From the second day we arrived in Croatia, we have been cycling the islands that skirt the coastline. With quiet roads connecting quaint villages, beautiful scenery and seaside campgrounds, the islands are a bike touring haven.
There is a laid back feel to life on these islands. I recently learned that there is a Croatian word for this relaxed vibe called fjaka. Not to be confused with laziness, fjaka is “a sublime state of mind and body, to which all humanity aspires”. We have witnessed this especially on the islands, where even locals stop to enjoy the view. This is the perfect reminder for my “take it easy” motto on this trip.
Croatia has an impressive 1244 islands, with over 50 that are inhabited. Many of them can be reached by a short ferry ride, and bikes can be rolled on board ahead of all the cars with no problem. Taking the ferries has actually been an enjoyable part of our journey, as it provides a little break from biking with a different perspective.
Our route has taken us from one island to another, all the way up to Istria, the northern peninsula on mainland Croatia. We pedaled across the islands of Hvar, Korcula, Pašman-Ugljan and Lošing-Cres. They are deceptively mountainous, making every day a challenge, but the views from up high are incredible.
The turquoise Adriatic water is calm and clear. Sand is not found on the beaches due to the tough limestone and lack of big waves. I personally love that there is no sand, because it always finds its way into every crevice and article of clothing. In Croatia the beaches are either craggy or they have little white pebbles. Beach access is plentiful, and you’ll often find benches, docks, and outdoor showers. The more cliffy coastlines have stairs leading down to the water with slabs of flat concrete for sunbathing and ladders down to the water.
Of the islands we toured, Hvar was probably my favorite. With cute port towns, hidden beach coves and the scent of lavender everywhere, it is an island that I wouldn’t mind being stranded on. Just about everything grows abundantly on the island–around every turn are big gardens, rosemary, lavender, olive and fig trees, grape vines and bee boxes for honey (lavender honey is a specialty). Fish, cheese and meat are also sourced right from the island.
Riding from one end to the other made us feel as though we went back in time a hundred years. The hip and touristy Hvar City most likely used to have the same old world feel as the other end of the island. We pedaled past sleepy towns and people who did not understand English. At a roadside konoba, traditional family restaurant, we tasted our first Turkish coffee, prepared for us by a man who seemed to understand that we were in need of caffeine after 3 hours of riding with no services for miles. The thick and somewhat sweet coffee totally hit the spot! Since then, we’ve been practicing our method of making our own Turkish coffee, but so far it has not come out the same.
Korčula was Jarrod’s favorite. The island has a beautiful fortified city on one end where supposedly Marco Polo was born. The alleyways between stone buildings are arranged to form the shape of a fish bone. The riding on the island was unbeatable with quiet coastal side roads and long swooping descents overlooking the water.
At the other end lies Vela Luka, a port town with glassy water that glistens like a pastel painting at sunset and sunrise. We rolled in at sunset with no plans. Less than 30 minutes later we were enjoying pizza and wine on the balcony of our apartment overlooking the water. Dinner, wine and the apartment all cost us less than $40. (This makes me seriously consider our “budget” Motel 6 outside of Vegas that ran us $120!). We have found Croatia to be very affordable.
We did ride on the mainland for 100 very hectic miles north of Splitt. It was stressful getting out of the city and the entire ride was busy with traffic on a tight two lane thoroughfare. I was glad to have my side mirror so I could see big trucks coming from behind. At one point we took a quiet side road but it led us up a huge hill that eventually turned to dirt. We pressed on, but it was so loose and steep that we were forced to get off our bikes and push. So much for the quiet detour!
After that, it was back to the busy road where we could at least gain some momentum. Along the way we took refuge inside the city walls of Trogir, where we relaxed with cappuccinos. We are mostly greeted in German and sometimes Italian, but no one suspects that these two foreigners on bicycles came all the way from the US. Our Croatian flags confuse the matter even more!
Eager to get back to the peaceful island pace, we continued up the coast until we could catch the next ferry to the island of Pašman. We breathed a sigh of relief when we reached the quiet island with virtually zero traffic. The first campground sign we saw was a “naturist” camp. Our hunch that this meant “nudist” was confirmed when we rolled in on our loaded bikes and found ourselves surrounded by mostly old and wrinkly nude men and women, laying around, walking around, playing cards and even eating totally nude. We thought we could do it but our discomfort prevailed. We turned our bikes around and ended up stealth camping along a path on the seaside. No shower that night but that’s what we get for being total prudes!
Our last island was Losinj-Cres, which was the hilliest of them all. In Mali Losinj we pedaled up to a hilltop lookout for sunset. We packed a picnic and were delighted to find a bar at the top with a cute waitress who spoke at least 4 languages fluently. She was born on the island and learned to speak the languages of visitors, mostly German, Italian and English, plus her native Croatian. She spent her evenings at one of the most beautiful spots on the island, witnessing countless sunsets over the water. (The spectacular sunset that we witnessed was “just ok” in her book of sunsets).
Riding the length of the two islands took us up and over big mountains and through beautiful, historic villages with locals that encouraged us to stay awhile. It was blissful! The “fjaka” mind set was rubbing off on us.
The town and island of Cres is pronounced “Stress”, which we found to be funny and unfitting because the beautiful beach town seemed anything but stressful. We kicked back and enjoyed the sunset from our beach camp with a bottle of wine and some salami. The next day, however, we were mocked by a storm that came through without warning and down-poured on us while we slowly suffered up a 9 mile climb.
We were in a time crunch to catch the ferry back to the mainland, so we put our heads down and cranked through it and then froze our tails off on the 9 mile descent. Couldn’t they have built a coastal road that skirts around the island?! The ferry was just about to take off when we arrived but thankfully waited for us to quickly purchase our tickets and hop on. I pedaled on board a little too anxiously and my tires slipped sideways on the wet steel platform, causing me to fall right on my rear. (My bit of cushion literally caught my fall and I was unscathed, other than my ego- it was quite embarrassing!). What a way to end our Island hopping in Croatia! As we floated toward the mainland I tried to remember and embody fjaka, even though I was terrified by the sight of the huge mountains that we were headed towards.
Istria, please be kind!
Wow! It’s so beautiful!