Come Fly (Ride) with me - Croatia to Greece
What a fantastic start to a hopefully unforgettable trip. Split greeted us from it's best side, sunny, warm and just stunning. A first climbs we could get from the fabulous rooftop terrace on our start hotel overlooking the old town and the Harbour. A stroll on the ancient cobble stones, polished from the feet of generations of visitors gave you a right feel for the gravity of the city's long history. Nevertheless, it was inviting and beautiful at the same time. Restaurants offered their specialties under big umbrellas outside, if you could find room for more there were plenty of ice cream stores and bakeries for a little something afterwards. You can just sit down and watch the world pass by. However, for us it was also the start of a new adventure. After the welcome briefing, we checked out the bikes and generally let the excitement take hold of the things to come. We like to give a big welcome to Kimberley, Dean, Chris, Mark, Janell, Dustin, Scott, CT & Donna! Tomorrow we will also have Alex joining us in Dubrovnik to complete our group.
Finally, we are in the saddle of our Bikes and the journey can begin. Today’s mission is to ride mainly along the Adriatic Highway or more precisely the “Jadranska Magistrala” known as one of the most beautiful coast roads of the world. Another point on today’s schedule have been the harsh but beautiful Cetina Gorge, the impressive Pelješac Bridge and the Elaphiti Islands. What a beautiful day.
Today Alex finally joined the group and made the pack complete. The morning we had to leave beautiful Dubrovnik behind and bit our farewell with a last view over the shoulder while the morning sun just engulfed the old walls. We loosely followed the coast towards the border and with a little luck we managed to cross into Montenegro without any delays. Heading towards the bay of Kotor traffic increased and you could tell that the region in popular with local tourists. The stony beaches were sprinkled with colorful sun umbrellas and bronzed bodies. At the bay of Kotor we hopped onto the other side with a short ferry ride, where we enjoyed a coffee stop overlooking the water. Refreshed, the group went on a free ride up the side of Lovćen National Park. At a little local restaurant with a wonder terrace towards the bay we had a well deserved lunch. And when we went back to the bikes a little specialties shop had opened his shutters to the delight of some group members, homemade schnapps was purchased for later! The ride after lunch was pure happiness, windy roads through a stunning scenery. We could open our throttles and just enjoy the pleasure of a breeze and a big smile on our face.This continued through out the afternoon until we reached Kolasin only interrupted briefly by a short intermezzo through the busy city of Podgorica. But only worth a shoulder shrug for this gang of experienced riders. We swooped through traffic in no time.
Welcome to Kolašin, one of Montenegro's mountain tourism centres. We had the opportunity to relax in our outstanding Spa Resort or to take a ride into the wilderness of Montenegro. The Durmitor Nationalpark is a stunningly beautiful mountain Range that has been part of the UNESCO's World Heritage List since 1980, our riding destination for today. We made our way up through narrow curvy roads with close to no traffic and ended up on a breathtaking plateau. After a Montenegro style soup, we made our way to the “Black Lakes”. Happy Days!
Everyone was keen to start this morning as the ride through the back country of Montenegro and Albania promised to be great. We made our way over the Trešnjevik Pass, which was a cracking little road with loads of corners and bends through the forest and up to a more alpine landscape. On top we were greeted with fog that accompanied us half way down on the other side. Nevertheless, everybody enjoyed the ride. At the bottom, we crossed into Albania and here the road really became a highlight. Brandnew tarmac through an impressive valley, with a ice blue river gashing alongside the road met by dozens of waterfalls dropping down into raging waters. Here we had a very Albanian lunch in a cosy restaurant overlooking the spectacle. With full bellies it was only a short ride to Shkodër. We climbed out of the valley through some fantastic switchbacks and slowly moved lower again and already seeing Shkodër lake from the far. What an amazing day we had again!
Today we went off the beaten path. After We left Shkodër into south direction we drove the marvellous and new A1 into the mountains direction north east. After a authentic pee break in Kukes, we continued our journey on small roads with no traffic around. After we had an absolutely local and delicious Lunch at the Border, we continued our Journey into North Macedonia. Our Aim for today was lake Ohrid, the third oldest lake of the world (behind Lake Titicaca in South America and Lake Baikal in Russia). Our hotel had probably the best breakfast view ever.
We said our farewell to Lake Ohrid this morning and followed the main road for a little while to Elbasan. We hit a bit of traffic on this part of the route but the group did very well leaving the busses and trucks behind. In Elbasan the traffic lights on our turn off were out of order which provided a whole adventure in itself to move on the busy crossing. From here we made our way to Berat were we had lunch. Berat has a picturesque old town, with beautiful old stone houses, cobblestone streets and stunning views over the valley. The highlight of our meal was the village chicken, which took ages but was very delicious. The whole restaurant team showed pride in this dish. After our break we took a small back country road south. The scenery was just amazing on our last stretch through the countryside. A fabulous day it was!
We left Albania today and had our last border crossing today. Our last country of this epic tour is Greece, the cradle of western civilisation and the birthplace of democracy. After a straight forward right to the border and an easy border crossing we drove first along the main road and left shortly after on secondary roads with no traffic into the “Zagoria” region. The biggest and least inhabited state of Greece is known for there remote well preserved villages and more than 200 years old stone bridges. After a Stop in “Monodendri“ we moved on to “Vikos Geaogre”, which is listed as the world’s deepest relative to its width gorge by the Guinness Book of World Records . The view was just breathtaking. Arriving at our Hotel at “Meteora”, Franzi waited for us with a well deserved Boot Beer. All in All a perfekt day!!!
Today we had a scheduled rest day in Kastraki on the foothills of the famous world heritage site of Meteora. Here the sandstone erections are the home of 6 remaining monasteries which sit on top seaming to float over the landscape. An impressive site, that came to fame in one of the early James Bond movies. The landscape itself has inspired early on the Greek mythology as the rock are known to be the remainders of Zeus' war against the titans. It is therefore no wonder that some riders decided to give the bikes a rest today and rather immerse themselves in the history and culture of the monastic site. We rented a van with a very knowledgeable guide and enjoyed the local sites and stunning views. We visited the monasteries, Varlaam, Holy Monastery of the Great Meteoron and Saint Stephen Nunnery. Each of them a true gem and unique experience. The group had a great day learning more about their history.
Meteora is of cause known for their incredible monasteries. Not very well known is, that here are some outstanding routes to take the bike for a ride. So we did. First half of the day we explored the Tringia and Kerketio mountains. On approximately 10 miles of our route was the road basically completely washed out, caused by severe rain this spring. Luckily it was no problem for our trustworthy adventure bikes. Later on, we had of cause to see the most beautiful of the monasteries, the “Valaam Monastery”. We completed our sightseeing tour with stops at the most scenic viewpoints of the Meteora panorama.
After Meteora with its incredible Monasteries from medieval times, today was finally the time to hit ancient Greece in Delphi. First of all, we had an incredible ride around the Plastira Reservoir. We drove basically through the clouds, but fortunately it did not rain, and we were blessed at the end of the loop with a nice view. Later, we headed shortly through the lowlands of Greece before we drove through one of Greece’s ski destinations at mount Parnassos (yes, ski is common in Greece). We were rewarded with a beautiful view and even with some more twisties. Arriving at Delphi, we had to explore the Athena and Apollo Sanctuary. It is just unbelievable what people were able to build 2400 years ago and that it is still in relatively good shape. We could already see the Peloponnese from our hotel on a cliff. That’s where we heading tomorrow to the historic Olympia. Finally, we are in ancient Greece!
Today's ride took us from one world heritage site to the other. We made our way along the coast line to the harbor town of Nafpaktos. We enjoyed a view on the Bay of Corinth and the ancient fortifications of the old town. Here we had a coffee, before we went onto the Charilaos Trikoupis Rio - Antirrio Bridge. A masterpiece of engineering, not only is it build to withstand a Magnitude 7 earthquake, but als is it growing continuously as it spanns over two tectonic plates. The rest of the early afternoon we cruised along winding country roads on our way to Olympia. We manged to arrive early, so we had plenty of time to discover the ruins and the local museum before we head back to the hotel, where we enjoyed a well deserved drink at the pool. With rising temperatures and improving weather we are looking forward to the last few days of our trip!
Today’s aim was to get to Kalamata early to experience this small Greek beach town. This town was founded around 1000 years ago and is with 70 thousand inhabitants the second biggest town on the Peleponnese. Kalamata is famous for its black “Kalamata-Olives”. The way we chose was “of couse” on backroads through the mountains. Our first break was in Langadia where we enjoyed a coffee with an incredible view. Later on, we continued to Dimitsa. This historic town played an important role in the production of gunpowder with the help of water energy. We could as well learn the steps of leather production in the waterpower museum. A dinner on the rooftop bar of our hotel direct at the see was an perfect ending of a beautiful day.
Today we had quiet some miles to make, it was a long day ahead of us. The first leg took us to Sparta, where the group had to make a stop at the famous Leonidas statue. Quiet some warriors they are! ;) Through spectacular countryside we slowly made our way east to the coast of the Aegean Sea. We had an idyllic lunch stop near Kyparissi, where we could enjoy the view over the pristine waters. The azure blue and crystal clear sea called for a dip in the water, which a big part of the group couldn't resist. After the refreshing stop we went onto the Fokianos-Kyprissi coastal road. A true stunner, with spectacular vistas and even more enjoyable swoopy corners. Some might say they are like a race course. However we adapted a leisurely speed to take it all in. The day ended in Nafpolion were we had a hotel right at the harbor. With lovely evening temperatures we enjoyed an alfresco dinner with a view onto the impressive marina. Chris and Scotty even talked their way onto one of the big yachts, for a little show around and some friendly beers!
Today was our last, but not least riding day. Everything must come to an end, unfortunately, so we finished with an outstanding good riding day. After we left Nafplio, the first mandatory stop was at the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus. Constructed in the late 4th century BC, it is considered to be the most perfect ancient Greek theatre with regard to acoustics and aesthetics. With the help of the reinforcement of an exquisite ice cream, we were able to climb the stairs and could make the mandatory acoustic coin test. One person stands in the middle of the theatre and drops a coin. The acoustic is so good, that it is possible to hear the coin drop from the highest row of seats. The next stop was a viewpoint of the Saronic Sea. We saw from the top a nice little beach, so we had to explore it. At the beach was the sunken city of ancient Epidaurus. The basic structure of walls was still intact, and we could dive around these ancient ruins. Our lunch was today a delicious Greek picnic prepared by Franzi just in front of the Corinth canal. We were lucky and could see 2 ships going through. Plans for the canal have been made already 2700 years ago, but it was just realised in the year 1893. The Canal is just 4 miles long and 80 feet wide. After our last stretch to Athens, we had an unforgettable dinner with some nice speeches of every tour member followed by a well-earned cold beer in the Pub nearby. It was all in all an awesome tour where we made a lot of new experiences and could explore Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, North Macedonia and Greece. But the most important thing is: we made new friends. Thank you very much guys, HAPPY DAYS! Franzi and Dennis