Epilogue - Bike Trip Transformation
I spent a day with my companion in Zagreb, enjoying the pleasant capital city, then rented a car and the two of us drove down to the island of Krk, spending a four nice days there, swimming in the sea and exploring the island. My friend returned to Vienna by bus and now I was trying to get to Crete.
From Zagreb, flights to Crete would have been both expensive and complicated, so I booked a Flixbus to Milan, they even carried my bike for a few euros extra. There was a direct flight to Crete from Malpensa airport. A looong bus trip, leading through Slovenia, the worst part was the traffic jam front of Milan. Finally, having arrived, I rode from the bus station to the train station, which were – fortunately, so I could marvel at the city – quite far apart and was charmed by the city of Milan. I slept at an airport hotel, who would not want to store my bike, but luckily, Italians are a friendly folk, I convinced a man in a house right next to the hotel to lock my bike in his garage for a couple of nights.
An uneventful flight to Crete and I was happy to meet my parents - a few days after my Mum's birthday. A slight glitch was that they were initially booked to a hotel, which I - incorrectly - though they were staying at, that was later changed in some sort of an upgrade to a different hotel, some 250 kilometers away. Without consulting with them, I found a hotel at the place of their initial booked. As we left the airport (my folks had a rental car, by which they picked me up), I noticed on Google Maps that the distance to the hotel I had booked was actually increasing. Then I understood – my booking was in the wrong place! The Gods were on my side, I was able to cancel the reservation for free found an OK place – a bit dirty – not far from my parent’s luxury resort. It was quite an upgrade they had gotten! A two-floor villa with a beachfront lawn, extremely friendly staff and great breakfasts, fit for a king. We enjoyed the island, rode to some nice beaches and found a great restaurant, somewhat of a hidden gem, right in front of my hotel.
Returning to Milan, the same friend who I was in Croatia with, flew from Vienna to meet me there; through some organization skills, we both arrived in downtown Milan virtually at the same time, one plane from Crete, the other flight from Vienna. Our accommodation, while somewhat outside the city, was cool, a colorful 1930s apartment with furniture of that era. The thing we enjoyed most was the amazing architecture in the city, first we visited the Navigli flea market with its canals, then we strolled around town for like two days, being awed by the wonderful Mediterranean-like architecture. .I had visited many cities, but I find Milan truly unique. I really enjoyed the beige, yellow, red and brown colors of these impressive buildings.
My friend flew back from the airport in Bergamo to Vienna after three days. It was only on the bus ride back to my accommodation in Milan when I started thinking about my options as to how to continue my trip - I was definitely not done biking ...
One alternative was to ride towards France, in the direction of Lyon. Another was to ride south through Italy, towards Sicily. I was leaning towards the second one, with some adjustment - I decided on taking a train from Milan to Genoa, where I had departed from three years prior to this trip en route to Corsica by ferry. This time I got on a 20-hour ferry ride to Palermo in Sicily. Try guess where I had slept on the ferry ...yes, in my tent - this I pitched on one of the decks.
In case you want to read my blog about the Sicily trip, be my guest 😃, just click here.
So, Ladies and Gentlemen, this is how my bike trip to the Balkan went in the year 2022. I was of course somewhat disappointed not having reached my destination in Greece on two wheels, but I had the pleasure to discover Zagreb, the island of Krk and Milan in more detail. While riding, I only had a short affair with Slovenia, a not so affectionate one with Croatia, but really enjoyed Bosnia, Montenegro and Kosovo. I did manage to spend time on Crete with my parents, even though this turned out to be via air - and not by ship.
More importantly, thanks to the magician, in a certain way the Balkan bike trip did not really end on the border between Kosovo and Albania, it morphed into yet another memorable trip in Sicily.
If you were to able to follow this epilogue, than congratulations, as even I as the author and "main actor" in this convoluted story have to think how the events evolved - but now. a year later, I am glad to have had all these wonderful experiences. OK, I am signing out - over!