Prekomorska Gibanica (yummy!)

Day 4 - August 2

Early in the morning, I packed my stuff and rode down to the coast for yet another refreshing swim, it was an amazing experience having swam in the sea by 7:30 in the morning. I felt very jealous for all those living next to the coast - according to Google, 40% of the world population live 100 km of an ocean or sea - alas, I belong to the remaining 60%.

Coming out of the water, I saw some ripples on the surface of the water, not far from the coast, pretty much where I had been swimming - and looking more carefully, I spotted an entire school of dolphins, happily jumping out of the water. I managed to take a number of videos, here is a screenshot of one of the fellows. This was a free Waterworld show - lasting for about 15 minutes! The local people pretty much shrugged it off - they must be seeing it on most of their morning walks.

I soon reached the city and decided to continue riding on the road rightmnext to the sea - which was a one-way street from the other direction, but it did not seem to bother anyone. I soon got to the center of town and saw some buildings unmistakably from the Austro-Hungarian empire.

In the center, there was a big farmer's market, where I bought some fruits.

I started heading towards the Istrian peninsula, starting with Opatija, which used to be a favorite sea-vacation town for the nobility of the K&K Monarchy. Not that I am a member of any nobility, but I had spent a couple of days at a nice hotel there about a decade ago (that was a car trip, not by bike).

From the breakfasts at the hotel that I had stayed many years ago, I had a found memory - that of a Croatian dessert called "prekomorska gibanica", each morning I had a huge serving of it. It is a 3-layered delicacy, with apple, cottage cheese and poppy seed. I managed to buy some from a local artisan bakery - it was a present for my parents, whom I was about to visit in the town of Rabac, further south.

Now I was riding on the eastern part of the Istrian peninsula, parts of which I already knew, but all the hills, slopes and curves were a completely different experience being on a bike. Here are some shots of the area.

I spotted the ferry that I had taken back then, running between Istria and the island of Cres. I met a young guy from the USA, who was hiking through this part of Istria. I told him about a hidden beach on Cres that I had discovered when vacationing in Opatija, we met on a hill after the ferry, I must have been very convincing, as he turned around to take a ride over there.

About 40 kilometers short of Rabac, I had called my parents at around 12:30 to expect me between 3:30 pm and 4 pm - to cut a long story (or ride) short, I reached there at exactly 3:30. I have a long-time average speed of 13 kilometers an hour. It is not a lot, but this includes the riding (on level ground, climbing and descending) and all the rest stops for eating and drinking, talking to people, visiting sites, swimming, taking photos, etc. That is how I was able to predict my arrival rather accurately.

I was glad to have arrived - it had been a tiring day. They were staying in a newly built hotel, called Girandella Resort, in a large room, so there was place (an extra bed) for me to stay. A highlight was the fruit platter my parents prepared for me: grapes, bananas, peaches - it was quite delicious. On my part, I handed over the prekomorska gibanica, they loved it (so did I).

Overall, I was quite happy with my performance - in three and a half days, I got from Graz all the way to Rabac, covering some 400 kilometers.

Here is the map of the day. It was 66 km along the coast, with over 1,000 meters of climbing - and descending the same amount.