Thursday, July 26, 2007

Island ˝Hopalong Cassady˝

Our afternoon siestas sometimes get weird.

There's so much to cover since the last post... On 18 July we left Rovinj on the hottest day of the summer. The temp was over 40 centigrade, and because it took us a while to get rolling, we didn't leave town 'till almost 1pm. This was a bad idea. We struggled through the heat and rode across the Istrian Peninsula all afternoon. That evening we caught a ferry to the island of Cres, and slept just above the sea. The next day we had our first ˝siesta ride.˝ We broke at midday near the water to swim, eat and nap during the hot hours. it was great to relax for a few hours and it really broke up the day. that night we came across a burning car in the road before the fire department arrived and watched people on mopeds vainly try to put it out with hand-held fire extinguishers before the real firefighters showed. after passing the charred VW beetle, we camped in what amounted to a trailer park. not glam, but our options were limited.

Stretching on Cres.

the next morning we planned on taking the catamaran ferry back to the mainland, but they wouldn't let us with our bikes. instead, we had to wait an additional 7 hours (not bad - we spent it at the beach) and then take a slower ferry (5 hours longer) that arrived at 11pm in Zadar, in an industrial harbour. let me tell you about bad news. we ended up sleeping in the port 'cause it was too dark to do anything else, and the bugs ate me alive. I must have had 40 bites, and if I'd been alone, I would have gotten up and ridden the rest of the night - I was that mad. it was too hot to sleep in the sleeping bag, so we just laid there knowing we were bait. not good. I think that was probably the low point for me.

Catching up on writing, late ferry to Zadar.

however, it was all up from there. greg and I rode into Šibenik the next day and spent the afternoon eating and sleeping in a park in the town center. is was one of the most relaxing days we've had, and that night we stayed in a sobe, or room, in someone's house (for rent, of course). we caught a concert in town later and met daniel, a croatian who gave us a few pointers and bought us a number of beers. to make matters better, joel was arriving the next morning and we figured he'd be in early - around 9am.

Side-Splitting humor, in matching board shorts. Cool.

so the next morning, after struggling to climb out of bed, we met joel as planned at the train station in town. it worked out well, and it was great to see our friend and have the three of us together for the first time since prague last january. we caught up in the park shared a late-morning beer before riding off to Krka National Park for the afternoon. Joel wasn't ready for the heat and hills, however. not that anyone could be expected to be, though. it was oppressive, and he did well to ride hard. it was good that we only did 25 km that day, and that night we enjoyed some cheap beers at a nearby campsite.

Truckin'

Roman ruins at Split.

the next day we rode most of the way to split, and camped along the road in the desert. this was joel's first ˝squatting˝ experience, and I think it went well. no one bothered us, and we easily made it into split the next day. Split has some of the most extensive Roman ruins outside of Rome. We spent that afternoon in town, and caught a 5am ferry the next morning to the island of Hvar, the greenest and wettest Croatian island.


Hvar Island.


the ride was beautiful, and a welcome change from the crowds, cars and madness of the mainland. we rode through forests and under shade for some of the day, which we hadn't done in a long time. we rested during the afternoon under the shade of giant juniper trees near a church, and finished the day riding downhill to a ferry ride back to the mainland.

Port Town on Hvar Island. The moutains in the background are on the mainland.

that night as the darkness grew, we needed to find somewhere to camp. we knew we had a 6am train to catch, so we needed to be close to Ploče. We found a nice place near the sea, but also near someone's house. they walked by as we watched the sun set, but said nothing. then we were awakened at midnight by someone no more than 5m away (and below) from us talking in Croatian on a cell phone. it was a short conversation, and we couldn't tell if they knew we were there. so after the guy left, we debated whether or not to pack up and ride, thinking he may have just called the cops. we decided against leaving - here we'd make our stand. when I woke again, it was two hours later and the moon had set, leaving us in total darkness. no one bothered us, and we left the site as planned at 4:30 to catch our train after a 10km ride into town. more surprisingly, we actually made the train, and arrived in Mostar, Bosnia, this morning at about 8.

The ˝New-Old Bridge.˝ The tradition of jumping off the bridge has resumed since it's completion.

This rests at the foot of the ˝New-Old Bridge.˝

Although it could be another blog, I'll say a few things and try to keep it short. This town has been the most sobering experience of the trip, and it's up there with the top ˝real world˝ moments of my life. Town is divided east and west by a road known as the ˝former front line.˝ that would be the front line of the wars during the 1990s that we all saw on TV, mostly with shots from Sarajevo. But Mostar suffered extensively, and many buildings remain today gutted, fallen skeletons of the past. The entire east side of town (the Muslim side) was destroyed, and much of the west side (Catholic Croatains) as well. The two just went at it in this small mountain town, and most buildings are still scarred by numerous holes.

As simple as it looks. Only a skeleton.



One of many destroyed buildings in Mostar.

The population of the town decreased by 25% during the war, and has not regained it's former numbers. While the two ethnic groups are becoming recociled, physical wounds remain open and unhealed. Cemeteries in town are entirely filled with graves with 1993, 94, and 95 as dates of death. Many of the dead were not older than me. And there's nowhere in town where you can't see a bombed-out building.

This cemetery has graves entirely from the war. I could have picked any angle and found a bombed-out building in the background.

But it's getting better. The ˝New-Old Bridge˝ was finished in 2004. It was brutally destroyed during the war, along with nearly all of the mosques in town. Today, they too have been rebuilt, and both sides continue to practice necessary tolerance. It's been amazing to be here, and sobering. Sarajevo will surely be similar, but on a frighteningly larger scale.

Necessary self-portrait. I need a hair cut.


route update

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

We could be smugglers.

We knew we were in the mountains when we came around a corner and saw this (notice Greg in action):

We left Ljubljana nearly a week ago and rode north toward the Julian Alps. The approach to Bled (the local resort town) reminded me a lot of driving into Ketchum, Idaho - you don't really go over a pass, per se, but after following a river up a gentle incline, you soon find yourself surrounded by mountains. We had a great ride out of the city and into the woods along the river, dodging rain showers that seemed to form like so many in the mountains during a Colorado summer.

Bled Lake. The church is actually on an island, and the castle overlooks the lake.

Arriving in Bled we soon recognized the futility of trying to find someone's garden in which to sleep. Because they deal with tourists all the time, no one was interested. Most people simply referred us to the sobe rooms, which are apartments that locals rent to visitors. As it got dark, and knowing we were in for a big ride the next day, we decided to just camp at a "campsite" near Bled Lake. We arrived to more than 200 designated "sites" with electricity and campers - not exactly roughing it. But we found a place near an electrical box between a couple of trees and set up our tarp. This was good, because not 15 minutes later it rained, and rained, and rained.

Bled Lake.

Škocjan Caves

The next morning we started early because we planned on riding over a mountain pass in the Julian Alps. the first section of the ride wasn't very difficult; it followed a river gently up valley. But after making the turn away from the water, it got steep and slow. Lunch at the top was amazing as we sat below ski lifts in the cool mountain breeze. It was a welcome relief from the cornfields of eastern Austria.

Nova Gorica (Slovenia) in the foreground, Gorizia (Italy) in the background.

That night we were riding along looking for somewhere to camp and an older couple invited us to sleep in their garden after sharing some of their homemade brandy. I should say we didn't exactly have a choice after consuming the drinks - they were strong, we were already weak, and therefore basically incapable of riding any further. Besides, we had another long day ahead of us as we traveled toward the Škocjan Caves.

Greg on the party train.



The caves were amazing, and our hour-and-a-half tour took us deep inside numerous caverns, crossing a bridge 50m above the river below, and finally exiting nearly a mile away from the entrance. We weren't allowed to take photos 'till the end, but it was nice to just enjoy the tour. That night we camped along a motorway, which turned out to be a good call. The constant drum of traffic lulled us to sleep, and no one bothered us that evening.

Vjeko's house

We woke early the next morning thinking it prudent to arrive at the local train station early, it being a Sunday and likely a reduced frequency day for the trains. We showed up at 9:03, 4 minutes after the first train of the day departed for Croatia. Because the next didn't leave for about 7 hours, we were a bit upset. If only we'd left a few minutes earlier... But we caught a break - the train was late. We got on, bikes and all, and bribed the conductor with beer money in place of our tickets. It was pretty ridiculous and we laughed through most of the experience, he not speaking any english and us no slovenian. But eventually we figured out what he wanted, and for 5 Euro, we were on our way. The "party train," as we came to call it, came with beer, vodka (too early at 10am), marijuana smoking conductors and awesome music. We no longer wondered why the train was late.

View from the church tower in old town Rovinj



Eventually we arrived in Croatia, and actually had to take our passports out of our bags. this was the first time since leaving Czech we actually had to show them. We could have been smuggling produce, drugs, exotic animals, or probably people through most of the borders so far. it's been laughable. but I digress... we rode about 25km downhill into Rovinj, the beachside resort town where Greg's family friend, Vjeko, lives during his holidays. his parents own an apartment-for-rent facility for tourists and have graciously taken us in as family, feeding us local Croatian cuisine and showing us around town. We spend our afternoons at the beach, swimming in the crystal-clear Adriatic Sea and taking naps in the shade during the heat of the day. this has been a welcome relief from the cooler-than-normal European summer we've experienced to this point.

Greg and I are working on our tans. Vjeko humiliates us, but then again, he is Croatian.

From here we head south along the Adriatic coast, hopping islands and stopping in historically and naturally important sites along the way. The Croatian coastline, including islands, is more than 6500km long, so we'll likely skip a lot of it in order to leave the country before Christmas.

Old town

Typical Croatian fish dinner






route update

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Out of Austria

We left Vienna about 5 days ago late in the afternoon. It felt great to get out of the city, which was in and of itself was an adventure. We came upon more motorways, but I digress... So we had a great tailwind and rode about 60km before finding what we thought would be a great campsite just outside of a larger town where we could shop the next morning.

Our sweet campsite overlooking Vienna, and in the line of fire for local hunters. Apparently, it was also on the "beaten path" of more wild pigs.



Just as we started eating, a truck pulled down our road and Greg and I scrambled to get down the ladder of the hunting shack so our stuff wasn´t flatted. The owner rolled down his window, and again, not speaking much english (joel, could have used you again), described that we were sleeping on his land, that wild pigs were common, and hunters may or may not be showing up at 4am, shooting in our direction. to make matters better, the mosquitoes came out in force. Ever helpful, the man told us to go sleep near his other hunting shack as it was safer regarding stray bullets, and basically, good luck with the pigs. Needless to say, we didn´t sleep too well that night, and woke up early to get back on the road.

Our new friends in Piringsdorf, Austria. Johannes and Greg switched hats for the night.

After a 90km day, Greg and I arrived in Piringsdorf looking for somewhere to crash. we were exhausted and losing light, so we asked a woman riding her bike if she spoke any English. she didn´t speak much, but quickly found someone who did. marian offered her garden for us to sleep in, and upon arrival, we quickly made friends with her boyfriend, Johannes, and their family. we spent the evening enjoying beer and local wine with dinner, all of which our new friends graciously provided. As people left for the evening, Johannes offered a bed in his house for us to sleep to get away from the bugs and rain.

Just before leaving town we all stopped at the mineral spring fountain for some "health" water.

we had a great night, especially considering the conditions of the previous one. We slept well, and in the morning Johnannes´ mother made us breakfast and sent us away with some fresh fruit for the road (thanks again). it was probably the best experience we´ve had so far during the trip, and a much-needed rest during our trip through austria.



We spent the next night in a bigger town called Furstenfeld with a pastor at the local evangelical church. Again asking about a garden, we were offered beds, and accepted, being tired from a long, hot day of riding. the next morning we were faced with a dilema. We´d already spent 7 nights in Austria and wanted to get out. the rain looked ominous, and we made the call to get trains out of the country and into slovenia.

Greg catching up on some sleep between trains.

however, this wasn´t as easy as expected. We were in a remote location for trains, and unable to quickly arrive in Graz, the nearest hub. After some long waits, we were headed south toward slovenia, but our tickets only went as far as the border. from here we`d ride across the border and into the second-largest city in Slovenia, Maribor. We arrived at the train station 3 minutes before a train left for Ljubljana (pronouced: loob-li-yana), and we actually flagged the conductor down as the train began moving. they stopped and waited, and we just made the train.

Into Slovenia...

The street scene in Ljubljana is vibrant.

On the last leg of our ride into the capital city, we met ben, a Ph.D. at the university. he was very helpful, and being Slovenian, spoke the language perfectly. he went as far as walking us to a hostel in town, understanding that in our state (tired, clueless, smelly) we would have a hard time lining anything up on our own. I think he began questioning our sanity when we asked him if there were any parks near the train station where we could sleep...



Ljubljana has been a surprisingly awesome town situated at the foot of the Julian Alps. The cafe scene is more developed than almost anywhere I´ve visited, and tables line the river through town as it winds below the castle nearly 100m above on the hillside. in the distance, snow still rests on the highest peaks. tomorrow, greg and I head northwest toward that snow...





Ljubljana Castle

Partial self-portrait, Ljubljana and the Julian Alps.


route update
more videos
also see Greg´s blog for more videos

Friday, July 06, 2007

rise and fall

We're alive. After a crazy first week of riding, Greg and I are safely in Vienna, Austria, and having a great time. We left Prague a bit later than expected last Saturday, the final day of June. After leaving town at about 3pm, we biked 60km and camped along the trail with few difficulties. The second night would prove to be a different story.

Outside of Greg's flat - 3pm, 30 June. High spirits.
Our first beer garden (certainly not our last) - day two at Franz Ferdinand's Palace.

After a long second day (nearly 85km), Greg and I picked a camping spot near the road and thought we were set. However, 20 minutes after setting up camp, I had a tick and the mosquitoes were horrible. We should have taken the hint and found a new spot, but we decided to stay and were awakened around 11pm by a herd of wild pigs running through our campsite. It was crazy, and I couldn't find my headlamp for a while, but we yelled a lot and they took off, only to show up at 2am again. We've also been itching bug bites since that day.

Lunch
Austrian border

The next day and night weren't so bad. We stopped along the roads to eat ripe cherries and found a nice place to camp, setting up our tarp just before a storm blew through. The night passed without event, and we road again the entire next day, passing numerous WWII bunkers and stopping to take a few photos along the way. We took lunch along the border and passed into austria that afternoon.

One of the many sunflower fields we found in Austria
Sunset on night 5, sleeping below a power plant.

Battling the wind, we rode hard and found an area to camp between a corn field and road. Thinking ourselves set, we made our beds and started to eat dinner. It wasn't five minutes later when Heinreich the farmer's son showed up with a sickle to cut corn (by hand) right where we were camped. We spoke no common languages, but left with an understanding that we would leave the next morning. After a night of high wind and heavy rain, we set forth, one night between us and Vienna.

Vienna


Our final full day of riding was mostly downhill, and as we decended into Austrain wine country, we decided it'd be silly to NOT stop and do some tasting. Well, we stopped into a family estate on the hillside and met an old man and woman who probably gave us too much wine, along with a tour of their 400+ year old cellar and small winemaking facility. It was wonderful, and just one of the many things we've seen so far. That night we slept well below a powerplant on the Danube, about 70 km from Vienna.

Dr Freund's actual apartment.

A strong morning ride on Thursday with a substantial tailwind found us in Vienna around 1pm. Since then we've been around town and off the bikes. It's been a great break from the road, and it's nice to sleep in a bed again. We're leaving tomorrow morning, heading toward Zagreb, Croatia. We hope you're all doing well.

Royal Hapsburg family's summer palace, Vienna

check a couple of videos here
here's our progress