Seiwald Family Scooter Holiday in Croatia!!

Wednesday, July 4, 2018 | Pablo Piferrer | Europe | 2 Comments

Welcome to sunny Opatija! A little town in the Croatian coast, in the Kvarner gulf. Just across from our hotel, we can see the city of Rijeka and the Islands of Cres and Krk. The views from the hotel are absolutely outstanding!

Over the next 5 days we will be riding all over the Istrian Peninsula (west side of Croatia), the two islands of Krk and Cres and popping into Slovenia to visit the Postojnska caves, all on our beautiful red Vespas!

Day One - Postonja Cave, a visit to Slovenia

The sun is up and not a single cloud in the sky, seems so welcoming for us to start this wonderful tour, our ride for the day will develop mainly in the neighbouring country of Slovenia, where we will visit the Postonja Cave.

The caves were discovered in 1818 and immediately the year after the doors were open to the public, with the visit of Archduke Ferdinand. Originaly lit up by candles and gas lamps it wasn't till in 1884 that the electric lighting was added.

The rails were placed in 1872 and the charriots were pushed by the guides themselves!! End of the century and gas locomotives were added, and with the end of WWII the electric trains were placed.

The beautiful island of Cres from my bedroom window

Rijeka looks so calm in the distance

So inviting for a swim

Early morning, as we are ready to leave, so are the Harley guys right behind us. The look of envy is certainly visible as we ride out and dissapear in the Croatian roads

On our way towards the Postonja Cave, we ride through the charming little town of Ilirska Bistrica, where we stop to enjoy a nice cappuccino and in Chris' case, a hot chocolate (or as he described it, thick pudding)

Righ by the road to our caffé, the bikes seemed like an eye magnet, so clean and shiny

Forrest, Sophia, Trudi and Chris as we were headding to the cave entrance

The little "trains" that take us down to the walking tour start way inside the cave. They replaced the gas locomotives in 1945

All ready to go, but one last selfie before we depart!

Stalagmites created from the slow dripping from the celing Stalactites. As explaines so I could remember; "You hold on tight to stalactites and you watch out as you might trip over stalagmites"

The 1920's Murano glass chandelier illuminates the "Ballroom" cavern

On our way back, we stop at a viewing point from where you can see the city of Trieste, a bit before we make it back to Croatia through the border

Chris enjoying a little rest on the viewing point. The sun graces so warm and gentle, it is hard to refuse it's call to enjoy a little doze

Sophia posing with the beautiful view behind her

Riding day over, and we are all back safe and sound ready for a little walk and dinner out!

Tonights restaurant, not too far from the hotel. The Ružmarin, our first dinner out, a personal favourite

Magnificent decoration and a great source of aromatic plants for some serious fresh cooking!

Trudi and Forrest while busy with dinner. Dinner certainly never decives you here. After a little local "schnapps" we're pretty much ready to call it a day.

Day two - Poreč and the Limski Kanal

A beautiful morning awakes us and another day begins in paradise. Two beautiful destinations, the Roman town of Poreč and the Lim Canal (Limski kanal).

Poreč, a 2000 year old town on the most western part of the Istrian Peninsula (the west side of Croatia), originally built around the Harbour, used mainly for fishing boats, now primarily yatchs will sail round the area. It's naturally protected from strong tides by the island of Saint Nicholas. This town is a great place for a quick walk or some sightseeing, like the Euphrasian Basilica or the "Norther Tower", now a resturant.

The Lim Canal is a beautiful opening towards the sea that begins with the Lim valley. The river Pazinčica originally ran through it creating the erosion that would give shape to this fabulous Ria. Now the beautifull green waters are used for Mollusc farming (Mussels and Oysters mainly).

Having breakfast with views like this is simply priceless. So calm and peaceful

The coffee stop in the morning on our way to Porec is in Pazin, a bikers bar off of the main road. No bikers today, but not strange to see it full of motorcycles up front.

Small and very cosy

Bikes well parked and out of the way on this two way street!

A little walk round the 2000 year old town and it's little streets in search of the Basilica

Sophia and Trudi

The Lim Canal, this was our coffe stop straight after lunch

A quick detour towards a castle up on a hill, we find the charming little town of Boljun. Our Vespas take up the parking lot, but surely this town is so calm, we won't really be bothering anyone

We went up looking for a castle, and this was the magnificent view at the top

Boljunski Grad, the castle on the top of the hill

Two explorers

The streets are very narrow in this little town

Full of stairs and slopes, it really seemed way bigger by the number of streets

There's something going on about cats on these blogs lately

Checking up on the bikes and... surprise! We have a young addition to the team!

Time to wrap up for today. A short but intense ride awaits us tomorrow.

Day Three - Risnjak National Park

Due to the possibility of rain on Friday we decided, unanimously, to change the days around a bit (this is the magnificence of running a live show while on a "touring centre".
The ride starts with a quick and short (but intense...ish) ride through Rijeka and straight out towards the north, where the beautiful well asphalted turns await us.
Declared a National Park in 1959, this natural wonder is home to many species of animals, between them, brown bears, eagles wolves and the Eurasian lynx, of which it's thought the name of the park comes from (Ris is lynx in Croatian).
We did long stop at Crni Lug, where the entrance of the park is situated and the family went for a quick hike to further enjoy this beautiful park.

Our flaming red Vespas beautifuly contrasting with the field and trees behind.

This duck looked suspicious

Dinner in a really cool restaurant by the sea

Day Four - Islands Cres and Krk

A new day dawns, and with a long day ahead and a ferry to catch, all we can do is start early. We leave to see the two Islands closest to us; Cres and Krk, two out of the over 700 islands, not to mention the almost 400 islets. It is the second largest archipelago in the Mediterranean, being Greece the largest.
Cres is a long Island with beautiful Pebble beaches, some only accessible by boat and with some great coves, woth wondering off to check what this island has to offer. Krk is a slightly more populated island as it is has a much larger area and is closer, physically joined by a bridge to mainland Croatia

Waiting by the ferry, our flaming red bests got most of the attention!

First stop to get a quick view of Krk from a distance

A hard to get to cove, surely whoever got there on that boat must be enjoying it!

Forrest on his conquered "pile"

I rest my case!

Exploring around in Cres (town) is like trying to make your way through a maze

With ... interesting and unique characters around every corner

Reaching a dead end doesn't mean getting nowhere, this climbing rose bush hid more secrets than expected.

For example, this 1576 part of the old town wall than now is part of someone's private property (we met the nice lady that lives there now)

In Krk, (another interesting maze) trying to get to a restaurant, Galija or nothig!

We were really hungry

It had it's own garden inside, beautiful little hidden corner.

Trudi

Forrest

Chris and Sophia

Day Five - Pula

Our final day has come, and we ride to the most southern part of the Istrian Peninsula, to the town of Pula. A town full of history, dating so far as the year 6000 AD! It possesses a huge amount of Roman ruins, between them, the best preserved Roman arena, the Pula Arena.

A cool group of Swedish rockabilly!

The slaves' entrance gates to the Colosseum

Arch of Sergii

Plomin power plant, it may not be pretty, but it surely is impressive.

After a beautiful final riding day, all that is left, is to celebrate a safe tour with a nice cold beer.

Thank you for having shared your vacation with me. It has been absolutely fantastic. I hope to see you all soon. Safe trip!

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