Day 17 – 16th July 2020 – Gornji Karin – Zadar
I have a lazy morning, not doing much of anything really. I put my washing on last evening so bring that in, take the seat off the bike to plug in the disconnected relay and check the usb port is working… it isn’t… mmm, I take a look at the fuses and one has blown so I replace that, which does the trick. One set of the auxilliary lights are still not working, but I don’t need them so that will wait til I get home.
Now I realise that the photo I took of the ‘lake’ as I was coming down the mountain yesterday is actually the sea here at Gornji Karin.
Apparently it is the largest inland sea in Europe; the Adriatic flows into here via a narrow channel between the mountains. There are a few Cafes so I go to the nearest one and get a coffee. It is very pleasant to sit with my ipad and coffee for an hour or so, just relaxing. It’s soon lunchtime, so I get something to eat and then decide I will go out on the bike to Zadar and visit this sea organ attraction.
I take the top box off of the bike and it is great to ride her without all that extra weight. It doesn’t take long to cover the 40kms or so from here to Zadar and I am soon parking up at the sea organ site. I was expecting to see some huge cave or other natural phenomenon but actually it is an extremely modern structure.
At first I don’t hear anything, then as I come around the bend I can here an ethereal moaning sound, which gets louder as I walk along the quay. Wow, I must say I am very impressed and intrigued. The waves are entering the structure forcing the air to move up through channels and different size airways then out via, what I can only assume are, holes with varying acoustic properties thereby creating different notes… very ingenious I must say.
The sounds of the sea…
I am thoroughly enjoying sitting listening to it and watching this rather quirky vessel bobbing about in the waves…. it is of course the Beatles ‘yellow’ submarine… except this one is orange.
Ahhh here’s the yellow one.
Well what a great way to spend a very hot afternoon here in Zadar… very good.
Parked up around the corner is this homage to disgusting wealth and self indulgence…. I mean stop it!! I wonder if this is another one of Abramovitchs’ playthings, but when I look it up not only does it belong to a billionairess, but is up for sale with differing price tags ranging from $99-135 million… ridiculous, but can I have two please and one for Sundays?
A few more shots of the harbour here at Zadar, a mixture of traditional and modern vessels.
Time to return to Karin.. my satnav decides to route me out of Zadar via the ugliest route… through the industrial area, weird.
Back at Cheryl’s we have time for a catch up and get to know one another. Cheryl has several cats, the queen who rules this clowder is Albie and she is gorgeous… and knows it I think. She is quite the princess
When we walk to down to the village for dinner, Albie decides to follow and is almost down to the main road so Cheryl has to turn around and walk back home so Albie will follow her back.
It is a really idyllic setting and very peaceful too.
We make our way up to the restaurant, the best of which is the waitress. She is an absolute sweetie, am not sure where she is from but her response to everything one says is ‘you are most welcome’. Literally every time we speak to her, to order food, or drinks or anything she says, ‘you are most welcome’ and always with a smile; very engaging.
I have taken the precaution of bringing my After Bite dib dobber with me this evening as the Mozzies are on the attack again.
A very enjoyable meal with good food and great company. Thank you Cheryl.
When we get home we both find we have left our mozzie medications at the restaurant… bugger!
I need to think about forward planning… now I am back on the road where do I go from here. I have had a lovely couple of days but I need to move on. I would, ideally, like to spend another day here, but looking at a possible itinerary I think it would not be a good idea; after all, I cannot be sure the problem with Minnie has been entirely resolved so I must include a few days flexibility in case another problem crops up. I look at possible routes out of Croatia and see that I could cross Slovenia on the coast and travel up to Trieste in Italy and then over into Austria, or head back past Zagreb and up into Slovenia that way and through to Vienna, then Dresden, Berlin, on to Oldenburg to visit with Dori and Janine round via Belgium to see Trui and then on to Normandy to drop in on Julia and home via the Channel Tunnel. I don’t want to get the ferry back to Ancona, I would have liked to catch the ferry to Venice, but they are all cancelled for this year due to Covid. I opt for the Trieste route so I can ride up the coast… sounds like a plan.
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