Quit our jobs, sold our home and everything in it, gone riding...

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Another collage. We had taken so many pictures, it was hard to choose just a few for the blog

I counted, and between Neda and I, we have taken over 500 photos for the day

10 kms go by very slowly when everything around you is so interesting!

Even these little bugs on the water were fascinating

At the end of the day, we climbed back on the bikes. I was exhausted and the camera felt 10 lbs heavier because of all the pictures I took. Still, it was a great way to kick off our Adriatic coast trip!

Rain, rain, please stay in away!!!

 

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Ride safe!

Thanks! Appreciate it!

 

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I love your life! Love it even more that you share with us. Those waterfalls are amazing.

For the record I'm not scared of much but Neda angry would turn my blood cold too.

 

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Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/313.html

We are headed back to the shore, where we'll spend most of our trip following the coastal road southwards. Neda has been dreaming of riding along the Adriatic Sea through Dalmatia ever since we started riding motorcycles, so this leg of our journey has been a long time coming.

This is the last we'll see of the mainland for a while. Lots of sea in our future!

Our riding days are pretty short these days - only an hour of riding today. Partly to give our butts time to recover from the horrible dirtbike seats in Thailand, but also because there's lot to take in along the Adriatic. Our destination for the day is the coastal town of Zadar (pronounced ZAH-dar, not like RADAR).

As usual, we find a cheap place outside of the city. I'm so thankful Neda is able to chat with the owner in Croatian and organize the check-in while I offload the bikes. It's been a while since one of us could speak the local language while traveling. It makes things so much easier and less stressful!

Our place is cheap because there's been a history of UFO sightings in the neighbourhood and tourists are afraid of being abducted by aliens

That's actually the Zadar cupola (dome) sports stadium just outside of our apartment.

 

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After six months of eating out in SE Asia, we are back to making our own food every day. Much more healthier!

The main draw of Zadar is the old city

Zadar has much of the same familiar, Roman architecture as Pula. It seems a bit more cleaner and taken-care-of than Neda's hometown. Tourism is such a big industry in Istria and along the Adriatic coast, that there is a struggle amongst all the towns and cities for government funding to maintain their old historic centres.

I recall sitting in on many conversations with the Pula girls and they're always complaining that Rijeka gets the lion's share of the funding, leaving their hometown to rely solely on the drawing power of its beaches.

Practicing for the Dalmatia Cup 2026

Zadar marks the beginning of Northern Dalmatia. It's not as recognized as the major cities further south, like Split and Dubrovnik, so it gets fewer foreign tourists. Also, it's still early on in the season, so the pedestrian-only streets of the historic centre aren't as crowded. Which suits us just fine.

Our apartment would probably be a lot more expensive and also booked up if we had visited a month later.

 

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Five Wells Square

In the 16th century, Zadar was under siege by the Turkish. They withstood the attack by building a huge water sistern with five wells lined up in a row. The wells are no longer functional, but the square is now popularly frequented by local skateboarders.

Still quite busy, despite being the start of the tourist season

I can't believe the weather we're having. After so long riding through burning season in Thailand, it's so unusual to see brilliant blue skies overhead! We are lapping up the good weather like thirsty dogs. With our luck, we never know how long this good fortune will last.

Narrow streets of the historic centre. Pula has nicer cobblestones, though...
I say this within Neda's earshot.

 

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Nice ornamental touches in the window sills above our heads

St. Donatus Church on the left, bell tower of the Cathedral of St Anastasia on the right

Some ruins of an ancient Roman forum lay at the foot of Saint Mary's Church

Only a few columns remain standing of the old Roman forum

I feel confident in saying the Pula Amphitheatre is waaaay better than Zadar's Roman Forum. Totally.

 

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Birds congregating on a window sill enjoying the weather

We took a break from the historic centre to enjoy the weather along the boardwalk by the coast

The warm sun is coupled with the cool breeze coming off the Adriatic Sea. It's such a lazy day, taking a slow stroll along the coast, while people-watching and peering over the waterfront into the deep blue waters.

These marbled steps are part of a large experimental musical instrument/sculpure called the Sea Organ

Waves lapping towards the shore hit 35 harmonically-tuned tubes underneath the concrete boardwalk, forcing air up through whistles in the sidewalk above. You can see the whistles on the top step in the picture above. Depending on the size of the wave and which tube it hits, a series of notes are played either singly or in chords.

[video=youtube;j3NUGIwRLe0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3NUGIwRLe0[/video]
Here's some audio of what it sounds like

 

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The benches near the Sea Organ are arranged into the corresponding black and white keys of a piano

Nikola Bašić, the artist who created the Sea Organ, also designed another sculpture nearby, called Sun Salutation. It's a huge round circle of blue photovoltaic cells that charges up a bank of batteries throughout the day. When night falls, it releases all this pent-up energy in a dazzling display of disco-inspired lights.

Cool reflections on the Sun Salutation

Like all the towns along the Adriatic, Zadar is one of the stops for cruise ships

Not that we were trying, but it's lucky our visit to the historic centre was between cruise ship stops. Just can't handle the crowds spilling out of these behemoths!

 

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Spiro Brusina was a famous Croatian malacologist, which is the study of mollusks

A budding malacologist

Ships docked by the houses along the shore

 

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Sphinx of Zadar - a little known tourist attraction

Neda found out there's a Sphinx in Zadar! A local artist built it in 1918 as a memorial to his wife. It used to protect a goldfish pond between it's paws, but the pond has long since vanished. The sculpture is tucked away on one of the beautiful estates in the Bay of Maestral just outside the historic centre, and we saw it while riding around town. I hope we get to the see the bigger version in Egypt one day.

Neda planning out our next steps on the Adriatic coast

Ever since leaving Chiang Mai, I've been in charge of our route all throughout SE Asia. Such a relief to relinquish the reins and have Neda do all the planning and logistics. It makes sense, since she speaks the language, but it's really nice just to relax and follow for a change.

"Ready to go? Where to next, Neda?"

 

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Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/314.html

We're slowly heading south on the Adriatic coast, taking our time to see all of the small towns along the way. We really have to thank the Pula Girls, Iva and Tajana, for organizing our route, they were invaluable in pointing out stuff that's not on the "Top Ten Things To See in ******" lists on all the tourist brochures and websites.

Everytime we book into an apartment, we make sure to pick up some groceries along the way. We've been making our own meals a lot more since getting back to Europe, since it's cheaper. But Neda loves cooking so much, so it's a win-win situation.

As we get closer to our destination, I spy a grocery store ahead.

"Let's stop in that one", I radio to Neda.
"No. That's a Lidl. It's German."
Just a Lidl bit picky? I don't say this out loud. Instead, I just agree, "Ooookey..." A bit later on down the road: "How about this one?"
"No, Carrefour is French."
CaresNot for Carrefour. Got it. "Okay. How about that one over there?"
"I don't know where SPAR is from, but it's not Croatian. We're in Croatia now. We have to go to a Croatian grocery store!"

I get reminded that Neda is a Pula Girl too...

Far from being a nationalist, Neda just likes going to a grocer that carries all the brands that she's familiar with from her childhood. What we've discovered while traveling is that you don't have to eat at restaurants to get the local flavour. Sometimes it's enough just to shop at the neighbourhood grocery stores and see what ingredients and spices the locals use.

What makes it more special is that in Croatia, I have a personal Croatian chef using authentic Croatian ingredients!

Arriving at our apartment outside of Šibenik

As usual, we are staying in a neighbourhood outside of Šibenik (SHEE-ba-nik), just an hour away from Zadar. Yes, we are redefining Slow Travel. But the Adriatic is one of Neda's Bucket List trips, so we are savouring it. And the weather is co-operating beautifully!

Neda gleefully unpacks her Croatian grocery goodies like a kid at Christmastime. She's making mackeral with blitva, a Croatian specialty!

Edit: Neda says, "Please do not send me fish for Christmas."

There's a ceramic stove/fireplace on the right behind Neda. I thought this was an interesting-looking appliance. It's called a Kachelofen, and although I've seen it in a lot of Croatian houses, it's actually German in origin. It's a masonry heater - the fire inside heats up the bricks around it, which is then insulated by the ceramic tiles and it stays warm for quite a long time to continuously heat up the entire house. Cool. Er... Hot!

 

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After lunch, we ride out to a little-known spot that the tourists don't know about

Rather than just visiting the historic centre of Šibenik, we are going to hike a little (just a little - I was promised!) on a trail that's known only to locals called Šetnica (SHET-Neet-Sa).

Parking the bikes. Across the St Ante canal you can see Šibenik

Trail starts off low, but quickly climbs to get a better view of the canal and the town across from the trail

 

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It's not a long walk and the trail is beautifully paved and winds along the ridge of a hill

The terra-cotta rooftiles of Šibenik are so Mediterranean!

Something I always do when I pass by these tourist pay-telescopes is to have a quick peek through them just to see if anyone has left some time on it. It's silly, I know.

To my surprise, this one was still working. I checked and it *was* a pay-telescope. Sweet! Free telescope-time!!! I'm so cheap. I put my iPhone up to the eyepiece and took a picture. Because in addition to free stuff, I also like taking pictures.

Bah, my zoom lens takes better pictures

 

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The days are sooo long here. Late aftenoon and still plenty of daylight!

The trail is frequented mainly by local hikers and bicyclists.

It was only completed a couple of years ago, and I think the city would like more tourists to know about it, but I'm glad all the literature isn't up to date yet. I like being the only foreign tourist around. Kinda hypocritical, I know.

The trail is 4.5 kms long one way and terminates at the St. Nicholas Fort, but we're getting hungry and want to make it to the old town before sunset, so we turn around before we get to the end.

Heading back for food!

 

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Šibenik harbour

Parking the bikes in the old town

Saint James Cathedral (or Katedrala sv. Jakova in Croatia)

 

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The historic centre is not one of the best along the Adriatic, there are grander ones towards the south in Dalmatia, but we're actually here on a mission.

Iva is an avid foodie and she asked us to review this restaurant for her

It's taken "Best Restaurant in Croatia" awards multiple years in a row and since Iva hasn't eaten here yet, she's asked us to see if it lived up to the hype. We haven't been to a fancy restaurant in forever, so it was fun getting all dressed up and fussed over by the wait staff.

The food was good, but I don't know if it's the Best Restaurant in Croatia. We've eaten at better places. So we'll have to send a Skip-It review back to Iva. And then it's back to home-prepped meals for us.

Watching the sun get lower in the sky. So much daylight here!!!

 

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While we were walking around the old town, this guy stopped us and asked, "Are you Gene and Neda traveling around the world?"

Wow! Dino is a local scooter-rider and is into anything two-wheeled. He and his girlfriend saw us pull up into town and he immediately recognized us from our blog! We talked about motorcycles and our trip for a while. He wanted to take a picture with us and of our bikes. We felt like celebrities! We always find it fun to talk about our travels with people.

On the way out of town, Dino snaps some riding shots of us

And when we get back home, I found this in my inbox! Hvala, Dino!

If you are wondering how I take all those pictures while riding, here's my secret!

Totally enjoying this lazy pace through the Adriatic!

 

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Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/315.html

We are continuing our dawdle along the Adriatic coast. Our mileage for the day is less than 100 kms. If we moved any slower, we'd be heading towards Istria!

When we packed our bags onto the bikes, Neda noticed the neighbourhood cats in Sibenik had left her a little present. Apparently they didn't like the cat pee smell on Neda's seat from Medulin and decided to add their spray in a territorial one-upmanship (one-catmanship?) Neda was not impressed.

They didn't pee on my bike. Everytime I approach Neda on her bike, I sniff really loudly and scrunch my nose. Neda gives me the evil eye in return.

Glad to be leaving the cats of Sibenik behind

It's a short coastal ride to Trogir, a beautiful port town. We're now in the heart of Dalmatia and Neda tells me that the people here speak very differently from Istrians. She tells me that whenever Dalmatian people talk, they sound very happy. In Croatian, the word for "beautiful" is "lijepa" (lee-YEA-pah). In Dalmatian, they pronounce it LEE-pah, so it always sounds like they are smiling when they talk.

The weather in Dalmatia is LEE-pah!

Neda knows her country so well. She's timed our ride down the Adriatic coast perfectly with regards to the weather. Our sunny streak remains unbroken. This is soo unusual. I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop - like a freak hurricane will touch down on us tomorrow or something...

 

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The name of this castle is Kamerlengo Castle

I love that word. Kamerlengo. I love the way it feels on my tongue when I say it. I've loved it ever since I read it in that Dan Brown novel: Angels and Demons. I love the fact that Ewan McGregor plays the camerlengo in the movie. Kamerlengo.

Inside Kamerlengo Castle. Kamerlengo.

The view of Trogir from the top of Kamerlengo Castle.