17 May, Jurasi to Cres

May 17, 2023

https://www.strava.com/activities/9087721844

Today was my first day of island hopping from Northern Croatia to Dubrovnik. My original plan, well be fore the birth of Brexit, was to meet Laura in Athens at the end of her school summer term and for both of us to island hop around the Greek Islands with or without bicycles. Brexit screwed that up by making the UK comply with the Schengen area rules. Non EU residents can only spend 90 days in any 180 days.

However as Laura is no longer working we have been able to slot this two week trip for her in Dubrovnik. I can't wait to see her, only 13 days to go.

This morning started with me straight on to a steep uphill from my accommodation to the main road heading towards the ferry terminal. I managed more than half before I had to jump off when a car came the other way and the road was too narrow to pass safely. Getting back on at that gradient was not going to happen so I pushed the last bit to the road. Then it was a relatively easy ride up and then down and down to the terminal.

The ferry runs every couple of hours and there already was a short line of cars waiting for the next. A ticket for me and the bike was 6.90€. I had a look around and then headed for the cafe for a coffee which turned out to be the most expensive yet at 3.80€. More expensive than France even. I guess they don't get a huge amount of business and they have a captive market as there is nothing else there.

I had a chat with a young Swiss couple who were also cycling. They had taken the train from home to Rijeka and are heading to Dubrovnik. His bike was laden down with his luggage and their camping gear. She explained that it balanced the cycling well and slowed him down enough for her to keep up. They hadn't actually camped yet due to the weather and I suspect they may not camp as the hostels appear to be quite cheap in Croatia and at the moment are not booked out. I am booking rooms just now b cause they are roughly the same price as hostels in Spain, France and Italy. That may change as I get to Split. Accommodation for Laura and I is already booked and we are not in hostels.

The ferry journey took about 30 mins and was a little lumpy but not enough to worry about. Then it was off and uphill for an hour and half and 11km. Not too steep but enough to test the legs. At the top I stopped to have a rest, have some grapes and some water. A couple, my age, passed on ebikes heading to the ferry terminal. They said hello and asked if I spoke English. When I said I am Scottish they stopped for a chat. They were from Orange County, CA and were on a cycle tour from Trieste in Italy. They had previously been in Spain and this was their third year in a row holidaying in Europe. They just love it. We chatted for almost half an hour then they headed towards their ferry and I started downhill towards Cres town. Once I cleared the roadside trees the views or ended up and I stopped several times to take photos. At one place it was very quiet as I was sheltered from the wind. All I could hear were birds and the background, gentle, thrum of honey bees. The surrounding trees were scraggy oak clinging onto the hillside by gnarly root systems. However there was an abundance of a pink flower which according to Google Lens was a wild sage. Rubbing a leaf and sniffing released the most amazing herbal smell. It was very heady. I guess the bees were gorging on the sage and the blossom amongst the trees.

I continued downhill until I hit the point where Cres island narrows and I could sea both the east and west coast at the same time. At this point the wind caught me unawares and it blew me towards the right side of the road quite violently. I managed to correct myself but if I had been hugging the edge of the road I may have been in trouble. Again I stopped for photos before continuing. The downhill into Cres town was quite exhilarating.

The town is very pretty with the bars and restaurants crescented around the busy harbour. The sun was out and that made everything sparkle. I looked around, grabbed a beer and ate the sandwich Otta had made for me. Then I tried to find my accommodation. Behind the harbour area was a maze of tiny little streets. In many I could touch both walls. There was no vehicles although they must be allowed at some times, perhaps with a personal mission or licence. It took me a while as Google Maps didn't recognise the address and the mapping on Booking.com is pretty useless.

Once there I was met by a lady who introduced herself as Jana, pronounced but spelt Dana.

Then it was the usual routine of shower, change, look round, ice cream or beer or both and then food.

The ice cream was mostly disappointing. The two places I saw seemed to be selling the same stuff. It looked mass produced. I chose one at random and had a cheesecake with dolce and a scoop of very yellow vanilla. The colour reminded me of the yellow ice cream we had as kids. It was sold in rectangular blocks wrapped in paper. You also got a rectangular "cone" and you had to manouvre the ice cream into the cone without dropping it or getting covered in ice cream. I think it was Walls.

I digress. This ice cream was actually ok. Sweet and cold with a good texture. It could have been more flavourful but for mass produced it was ok.

Cheesecake & Dolce, wrong, 2/10

(Yellow) vanilla, wrong, 2/10