Just a few pictures to welcome you to Split, this beautiful city on the coast of Croatia, where everything (and everybody!) is ready for the "Pearls of the Adriatic Sea" tour. We hope the weather stays like today! Stay tuned!!!

And here we are, ready for our first day of riding after the welcome briefing and welcome dinner yesterday!

Today we leave the beautiful town of Split riding along the main adriatic road, the Jadranska Magistrala, an incredible road view good pavement, nice curves and incredible views!

Short after leaving the city traffic behind, we reach the Cetina gorges created by the 90km long Cetina river and here the first incredible curvy roads with no traffic begin.

Soon we reach the coast again and we cruise south along the Makarska Riviera till the little village of Drvenik where we have lunch waiting for the ferry that takes us to the island of Hvar.

The island is an exemple of incredible beauty. It is 70km long and we have a almost 80km ride in front of us. A narrow curvy road awaits us for the first 60km til we reach the village of Stari Grad, literally old town. The name matches perfectly since it is one of the oldes villages in all Croatia (it was founded by greek settlers in 384 B.C.).

The first day has been great!

Time to leave this beautiful island, but fortunately the port is on the opposite side... so we still had to ride around 80 km surrounded by olive trees, limestone... and blue water! Reaching the mainland, we had to pass for a few kilometres through Bosnia, and then back into Croatia before stopping in Stol for lunch. Dubrovnik was not that far away after lunch, but we could not "simply" use the main road, and did some beautiful backroads instead, that allowed us to see some fantastic landscapes. Once we reached the hotel, time for a quick shower and then we went to the old town for a walk and for dinner. Enjoy the pictures!

Today we hit the 3rd country on our tour, Montenegro.

In the morning we leave the incredible Dubrovnik and we head south towards the croatian-montenegrin border. Passed the border we stop for a coffee before taking the Lepetane-Kamenari ferry (just 5 minutes) that allowes us to head south to the beautiful city of Budva. On the main road there is some traffic but soon after lunch we hit some really narrow roads through some incredible untouristic spots.

The group is feeling great and so we added another beautiful place on our route: the Lovcen National Park and the mausoleum of Petar II Petrovic-Njegos, king of Montenegro in the 19th century.

We are almost at Kotor, but we still have to descend the from 1657m to the sea level!!! A great road, with a lot of curves and 25 switchbacks will get us there. 

After dinner we went around the old city and it is just incredible!

Leaving Kotor, we rode along its fjord that, in terms of landscapes, has nothing to envy to the ones from Norway. Soon after that, we reached another border and we entered Bosnia again. The landscape changed and we rode for many miles surrounded by lush vegetation (of course we did not miss a great lunch!) finally entering Mostar, where we had some time to relax and where we also went for a nice walk after dinner!

A little loop around Mostar today, but a big amount of things to see! First we went to Blagaj Tekija, a Dervish monastery just outside outside Mostar, then to Trebinj for a coffee break, then to the beautiful Kravice waterfalls, and then we also stopped in Medjugorje on the way back. Not bad for just 120 kilometres! And, to complete the day, a walk and dinner into town. Enjoy the pictures!

A new day, a new city! Today we leave Mostar and reach Vodice, a little village on the Croatian cost north of Split.

Our route today took us along some beautiful main roads in Bosnia were we had the chance to see the incredible Busko lake. An artifcial lake, created in 1974 that is entirely in Bosnia, but is used to create electricity for Croatia (and also the power plant is in Croatia). 

Short after crossing the border our tour guide Domenico surprised us with a very very tasty picnic in a perfect spot next to the Cetina river!

What shall we do after lunch on a very hot day? Rest under a tree!!!!

In the afternoon the temperature is really high, and we soon start riding on narrow twisty roads that lead us towards the coast. Nobody is around, the villages seem to be empty and even the cafe is closed. So no afternoon coffee, but some enjoyable shade after another tree!

Vodice is not far and the Adriatic sea is "calling" us for a swim! 

Second and last restday of the tour!

There are many many things to do and see in this area. So the group split in two.

One group decided to leave late and do a short ride towards the Krka National Park and do a relaxing but really interesting boat ride along the river to see some incredible waterfalls and obviously the monastery of Visovac that is located on a little island in the middle of the park!

The other group opted for the longest ride of the tour (340km) and went up north towards Smiljan, a little village not far from Gospic where the incredible genius Nikola Tesla was born! In the morning we rode on secondary roads in the middle of nature, while after visiting the Tesla museum and having a frugal lunch along the D25, we rode the most beautiful part of the Jadranska Magistrala (the croatian coastal road) on perfect pavement and no traffic!

Great day for everybody! 

The final riding day of the tour was probably also the hottest one, with a temperature that reached much more than 30 Celsius (90 Farenhight!). Anyway we made it (drinking a lot of water for lunch!) and reached Split before the traffic rush hour and in time for some relax before dinner.

Marggi, Phil, Mike, Cleve, Tatiana, Leandro, Victoria, Jon, Tom, Steve, thank you for a great tour and a very pleasant time together!