Solo Ride to Istanbul Day 7 - A Stunning Ride Along the Dalmatia Coast To Dubrovnik

Keeping it short and sweet today as I have to get up at 6am for a border crossing in Montenegro before the buses get there!

I woke up at 7, again. I don’t know how my body has moved to waking up this time so easily every day. 

I was so excited to ride today, it was 25 degrees outside and it was a  no motorway day! Todays ride consisted of the coast and only the coast. My first fill up I met two bikers, who were both going to split and then heading back home to Austria. They approached me asking me questions about riding in Scotland, fortunately I’ve done the NC500 so I had a lot to tell him!

The roads today were flooded with bikes, I really mean flooded. You can tell this was a biker hotspot. The route of course started where I spent the night in Zed, but it really started to get good from split down to Dubrovnik. That’s the only section you really need to do. It was absolutely outstanding. The whole day took about 8hrs from start to finish, but the time went by so quickly due to the rush of the roads.

A few notes on Croatia - nobody sticks to the speed limits, I mean nobody. Today I almost got taken out by two cars who both decided to pull U-Turns on 60 roads out of nowhere. I mean, they started the U-Turn as soon as the indicator went on. 

It’s a good job I have a loud exhaust because I for sure made them aware of my presence. 

Halfway down the highway there was lots of stalls, they all looks the same and were most likely selling the same things - but I wanted to pull over and check them out.

“Greetings traveller, what can I get you”

I ended up buying some bits from a lady, I got a marmalade, candied mandarin and an orange juice. She only accepted cash, and I only had £’s, but she said her boss likes any money and proceeded to take £10 from me. 

The ride down to Dubrovnik has been the best ride so far, and I know I keep saying this everyday - but listen to me. ADD THE SPLIT - DUBROVNIK COAST RIDE TO YOUR FUTURE ITINERARY RIGHT NOW. Then tag me when you do it… 

I got to Dubrovnik and called my apartment host to tell him I was lost. He told me to wait exactly where I was and he’d come get me on his scooter. He pulled up on a little 50cc Vespa, surprised at what he seen. He quickly said “follow me”, leaving me no chance to put my gloves on and sped off. The whole thing felt like a GTA mission! 

When we got to the apartment, he helped me unload my bags and carry things upstairs, once more he said “follow me” and I was left alone. Croatian people are fast at everything. 😂

I was picking up my gloves and in my head the GTA failed mission sound effect was playing and I was imagining the black and white screen appearing as he got away with my bags. 

Luckily this was not GTA, and my bags were waiting for me updates. 

I took a long shower, appreciating the cold water that cooled me down. Then I made my way into the Old Town to see the history of this place.

If you’re unaware, Game of Thrones was filmed here and for good reason. The architecture of this place is incredibly beautiful.

But it was sort of ruined by all the GoT merch shops and bad cosplay renditions of Daenerys. I can’t lie, I was walking around humming the GoT opening - but that’s not the point.. 

I had dinner, vegetarian Lasagne, which confused me. I'm starting to think that English Lasagne is a different dish. I also had a glass of white wine, white wine is so much tastier in Europe. 

Oh! Theres also a lot of cats here and they’re so cute I want to take them all back with me.

Im going to walk back now and get an early night. I'm going to need it for crossing 2 or 3 countries tomorrow! 

Wish me luck! 

Ride safe,

Waifu x