Mog's Blog: September 2016

14 Sept 2016

A Day in Porec

Hello!

Spent today wandering in and around Porec. One of the highlights was the basilica, parts of it go back to the 5th century, and that's no typo, the view from the bell tower was great. The weather has been fine; around 29 but doesn't have the humidity of Piran. But you wouldn't think you were in Croatia here with Italian spoken widely, all the restaurants having Italian names and excellent gelato found everywhere. The locals even look like Italians! But then this region (Istria) was part of Italy for a long time. But the language being spoken the most is German. The place is a tourist town with several resorts in and around Porec. The old town is wall to wall restaurants and tourist shops. There are numerous boat excursions available down the coast as well. The Germans love the sea and it is comparatively cheap for them too.

But what concerns me are some of the shop names:

- Lush - fresh hand made cosmetics. That raises several questions to me.

- Caribbean Candy Shop. I'm not sure what the West Indies bring to the lolly making table worthy of a speciality shop in Croatia

- Deny Gold. This is a jewellery shop. I hope they don't do appraisals.

I have also seen some interesting food options. There was the place that was selling 120cm diameter pizzas. That's got to be a typo, right? Also saw the chocolate fruit shop but that, disappointingly, appears to have shut down. Also a lot of the restaurants have people spruiking but not as aggressively as say in Venice (looked like an easy job). Even the optician had a spruiker speaking German but he was much more desperate. If he is that desperate I don't think I would trust him with my eyes.

I like these trips because the trip and the places are never what you expect, I guess that's why they call them adventures.

Today's photos...

Parenzana cycle trail 2 - Grozdjan to Porec

Hello,

Well I made it to the end of the trail at Porec eventually, after 6 1/2 hours and 59 km. The first two hours was downhill and the rest up and down, so much so I did twice as much climbing as yesterday! The track was better than the first day but the directional signage wasn't. Perhaps what was most disappointing was that towards the end of the trail where there was shelter and a drink stop, unfortunately the only ones in attendance were a couple of donkeys, goats and chickens. The fridges containing the drinks were cruelly locked up - even the water that was available was undrinkable. At this stop I met a couple of Germans. As the man said, in very good Engkish, only Austrians and Germans tend to go for cycling thing. Welll anyway he comes every year to this part of Croatia and warned me that as I get closer to Porec to be careful not to get lost as he did last year. With 15km to go I got lost. At one point the signage was ambiguous or rather non-existent and so I went the wrong way. Instead I took the direct road ito Porec and joined the trail just outside of it. No doubt the trail I missed went up and down anyway, amongst those villages which always seem to be on a hill here in Istria.

I am in Porec for a couple of nights, so will take some more photos of the town tomorrow. On Thursday I have wimped out and I have decided to take a taxi back to Piran on Thursday instead of doing the return trip as I originally intended. I just can't face those hills I came down today! It is by far the steepest and roughest rail trail I have ever been on. Those Italians must have been crazy putting the railway line through the middle of nowhere over very hilly and rocky terrain, there are so many viaducts and tunnels that had to be built it's anazing the effort they went to. One of the signs said that in some parts the train went slower than you can ride a bike on the trail today and I believe it!

Anyway, photos from today....

13 Sept 2016

Parenzana cycle trail 1 - Piran to Grozdjan

Hello,

Well I am in Croatia now, the ironic part was that the Slovenian passport control took a close look at my passport but the Croatians just waived me through. Completed only 39 km of the trail today and staying in the village of Grozdjan (just beat a thunderstorm which petered out anyway). Very old town as you can see from the photos (the last ones) - even the Venetians were here too (as in Piran). In fact this region - Istria - was Italian for a long time and all the signs are bilingual. Lots of tourists (particularly Germans, they find everything) and tour groups and rightly so; it's a small town on top of a hill (the highest pint of the trail), surrounded by a stone wall, with pretty buildings and great views down below. I am very tired as it was a lot harder than I expected. No bitumen on this track (although it did parallel the road at times) as in Slovenia and Italy but rough gravel cart tracks. Thankfully I am on a mountain bike and I have reached the highest point of the trail. Apart from that it was reasonably straight forward with the signs showing the trail being fairly good. I did get slowed down by a flock of sheep which were paying no attention to the commands of their owners. Also met an older German who was staying in Koper and swimming and doing bike rides - in a week he amassed over 450km. He didn't speak English but we managed t communicate in a pidgin Geman. You have got to credit these anti-couch potatoes. Talking about communication, the owner of the apartment I am staying at only speaks Croatian, German and Italian but Croatian is close enough to Slovenian for me to understand him and him me.

I still have 57km to ride tomorrow to get to the end of the trail at the port of Porec, so tomorrow will be interesting. I think I mentioned this before but the Parenzana cycle trail follows the old route of the Trieste to Porec railway which crossed Istria - these days crossing three countries.

Anyway enjoy the photos....

11 Sept 2016

Istrian Interior

Hello,

Just a few photographs from my recent bike trip into (up to) the coastal hinterland near Lucija (just down the road from Piran). This involved a bit of hill climbing (on the bike and on foot and my heart got a workout) as this area is up to 300m above the coast but the views were worth it and the downhill ride was fun!

Off to Croatia on Monday to complete the cycle trail that goes from Trieste in Italy to Porec in Croatia (called the Parenzana), about 180 km (return) but I am not doing it all in one day!

But first a few observations....

Tourists Photographing
This is always entertaining. Recently I saw a tourist in Piran posing in the centre of the road for a photograph. Also in the main square I thought a professional photo shoot was in progress but it was in fact tourists; there was the shot from low down and hair flicking involved. I think they have been watching too much TV.

The Invisible Man
I feel like that sometimes whether on foot or on my bike: people cross in front of me, they walk directly into me, or walk so slowly in front of me (across the path) I can't understand how it is physically possible to walk that slow.

Food & Drink
A cafe that I go past regularly has an interesting meal offer: Coke & Toast for 3.80 euros. Not sure whether that is for breakfast but it's a good deal.
Also recently a town here in Slovenia opened Europe's first public beer fountain. Apparently it it intended to be a tourist attraction (I am not sure what types of tourists), see: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/news/2016/09/08/europes-first-beer-fountain-opens-taps-slovenia/
Only an alcoholic could have come up with that one. But it's OK it will only be opened until October for this year.

Random Thoughts
Why is it that when Germans are talking to each other it sounds like they are giving a speech or lecture? With Italians it sounds (and looks) like they are having an argument.

Getting Old
I have observed two things with older people that I need to be careful about. The first is that when you get older your sense of humour deteriorates and you laugh at the the most obvious and trivial things. Secondly. whenever there is any music playing at a public event, no matter what type of music, they can't control themselves and start dancing (very badly) on their own amongst the audience. I think they don't care anymore.

Interesting TV Programmes

In a previous blog (Alps, Public Transport and Italians, 8 September 2015) I mentioned the US TV programme, Bait Car. This is where the police park a car (full of cameras and GPS) - always unlocked and either with the door opened or a whole of of valuables on the front seat - and wait for someone to try to steal it. Well I think the criminals have worked this out (probably because they put it on TV) and now it has become more elaborate: a marked police car now pursues a vehicle, the vehicle stops, the person in the car struggles and is arrested and taken into the marked police car which drives away, leaving the car with doors opened and the keys in the ignition. One can only wonder how more elaborate these set ups can become. The TV network must be paying a lot of money.

And here are those photos....