Zadar, Sibenik & Trogir

Up early, sleep of the dead, my alarm lifts me from the depths of wonderful REM dream sleep.

I punch out 3 hours of road riding through the barren Pag countryside to Zadar. The 10 am free tour was very interesting about the history of this city. Romans, Goths, Venetians, Hapsburg, Mussolini, Hitler, destruction in WW2 and again in the 90s. Zadar was also completely destroyed during the crusades, but in the 1600s the Ottomans never managed to conquer Venetian controlled Zadar.

Caught noon bus to Sibenik by a hair. Definitely not enough time in Zadar. Arrived late in Sibenik and skipped the sight seeing, another historic Adriatic coastal city. Rode down to Trogir and ran into Primo, an Italian who is touring every summer. He did Thessaloniki to Nordkapp, impressive! Then I ran into four young touring cyclists on a corner speaking French. Fun.

At night I check out Trogir. It is the opposite of Zadar in that it is superbly preserved. Romanesque-Gothic complex in Central Europe because its island location allowed it to survive early invasions, and it became a "living museum" under centuries of protective Venetian rule.Read more