Hey!
we are still alive and relaxing on the island of Hvar outside the coast around the town of Split. We will stay here until its time to go home again from split airport. Everything is very nice and i dont really feel like going back to stockholm and analys i flera variabler.... yesterday we went down a 11 kilometer downhill and decended around 700 meters to the sea and landed on the famous beach at zlatni rat. good times!
laterssss
onsdag 26 augusti 2009
söndag 23 augusti 2009
Cykel genom Kroatien 4
Hello!
We are back in Zadar after three days on the island of Dugi Otok and the national park Kornati. We arrived to Dugi Otok on Thursday morning and spent the day biking from the town of Brbinj to the southern part of this (mountainous) beautiful island. The plan was to book an excursion by boat into the Kornati archipelago on the next day and spend the night on a close by camping site but our plans where thwarted by the fact that no camping site existed (even though our map had a few camping site symbols scattered across the island) and the excursion boats were all full for friday. So we needed to find accommodation and also stay one day extra to go on the excursion on Saturday instead.
We did find an excellent place to stay on a vineyard in the small village of Žman. The place was run by an old man who did not hesitate to offer us his home made akvavit the first thing in the morning after the first night. He did not drink at all himself because of doctors orders, but served us up with some strong alcohol, home grown fresh figs and home made olive oil with bread for breakfast. He would not be satisfied until we all finished our glasses of akvavit. A belgian family of seven were also caught in his hospitality. After this breakfast we needed to sleep a little more, and it was not until after siesta that we set off to explore the island with lightly packed bikes and snorkeling gear. We found a salt lake and a few semi wild donkeys amongst other things.
The next day, Saturday, was finally excursion day! We left the harbor of Sali 09.30 in the morning on a small boat together with four Italians and two Slovenians that also wanted to go exploring this national park archipelago. The day was spent on deck getting some sun, checking the weird rock formations and relaxing. we stopped several times for snorkeling and swimming, and one time at the boat owners sisters house to have grilled fish and home made wine. When we finally returned back to Sali the clock had reached half past six in the evening so we had some dinner at the docks in a spaghetti restaurant. The boat back to Zadar left a few hours later and we where told that they don't accept bikes on the catamarans but we where allowed passage anyway, due to the fact that the boat was almost empty anyway.
Back in Zadar we found a campingsite to spend the night and now here we are. In a few hours a train will take us to the inland city of Knin where, hopefully, we can change trains and go to Split, back to the coast. From there we plan to visit one or two more islands before our flight back to Stockholm on Sunday. Until the next post, good bye!
We are back in Zadar after three days on the island of Dugi Otok and the national park Kornati. We arrived to Dugi Otok on Thursday morning and spent the day biking from the town of Brbinj to the southern part of this (mountainous) beautiful island. The plan was to book an excursion by boat into the Kornati archipelago on the next day and spend the night on a close by camping site but our plans where thwarted by the fact that no camping site existed (even though our map had a few camping site symbols scattered across the island) and the excursion boats were all full for friday. So we needed to find accommodation and also stay one day extra to go on the excursion on Saturday instead.
We did find an excellent place to stay on a vineyard in the small village of Žman. The place was run by an old man who did not hesitate to offer us his home made akvavit the first thing in the morning after the first night. He did not drink at all himself because of doctors orders, but served us up with some strong alcohol, home grown fresh figs and home made olive oil with bread for breakfast. He would not be satisfied until we all finished our glasses of akvavit. A belgian family of seven were also caught in his hospitality. After this breakfast we needed to sleep a little more, and it was not until after siesta that we set off to explore the island with lightly packed bikes and snorkeling gear. We found a salt lake and a few semi wild donkeys amongst other things.
The next day, Saturday, was finally excursion day! We left the harbor of Sali 09.30 in the morning on a small boat together with four Italians and two Slovenians that also wanted to go exploring this national park archipelago. The day was spent on deck getting some sun, checking the weird rock formations and relaxing. we stopped several times for snorkeling and swimming, and one time at the boat owners sisters house to have grilled fish and home made wine. When we finally returned back to Sali the clock had reached half past six in the evening so we had some dinner at the docks in a spaghetti restaurant. The boat back to Zadar left a few hours later and we where told that they don't accept bikes on the catamarans but we where allowed passage anyway, due to the fact that the boat was almost empty anyway.
Back in Zadar we found a campingsite to spend the night and now here we are. In a few hours a train will take us to the inland city of Knin where, hopefully, we can change trains and go to Split, back to the coast. From there we plan to visit one or two more islands before our flight back to Stockholm on Sunday. Until the next post, good bye!
onsdag 19 augusti 2009
Cykel genom Kroatien 3
Hey, again!
Im a little tired so this wont be a very long post. We are in Zadar now, arrived late yesterday evening from Mali Losinj. Today we have been checking out the town and relaxing. Tomorrow we hope to go diving/snorkeling if we can make it to the dive center 30 km from here before the boat leaves. The internet connection here is a little crappy so i cant upload any photos.. but i promise its beutiful here :)
Im a little tired so this wont be a very long post. We are in Zadar now, arrived late yesterday evening from Mali Losinj. Today we have been checking out the town and relaxing. Tomorrow we hope to go diving/snorkeling if we can make it to the dive center 30 km from here before the boat leaves. The internet connection here is a little crappy so i cant upload any photos.. but i promise its beutiful here :)
söndag 16 augusti 2009
Cykel genom Kroatien 2
Hello again!
Now we are in Croatia. In a town called Pula on the southernmost edge of the huge peninsula called Istria. The road here has been varied, sometimes better and sometimes worse. But I will pick up where i left off in the last post.
We arrived in Trieste, Italy in the late evening, and just as predicted we needed to sleep at the train station. The night guard was helpful enough to show us a good corner and made sure that our wallets were safe (in our underwear). Well, we spent the night there and took off early in the morning, towards Slovenia. After getting some directions from another biking couple we found our way to a border control that was not on the highway. Passing through was easy and on the other side we had some freshly caught calamari for lunch (fried of course). The journy carried on over some huge hills to the town of Portoroz and the camping site for the night. Here we could enjoy our first dip in the sea. Good times.
In the morning we set our handlebars for the croatian border. The passing here was also trouble free and we just needed to assure the border guard that we didnt have any alcohol with us and he let us through. The cars didnt have to answer any questions at all. After the border we found a mountain. Good times. It was steep as hell but we are stubborn and our buttocks are hard, so we won in the end!
After refueling (coffe, greek salad and ice cream) we went for the goal of the day, another camping site. The road took us over some beutiful bridges over the mediterranean bays along the coast and soon we spotted a good site. Though actually, what we saw was the rear end of a HUGE camping site. It was like roskilde festival with malls, restaurants and fast food kiosks inside. I got lost when looking for the reception and not until 21.30 could we finally enjoy some dinner. Speaking of food, we have been having a little problem. we thought it might be a good idea to buy the gas bottles we need for our kitchen when we arrive, so we dont need to take them on the plane. Well of course they have another standard connection for gas bottles here so its been impossible so far to fire up our small, light weight camping kitchen (until today, see picture).
We have been biking a few days along the coast of Istria now, in a similar fashion, taking it slow and enjoying the views. From this town Pula that we are in now we will take a boat tomorrow at 07.00 to the island of Lošinj. From there we have no idea where to go but the plan is to reach Pag, a long island known for its moon-like landscape. Hopefully we will reach there tomorrow or the day after and start biking south towards Zadar. I will write a new post as soon as i get the chance! And as always, its great to read some comments!
//Malte
Now we are in Croatia. In a town called Pula on the southernmost edge of the huge peninsula called Istria. The road here has been varied, sometimes better and sometimes worse. But I will pick up where i left off in the last post.
We arrived in Trieste, Italy in the late evening, and just as predicted we needed to sleep at the train station. The night guard was helpful enough to show us a good corner and made sure that our wallets were safe (in our underwear). Well, we spent the night there and took off early in the morning, towards Slovenia. After getting some directions from another biking couple we found our way to a border control that was not on the highway. Passing through was easy and on the other side we had some freshly caught calamari for lunch (fried of course). The journy carried on over some huge hills to the town of Portoroz and the camping site for the night. Here we could enjoy our first dip in the sea. Good times.
In the morning we set our handlebars for the croatian border. The passing here was also trouble free and we just needed to assure the border guard that we didnt have any alcohol with us and he let us through. The cars didnt have to answer any questions at all. After the border we found a mountain. Good times. It was steep as hell but we are stubborn and our buttocks are hard, so we won in the end!
After refueling (coffe, greek salad and ice cream) we went for the goal of the day, another camping site. The road took us over some beutiful bridges over the mediterranean bays along the coast and soon we spotted a good site. Though actually, what we saw was the rear end of a HUGE camping site. It was like roskilde festival with malls, restaurants and fast food kiosks inside. I got lost when looking for the reception and not until 21.30 could we finally enjoy some dinner. Speaking of food, we have been having a little problem. we thought it might be a good idea to buy the gas bottles we need for our kitchen when we arrive, so we dont need to take them on the plane. Well of course they have another standard connection for gas bottles here so its been impossible so far to fire up our small, light weight camping kitchen (until today, see picture).
We have been biking a few days along the coast of Istria now, in a similar fashion, taking it slow and enjoying the views. From this town Pula that we are in now we will take a boat tomorrow at 07.00 to the island of Lošinj. From there we have no idea where to go but the plan is to reach Pag, a long island known for its moon-like landscape. Hopefully we will reach there tomorrow or the day after and start biking south towards Zadar. I will write a new post as soon as i get the chance! And as always, its great to read some comments!
//Malte
tisdag 11 augusti 2009
Cykel genom Kroatien 1
Hello everyone.
First of all, this post is in english because there are some (hopefully) international readers that will want to know about our trip. Second of all I (Malte) havent updated anything at all during the summer like Johan pointed out. This is of course not acceptable at all, but for now i will focus on this biking trip that we are on. A post describing other activities during the summer might pop up later if I feel like it =)
Anyhow, at the time of writing ( 18.28 hours 11/8 2009) we are in a small internet cafe with limited bandwith in the north italian town of Portoguaro. We have been biking for two days since we arrived at Treviso airport close to Venice. on our way we experienced sleeping on the curb, italian old ladies, disgustingly large tourism complexes along the ocean and much more, so read on!
We landed in Treviso at around 20.00 o clock in the evening on sunday. our bikes came out in broken boxes thrown on the conveyer belt, good times. it took us a good two hours to completely screw everything together and we got some help from two swedish old men who came on the same flight as us. they where self acclaimed biking experts. After this annoyance of putting together the bikes we both felt like dinner, but where to tired to go anywhere. luckily we found a place across the street from the airport where they would microwave us some tortellini bolognese. when we where fed time was around 23.00 and we where both exhausted. the plan was to sleep in the airport waiting hall so no hostel was booked. The problem was that Treviso airport dont see many flights at night so they close everything at 23.00. as exhausted as we where we just decided to sleep on the curb next to the staff parkinglot behind the airport. Excellent place by the way, I can recommend it to any broke traveller =)
In the morning, after removing insects from underneath the clothes and brushing the teeth in the airport bathroom we took off. Mission 1 was to find breakfast and mission 2 was to find either a roadsign pointing to some place on our map (which conveniently enough does not include Treviso but rather starts 20 km east of town) or find a map.
After a few twists and turns we managed both to get some food to fill our roaring bellies and to buy a map from the train station. So then we started following the map.
Not more than 3o minutes after we left Treviso train station some old ladies drove past us on their bikes, saw that we where checking a map and asked where we where going. I think... I dont speak italian at all. Anyway we tried to explain that we dont have any exact travel pland but are going to Croatia. Im not sure how much of that that actually got through the language barrier but anyway they told us to follow them. So after a quite winding tour through the north italian farmlands (corn, tomatoes and grapes, mostly) they led us onto the highway. Yep. And just pointed in one direction and said:
-Mare, siempre mare!
Which I translate to aproximately "Ocean, always ocean", meaning the road sign that leads towards the ocean. So we followed their advice, for a while but the highway gets boring real fast and we wanted to see more countryside. Roughly following the direction of the big road we managed to get by on smaller roads and tractor tracks. along the way was a trattoria where they where happy to serve up some pasta pomodore for lunch. After lunch we just kept going through roughly the same kind of landscapes until we reached the sea.
A dramatic change in landscape took place here. The hotels grow towards the sky much like the crops in the countryside, but huge and smelling of fat tourists. anyway, somewhere in this ghetto of charter tourists there was a camping site sign on our map, and after a while we actually found it. Good times.
In the evening came a huge thunderstorm, but it was over as fast as it came.
Today we have been following the coastline for quite some time, through golf courts, roller skating roads and beach access hotel complexes. Finally our map told us to turn north, away from the coast and on winding country roads towards the city of Portoguaro, where we currently are. The distance we have biked so far totals to 125 kilometers. This evening awaits a train to the city of Trieste, where we once again arrive late at night without any booked hostel or any chance at camping, but hey, travelling is all about adventure, right?
First of all, this post is in english because there are some (hopefully) international readers that will want to know about our trip. Second of all I (Malte) havent updated anything at all during the summer like Johan pointed out. This is of course not acceptable at all, but for now i will focus on this biking trip that we are on. A post describing other activities during the summer might pop up later if I feel like it =)
Anyhow, at the time of writing ( 18.28 hours 11/8 2009) we are in a small internet cafe with limited bandwith in the north italian town of Portoguaro. We have been biking for two days since we arrived at Treviso airport close to Venice. on our way we experienced sleeping on the curb, italian old ladies, disgustingly large tourism complexes along the ocean and much more, so read on!
We landed in Treviso at around 20.00 o clock in the evening on sunday. our bikes came out in broken boxes thrown on the conveyer belt, good times. it took us a good two hours to completely screw everything together and we got some help from two swedish old men who came on the same flight as us. they where self acclaimed biking experts. After this annoyance of putting together the bikes we both felt like dinner, but where to tired to go anywhere. luckily we found a place across the street from the airport where they would microwave us some tortellini bolognese. when we where fed time was around 23.00 and we where both exhausted. the plan was to sleep in the airport waiting hall so no hostel was booked. The problem was that Treviso airport dont see many flights at night so they close everything at 23.00. as exhausted as we where we just decided to sleep on the curb next to the staff parkinglot behind the airport. Excellent place by the way, I can recommend it to any broke traveller =)
In the morning, after removing insects from underneath the clothes and brushing the teeth in the airport bathroom we took off. Mission 1 was to find breakfast and mission 2 was to find either a roadsign pointing to some place on our map (which conveniently enough does not include Treviso but rather starts 20 km east of town) or find a map.
After a few twists and turns we managed both to get some food to fill our roaring bellies and to buy a map from the train station. So then we started following the map.
Not more than 3o minutes after we left Treviso train station some old ladies drove past us on their bikes, saw that we where checking a map and asked where we where going. I think... I dont speak italian at all. Anyway we tried to explain that we dont have any exact travel pland but are going to Croatia. Im not sure how much of that that actually got through the language barrier but anyway they told us to follow them. So after a quite winding tour through the north italian farmlands (corn, tomatoes and grapes, mostly) they led us onto the highway. Yep. And just pointed in one direction and said:
-Mare, siempre mare!
Which I translate to aproximately "Ocean, always ocean", meaning the road sign that leads towards the ocean. So we followed their advice, for a while but the highway gets boring real fast and we wanted to see more countryside. Roughly following the direction of the big road we managed to get by on smaller roads and tractor tracks. along the way was a trattoria where they where happy to serve up some pasta pomodore for lunch. After lunch we just kept going through roughly the same kind of landscapes until we reached the sea.
A dramatic change in landscape took place here. The hotels grow towards the sky much like the crops in the countryside, but huge and smelling of fat tourists. anyway, somewhere in this ghetto of charter tourists there was a camping site sign on our map, and after a while we actually found it. Good times.
In the evening came a huge thunderstorm, but it was over as fast as it came.
Today we have been following the coastline for quite some time, through golf courts, roller skating roads and beach access hotel complexes. Finally our map told us to turn north, away from the coast and on winding country roads towards the city of Portoguaro, where we currently are. The distance we have biked so far totals to 125 kilometers. This evening awaits a train to the city of Trieste, where we once again arrive late at night without any booked hostel or any chance at camping, but hey, travelling is all about adventure, right?
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