Biking Today

Friday, October 21

We have learned that 'Croatia' is actually spelled Hrvatska in their language, thus the country code is HR. Also, the patron saint of Novigrad is St. Pelagius. The town tower has a statue of him on the top next to the church of St Pelagius and St Maximillian.

Jana, the young woman in the ESL class, works for Simpa phone, a mobile carrier. She meets us at Duska's office where her sister works to give us a free phone. After we buy a SIM card she is able to show how to use the phone and it's number.

We rented a couple of bikes today for three days, 420 HR kuna (HRkn). The weather today is clear and sunny and we hope Saturday and Sunday will also be great for more biking. My bike is a super duper model called "MATT 400" (I'm pointing to the name in the photo.)

We biked out of town heading north along the coast toward the next village of Dajla which is actually a part of Novigrad. It's about 7 km (4 miles) of trails directly along the Adriatc Sea. The water is clear, calm and beautiful blue, but not very warm (maybe 60 degrees) with a few fishing and sail boats on the horizon.

The trail passes through many vineyards and olive tree groves. The grapes have already been harvested, but their are still people picking the olives.

Also, we passed by several "camp sites" with many well maintained, small summer rental cabins. There is a newer resort village, too. It's an interesting mix of old and new tourism styles.

By the time we reach Dajla it has gotten cool and we are tired and my seat hurts. Rather than return via the coast bike trail, we take a paved highway back which is easier terrain and faster. back in town by 3:30, just in time to make a phone call to Fidelity with our new mobile phone.