Coastal Cruising - Sep 15, 2009

Well, we´ve meandered our way down the coast as far as Split and its been wonderful. If deep turquoise, crystal clear water with secluded rocky coves and pebble beaches, huge platters of grilled fish and seafood laced with aromatic olive oil and sea salt, unbelievably good homemade ice cream in a zillion different flavours and ancient stone buildings and churches have any appeal to you, you should definitely add Croatia to your list of travel destinations.

We made our way through the islands of Krk, Rab, and Pag. Each was quite different from the other, ranging from huge pine forests and lush coastlines to ragged, rough limestone hills covered in old dry stone walls and small sone huts. There have been beautiful little coves for swimming and tough hills to sweat over, moonscapes and little fishing villages. In some places the islands were so narrow we rode along a steep road down the spine of the island and had views of the ocean on either side of us. From Pag we rode along the mainland coast through Zadar, Šibinek and Trogir to Split, right along the waters edge. Stunning!

We have had incredible headwinds as the Bora (the stong winds of the fall) have started, cooling things down a bit and bringing some spectacular thunder storms at night. But the riding has been great and the cooler weather is quite welcome.

Both Trogir and Split have amazing ancient town centres, with stone towers and arches over tiny, tortuously curving walkways that are filled with restaurants and cafes. There is no shortage of fresh fish and seafood.

There are campsites EVERYWHERE here. The coast is literally covered with hundreds of campsites ranging from small plots of dirt squeezed between the ocean and the road, to HUGE mega campsite resorts with thousands of pitches (literally), restaurants, hotels, bars, beach activities, markets, and anything else you can imagine. All, right on the beach. Weve opted for the resorts in most places as they cost the same, restaurant food is fanstastic and they are a lot of fun!!!!

We are continuing south to the islands of Hvar and Korcula on our way to Dubrovnik, then on to Turkey.

Cheers for now!