Croatia (all)

Welcome to the first "wired" human-powered (bicycle), land-bound circumnavigation of the Mediterranean Sea. The team have concluded their journey, but they are continuing to add reports to this site.

On these pages we will show you the cycling pursuits of John and Daniel Gould (from Australia) and our friend Peter (from Japan).Our challenge will be to ride from London to Istanbul through 12 countries in 2 months while having a great time and seeing the sights. Peter should be there to Italy and then its just 2 unless anyone else wants to join us. For father and son John and Daniel the quest will also try to raise money for Odyssey House.

Il giro è molto bello e non eccessivamente faticoso. Si trovano delle ottime cartine fino a Maribor (Da Dobbiaco è tutta ciclabile, la Drauweg), un po' meno in Slovenia e Croazia, dove ciclabili praticamente non ce ne sono, ma ci sono parecchie strade secondarie senza traffico. In Slovenia agli uffici turistici si possono trovare cartine della zona decenti (noi ci siamo accontentati di quelle, ma consigliamo caldamente di procurarvi una carta almeno al 200.000, possibilmente con le curve di livello?) e un paio di pubblicazioni interessanti, anche in Italiano, su ``Slovenia in bicicletta'' e ``Le strade secondarie sono più accattivanti di quelle principali''. Aiutano molto. Non fate troppo affidamento sui cartelli segnaletici delle presunte piste ciclabili (``kolesarska pot'', in sloveno) che a volte mancano. Sulla strada che abbiamo scelto noi abbiamo incontrato traffico solo in alcuni punti che non avevano alternative, andando a ficcarci in strade impossibili solo un paio di volte, evitabili.

Tabular data and altitude profiles of mountain passes all over Europe.

I introduce in a brief way some itineraries cycled by the author in Spain (Pyrenees, Road to Santiago, The Silver Route, The North Route, Andalusia, but also in Greece, Croatia and Slovenia), with pictures of them, trying to show the beauty of this different and relaxed way of traveling.

An enormous collection of bicycle tours all over the world.
Eine enorme Sammlung von Fahrradtouren in der ganzen Welt.

This year the event shall start on Saturday June 19th from Senj www.senj.hr in Croatia. All information shall be kept at the website of the Tourist Office www.tz-senj.hr or can be obtained from malojcic@yahoo.com .

Last year event can be seen at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1kg3A9EM_4

Everybody welcome!

For 7 years an amateur MTB race ``Hillclimb to Mount Zavizan from 0 to 1594'' starts from the Adriatic shore up to the mountain peak Zavizan at 1594 m. Last year organizers had to limit the number of participants because they could not accomodate them all in the tiny haven Sveti Juraj. This year they decided to extend the race to 40 km and move the starting place to Senj. You can learn more about the event which shall start on Saturday 20.06.09 from Senj by searching Yahoo or Google for ``Hillclimb Zavizan'', ``Aufstieg Zavizan'' or ``Uspon na Zavizan''. Race has no commercial interests and organizers want only to bring cyclists together and introduce them to the beauties of Mount Velebit forests. Information offered by malojcic@yahoo.com . Following pages give more information on past races:

http://www.np-sjeverni-velebit.hr/Biciklijada_2008/Fotogalerija/content/index_9.html
http://www.np-sjeverni-velebit.hr/novi_web/Velebit_htm/Karta.htm
http://www.np-sjeverni-velebit.hr/novi_web/Velebit_htm/Profil.htm

[The author travels around the world and reviews hostels, and has built up a large hostel directory.]

What are hostels?

The quickest answer I can give to you is that hostels are budget accommodations where you share a room with other travelers. To be more specific though and to give you a better idea of what to expect I will say that a hostel room is like a hotel room but instead of being just one bed there are a couple (or a few) bunk beds. There are also (gasp!) other people. People you do not know! These other people are travelers who are most likely very much like you in the sense that they are exploring and traveling and doing it as absolutely cheaply as possible. Hostels have been around a long long time. There are over 20,000 of them around the world. Hostels are very much a part of the culture of Europe, and are starting to be known in the USA as well. Hostels are a cheaper way of staying in a city where you do not live.

Since 2003 in the second half of June a race is beeing organized by the Senj Mountain Bike Club which starts from the village Sv. Juraj near Senj at the sea level and ends at the mountain hut Zavizan 1568 m above. Trek is 33 km long and is graphically represented on the web page. About half of it goes on a paved road and another half on unpaved road through the forest which belongs to the North Velebit National Park. Participation for less trained cyclists is facilitated by the second start at 1000 m from the village Oltari. Traditional evening reunion of participants takes place in Sv. Juraj harbour restaurant after the race. The event is a good introduction to the beauties of cycling in mount Velebit forests. Accomodation for foreign visitors is provided through http://www.tz-senj.hr.