, Croatia in the distance.. My location is called Lovran.  I set out on foot on my first day, but still with my t-shirt.  A very well dressed for winter man stops me on the street, and speaking Croatian, I indicate I don't understand... "Engleski ... Ja ne razumijem hrvatski".  With a worried look, he points to my t-shirt then rubs his arm to enact cold??  I say No..!  He shook his head and walked on.  I've been in very cold for a while, so 15 degrees Celcius was like summer weather to me!!  After being aware I'm the t-shirt girl, I look around at others walking on the street, and yep, they all have on winter coats and hats.  Oh well!

We had this nice little break with some sun, but I ended up staying here the next 4 days through non-stop rain.  It was a great feeling that I didn't have to push and ride through it, I could just stop.. have a look around this small Croatian town, and catch up on my blog and photos.  It was nice and exciting at first to rest!  But by day 2, I was like, okay, you can stop raining now, I would like to continue.. but I didn't.  The family at the hotel was so nice, they made great food, and I was dry.. it is their off season, so I really got looked after as one of two guests at the place.  I'm actually very very lucky to have a place to stay.  This area is SO TOURISTY in summer, and NOBODY in winter, the majority of the nice big hotels are completely closed.. chains and locks over the doors..  This place however, the family lives inside too, so might as well rent a room when you can, hey?

My bike was happy and secure too..

Now, it's finally a sunny day... I can escape!!! Can't wait to explore Croatia!  In Australia I have a couple friends who are from Croatia.  One of them suggested I call in to visit an Auntie somewhat close to where I was.   So I follow the coast road on my way to a town called Pula.  I was loving the view and the gorgeous little church on the hill.

Can't help but to stop a few times.. such a pretty day and a very long time since I could ride along any coastline in decent weather for months!

So I ride into Pula.. and actually need to figure out where I am meant to go.  All I know is my friend's Auntie works in an archeological museum, but no idea where as of yet.. Humm Humm, riding around and I literally just run into this!  I'm like, "What??  Did I fall asleep and wake up in Rome?"  This big beautiful colesseum here in Pula is amazing!!  And I just pull the bike right up and park!  No big tourist busses, no big long lines to get in.. what's up with this place? (I didn't research where I was going again... but I get a kick out of surprises like this!)

 I must find out more...

Actually more officially called the Pula Arena, I found out it was built between 27 BC and 68 AD.. For real??  That is incredible!!  And I pull up to such an "in tact" part of history on my motorcycle in 2010, no worries??  Far out... I never fail to be completely and thoroughly surprised on this journey..

It is built by the Romans as you might suspect.. and a testament to their construction talent, to this day, they still have events inside, seating up to 5,000 people.. mainly concerts..

I must move on to find Auntie, but wow... wow, wow, wow!!!! I also learned about the underground tunnels for the animals and the Gladiators. Can you imagine.. being here at that time?  And would they have imagined a girl riding her motorcycle from Australia here at THIS time? ;-)

Well it made sense that the archeological museum was not far from here, and I found it.  Auntie came out to greet me and had me park behind the building.

There are broken bits of stone history all over the back lot.. there is so much, I understand, what to do with it all?   I enjoyed my visit.. but while i was looking at the map, I came up with a brilliant idea.  I notice I am so close to Italy, why not go spend the night in Italy... literally, "Because I Can"!!  So on around the coast I make my way toward Trieste.

That ended up being a bit of a boring ride, and when I arrived Trieste, it was a huge city full of traffic large smoke stacks puffing out serious amounts of sh _ _.  After breathing clean air for several days, polluted city air really hits you.  I did check on a couple places to stay, and they were not only a little out of budget, but way out.  Hmm, I didn't like it here, the sun is going down, and I don't have a plan.  I decide I would be far luckier to find something cheap in the hills outside of town.  Wandering around those curvy roads in the dark was producing nothing.  I finally found a small town with 2 hotels.  One is closed... very closed, like dead and vandalised.  The other one was small, basic, but again not even a consideration in budget.  I rode around in the dark to check out the nearby campgrounds that showed up on my gps.  They were closed for winter.. as all I have seen have been.  I went back to the hotel because the man spoke really good English and I asked for ANY other idea.. luckily he knew of an old lady that rents rooms, but wasn't sure if she would be at this time of year.  He called her on her mobile for me. She wasn't home, but would be in an hour, and agreed to let me stay.

I decide to find dinner while I was waiting.. The restaurants in this town won't even open until 8.. It was only 7, so.. as I was rummaging through a very small disorganized grocery, picking up a tin of tuna and a tomato, the owner recommends I go down the road 3 km to SLOVENIA!!!!  As they would be open now and far cheaper food with bigger plates.. sold!!  How funny is that!!  He says, you don't want to eat in Italian restaurant.. too expensive.. and he is Italian!  but I took the suggestion and had a really huge cheap Slovenian meal (As ususal, I couldn't read the menu, and it is not a touristy place, so nobody speaks English.  I find my new habit is to just decide in my head what I would like to eat tonight as if I were home and explain best I can.  I happened to be in the mood for simple grilled vegetables...and that's what I got!!  An awesome massive plate of a gorgeous variety of veggies.. perfect!) And then rode back into Italy 3 km to the house!  Hopefully this map will help.


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It turned out to be a wonderful old Italian home, and as soon as I pulled into the gated driveway in the dark, I hear "Mama Mia!!"  and I get off the bike and I hear "Mama Mia, Mama Mia!!!"  She's a little butterball Italian lady with blonde short bob hair cut, and sweet as could be.  She couldn't believe a woman riding a motorcycle, she says, I usually only see men... Mama Mia!!  I got a wonderful room, and she laid out all kinds of good food for snacks and hot water for tea.  Ahhhhh... I can rest now.  (I know it's irresponsible for me to have done this without a plan, but I got to explore Croatia today, eat my dinner in Slovenia, and stay the night in Italy!! I couldn't have planned that anyway.. love it!!)