Motorcycle trip on Croatia’s Adriatic coast

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Motorcycle trip on Croatia's Adriatic coast
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Motorcycle trip on Croatia’s Adriatic coast

Motorcycle trip on Croatia’s Adriatic coast
Fantastic coastal roads and island trips

Fantastic coastal roads and countless island trips ?? Motorcyclists will find a truly fantastic area on Croatia’s Adriatic coast, but also in the mountainous inland.

Sylvia Lischer

07/17/2003

The customs officers at the Croatian checkpoint near Sočerga only glimpse my passport and the BMW F 650 GS, nod in appreciation and wave me and Gerhard through. It is a warm September evening, the adjoining country road is winding, no traffic. Two or three inclines, and the holiday feeling that was lost during the nine-hour journey will reappear. Ahead of us lies a country with a 1778 kilometer long Adriatic coast, 1185 islands and a mountain range up to 1800 meters high ?? the Dinaric Alps. We are more than excited.

Buzet comes into view, a medieval nest on the Istrian peninsula: city walls, church towers, nested rows of houses, huddled together on a 150 meter high hill. A green basin extends all around, through which countless peoples have moved and sometimes stayed over the past 3000 years. Celts, Greeks, Romans, Venetians, even the Austrians during the times of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy and the Italians under Mussolini. Anyway, at the moment nobody is on the road except us.


Motorcycle trip on Croatia's Adriatic coast


Iron ham

Croatia tour, MOTORCYCLE 16/2003

We take a look at the map and pan to the southwest towards the Adriatic Sea. A good choice. The road leads in a few brisk arcs through a narrow gorge lined with limestone cliffs. Motovun appears on the left? another medieval network of houses on a hill. Then it gets dark. For a good half an hour, the headlights of the BMW poke through the pitch-black night, grazing nothing but macchia and cypress trees, until the lights of a small town put an end to the odyssey: Poreč.

Croatia (info)

Croatia is worth a visit: the coastal road is one of the most beautiful in the world, in the mountainous hinterland you can lose yourself in sloping positions for days, and the offshore islands lure you to exciting short trips.

getting there
The main route through the Alps leads from Munich via Salzburg, Villach and Ljubljana to Postojna and from there via national roads to Rijeka and Opatija. In addition to the Austrian motorway vignette, there are fees for the Tauern motorway and the Karawanken tunnel. Slovenia also charges tolls for the motorway. An alternative is to travel by car train to Villach. Information and booking by phone 01805/241224; on the Internet at www.dbautozug.de.

currency
The Croatian currency is called the kuna. For one euro you get about seven kuna.

Stay
There are numerous hotels and campsites along the Croatian coast. An accommodation directory is available from the Croatian National Tourist Board, Rumfordstrabe 7, 80469 Munich, phone 089/223344, or at Kaiserstrabe 23, 60311 Frankfurt / Main, phone 069/252045. Internet information is provided by www.htz.hr. The Unterwegs team can recommend the following hotels: in Pula the modern and familiar Hotel Scaletta, Flavijevska 26, phone 00385/52/541599, Internet: www.hotel-scaletta.com. For an overnight stay with breakfast you pay around 34 euros per person. In Crikvenica, in a former monastery from the 14th century, there is the »Hotel Ka ?? tel«, Frankopanska 22, phone 00385/51/241044, Internet: www.multilink.hr/jadran-crikvenica. The night including breakfast costs from 17 euros per person. The Grand Hotel Kvarner in Opatija, phone 00385/51/271233, Internet: www.travel.hr/liburnia, exudes a touch of the splendor of the Austro-Hungarian era. Here you sleep including breakfast from 22 euros.

Worth seeing
You should definitely see the Plitvice Lakes known from Karl May films. The waterfalls and the emerald green lakes almost look like a fantasy landscape. The national park administration charges a one-time entry fee of 60 kuna (around 8.60 euros), from July 1st to 31st August 80 kuna (around 11.50 euros) is due. Internet information at www.np-plitvice.tel.hr. You can stay overnight in the affiliated Hotel Jezero, phone 00385/53/751400. “Island jumping” is a must! The countless islands off the Croatian coast have a perfect connection to the mainland. Krk and Pag are connected to the coast by a bridge, Cres and Lo ?? inj, Ugljan and Pa ?? man or Dugi Otok are called several times a day by ferry. And all of the larger islands are also linked with each other by bridges or ferries. The most important ferry port in Northern Dalmatia is Zadar, there are other connections, for example, from Rijeka in the Kvarner Bay or from Brestova on the Istrian peninsula. Information is available from the ferry company Jadrolinija, phone 00385/51/666111, Internet: www.jadrolinija.tel.hr.

literature
You are well equipped with the vacation handbooks “Dalmatia and its islands” as well as “Istria and Kvarner Bay” from Reise Know-How Verlag for 14.90 euros each. The maps “Istria” and “Dalmatia”, published by the same publisher, on a scale of 1: 200,000, each price 7.90 euros, are suitable for orientation. The general map »Istria ?? Central and South Dalmatian Coast «on a scale of 1: 200000 for 6.50 euros.

Croatia (2)


Motorcycle trip on Croatia's Adriatic coast


Iron ham

Croatia tour, MOTORCYCLE 16/2003

Seems like all of Istria has gathered here on the Adriatic coast. Despite the late hour, all the street cafes are jam-packed, the current charts are rumbling from pubs and discos, and a colorful crowd is crowding the beach promenade in slippers, sneakers and high heels. In no time we lose ourselves in the maze of old town between the port and Eufrasius Basilica, stroll along ancient Roman streets such as ?? Decumanus ?? and ?? Cardo Maximus ??, over whose coarse cobblestones in the 19th century ?? the peninsula once belonged to the Austro-Hungarian monarchy ?? the Austro-Hungarian aristocracy has already stumbled.

Awakened by the screaming of the seagulls, we open the wooden shutters of the hotel room the next morning and look out over the pine trees and the turquoise sea. Fishermen mend their nets on the beach promenade, painters with color palettes and easels sit next to them, sailing yachts set off for the morning round. One last cappuccino in the Gelateria Fontana, then we chug south along the west coast.


Motorcycle trip on Croatia's Adriatic coast


Iron ham

Croatia tour, MOTORCYCLE 16/2003

The landscape, although relatively flat, has surprisingly winding stretches of road. In narrow and wide loops, it goes through olive groves, past cypress-lined bays and around the Limski Canal, which cuts into the peninsula like a fjord. No concrete, no multi-story hotel blocks far and wide. Instead: tiny pirate nests like Rovinj.

A good 40 kilometers further we reach Pula. Shortly before a downpour we save ourselves under the monumental stone arches of the ancient Roman arena. The Romans did not spoil themselves: with a diameter of 130 meters, the Arena in Pula was one of the largest amphitheaters in the Roman Empire, next to the Colosseum in Rome. Two poodle-soaked tots are practicing gladiatorial combat à la Russel Crowe in front of 25,000 empty spectators. The paying audience seems to be waiting for the next appearance by Sting, who has already appeared twice in the arena that has been converted into a concert and opera setting.

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