Motorcycle Tour Ireland to Croatia 2019 Ep 3B - PULA, RIJEKA, CRIKVENICA, NOVI VINODOLSKI, POVILE, SENJ.
In this Episode 3B, We left Hotel Brioni - PULA on the outskirts of the town, and started to ride towards Rijeka, to get around the peninsula and head south towards Split, Zadar, Dubrovnik.
While it rained a little, it was fairly dry and quite cool - not surprising given that it was 13th May and we had chosen to ride here, to try and avoid the heavy traffic the Croatian coastal road gets during peak tourist season.
I had watched a lot of you tube videos and couldn't believe that we were about to start our journey down those sweeping roads and see those amazing views along the way. It did not disappoint !!
In the next episode 3C - THIS WAS GOING TO BE AN AFTERNOON TO REMEMBER !!
BACKGROUND.
After watching umpteen videos of people riding the Croatian coastline, I thought it looked fantastic - sweeping bend after sweeping bend through stunning scenery and that set the wheels in motion - literally... A trip was born !
I was joined on the trip by John ( Triumph Tiger 1200 ) and we have been lucky to have travelled many trips together over the years and Oisin ( Suzuki 650 V Strom ), who at 21 was heading for his first European trip, where we would do a mix of camping and hotels, and try and get through France and Italy as quickly as safely possible ( bearing in mind that it was Oisin's first time riding abroad, so a bit of time was factored in, to let him acclimatise to riding on the right hand side etc, which we knew he'd be fine with ), and then ride through Slovenia and start riding down the Istrian Coast, where a friend had recommended visits to - Poreč, Rovinj and Pula - before continuing along the coast to Rijeka and heading south to Zadar ( where I had seen a harmonica had been built into the sea wall, so it played music sounds as the sea came in etc), and see the coastal towns of Spilt and on down the beautiful Dalmation coast to visit Dubrovnik and maybe see where some of the Game of Thrones series, had been filmed.
I had picked May to go thinking that June, July and August would be very busy......I soon learned that snow doesn't leave the Alps until after May, and that we ended up riding through some amazing scenery and although it wasn't cold, it was not what we expected at all. We saw places where Hannibal had come through the Alps with his elephant, saw stunning lakes surrounded by snow, camped in Italian farmhouse/restaurant sites - amazing local dished and wine, experienced the Bora winds, multiple local kindnesses, had the wits scared out of us, stopped by police and redirected, to the motorway as the road we were trying to return through, was now closed to motorcycles as it was now too dangerous with the winds, sent to a central motorway, where we had 3 degrees and a sleet storm, torrential rain as we tried to get through the French alps, turned back with roads closed by snow, - all character building stuff, but what a trip !!
I hope you enjoy coming along for the ride, and may be inspired to try this for yourself - (we are going back there in JUNE / JULY 2026 with the aim of getting to Albania if possible ...and seeing the places we missed out on.)
Cheers
T
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