End of the day, this Wednesday 17th of August and I am crossing the border to Croatia. I am discovering my first Croatian landscapes. Bon, right now it is not looking like a postcard : straight roads, fields and outside landfill, nothing glamorous. But nothing can kill my excitement. Even with the 40km I still have to do. I ride across Varazdin but sadly I don’t have time to visit the city, time is going quickly and I have not arrived yet. I am going to Novi Marof, a village between Varazdin and Zagreb. Every climb starts to be hard, I am not returnqing but almost. I try to enjoy the sunset in the countryside to forget the tiredness. I am surprised to see all these little vineries. Dario will tell me tonight that here, everybody gets one wine for their own consumption. It’s a very good idea – be independent in wine! Finally I arrived at my destination. 109km, new record, I am exhausted. Dario welcomed me and showed me the youth club, where I will sleep tonight. The place is cool and big, a nice place for young guys to spend time. Dario is working there, he invests lots of time for them and the community of Novi Marof. He is very inspiring. He offers me to have dinner together after work, around 9pm. I didn’t fall asleep until then! I asked him if I could make dinner but he wanted to do it. He indulged me : vegetables soup and pasta salad. I spent à very good evening with him, it is already midnight, I am starting to be tired after this big day. I learnt à lot tonight about Croatia and Croatians, I am so excited to discover this country!!
The next day, Dario offers to call his cousin Ana who lives in Zagreb. She can host me!! So cool. Before going, I had breakfast with Dario, breakfast with the leftovers, 2 meals in 1. But I think, no more raw onions in the morning for me. I have 60km until Zagreb, it was not the best ride I got. The capital of Croatia is not very well done for bikers. Between the bicycle path and sidewalks, I managed to cross Zagreb to go to Ana’s home. I met her after work. She has a beautiful apartment, decorated with her paintings I love it. We succeeded in putting my bike on her balcony. I feel refreshed at her home : a shower, a washing machine (it is like a dream after a month doing hand washing), and a couch! We sit on it to start to get to know each other. For dinner, she offers me some Strukli made by her mom. It is a specialty from Croatia, her mom does it for family time and puts in some cheese or zucchini, which is very nice. To digest, Ana proposed to me to ride to the lake of Zagreb. I am not used to riding during night time, I leave without lights, and it starts to be dark… I follow Ana who gots some. The lake of Jarun is well known by locals, especially during the weekends for barbecues. Lots of people come for exercise as well as riding, running or rowing. We rode around the lake before stopping at the beach to have a drink. I feel like seeing an old friend, whereas we know each other for only a few hours. But we must go, some are working tomorrow!! (Mmh.. only Ana).
So in the next morning, after a huge breakfast (with yogurt, chia and red fruits, I loved it!!) I leave Ana working at her home and go to visit Zagreb by bike. It is 3km from her home. I take the raincoat with me, it is cloudy today. I have an appointment at 11 o’clock to do a guided tour of the city. It gives a nice first look around between the lower and upper towns. In 2020, in march during the lockdown, the city got a big earthquake, 5.3. One person died and lots of damage. Since then the city is building up. The cathedral and churches are not able to be visited because there are works going on But, there are still plenty of things to do and to see. I can’t say everything I learnt and I saw during this day here because it will take up all the page. But one day is not enough to discover the city. I could learn more about the History of the city that became the capital of Croatia in 1991 for independence. I didn’t have time to visit museums as well. But there was a street festival “Cest is d’best”. So this afternoon, after a nice lunch, I walk on the streets of Zagreb and enjoy the little music concerts which are happening in different places before the rain comes. It is raining a lot, time to go back to Ana’s home. We spent a nice evening together watching an American movie : in Croatia, every movie is in the original version with Croatian subtitles, not like in France where we translate everything… She cooked dinner for us. She made something I had never eaten before : Kraljeski drobljenac, from Germany. It is like pancakes but scrambled (I have to do it again, loved it).
It is the weekend, Ana goes to spend it in Novi Marof, I take the road again after this nice break in Zagreb. The weather is still not very nice, but I will get only one shower today on my way. I am going to Mrežnički Brig – I know you don’t know where these places are I am writing about, it is hard to imagine you pronouncing them. It is a very nice place along the river, but sadly I won’t spend too much time there. I am going to the Plitvice Lakes National Park. It is a must to do in Croatia. I am going to Slunj, 25km north of the lakes and then I will change my mind. I won’t go there. After reading online bad comments about crowding, and after speaking with Tobi, a German guy who visited Croatia by bike long time ago and has been there, this park is not natural anymore. It is becoming a good example of mass tourism, like a Croatian Disneyland where nature doesn’t have its rights anymore. You can have a look at the pictures online, you will see the same as me. And I , save money from 2 nights at the campground and the entry to the park is like 80€. But it costs me a few kilometers because I have to do a detour if I want to get away from cars. And instead of seeing beautiful lakes, I got shitty weather all the way. I think it was my worst day. I ride totally wet, hard to open my eyes. And nowhere to take shelter!! I am in the middle of à forest, so I have no choice, I have to keep going. So on top of being wet and cold, I start to starve! There are some tears running down my cheeks in addition to the rain. The mood is dropping. It is 3pm, I find a table Shelter from the rain (but not from the cold). I eat quickly before going to a bar (finally there is some life around here!). And then, I get very surprised, I am in a small bar with lots of smoke! I learned that in Croatia you can still smoke inside bars. With the decoration and the atmosphere, I feel like I’m back in the 80’s. Hard to enjoy my tea surrounded by smoke, but at least I warmed up. The rain stops a bit, I can ride. I follow the advice of Tobi who told me that the best places to do wild camping in Croatia is around churches or football fields. So tonight, I will sleep near a church. And not far away, there is a table under the shelter, I can dry for dinner.
Bon it is not funny It was raining all night and it is still raining this morning! Everything is wet. So I made the décision to go to the coast to find some sunshine! It has been 4 days now and the weather is still not good. I need to find vitamin D to keep going! We are at the end of August, I hope there will be less people on the coast. Anyway, I still have a few kilometers to go before finding the sea. So this morning, I rode under the rain again. And it is climbing. I am wet inside and outside in my raincoat. But I can dry on the way down the valley until Otočac where the rain finally stopped. I dream about a nice hot shower, and the sea is still far away, so I decided to stop in a camping area which is not really on my way. I like to do detours. I can dry my tent and some clothes under the plum trees. But I never looked at the forecast, I didn’t think it would rain again the next night…
So Wednesday morning, everything is wet again… keep smiling!! During breakfast, I spoke with a German couple who told me it will rain for the next 2 days. I didn’t listen to them, we are in mountains, I am going to the coast, I can feel it will be different!! So I packed everything and went to see the sea. But there is still a good day of riding and climbing before that. I can see there are mountains to cross before I can see the water. I cross villages, hamlets, rivers, plum trees. Still 300m of elevation and I arrive at the camp of Velebit situated in the Sjeverni Velebit national park which includes the biggest mountains of Croatia. The view is awesome, the camping as well. It is a hippie camping. After dinner, I go to join people around a big campfire. Lots of Germans but it is nice because all speak English. Bread on a stick cooked in the fire with my first rakija (it is à strong alcohol famous in the Balkans), around a nice warm fire. I have a very good memory of this evening under the stars. So yes, there are lots of people who told me to do wild camping but I got so many good evenings in the campground Human warmth doesn’t have a price !
I thort about staying another night because I felt so well there, but the call from the sea (and the cold evening) pushed me to keep going! And it was a very good décision! In 5km, voilà the Adriatic Sea !!! After 6 weeks of riding, I finally saw the sea !! And Croatia along the coast will give me lots of good (and bad) moments !!
https://www.komoot.fr/collection/1786457/-croatie-cote-terre
