European Cycle Tour 2005

Leaving Cres we took a ferry back to the mainland, where we were greeted with a nice uphill stretch! (First picture)

We headed for Opatija, and en route passed the delightful looking village of Brseč perched on the hillside.

At our destination drank plenty of Coffee, in the 3rd picture Carl is sharing his coffee with Mono at Monoliki Cafe, and Sandy is enjoying the sun and coffee at the hilltop village of Kastav. The 5th picture is looking toward Opatija (The Adriatic Riveria) from Kastav.

The weather has cooled off now, so we have finished with camping and in Opatija we stayed at the grand old Hotel Imperial, the rooms were so large we could fit our tandem and trailer in the foyer of our room! (See next two photo).

As we headed back into Slovenia we were met by autumn colours (8th picture of Planina). On our approach to Ljubljana we enjoyed the city's well laid out bike paths and the police escort they provided us (check out the gun).

As we mentioned, we were fortunate that our kiwi friends Meg and Hunter (living in London) made the effort to come and see us in Ljubljana for a long weekend. It was lovely to see some friends from home (thanks for the treat M and H) , and we also enjoyed seeing L and surrounding countryside in the autumn glory.

The first photo is on our first night in town.

If you´ve seen our previous photos of Bled back in June (see the archives) you will be able to recognise most of the next lot of photos, although these ones are full of lovely autumn hues and we had to wear warmer clothes . .

No prizes for guessing who was at the last place!!! We had a couple of wet days so went out to a big shopping mall and had an hour or so where guys and gals split up for some window shopping. This is the window the guys found!!!!

Due to the "inclement" weather we left Ljubljana by train and headed to Maribor. We found a great restaurant complete with Hungarian dancing . . . .

We also found this cool 400 year old grape vine which is famous in Maribor.

Because of all the rain the rivers are running very high - this is the Drava river which we were originally planning to follow from Maribor. Next photo is what was a defence tower and a town market alongside the river.

Fortunately our tandem friends Veronika and Mitja whom we met on the ferry to Croatia (see previous photos in archives) made the trip up to Maribor to see us for a few hours in the afternoon. They live about an hour away and we had hoped to visit them in their home town, but we don´t have enough days left . . . . . It was great to see them again, and we are going to convince them somehow that they should come to NZ to cycle . . . .

The last photo is of our rig on the train in Maribor, Slovenia as we left that night to get to Graz, Austria.

We went via Graz to get a better train connection to Salzburg, so we had just half a day here in this city, which we believe to be the 2nd largest in Austria.

Check out the Kunsthaus Graz - also called the Friendly Alien - gallery.

We enjoyed the old architecture of Graz around the town squares, and were impressed with the wonderful cycle lanes throughout the city, although we don´t have a photo for you.

Next photo is a funky foot bridge right in the middle of the high flowing river. It has a cafe and a small open theatre (where you can see the people standing) as part of the design.

This is another view of the river from one of the bridges. We´ve managed to stay dry by heading this way, so we are keen to get back on the bike - more on this later . . . . .