Day No. 2 and 3 - The Balkan Route

When we wake up in the morning, we quickly find the cause of the nocturnal roaring. It's not a roar, it's not turbines either, as we thought ... - we've simply set up our night quarters right next to a rushing whitewater river. - Perhaps it was a good idea not to do a thorough reconnaissance during the night. Nobody would have wanted to swim here. We set off again for the time being. It's still early, but we find a McDonald's, which opens in a few minutes. - Although we are so spoiled by the "Fette Kuh", in our opinion Cologne's best burger joint, that we will never eat a burger at Megges again, we treat ourselves to a coffee. Because it still tastes good here. Strengthened and freshly washed, we are back on the road a few minutes later. 

Via Lienz, Oberdrauburg and Mauthen we approach the Plöckenpass road and thus the border between Austria and Italy. - We cross the Carnic Alps and make our first purchase on Italian soil at Tolmezzo. We stop for breakfast at the Tagliamento river. Although we only have a short distance to go through Italy - it's still about 120 kilometers to Trieste - I decide to attach the mandatory Italian warning sign to the bike rack. It's one thing that such a sign is only mandatory in two EU countries. But it's another thing that the version for Italy can hardly be distinguished visually from the version prescribed in Spain. If the wrong one is displayed, there is supposedly still a fine. We have opted for the hopefully safer version. Spain on one side (because that's where we want to go soon) and Italy on the other. Hopefully we won't accidentally turn the sign the wrong way round. 

To save on the highway toll sticker required in Slovenia, we let the navigation system calculate an alternative route without the highway. This takes us far through the mountains. The route is longer, but we enjoy it more because of the beautiful landscape. 

Around midday we reach our destination for today: Rovinj.

Hector finds a place to stay for the next two nights on a private property. We dismantle the bikes and head towards the beach.  

This is located in a wooded park, Punta Corrente, also known as the Golden Cape. - Johann Georg von Hütterott, an Austrian industrialist, bought several islands on the Rovinj coast towards the end of the 19th century with the aim of establishing a climatic health resort. The project was never completed, but the park with its variety of plants was preserved. Today, you can enjoy the sun under pine trees in the semi-shade. We are delighted with the fantastic weather. The water is warm and clear, but still refreshing. The only thing I miss are the many sea urchins I was expecting to see here. But there is an explanation for this. The Croats claim that there are no more sea urchins in the whole of Croatia because the Italian tourists have eaten them all. - Oops! 

I'm sure everything has already been written about Rovinj, where we stay for another two days - I can now understand why Zoran, my old team colleague, always raved about it so much. - The old town is simply beautiful: the houses are densely packed on the waterfront of the headland. Winding alleyways paved with large cobblestones lead uphill to the Church of St. Euphemia. Its spire not only characterizes the cityscape, but also the many travel guides on which it is depicted. Later, we find the perfect spot to watch the sunset on the harbor pier. Then it's time to dine. The fish looks very good, but I want a Balkan plate. - In addition to the many nice restaurants, small boutiques invite you to go shopping. But we prefer to finish off in one of the many ice cream parlors. Delicious, but it doesn't come close to "Der Eismacher", our Cologne ice cream parlor at Severinstraße 53. You can tell that for people from Cologne, feelings of home are sometimes also Italian. - We liked Rovinj very, very much. But above all, we will remember the hospitality.