Croatia

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Croatia - 1 Week

As I cycled into Croatia I was surprised to feel deja vu, the mountains and the vegetation reminded me of cycled into Austria but the weather the first night was shite meaning I woke up in a puddle.
The coast from Dubrovnik until Sibenik was beautiful particularly around the islands of Hvar and Korcula,
I cycled north along the Adriatic coast through Dubrovnik, and then took a ferry to arrive on the island of Korcula, continued from east to west along Korcula, through vineyards and along the rocky coast, and left on a ferry to Split.
Dubrovnik was another really cool medieval town, as was Split but the latter was much bigger and more developed. The nicest town I came across on the Adriatic coast was Trogir, north of Split, a really cool town built on a tiny island, with more medieval style buildings with great details and a nice promenade.
The National Park Krka was a beautiful area where a river was carving its way through some limestone hills but sadly I was really suffering with food poisoning and couldn’t enjoy it very well.
About 10 miles outside Sibenik it became clear that I couldn’t continue my trip, I was suffering with stomach pains, nose bleeds, aching joints, my insulin wasn´t working very effectivly and my back wheel was missing 2 spokes and had a cracked rim. Feeling shit I camped in a field for 2 days to regain enough energy for me to make my way back to the UK,
The morning of day 31 I cycled back to Sibenik, then waited 14 hours for the only train that would allow me to take the bike to Zagreb, a night train but because I smelt so bad and looked even worse nobody dared to enter my cabin and I slept ok.

Two days in Zagreb sorting bike boxes and sleeping then I flew home to Mummy to devour antibiotics. You wouldn’t believe the stuff that was coming out of me, I still don´t believe it actually but 10 days after landing I started to feel better and 3 weeks later I started to feel back to normal.
The people in Croatia were not very friendly, I didn´t see many smiles and two incidents stand out in my mind. On day 31 when I was waiting 14 hours in Sibenik for my night train I was lying down on the grass holding my stomach at the peak of a pain wave when some old man came and kicked me and shouted something at me for a while and from his facial expressions and tone it wasn´t nice things he said. Then later that day I was buying chewing gum in a little shop and a middle-aged woman working there threw my change back at me and wouldn´t stop staring me out, right into the eye and as I was walking away from the shop she was there at the door continuing her stare and hey I know what you’re thinking she probably just wanted me, but no, there was some anger in those eyes. I am sure there are lovely people in Croatia and those I encountered that hostile probably had their reasons considering the recent war.

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Photos

My first night in Croatia
There was a storm and I awoke in a puddle

Dubrovnik
The Decent in to Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik
The damage in the war

Dubrovnik
Great medieval buildings and ambiance

Dubrovnik
A shiity rainy day

Dubrovnik
Great details

The adriatic coastline
My favourite campsite for the trip

The adriatic coastline
North of Dubrovnik

Vineyards
On the way to Orebic

Vineyards
Juicy grapes

The descent into Orebic
Korcula in the background

My Croatian Flakes
Waiting for the ferry

Korcula
Korcula the Town on the island