Living the Dream Solo Around the World Trip

[schalk vd merwe]

The blue water of the Adriatic Sea. What a live.

 

[schalk vd merwe]

The instrument panel of Helmuts boat and 2 nd photo the good hearted Helmut

 

[schalk vd merwe]

End of a lovely day. Myself, Ingrid ( the Springbokkie) and Helmut

 

[TVB]

Joh daai water is kristal helder skoon!
Croatia was nog altyd n land wat my geweldig beindruk het. Ek het in die Congo demining gedoen saam n 'flail operator ' genaamd Zarco van Croatia.
So hartseer toe hy ons vertel van die oorlog wat hul met Bosnia gehad het. Hy het sy verloofde in die oorlog verloor, en besluit om n bachelor te bly.
N land wat ek baie graag sou wou sien en hier doen ek deur jou lens.

 

[schalk vd merwe]

Joh daai water is kristal helder skoon!
Croatia was nog altyd n land wat my geweldig beindruk het. Ek het in die Congo demining gedoen saam n 'flail operator ' genaamd Zarco van Croatia.
So hartseer toe hy ons vertel van die oorlog wat hul met Bosnia gehad het. Hy het sy verloofde in die oorlog verloor, en besluit om n bachelor te bly.
N land wat ek baie graag sou wou sien en hier doen ek deur jou lens.

Ja pragtige land en skoon water en mooi mense wat deur 'n geweldige oorlog is. Ek wil nog daaroor skryf.

 

[piets]

Was ook al daar gewees, aldus met n Campervan. Die water is so skoon omdat daar geen sand is nie, net klippe, die water is relatief still en geen besoedeling nie.

 

[nielvn]

:sip:

 

[Esplin]

Keep it coming. Brilliant R & R.

 

[schalk vd merwe]

The following morning I broke up camp and hit the road towards Split. As the rest of Croatia beautiful and still traveling all along the coast and just taking in the beauty of the landscape and the sea. Nearing Split it was already getting dark. I battled to find a camp site. Eventually I passed through the center of Split and as I got closer to the sea again I saw a small campsite on the main road going south. I pulled in there and a very friendly lady showed me my camping spot, 10 meters from the beach. I put up my tent and then went across the road to buy supplies for my evening meal. As usual Macaroni and cheese. I also bought some cereal and yogurt for the following morning’s breakfast. I don’t always eat at regular times and sometimes I go a bit hungry. I then also bought some of that lovely red liquid called Merlot. Before I started to make dinner I went for a swim right on my door step or is it called tent step. Some other permanent campers lend me some plastic chairs and I made a lovely dinner with quite a bit of the red stuff. Then I went to bed with the small waves of the Adriatic Sea breaking barely 10 meters from my tent. What a live.

 

[schalk vd merwe]

Along the way to Split

 

[schalk vd merwe]

View from my tent

 

[schalk vd merwe]

Had a swim 10 meter from my tent

 

[schalk vd merwe]

Making dinner near my dilapidated tent

 

[schalk vd merwe]

Was ook al daar gewees, aldus met n Campervan. Die water is so skoon omdat daar geen sand is nie, net klippe, die water is relatief still en geen besoedeling nie.

Baie lekker ne'

 

[schalk vd merwe]

Keep it coming. Brilliant R & R.

Will do till I am finish. Quite a bit of traveling still coming.

 

[Karel84]

Instead of going through the city of Rijeka I took the fly over and worked my way back towards the sea. I traveled all along the Adriatic Sea and what beautiful scenery. Hi up on the mountains I stopped to take some photos. Another biker also stopped and we started to chat. He eventually also bought my book. As I said before, in SA I sold my book for R 250 and in Europe I sold it for 25 Euro which translates to R 375 with the exchange rate. It helps a bit as the rand is so weak against the Euro and you spent big bugs in Europe. Fuel R 25/ litre and sales tax 26 % in most countries.

That afternoon I found a nice camping site at a small place called Povile. The camp site is called Autokamp Punta Povile. Because there are so many German tourists in Croatia most people also speak German. I pitched my tent with a beautiful sea view. I asked at the office if there is a restaurant nearby and they pointed me across the bay within walking distance. I did not feel like another night of self cooked Macaroni and cheese. I then walked all the way along the beach to the “Bristo Konoba Lucija” restaurant.

It was a real cozy restaurant and I found out that the owner also own the campsite across the bay. As our money is worth nothing there I decided to only order a starter and a glass of wine. At about 8 pm a Croatian band started to play. The band consists of 4 young members. One plays the Piano Cordiant, another Chiloe and 2 guys on acoustic guitars. They all sang their traditional music in Croatian. It was the most beautiful music and I wanted to record it on my phone but then the battery went flat. I then rushed over to a couple at the table next to me and asked them if they speak any English. Sure they said. I then asked them to please record the band for me as my phone has gone flat. No problem the gentleman said and went to take a video of the band for me. After the video he invited me to their table and ordered me another glass of red wine. He introduced himself and his wife as Helmut and Ingrid Brandt from Vienna in Austria. He then WhatsApp the video to me. We chatted nicely and Helmut asked me what I am doing the next day. I said I am traveling down the coast. They then ask me if I don’t want to travel with them to the biggest Island in Croatia the next day. I immediately accepted their offer. Helmut said he would pick me up the next day. They then left to go back to their boat.

I in the meantime I stayed behind to listen to this unbelievable nice music. I later learned that it was the restaurant owner’s wife birthday. Eventually I was the only outside guest left behind and all the other people were friends of the couple. They eventually offered me coffee and cake on the house. I stayed till two o’clock that morning. Then the band serenated the couple to their house playing all the way outside and up the stairs to their house. The band has played right through from 8 pm to 2 am without a break. I have never seen something like that in my live.

The next morning Helmut was there to pick me up. They got a two bedroom cabin cruiser with a toilet. The shower is on the deck. The boat has got a powerful inboard motor. We sailed across to the island to the little town of Vrbnik. It must have taken more than hour at quite a speed. Arriving there again we looked for a restaurant with a sea view. We had lunch and some more good red wine. Hemut again paid the bill and refused any contribution from my side. We then sailed north and we went swimming in a nice quite bay. Then it was across the Adriatic Sea again back to the main land. Hemut gave the steering of the boat over to me. Back at the jetty it was already sunset and Helmut took me out for dinner again. Ingrid who he calls his Springbokkie ( she is much younger than him) then stayed in the boat. Again Hemut would not let me pay anything. After dinner he dropped me off at the campsite. He then invited me to visit them at their house in Vienna in Austria when I pass through there. At leased I gave them a copy of my book.

This post has made me decide to go back right to the very first post and start from there. 1600-odd posts... Can't wait.! Well done Schalk!

Sent from my SNE-LX2 using Tapatalk

 

[Karel84]

Instead of going through the city of Rijeka I took the fly over and worked my way back towards the sea. I traveled all along the Adriatic Sea and what beautiful scenery. Hi up on the mountains I stopped to take some photos. Another biker also stopped and we started to chat. He eventually also bought my book. As I said before, in SA I sold my book for R 250 and in Europe I sold it for 25 Euro which translates to R 375 with the exchange rate. It helps a bit as the rand is so weak against the Euro and you spent big bugs in Europe. Fuel R 25/ litre and sales tax 26 % in most countries.

That afternoon I found a nice camping site at a small place called Povile. The camp site is called Autokamp Punta Povile. Because there are so many German tourists in Croatia most people also speak German. I pitched my tent with a beautiful sea view. I asked at the office if there is a restaurant nearby and they pointed me across the bay within walking distance. I did not feel like another night of self cooked Macaroni and cheese. I then walked all the way along the beach to the “Bristo Konoba Lucija” restaurant.

It was a real cozy restaurant and I found out that the owner also own the campsite across the bay. As our money is worth nothing there I decided to only order a starter and a glass of wine. At about 8 pm a Croatian band started to play. The band consists of 4 young members. One plays the Piano Cordiant, another Chiloe and 2 guys on acoustic guitars. They all sang their traditional music in Croatian. It was the most beautiful music and I wanted to record it on my phone but then the battery went flat. I then rushed over to a couple at the table next to me and asked them if they speak any English. Sure they said. I then asked them to please record the band for me as my phone has gone flat. No problem the gentleman said and went to take a video of the band for me. After the video he invited me to their table and ordered me another glass of red wine. He introduced himself and his wife as Helmut and Ingrid Brandt from Vienna in Austria. He then WhatsApp the video to me. We chatted nicely and Helmut asked me what I am doing the next day. I said I am traveling down the coast. They then ask me if I don’t want to travel with them to the biggest Island in Croatia the next day. I immediately accepted their offer. Helmut said he would pick me up the next day. They then left to go back to their boat.

I in the meantime I stayed behind to listen to this unbelievable nice music. I later learned that it was the restaurant owner’s wife birthday. Eventually I was the only outside guest left behind and all the other people were friends of the couple. They eventually offered me coffee and cake on the house. I stayed till two o’clock that morning. Then the band serenated the couple to their house playing all the way outside and up the stairs to their house. The band has played right through from 8 pm to 2 am without a break. I have never seen something like that in my live.

The next morning Helmut was there to pick me up. They got a two bedroom cabin cruiser with a toilet. The shower is on the deck. The boat has got a powerful inboard motor. We sailed across to the island to the little town of Vrbnik. It must have taken more than hour at quite a speed. Arriving there again we looked for a restaurant with a sea view. We had lunch and some more good red wine. Hemut again paid the bill and refused any contribution from my side. We then sailed north and we went swimming in a nice quite bay. Then it was across the Adriatic Sea again back to the main land. Hemut gave the steering of the boat over to me. Back at the jetty it was already sunset and Helmut took me out for dinner again. Ingrid who he calls his Springbokkie ( she is much younger than him) then stayed in the boat. Again Hemut would not let me pay anything. After dinner he dropped me off at the campsite. He then invited me to visit them at their house in Vienna in Austria when I pass through there. At leased I gave them a copy of my book.

This post has made me decide to go back right to the very first post and start from there. 1600-odd posts... Can't wait.! Well done Schalk!

Sent from my SNE-LX2 using Tapatalk

Make that 1796 posts!

Sent from my SNE-LX2 using Tapatalk

 

[caconcepts]

The restaurant on the beach

Hey Schalk,

Glad to see you are enjoying Croatia. I was at that restaurant and the campsite up the road about 3 years ago. Beautiful place and amazingly interesting country.

Enjoy buddy.

 

[schalk vd merwe]

The restaurant on the beach

Hey Schalk,

Glad to see you are enjoying Croatia. I was at that restaurant and the campsite up the road about 3 years ago. Beautiful place and amazingly interesting country.

Enjoy buddy.

Hi Caconcepts yes the whole of Croatia is nice. Will be writing some more soon

 

[schalk vd merwe]

Korcula
The next day I left Split. I traveled high up above the sea until I felt hungry. There was a restaurant next to road with a view over the sea. The owner was a young guy who inherited the place from his dad. He made me some nice food and by the time I left he also bought my book.

The idea was to make it to a town called Korcula on one of their islands. The reason why I wanted to go there was that a good friend of mine wife came from that island and I wanted to see what the place looks like. She was still a kid then but she and her family escaped from there during the war and came to South Africa. It was a bloody war and according to Wikipedia here is a short summary of what happened that time.

The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between Croat forces loyal to the government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY)—and the Serb-controlled Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) and local Serb forces, with the JNA ending its combat operations in Croatia by 1992. In Croatia, the war is primarily referred to as the "Homeland War" (Domovinski rat) and also as the "Greater-Serbian Aggression" (Velikosrpska agresija).[27][28] In Serbian sources, "War in Croatia" (Rat u Hrvatskoj) and "War in Krajina" (Rat u Krajini) are used.[29]

A majority of Croats wanted Croatia to leave Yugoslavia and become a sovereign country, while many ethnic Serbs living in Croatia, supported by Serbia,[30][31] opposed the secession and wanted Serb-claimed lands to be in a common state with Serbia. Most Serbs effectively sought a new Serb state within a Yugoslav federation, including areas of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina with ethnic Serb majorities or significant minorities,[32][33] and attempted to conquer as much of Croatia as possible.[34][35][36] Croatia declared independence on 25 June 1991, but agreed to postpone it with the Brioni Agreement and cut all remaining ties with Yugoslavia on 8 October 1991.

The JNA initially tried to keep Croatia within Yugoslavia by occupying all of Croatia.[37][38] After this failed, Serb forces established the self-proclaimed Republic of Serbian Krajina (RSK) within Croatia. After the ceasefire of January 1992 and international recognition of the Republic of Croatia as a sovereign state,[39][40] the front lines were entrenched, the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) was deployed,[41] and combat became largely intermittent in the following three years. During that time, the RSK encompassed 13,913 square kilometers (5,372 sq mi), more than a quarter of Croatia.[42] In 1995, Croatia launched two major offensives known as Operation Flash and Operation Storm,[12][43] which would effectively end the war in its favor. The remaining United Nations Transitional Authority for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium(UNTAES) zone was peacefully reintegrated into Croatia by 1998.[13][17]
The war ended with Croatian victory, as it achieved the goals it had declared at the beginning of the war: independence and preservation of its borders.[12][13] Approximately 21–25% of Croatia's economy was ruined, with an estimated US$37 billion in damaged infrastructure, lost output, and refugee-related costs.[44] Over 20,000 people were killed in the war,[45] and refugees were displaced on both sides. The Serb and Croatian governments began to progressively cooperate with each other but tensions remain, in part due to verdicts by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and lawsuits filed by each country against the other.[46][47]

In 2007, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) returned a guilty verdict against Milan Martić, one of the Serb leaders in Croatia, for having colluded with Slobodan Milošević and others to create a "unified Serbian state".[48]Between 2008 and 2012, the ICTY had prosecuted Croatian generals Ante Gotovina, Mladen Markač and Ivan Čermak for alleged involvement in the crimes related to Operation Storm. Čermak was acquitted outright, and the convictions of Gotovina and Markač were later overturned by an ICTY Appeals Panel.[49][50] The International Court of Justice dismissed mutual claims of genocide by Croatia and Serbia in 2015. The Court reaffirmed that to an extent, crimes against civilians had taken place, but ruled that specific genocidal intent was not present.[51]



Traveling south I could not believe it then but there was a border control point. It is a narrow piece of land that cuts into Croatia up to the Sea. I speak under correction but I think this piece was negotiated after the war to give Bosnia access to a short piece of sea frontage. This was the first border control since I landed in Europe after customs in Germany. Since Europe opened their borders you travel on a Schegen Visa and all border are just open. Sometimes you don’t even know that you have crossed into the next country.

So here I was at the Bosnian border and the guy spoke a langue that sounded a bit like Russian. I told the guy I am traveling on a Schegen visa. He kept my passport and told me to move one side as the traffic behind me was piling up. I then parked the bike on the side and waited till all the cars past through and went back to the border official. As I have been traveling to so many different countries on the same passport and there are so many stamps in my passport I helped him to find my Schegen Visa. He then stamped my passport and told me ok I can go. I then traveled for about 20 minutes and hit the other side of this narrow piece of Bosnia. The official just waved me through and I was back in friendly Croatia again. I went through the town of Ston and you can see there are also a lot of history here. I just had a cup of coffee here and then rode slowly around the town towards Korcula. The Croatian people pronounce the town Kortula and if you pronounce it different they don’t know of which town you are talking about. The word Korcula should have and upside down cap on the c. Maybe that’s why you pronounce it that way. Like the languages in the Scandinavian countries they have lots of dots and caps on top of certain letters and words.

From the town of Ston I passed through many wine fields and all over are signs up that you can buy wine there or wine tasting. I ended up at a small town next to the sea and after enquiring directions it turned out I turned off too early from the main road. It started to rain and I the put on my rain suit. The road was a winding road up and down some mountais. I would have loved to have spent more time in these beautiful little towns with street Cafés next to the sea, but my Visa clock of 3 months was ticking. The reason was I still wanted to go to Nord Cap in Norway to see the midnight sun and that was still 4000 km away. And then another 4000 km then to Rotterdam to leave the bike there before returning to South Africa.

I arrived in the little town of Orebic to catch the ferry across to Korcula. As I was busy to buy my ticket at a little office in the harbour the ferry left. Fortunately it would be back in an hours’ time. I then went to have a cup of coffee at one of the many street cafés overlooking the harbour and sea. My bike was parked ready first in the queue and as the ferry arrived back I was first on. As I entered a guy showed me to park on the left side. Some tour busses and cars also rode on to the ferry. These ferries don’t waste time. The moment the last vehicle is on then the ferry already moves away while the ramp moves back hydraulically.

I decided to sit on the bike while watching on the GPS as we cross the piece of sea. We Arrived in Korcula on the other side in the rain. I checked on Google for a camp site. The road was a winding road. Among two story buildings I arrived at an entrance. It looked like a hotel and a camp site. I paid for two days and then went down the hill looking for a nice site. There were pine trees and I chose a site about 50 meters from the bathrooms and toilets and overlooking a river. Near me was a huge camper van with a British registration number. I set up camp and it did not take long before I introduced myself to Ian and Nicky next door in the camper. We got talking and they eventually invited me over for dinner. I took a bottle of red wine with and we had a lovely dinner. It turned out Ian has been to South Africa many times throughout his working career. They bought one of my books.

The next morning as I was on my way to go and shower, Ian told me they are going back to England as it is raining. They invited me to come and visit them when I am in that part of the world.

I in turn decided to go and visit the Marco Polo museum. He was also a Merchant and explorer whom mainly traveled to the east especially the Asian countries. He lived from 1254 to 1324 and was born in Venice. With my rain suit on I followed the GPS route into town to the Marco Polo Museum.
After that I went to have beer at one off the many street cafés overlooking the sea. Then I went to explore the island with a light drizzle still coming down.