A bug

We have to apoligoze to our non-sloveninan speaking friends for not putting the English translations in the previous post. We are dealing with a bug and cannot acces to the source of this post anymore. We will try to fix this problem ASAP.

Cremona - Nice - Cannes - Ansouis

Tokrat res na kratko zaradi veliko razlogov. :) Slike tako ali tako povedo skoraj vse. Mogoče bova kdaj drugič dopolnila komentarje.

Trenutno je za nama ta pot


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Samo še par fotografij s Stefanom in njegovima dvema mačkama pred odhodom iz Cremone. Prav zanimivo, kako smo na sliki ujeti cisto vsi... tudi mala navihanka na prvi fotografiji zgoraj levo. Do sedaj je nismo niti opazili. :)





Srečanje simpatičnega nemca (Jurgen) ter njegovega prav tako simpatičnega kolesa ter slovo iz Nice.



Balinanje na takoimenovani Promenadi Angležev. Zelo popularen hobi v Franciji.


S kolesom po sloviti promenadi mesta Nice.




Naša gostiteljica Regine ob učenju osnov francoščine.


Skupna fotografije pred odhodom.



Pa še malo Nice.


Čas za kosilo.



Prvi pogled v prelepo Provanso in prvi "zlobni" klanci. :)




Pred vstopom v Tanneron, majhno vasico, na vrhu hriba. Spominska plošča posvečena kolesarju, ki je poginil med izvajanjem svoje ljubezni - kolesarstva.


Pomladanske barve.



Mi smo tukaj.


Kratek spust.


Užitke lepot pokrajine, obsijane s toplim pomladanskim soncem nama je kvaril močan veter, ki je neprestano pihal nama naproti.




Pošel nama je plin in nisva še imela možnosti, da bi ga dokupila, pa si tako nisva morala več kuhati. Zato so prišle na vrsti prave francoske bagete! :)


Takole sva si včasih natočila pitno vodo, v teh samotnih, zanimivih vasicah.



Peljala sva se proti Ansouisu, kjer sta naju čakala najina gositelja Bernhard in Catherine. Tokrat naju je že četrti dan zaustavljal močan veter, ki nama je ta dan popolnoma vzel vso motivacijo do nadaljevanja poti. Ta dan se je veter tako okrepil, da je postalo že preveč nevarno in sva morala kolesi velikokrat porivati kar na roke. Več o temu mogoče drugič z video posnetki.


Skoraj v Ansouisu.




To je za sedaj vse, kar imava v tem trenutku. Sledite najinim avanturam še naprej, saj bova blog osveževala čim bo to mogoče.

Kaj sva prekolesarila do sedaj / What we've cycled so far

Oglej si povecano karto. / Visualize magnified map.

Santa cristina - Rubano - Bozzolo - Cremona

Tokrat malo bolj na kratko, da bova najin vnos lahko objavila v realnem casu, ne tako kot prejsnjic. :) Nahajava se v Cremoni pri prijaznem in zelo gostoljubnem Stefanu. Trenutno je v sluzbi, midva z Azro pa zeliva ta cas izkoristiti na internetu. Druzbo nama delata njegovi dve simpaticni macki.

Cremono sva si ogledala vceraj in danes sledi lezerno vzdusje, pranje perila, igranje mackama in deskanje po internetu ter odgovarjanje na elektronska sporocila.

Pot do S. Cristine sva ze opisala, sledi pot do Cremone.

This time we want to be a little bit shorter, so that we can publish this post in real time unlike the previous post. We are now in Cremona, hosted by the kind and hospitable Stefano. At the moment he is at work, so we want to use this opportunity to use internet. We are in good company of his two lovely cats. :)

We saw Cremona yesterday and today we will just relax, wash our clothes, play with the cats and answer to the email we received.

We have already described the road ti St. Cristina, so now follows the road to Cremona.


Takole sva se poslavljala od Alessandre in Tommasa najmlajsega v druzini.

This is how we said goodbye to Alessandra and Tommaso the youngest in the family.




Ob prihodu v prelepo Padovo, sva na eni izmed ulic dozivela tradicijonalni dogodek, ko student dokonca svoj studij. Takole mora iz ogromnega plakata brati dolgo zgodbo svojega zivljenja, zapisano na zabaven nacin in vsakic, ko se zmoti, mora piti iz flase napolnjene s spricem. S cim so jo namazali nisva niti sprasevala. :)

Once arrived to the beautiful Padova, we witnessed a traditional event on one of the streets, when a student finishes his studies. In this way, a student has to read from a big peace of paper his long life story, but written in a funny way. Every time he or she makes a mistake, he or she has to drink from the bottle, full of an local alcoholic drink. We did not bother to ask what is the stuff she is covered with. :)


Privoscila sva si vsak eno kavo in vzdihnila ob prejetju racuna: 5.2 EUR! "Nic hudega, bog ve, kdaj bova spet v tem lepem mestu", sva se tolazila.

We took two coffees and were a bit shaken when we saw the bill: 5.2 EUR! Never mind, we said, god knows when we will again be in this beautiful city.


Skupna fotografija na prelepem in ogromnem trgu imenovanem "Prato della valle", velikem 88620 m².

We took a photo together on a beautiful and large square called "Prato della valle",88620m big.



Pri najinih odlicnih gostiteljih Mauru, Chiari in malemu dvomesecnemu Giosue-ju v Villaguatteri, blizu Rubana sva se zadrzala eno noc. Na fotografiji so tudi njihovi trije prijatelji. So izjemno simpaticna in iskrena druzba, ki naju je sprejela zelo lepo, naju lepo pogostila in resnicno sva uzivala v klepetanju z njimi. Upava, da se se srecamo.

We spent one night at the apartment of wonderful Mauro, Chiara and two months old Giosue in Villaguaterra, near Rubano. You can see their three friends on the photo too. They are a very charming and honest bunch that accepted and took care of us very kindly and we enjoyed talking with them. We hope to see them again soon.


Mlada mamica Chiara in njen dvomesecni ponos Giosue.

Young mum Chiara and her two months old Giosue.



Montagnana.

Montagnana.



V cudoviti Mantovi sva srecala prva kolesarska turista na najini poti in sicer iz Nemcije. TO STA Michael in Rainer. Pripotovala sta iz juga Italije, opravila pa cez 1500km! Rainer ima samo 14 let.

We met two cycling tourists from Germany in beautiful Mantova. They are Michael and Rainer. They cycled from southern Italy and did more than 1500km! Rainer is only 14 years old.


Takole sva kampirala v blizini reke Oglio.

This is how we camped near the river Oglio.


Nisva bila sama. Poleg pavov so nama druzbo delali se taki korenjaki.

We were never alone. Beside peacocks we also had company by some other "big" animals.


Tako je izgledalo najinih naslednjih 15 kilometrov.

This is how the next 15 km looked like.




Kakih 20km pred Cremono tak zalosten pogled v eni izmed mnogih farm goveda. Naj omenim, da je bilo zadnjih 40km pred Cremono najinih najtezjih do sedaj, to pa zaradi mocnega vetra, ki je pihal v nama nasprotni smeri, neskoncno dolgih ravnih cest in groznega smrada, ki je prihajal iz farm.

About 20 km before Cremona there was a sad view on one of the many cattle farms. I must mention that the last 40 km before Cremona were the hardest so far, because of strong wind, that was blowing in the opposite direction, endlessly long flat roads and a terrible smell that was coming from the farms.


Koncno Cremona, kjer sva skromno, z zelo dobrim a zopet dragim sladoledom praznovala najino sesto skupno obletnico.

Finally, Cremona, where we spent our 6th anniversary (since we first met) with a very good but expensive ice cream.

Grado, Eraclea, Santa Cristina

Pred štartom sva se poslovila od družine in prijateljev, ki se jim iskreno zahvaljujeva za mahanje v začasno slovo :) ter vso moralno podporo.

V Opčinah sva srečala Markota ter to izkoristila za skupno fotografijo.


V treh etapah sva opravila najinih prvih 213 kilometrov in sva, morava priznati, zelo zadovoljna. Kljub sivemu in deževnemu vremenu, sva preživela tri čudovite dneve, se peljala po čudovitih, ravnih in predvsem neskončno dolgih cestah s prelepimi drevoredi. Hitrost konstantna.

Kot sva se na začetku odločila, sva se ravnala po pravilu izogibanja pomembnejših cest, kar se nama je močno obrestovalo, četudi sva morala zato opraviti nekaj več kilometrov. Povem vam, splača se!


Najlepše poti sva srečevala, ko sva se izgubljala in uživala ob presenetljivo lepi naravi pokrajine "Friuli-Venezia-Giulia". Prav presenečana sva bila nad tem, kako naše diomače kraje obkroža toliko lepot, za katere sploh ne vemo, kljub temu, da sploh niso tako oddaljene.



Večkrat sva ostajala sama na cestah, saj je bilo prometa bore malo. Vsi vozniki se ponavadi nagnetejo na avtoceste ali prometnejše glavne ceste in oba sva se strinjala da se ljudje v naglici dejansko premalo posvečamo okolici in bolj gledamo, da izberemo krajše poti, take, ki nas hitreje pripeljejo na cilj. Tak odnos pa na srečo ustvarja za "izgubljenega" kolesarja pravi raj, kjer lahko resnično prisluhneš zvokom narave.


Pot od doma proti Tržiču (Monfalcone) se je večinoma spuščala in že prvi dan sva opravila 61 kilometrov ter se ukampirala pred vstopom v simpatično obmorsko mesto Grado, ki je res lepo izhodišče za tiste, ki želijo uživati v prelepo laguni, "Laguna di Grado".

Bil je to najin prvi dan na kolesih in proti večeru, ko sva se približevala temu mestu, sva naključno naletela na predel imenovan "La valle Cavanata". Mislila sva, da sva se izgubila, vendar sva se kmalu pripeljala v pravi kolesarski raj, poln miru, različnih vrst vodnih ptic, predvsem pa praznih stranskih cest. Občutek je postal popoln, ko se začelo sijati sonce in to ravno ob začetku urejene kolesarske proge, pa vse do najinega kampa pred mestom Grado.


Omembe vredni so tudi mimoidoči, ki so naju prijazno pozdravljali, pa tudi nekaj slovenskih avtomobilov se je peljalo mimo, ter naju pozdravljalo, ko so videli slovensko zastavo pripeto na kolo. Srečala sva veliko kolesarjev, vendar so bili to večinoma dirkalci. S kakim smo se pozdravili ali pa na hitro pokramljali, ko smo spraševali o poteh. Ponavadi so bili to prijetni pogovori. Še sreča, da znam italijansko. Upava lahko, da bo v Franciji tudi tako lepo kramljati. Bomo videli, kako se bomo ujeli v jeziku. Francoščina ni ravno najin jezik. Je pa zato angleščina tisto kar najbolj obvladava.

Aja, ob kolesarski poti do Grada sva srečala mnogo zapuščenih koles, ki pa niso bila v tako slabem stanju. Starejša gospa, ki sva jo srečala nam je dejala, da so to verjetno najeta kolesa, saj je v okolici mesta veliko hotelov in restavracij, ki oddajajo kolesa v najem. Povedala nama je, da jih mladi kdaj mečejo kar v morje.


Ko je slišala, kam se odpravljava in kako prenočujeva, nama je povedala, da se nama ni treba preveč bati glede kriminala, da pa je v redu, če kolesi zaklepava ponoči ali pa jih skrijeva.

Naslednji dan sva se peljala proti Jesolu, vendar sva po zopet neskončno dolgih cestah, obdanih s prav tako neskončno velikimi, prostranimi njivami, prispela skoraj do Eraclee. Zaradi preveč izpostavljenega terena, si nisva želela kampirati čisto na vsaki njivi. V dežju in neskončnih drevoredih sva vrtela pedale in opravila 81 kilometrom preden sva omagala.

Vendar pa meniva, da se je izplačalo truditi se toliko. Ob cesti je bilo posajenih nekaj hiš in ni bilo kaj, kot vprašati domačine za pomoč. Dobila pa nisva le nasveta, temveč bistveno več, kot sva sploh lahko upala! Dobila sva prijetno prenočišče v garaži družine Scapolan - De Nobili. Bilo je to res pristno doživetje. Malce sva se sicer obotavala, vendar sva na koncu le pristala in sprejela dobroto, čeprav nama je bilo sprva kar malce nerodno. Še posebno takrat, ko je gospa Daria, mati dveh čudovitih otrok starih osem in eno leto (Luca 1, Matilde 8) v garažo prinesla testenine s paradižnikom. Ostala sva brez besed in z veseljem, kljub utrujnosti prijetno kramljala z njimi, preden sva zaspala kot topa, v zavetju pred dežjem, ki je vztrajno padal celo noč. Tako se nama je posušil od prejšnje noči premočen šotor, pa še na ravnem terenu sva spala in se, za razliko od prejšnje noči resnično naspala. Temperatura v šotoru je bila tokrat 8 stopinj Celzija, prejšnjo noč pa 5 stopinj.

Prebudila sva se sicer utrujena, v bolečinah, vendar sva vedela, da sva se dobro naspala, kar nama je zelo koristilo. Zjutraj sta morala Daria in njen mož Simone v službo, Matilde pa seveda v šolo. Tako smo se od njih morali posloviti na hitro. Pa vendar so si vseeno vzeli nekaj minut, da so nama pripravili nepričakovan, prijeten zajtrk.

Nismo jih hoteli obremenjevati s fotografiranjem, vendar smo to storili kasneje in sicer preden smo se poslovili še od malega Francesca ter njegovih starih staršev Guerrina in Teresine, ki sta pred kratkim praznovala "zlato poroko", torej 50. obletnico.


To je bilo včeraj. Vreme se ni nič kaj spremenilo, padalo je skoraj celo pot, vendar ni bilo tako slabo. Pokrajina je bila enkratna in seveda sva se večkrat izgubila po stranskih poteh, sva pa zato več komunicirala z domačini. Pred Trevisom sva naletela na močno kontrolo do zob naoroženih karabinjerjev, ki so ustavljali tovornjake. Za kakšno akcijo je šlo, nisva izvedela. Naju pa je to močno zanimalo zaradi helokopterja, ki je bil parkiran na bližnjem nogometnem igrišču. Nisem si upal fotografirati, saj nisem hotel izzivati usode.


Po opravljenih 74-ih kilometrih sva prispela do najinih gostiteljev iz hospitality Cluba v Santo Cristino, malce izven Trevisa.


Tukaj se imava zopet čudovito, saj je družina res od sile. Dario in Alessandra imata tri prijetne male škrate in sicer: Tommaso (5 let), Pietro (9 let) in Lisa (10let). Gostoljubje je tu res na višku in počutiva se kot doma. Postavili so naju v stanovanje pod njihovim, ki je, tako kot celotno njihovo bivališče urejeno res z okusom, polno vedrih barv.


Spodnje stanovanje je samo za naju. Ko so doma, prijetno klepetamo tako v italijanščini, kot v angleščini in res se razumeva z otroci, ki so nama, po Alessandrinih besedah, kot dvema neznanima gostoma podarili oceno pozitivno. To je dober znak. :) V končni fazi se imamo skupaj res lepo.


Skupaj gledamo fotografije, risanke, se pogovarjamo, jemo piškote... :) Žal nama je samo, da ne moreva ostati več. Tukaj bova skupno ostala dve noči in tako bova jutri odpotovala dalje proti Rubanu, mestu blizu Padove, kjer naju čaka še ena mlada družina.


Tega se že veseliva, čeprav zapuščava enkratne duše, polne dobrote in tolerance do ostalih. Obema, prevsem Azri je pri njih všeč predvsem to, da so sposobni svoja dobrodelna prepričanja na glas deliti z ostalim svetom. Vsi tega nismo vedno sposobni. Na balkonu razobešena romunska zastava je le en izmed mnogih dokazov. V Italiji so v medijih izvajali pritisk na romunske priseljence, kot rezultat nekaterih incidentov, ki so se zgodili, mislim, da v rimu, nisem preprican. Otroke vzgajata v pravi smeri, smeri dobrote do sočloveka, tolerance do drugačnih in dajata jima vedeti, da je spoznavanje ljudi drugačnih kultur lahko zelo koristno in zabavno. To dokazujeta s tem, da v svojo hišo rade volje sprejmeta vsakega popotnika, ki rabi pomoč. Na Hospitality Clubu imata veliko lepih komentarjev in z mnogimi popotniki so postali pravi prijatelji, ter tako z njimi še vedno ohranjata stike. V spodnjem resnično prostornem stanovanju (majhna kuhinja, velika dnevna soba z ledilnim kotom, prijetna spalna soba s kopalnico), ki je trenutno namenjeno samo gostom, imata obešene njihove spominske fotografije, na policah pa raznorazni papirji in vodniki z informacijami o odhodih in prihodih avtobusov, ter drugih za popotnika koristnih informacij. Nekaj res izjemnega! Kaj takega še nisva doživela. Upava, da se bomo še srečali. Nenazadnje je Treviso zelo blizu Sežane, če se tja odpelješ z avtom.

Skratka, prvi tri dni lahko opiševa le s superlativi. Upava, da se bo tak ritem nadaljeval.

READ THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION BELOW

Grado, Eraclea, Santa Cristina

Before departure we said goodby to our family and friends, who we thank very much for all the moral support and the waving goodbye. :)

We met Marko in Opcine and took a chance to make a photo together.

We made our 213 kilometers in 3 stages and we are, I must admit, very satisfied. Despite the rainy and cloudy weather we had a wonderful three days, cycled trough beautiful, straight and above all endlessly long roads with amazing avenues. The speed constant.

As we decided at the beginning, we avoided the main roads, which turned out to be a great idea, even though we had to make a few more kilometers. It was worth every minute of it.

The most beautiful roads that we found, were the ones when we got lost and we enjoyed a surprisingly beautiful nature of the "Friuli-Venezia-Giulia" province.

We were surprised to see that our hometowns were surrounded by so much beauty, we did not know about and they are not far away.

We were alone on the road most of the time, because there was not so much traffic.Usually all the drivers swarm(crowd,throng, press) on highways or busier main roads.We both agreed that when people are in a hurry they don't concentrate on the surroundings much and they choose the roads that will take them to their destination as quick as possible.

But luckily that kind of attitude makes heaven for a "lost" cyclist where he/she can really listen to the sounds of nature.

The road from home to Monfalcone was mostly downwards so we made 61 kilometers the first day and camped just before one charming town close to the sea, called Grado, which is a truly beautiful base for those who want to enjoy a beautiful lagoon "Laguna di Grado".

It was our first day on the bike and we bumped into this part called "La valle Cavanata" by accident before the dark.

We taught we got lost, but we soon came into a cyclist heaven, full of peace, all kinds of different birds and most of all empty side roads.

The feeling became perfect, when the sun started shining right when we reached the beginning of a very nice arranged cyclist path that went all the way to our camp before Grado.

It is also worth to mention the passerby, which greeted us nicely and there were also some Slovenian cars passing by, saying hello, when they saw a Slovenian flag on the back of the bike.

We also met a lot of cyclists, which were mostly racing cyclists. We said hello and had a chat with some of them while asking for nice directions. Luckily I speak Italian and we hope to have nice chats like these in France too. We will see how the language will go because we are not really good in French, but we hope to learn a bit. However, we are great in English, so hopefully that will help. :)

Oh, BTW, we saw a lot of abandoned bikes in good shape on the way to Grado. An older lady we met said that those were probably rented bikes, because there are lots of restaurants and hotels in the city that rent bikes. She said that some youngsters are throwing them into the sea, just like that.

When she heard where we were going and how we are camping, she said we don't have to worry about theft but still that is good to lock or hide the bikes.

We cycled towards Jesolo the next day and we almost reached Eraclea on those straight, long roads, surrounded by just as long and wide fields.

We didn't want to camp on just about any field because of the soil. We were cycling in rain and endless avenues and finally went out of energy.

But it was worthy to cycle so hard. There were houses next to the road and we had no other option but to ask someone for help. But we received more than just an advise on where to camp. We received a nice shelter in the garage owned by the Scapolan-De Nobili family. That was a really genuine experience. We hesitated a bit but at the end we agreed and accepted the nice gesture even though we were a bit embarrassed. Especially when Diana, a mother of two beautiful children Luca (1 years) and Matilde (8 years), brought us some pasta with tomato sauce to the garage. We were speechless and happy but still had a short chat before falling asleep like dead in a shelter from rain that kept falling all trough the night.

And so, our tent, that was wet from the previous night got dry and also we slept on the flat ground. The temperature in the tent was 8C and the previous night was 5C.

We woke up feeling pain in our bodies but we knew we had a good sleep and that was really useful for us. Daria and her husband had to go to work that morning and Matilde had to go to school so we just had a quick goodbye. However, they took a few extra minutes and prepared us a very nice and tasty breakfast, which was a realy nice surprise. We did not want to bother them with taking photos, so we took some when we said goodbye to little Francesco and his grandparents Guerrino and Teresina, that celebrated their 50th anniversary just recently.

That was yesterday, the weather didn't change much. It rained almost the intire way but it was not so bad. The landscape was amazing so we were "getting lost" on the side ways (roads), but because of that we had a chance to comunicate with the locals.

We ran into a strong police control before Treviso and the police (carabinieri) was armed and was stopping the trucks. We did not manage to find out what kind of action was in process. But we were very much interested because we saw a police helicopter parked on the football field. I did not dear to take any photos.

After 74 km we arrived to Santa Cristina, just outside Treviso, where our hosts from Hospitality Club were waiting for us.

We also had a wonderful time here, because this family was really great. Dario and Alessandra have three wonderful children called Tomasso (5), Pietro (9) and Lisa (10). The hospitality here is amazing and we feel like at home. They gave us an apartment under their, that was just like the rest of the house furnitured with taste and lots of bright colors. We had the intire apartment for ourselves.

When all of them were at home, we had a nice dinner and a chat together and according to Alessandra the children gave us a positive mark (grade) as guests, which is a good sign. :)

After all we are having a great time together. We are watching photos and cartoons together and of course eating cookies. Too bad we cant stay longer. We will stay here two nights altogether and tomorrow we will go towards Rubano, that is near Padova, where a young family is waiting for us.

We are looking forward to that even though we are leaving, wonderful and good people behind, full of tolerance towards others.

We both liked (especially Azra) the fact that they were capable of sharing their positive and charitable believes with the rest of the world. Not all people are capable of doing that in all times. They had a Romanian flag on their balcony to show tolerance towards Romanian people, because in Italy there are a lot of negative emotions towards Romanians now. They are raising their children in the right direction teaching them to be kind and tolerant to people and their differences and that getting to know people from different countries and cultures can be very positive, useful and fun thing. One way of proving that is by hosting travellers and helping them if needed. They have a lot of great comments on Hospitality Club and are maintaining contact with many of the people they were hosting.

In the spacious apartment under them (kitchen, a living room, bedroom and bathroom with toilet) that is currently only for guests they have lots of photos from the guests they hosted and you can find guides and papers full of information about their region and the bus/train schedules. It was a really great experience and we really hope to meet them again after all Treviso is not far from Sezana if you go there with a car.

The only way to describe the first three days is by saying they were super great and we hope our journey will continue in the same way it started.

Z zamudo proti Franciji

Pred odhodom v Francijo sedaj zamujava že teden dni in to zaradi vremena, ki naju je izdalo tik pred odhodom. Zunaj piha najmočnejša burja to zimo in temperature so temu primerne. Zato sva se z grenkobo v srcih odločila, da bova najin odhod še malo prestavila, ampak se bova na pot odpravila ob prvi najmanjši možnosti. Tako so najine oči uperjene zgolj v vremensko napoved in kaže, da naj bi bila nedelja (čez dva dni) še najbolj primerna za odhod. Vreme tudi takrat ne bo najboljše, pa vendar pravijo, da se bo malce otoplilo in tudi burja bo nekoliko ponehala. Ugotovila sva, da če bi čakala tisto pravo lepo vreme, bi lahko čakala tudi mesec dni, dokler ne pride prava pomlad.

Rešuje naju upanje, da se sedaj zima le razbesnjuje in da bo po tej "nevihti" kmalu posijalo sonce, dobesedno, prišla bo prava pomlad. Držimo pesti.

Zaradi tega se sedaj opravičujeva vsem in obveščava vse prijatelje iz warmshowers.com in Hospitality Club-a, ki naju čakajo na poti, da bova zamujala in se javila ko bova pač v bližini. Upava, da se bomo kljub tej nepredvideni in neprijetni zamudi lahko srečali.

Tako sva praktično v nizkem štartu pripravljena na odhod. Kolesi sta nared in skoraj vse torbe so zapakirane. Ker nimava pametnejšega dela, sedaj pred odhodom le še malo lenariva in pa dopolnjujeva tiste majhne luknjice, ki so ostale prazne zaradi prejšnjega hitenja. Naprimer dopisujeva si s prijatelji in upam, da bo vreme danes dovoljevalo, da greva malo ven s kolesom. Poleg tega mi je na zemljevid uspelo zarisati najino načrtovano pot, ki jo bova, vsaj tako upava uspela opraviti v teh skoraj štirih mesecih, kar bova na na poti.


Kliknite na karto za povečavo. Označena pot je približna. Modra barva označuje glavno smer, oranžna pa je dodatna pot, ki si jo sicer tudi želiva opraviti, vendar se bova o tem odločila na poti. Vse bo odvisno od najinih sposobnosti in časa. Poleg tega je Francija ogromna država in zavedava se, da začrtana pot zagotovo meri preko 5000km.

Natančno razdaljo bova preračunavala na poti sami. Kolikor sem se mučil računati pravo razdaljo vnaprej, to žal ni bilo mogoče storiti popolnoma natančno. Saj v končni fazi še sama ne veva natančno po katerih cestah se bova peljala. Imava nov števec in ta bo štel za naju.

Kam naju bo peljala pot

Če bo vse po sreči in če naju ne bo izdala najina neizkušenost (tudi fizično se spet nisva veliko pripravljala ter sva bolj nabirala maščobe za rezervo), naju bo pot natančneje vodila od Sežane proti Tržiču (Monfalconu), Benetkam, Padovi, pa proti Veroni in proti Gardskemu jezeru. Od tam jo bova mahnila proti Alessandrii in po najbolj ugodni poti do francoske meje, kjer naj bi v Francijo vstopila skozi mejni prehod Ventimiglia.

Francija je prepredena s cestami, tako da bova midva iskala tiste mirnejše in manj prometne. Namreč lepa, a preveč prometna in nevarna Jadranska magistrala nama je bila močna lekcija za vnaprej in upam, da se nama bo obrestovala.

Sledila bo pot do Nice, pa Cannes, od koder se bova ločila od obale in jo udarila proti mestu Manosque, kjer bova poskušala opraviti južni del kolesarske ture po francosko imenovane "Route du Luberon". Sledila bodo mesta Avignon, Nimes, Montpellier, Beziers in Narbonne, od koder se bova to Toulousa in pa vse do Bodeauxa peljala ob "Kanalu dveh morij". Od tam dalje proti severu, proti mestoma Nantes in Rennes. Tam se bova natančneje odločila, kako nadaljevati najino pot, saj si do Pariza želiva peljati po slikoviti dolini reke Loire. Mogoče bova prej skočila v pokrajino "Bretagne".

Če bo čas, se bova iz Pariza peljala na sever Francije pa potem proti Alzaciji, se pravi v Strassbourg in zatem zopet proti jugu, proti francoskim alpam. Takrat bi moralo biti že poletje, torej nebi smeli imeti več problemov s snegom. Od tam dalje se pa še ne ve natančno. Verjetno naj bi se spustila proti morju in si privoščila oddih na francoskih plažah. Potem pa nazaj proti mejnemu prehodu Ventimiglia in z vlakom proti Sloveniji.

Imejte se lepo in hvala vsem, ki ste naju moralno podpirali do sedaj. Sponzorjev tudi tokrat nisva iskala, čeprav bi jih lahko. Pa za drugič, ko bova imela v rokavu večji dosežek. Ob tem bi se rada tudi zahvalila prodajalki v sežanski prodajalni Simobil, ki nama je dobrovoljno prispevala SIM kartico po polovični ceni. Nekaj je nekaj, nič ni nič, sploh pa je važen namen.

Se bova poskušala javljati po poti, čeprav nič ne obljubljava, saj se bova raje osredotočila na pot samo in na dogodivščine, ki nama jih prinaša.


READ THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION BELOW

Running late to France

We are running late for our journey a week already because of bad weather that betrayed us just before the departure. The strongest wind this winter is blowing and the temperatures are appropriate to the weather.

So, with bitterness in our hearts we have decided to stay at home and hit the road the first chance we get. Our eyes are constantly on the weather forecast and it looks like we might leave this Sunday (in two days). The weather will not be perfect but they said it will get a bit warmer and the wind will not be as strong as now. If we wanted to wait for the perfect weather that means we would probably wait for a month which is out of the question. We are hoping that this winter will fade away soon after the “storm” is over and the real Spring will come along.

And now we are writing to all of the friends from HospitalityClub and Warmshowers.com, apologising and saying we will contact you as soon as we are closer to your city, hoping you will be available to host us then.

We are ready for departure. The bikes are ready and almost all bags are packed. And since we don’t have anything important to do before leaving, we are just being lazy and trying to do all the small things we couldn’t do before, because we were rushing to do other stuff.

Like writing to friends and watching if the weather will warm up a bit so we can cycle around a bit. And I have managed to sketch our planned way on the map hoping we will manage to do it all in these four months ahead.

Click on the photo for enlargement. It is an approximate way of cycling. The blue color is for the main route and the orange color is for the route we would also like to do, but will decide on the way. It will all depend on the time we will have left and how much we can handle.

France is a huge country and the route we have marked probably measures more than 5000km. The accurate distance will be measured on the way. I have already tried to measure the precise distance here but it is really not possible. Besides we do not know which exact roads we will take and we have bought the new meter so it will do the job for us.

Where will the road lead us

If all goes as planed and our inexperience doesn’t hit us on the head our journey will, to be precise, take us from Sežana to Monfalcone, Venice, Padova, Verona, Garda lake and from there towards Alessandria and trough the nicest way towards the French border. We will probably enter the country trough Ventimiglia border crossing.

The roads we will search in France will be more peaceful and with less traffic. Because the majestic but dangerous and full of traffic road "Jadranska magistrala" was a strong lesson for us and hopefully that lesson will come in handy this time.

Than we will hit the road towards Nice, Cannes, where we will split from the coast and go on towards Manosque where we will try to do the southern part of the cycling route called “Route du Luberon”. The cities that will follow will be Avignon, Nimes, Montpellier, Beziers and Narbonne, from where we will cycle from Toulouse to Bordeaux on the path “Canal of the two seas”.

From there we will go North, towards the cities Nantes and Rennes. We will decide there how to continue our route, because towards Paris we would like to cycle trough the spectacular valley of the river Loire. We might cycle trough the "Bretagne" region before that.

If we have time we will go from Paris to the North of France and than to "Alsace, of course Strassbourg to be exact and than back to the south and the French Alps. By that time it would be Summer so we shouldn’t have any problems with snow.

We do not know where we will go from there yet. We will probably go down to the sea and have a nice relaxing time out from cycling and after that go to the Ventimiglia border and catch a train to Slovenia.

We hope all of you will have a great time and we thank you for your support. Also this time, we decided not to look for sponsors even though we could, but maybe we do it next time.

However we would like to say thank you to a saleswoman in the Simobil shop in Sežana that gave us a SIM card on half price. It is little, but better than nothing. She was really kind.

We will try to keep in touch, but we are not promising anything since we will be concentrated on the trip itself and the adventures that wait for us.

Od 7.10.2007 dalje, DAN 14,15,16,17… - Dubrovnik, Črna gora, Srbija, Grčija in konec kolesarjenja

Vozila sva se polna motivacije, saj sva bila blizu mesta, ki je pomenil mejnik na najini poti. Ko osvojiva Dubrovnik, si lahko čestitava, saj bo takrat zaokroženih 800 kilometrov! Najinih prvih 800 kilometrov v življenju.

Promet se je zgoščeval, in veliko avtobusov je hitelo mimo naju. Nekateri vozniki so bili pravbrezobzirni. Spet se je ponavljala ista zgodba. Vendar se je tu zgodilo še nekaj.

Vozil sem kakih deset metrov pred Azro, pol metra od označenega roba ceste. Od te črte je bilo proti desni še kak meter in pol peščene podlage in še bolj proti desni oster skalnat rob in prepad v morje.

Šoferji avtobusov, ki so naju prehitevali se ni niso zmenili, da je cesta ozka in so naju z nezmanjšano hitrostjo prehitevali, kot da sploh nebi bila na cesti. V enem trenutku je mimo mene švignil eden izmed teh prekletih avtobusov, oddaljen mogoče pol metra od mojih ramen. Šel je tako hitro, da sem se zelo prestrašil, kljub temu, da sem ga videl v vzvratnem zrcalu. Ko se je zapeljal mimo, me silovit sunek zraka popolnoma spravil iz smeri vožnje, tako da sem zaplesal najprej malo v levo in nato silovito v desno, preko robne črte ceste in na peščeno podlago, ter se zaustavil pol metra od roba prepada. Cesta je bila seveda nezaščitena. Skratka od prepada in gotove smrti me je ločevalo le še pol metra. Tukaj je šlo zares.

Azra, ki je vozila za mano je otrpela, ko je videla, kaj se je zgodilo. Srce ji je skočilo v hlače, saj se je tako ustrašila, da je bila v šoku še kar nekaj časa. Tudi sam sem se »posral« in bil tako jezen nad vozniki avtobusov, da sem ponovno izkoristil ves svoj besedni zaklad žaljivk in spontano pokazal sredinca za avtobusom. Vem, nisem ponosen nase, ampak tukaj je šlo res na tesno.

Od vsega razburjenja sem se odločil, da se enostavno ne bom več vozil tako ob robu. Včasih se človek res spozabi. Zopet si bova vzela najmanj tisti meter po predpisih. In res sva si ga. Cesta je bila ozka, a nisva se umikala. Šoferji, predvsem vozniki avtobusov so postajali nestrpni, ker so morali počakati trenutek več, da naju varno prehitijo. Čisto nič me ni več zanimalo, le črno sem jih gledal, ko se me prehitevali in jim osorno odmahnil z levo roko, v smislu »Pojdi tja nekam, repenči se kolikor se želiš, meni je svoje življenje drago!« Nekateri so naju gledali, kot da sva idiota in zmajevali z glavami, ter nam namenjali mnoge grde besede. Prepričan sem, so to delali iz nevednosti.

Pred vstopom v Dubrovnik, to veličastno mesto, sva morala opraviti še nekaj zadnjih zalivov, prečkanje čez Tuđmanov most in dolg klanec pred spustom v center mesta.

V mestu sva ponovno srečala nekega kolesarja. Bil je to Jean Philippe, na kratko J.P. iz Quebeca. Prav zanimivo je bilo to, da sem ravno ta dan nosil majico z napisom »Canada«, ki sem jo dobil v dar od mamine sestrične in njenega Moža iz Kanade.


Pomagal nama je najti hostel in preden smo do tja prišli, smo bili priča grozljivemu dogodku. Ravno, ko smo se peljali mimo popularne razgledne točke, visoko nad skalami, se je nekdo vrgel v globino, ki se je zaključevala seveda s skalami in morjem. Sam sicer tega nisem videl z lastnimi očmi, je pa to videl J.P., ki se je vozil kakih trideset metrov pred nama. Res, grozna izkušnja. Kar sem videl, se mi ne bo nikoli izbrisalo iz spomina. Videl sem policista, ki stoji pri ograji, kako se drži za glavo in gleda navzdol, v prepad. Ko sem se peljal mimo, sem ob ograji, na tleh videl le natikače ubogega možakarja.

Kasneje so mi domačini povedali, da je to mesto nad skalami popularno med samomorilci in da se mnogi poženejo v globino prav s te ograje vsaj enkrat letno. Prav grozno. Take stvari te v trenutku streznijo in te postavijo na realna tla. Potovanje za nekaj trenutkov dobi čisto drugačne barve.

Ko smo se ustavili pred kolesarjem povsem neprijaznimi stopnicami, ki so vodile v hostel, smo se z J.P.-jem še malo pogovarjali in povedal nam je, da je bil nesrečen dogodek s samomorilcem sicer najhujši na njegovem dosedanjem potovanju, vendar pa je prepričan, da bodo novi prekolesarjeni kilometri zagotovo pomagali znebiti se groznih občutkov. J.P. je zatem želel svojo pot nadaljevati, zato smo se samo še fotografirali in se poslovili.

Če sva želela priti po stopnicah do hostla sva vedela, da bova morala popolnoma raztovoriti kolesi in potrpežljivo znositi vso opremo na roke.


Kljub temu nisva spala v hostlu. Najela sva sobo in tako prišla bolj poceni skozi. Soba ni bila bog ve kaj, zasebnosti praktično nisva imela in lastnica, stara gospa z zdravstvenimi težavami je s svojim čudaškim odnosom ustvarjala logistične težave tudi nama dvema.

Pa vendar sva se imela v mestu lepo in si naslednji dan ogledala znamenito obzidje,





si privoščila luksuzno večerjo (pico in dva kozarca vina), naredila nekaj več fotografij, kot ponavadi in uživala v lepem vremenu. Zanimivo se nama je zdelo, da je kljub koncu poletja v mestu še vedno mrgolelo turistov, predvsem angleško govorečih.


Imela sva veliko časa za razmislek in odločiti sva se morala, kako bova nadaljevala najino pot od tu dalje. Vremenska napoved je slabo kazala in izvedela sva, da se bo prav kmalu ohladilo. V gorah, ki so bile pred nama naj bi že zapadel sneg.

Ozrla sva se nazaj in ugotovila, da sva naredila približno 800km. Spraševala sva se, če res želiva iti dalje s kolesom, čez Črno Goro in albanske gore v Makedonijo in Grčijo. Po treznem razmisleku sva se oba strinjala, da so bili najini cilji sicer plemeniti, vendar nerealni glede na najino fizično pripravljenost in izkušenost. Tudi najine sicer kvalitetne pnevmatike niso bile ustvarjene za težak teren. Spraševala sva se tudi, če bova sploh še uživala v poti, če bova rinila naprej. Odgovor je bil jasen. Bilo je dovolj, dosegla sva kolikor sva zmogla in ni imelo smisla riniti v težave. Ni bilo potrebno. Nikomur se nama ni potrebno dokazovati. Ustaviti se je potrebno takrat, ko najbolj uživaš, drugače gresta razpoloženje in pravi užitek samo še navzdol.

Po skoraj treh dnevih v Dubrovniku sva se poslovila od Hrvaške in sicer tako, sva nekako uspela naložiti kolesa na avtobus, ki naj bi naju pripeljal direktno do Bara v Črni gori Gori, od koder bi se s kolesi prešvercala na vlak in se od tam v spalnem vagonu pripeljala do mojega očeta, ki živi v Srbiji, v Paraćinu.

Ni šlo vse kot po maslu. Na poti od Dubrovnika do Bara sva morala dvakrat izstopiti in zamenjati avtobus. Šoferja sta bila nadvse nesramna in agresivna, saj se jima ni dalo preveč pretegovati. Namreč, ko sva v Dubrovniku pred vsem tem klicala avtobusnega prevoznika, ki ima čez prevoze do Bara, so nama v pisarni povedali, da ne bo nobenega problema, da bi kolesa naložili kot prtljago. Bilo pa je popolnoma nasprotno. Ko je avtobus pripeljal in je šofer izstopil iz njega, je zagledal kolesa in še preden sem sploh uspel odpreti usta, mi je z agresivnim tonom dal vedeti: »Nema ništa! Bicikle ne idu na avtobus! Nema mesta.« Ob tem me niti pogledal ni in začel korakati proč. Seveda se z Azro nisva dala in začelo se je pogajanje. Šele ko sva mu zagrozila, da bova klicala na vodstvo, saj so mi tam zagotovili, da bodo kolesa sprejeli, se je malo omehčal, a še vedno držal tisti svoj arogantni izraz na obrazu.

Tako sva, kot rečeno, po živčni vojni le sedela na avtobusu. Šok naju je doletel, ko so nama povedali, da to sploh ni direktna linija, kot so nama povedali v pisarni in da bova morala prestopiti. Jeza naju je dobesedno razjedala, vendar sva se počasi pomirila, saj človek trezne glave boljše razmišlja. Jeza te samo spravi v težave.

Po dveh prestopih in manjših doplačilih ostalim šoferjem sva končno prispela v Bar in to celo pravočasno, da sva lahko ujela vlak za Paraćin. Kako se je poznala razlika v temperamentu ljudi, ko smo vstopili v Črno Goro. Ljudje raznolikih narodnosti, milih obrazov, vedno pripravljeni na prijeten, topel pogovor.

Tako sva se pred Budvo na zadnjem sedežu avtobusa prijetno pogovarjala z ostalimi potniki in si krajšala čas. Kolesa smo, še sedaj mi ni jasno kako, nekako uspeli natovoriti v prostor za prtljago, ki ni bil velik. Bili so to zelo majhni avtobusi.

Med potjo sva srečala tudi Josha iz Teksasa in pa gospoda Petra, rojenega v Črni Gori, živečega nekje v Ameriki. Tu je bil samo na dopustu in oživljal spomine na otroštvo, kako se je vozil v šolo po tej isti liniji. Lahko bi šel tudi z letalom, vendar se je odločil drugače prav zaradi lepih spominov.

Budva. To je na prvi pogled umazano mesto, pa vendar nisva imela želje natančno raziskovati. Bila sva utrujena in želela sva si v miru naložiti kolesa na vlak, brez komplikacij. To se je, hvala bogu tudi zgodilo. Verjetno gredo zasluge tudi toplemu srbskemu narodu, malo pa tudi mojim sposobnostim komunikacije in da ne pozabim dejstva, da je moj oče železničar že celo življenje.

Ko sem se pogajal z »domaćim voza«, sem stal na peronu in takrat se je močno vlilo. Bil sem moker, a nič za to. Čim sem povedal, da vem, da ta vlak uradno ne sprejema koles, da pa bi jih jaz vseeno rad natovoril, ter da je moj oče železničar in da pozna tega, pa onega, je bil dogovor sklenjen. Sicer sva morala doplačati nekaj dodatnega denarja »za kafe« in dobila sva spalni vagon. Šef spalnega vagona je bil pravi biser. Za vse potnike skrbel kot za svoje sinove. Kuhal nam je kavo in se z nami res prijetno pogovarjal. Povedal nam je, da občuduje najino potovanje, da ima že nekaj vnukov in da se bo kmalu upokojil.


Ker je svet majhen, jaz pa preko očeta poznam kar nekaj srbskih sprevodnikov, smo ugotovili, da imamo skupna poznanstva, saj se na železnici skoraj vsi poznajo.


Tako je najino pravo kolesarjenje prihajalo h koncu še pred prihodom v Grčijo. V Srbiji sva preživela 7 dni in sicer pri očetu, kasneje pa do Niša naredila še kakih 100km in se od tam z vlakom odpeljala najprej do Skopja.















Ko sva tja prispela je tudi naju dosegla tragična vest o smrti Tošeta Proeskega, kar je bil tudi za naju velik šok. Bil je to enkraten, pevec z res kvalitetnim glasom, glasbo, predvsem pa močno karizmo. Bil je eno leto mlajši od mene.

V Skopja sva se zopet usedla na vlak in se odpeljala do Bitole, od koder res ni bilo druge izbire, kot do Agiosa Germanosa v Grčiji prekolesariti.


Ugotovila sva, da je bila izbira o prenehanju kolesarjenja resnično prava, saj se je tam že začenjala prava zima s snegom.

Ko sva prišla v Grčijo, v najino zimsko bazo, sva kolesi pospravila, vendar se je najino pravo potovanje šele začelo. Marca 2008 bova kolesi zopet pognala v tek. Tokrat proti Franciji, a več o tem prihodnjič.

Še nekaj fotografij iz Makedonije in Grčije.











READ THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION BELOW

From 7.10.2007, DAY 14, 15, 16, 17,…
Dubrovnik, Monte Negro, Serbia, Greece and end of cycling

We cycled full of motivation, because we were getting close to the city that was our landmark on our journey.

When we arrived to Dubrovnik we congratulated ourselves, because we made the first 800 kilometers in our lives.

The traffic was getting thicker and a lot of buses rushed pass us. And again, some of the drivers were rude. The same story over again. But something else has also happened.

I cycled around 10 meters in front of Azra, half meter from the marked side of the road. There was some sandy base a meter to the right from the marked line, a sharp stone edge and a cliff to the ocean.

The bus drivers that were rushing did not care that the road was narrow and they were passing us by with a big speed like we were not there. And in one moment a bus rushed by almost touching my shoulder. He was so fast, I panicked, even though I have seen him in my rear mirror.

A big boost of air got me of the riding direction, my bike was swinging left and right, over the marked line to the sandy part and I stopped half of meter before the cliff. The road was of course unprotected. To put it short, I was half of meter away from the cliff and death.

Azra froze when she saw what happened. She was in shock for a while even after the whole thing has happened. I also almost shit my pants and I cursed the drivers and showed the finger.

I have decided not to cycle close to the edge anymore. Sometimes a person just forgets. So we took that meter that was allowed by road regulations. The road was narrow but we did not move away. The drivers, mostly bus drivers were getting inpatient because they had to wait for the right moment to pass by.

I did not care anymore. All I did was giving them a bad look when they were passing us by and curtly shook my left hand on them saying » Get mad all you want, I like my life too much to move. « Some of them were giving us bad looks and saying bad words, shaking their heads.

Before entering Dubrovnik, that magnificent city, we still had to finish a few more curbs, cross the Tuđman bridge, do a long slope before a descent to downtown.

When we arrived we met a cyclist from Quebec, Canada called Jean Philippe (J.P.). It was interesting that I had a T-shirt with a sign Canada on me in that moment, that I got for a present from my mother's cousin Lisa and her husband David. Thank you Lisa and David!!! The T-Shirt is EXCELLENT!

J.P. helped us find a hostel and before we got there, we witnessed a horrible event. Just when we were cycling by a popular viewing point, high above the rocks, someone threw himself down to the dept of the rocks and the sea.

I haven’t actually seen it myself, but J.P. did, because he was around 30 meters in front of us. It was a really horrible experience. What I saw, will never go out of my head. I saw a policeman standing next to the fence, holding his hands on his head and looking down to the cleft. When I cycled by, I saw the shoes of the poor man that jumped, right next to the fence, where he left them before jumping to death.

Later on I found out from the locals that a lot of people try to commit suicide on that spot and that at least once a year someone jumps down. It is horrible. These kind of things shake you up instantly and put you on a real ground. Our journey got completely different colors for a while.

When we stopped in front of a very unkind stairs for cyclists that were the way to the youth hostel, we spoke to J.P. for a while and he said that this was the most horrible experience on his trip so far but he was sure that the new cycled kilometers will help him get over the bad experience.

We took a photo together before he left.

If we wanted to get to the hostel, we knew we had to put all the stuff down from the bikes and take everything upstairs with hands.

But we didn’t sleep in the hostel. We rented a room next to it that was much cheaper. The room wasn’t much and we barely had any privacy and the old lady that owned the place had health problems and made our logistic problems even bigger with her weird attitude.

Still, we had a great time in the city and the following day we went to check out the famous walls and had a luxurious dinner (pizza and wine), took more photos than usually and enjoyed the great weather.

Even though the summer was over there were a lot of tourists, mostly english speaking.

We had a lot of time to think and we had to decide how to continue our journey from there.

The weather forecast wasn’t optimistic and it said it will become colder. And the snow was already falling on the mountains ahead of us. We realized we made 800 kilometers and asked ourselves if we really wanted to continue our trip with bikes trough Monte Negro, Albanian mountains, Macedonia into Greece.

We realized that even though our intention and plan was good we had to stand on realistic grounds and accept that our physical fitness and experience were not up to the challenge.

And also our otherwise quality tires were not for that kind of heavy terrain.

We also asked ourselves if we will really have fun cycling any further. The answer was clear. It was enough, we accomplished what we could and there was no point in going into any kind of trouble. We did not have to prove anything to anyone.

It is good to stop when you are enjoying yourself the most, otherwise the great mood and the pleasure go downhill.

After three days in Dubrovnik, we said goodbye to Croatia by putting our bikes on the bus that would get us to Bar in Monte Negro and from there we would somehow catch a train, get a sleeping wagon and go to visit my father in Paracin, Serbia.

But it was not going smoothly. We had to change buses twice from Dubrovnik to Bar. The drivers were really impolite and cruel because they were not in a mood for anything, especially assist a client.

The things is we called the bus company before catching that bus asking them if it is OK to put the bikes on the bus as luggage and they said it was not a problem. But on the bus station it was quite the opposite. When the bus driver got off the bus and saw our bikes he said with his aggressive tone that he will not take them. I didn’t even manage to tell him anything or explain. He said that there is no way he will take the bikes without even looking at us and he walked away. Azra and I didn’t give up of course and we started to negotiate with him. Only when we threatened him to call the company he worked for, because they told us the bus will accept the bikes he softened up a bit, but still kept his arrogant posture.

After a nerve wrecking war we finally sat on the bus. But we did receive another shock when they told us that this wasn’t a direct line to Bar like they said in the office and that we will have to catch another bus. The anger was eating us alive but we managed to calm down so we could think clearly, knowing that anger will only put us in trouble.

But after two bus changes and giving some extra cash to the drivers we finally managed to get to Bar and catch the train to Paracin on time.

There was a completely different temperament and character of people once we arrived to Monte Negro. People of diverse nationalities, always ready for a pleasant and warm conversation.

So before arriving to Budva, we had a nice chat on the bus with other passengers. We managed to put the bikes on the bus in Budva. I cant seem to figure out how, because the bus was small. While driving we met Josh from Texas and Mr. Peter who was born in Monte Negro but lived somewhere in America. He was just visiting here, remembering his childhood, thinking how he was riding to school on these same roads.

He could have taken a plane but he decide to travel the way he did for that purpose.

Budva. When you take a first look it is a dirty city and we were not motivated to take a look around. We were tiered and just wanted to put the bikes on the train without any complications. Which luckily happened. It probably had something to do with a warm Serbian temperament or my ability of communication and also the fact that my father works on those railways for his entire life now.

While negotiating with the steward of the train it started to rain a lot. As soon as I said that I know the train does not officially take the bikes on, but that I would still like to do it and that my father works on these railways, we sealed the deal. :) We did have to pay some extra money though for some “coffee” but we got a sleeping wagon.

The man taking care of the sleeping wagon passenger was a real treasure. He took care of everyone very well.

He said he admires our journey, that he has grandchildren and he plans to retire soon.

And as usually, the world is small and I know some of the workers on the Serb railway there, we soon figured out we both knew someone working there.

And so our first cycling tour was coming to an end in Greece. We spent seven days in Serbia and than cycled to Niš and made 100 more kilometers and in Niš we took a train to Skopje, Macedonia (FYROM). When we arrived we received a tragic news that a talented, young Macedonian singer Toše Proeski died in a car accident the previous morning and that came as a big shock to us. He was a unique singer, with a beautiful voice, music and especially his great charisma. He was one year younger than me.

After spending a few days in Skopje with some friends we took another train to Bitola and from there we had no choice but to cycle to Agios Germanos in Prespa region, Greece.

We realized that making the decision of not cycling from Dubrovnik was a good one because there was already snow here in these regions.

When we arrived to Greece we put our bikes away and another real journey was beginning.

We came back home end of January and we will continue or journey with bikes in a few days trough Northern Italy and France. But we will write about this some other time and get back to you on some of the things that were happening while we were in Greece.