My time in Croatia really ended on a high note. The medieval town of Dubrovnik is often described as one most beautiful towns Europe, if not the world. And the Old Town sure is something extra. But yet again, it’s genereally not the place that does it for me. It’s the people.
Through Couchsurfing I was welcomed by Damir, a true Dubrovik local, born and raised in the city. He spent his first years actually living within the city walls, and he surely knew his way around big maze of narrow side streets a lot better than most of the guides working there.
The plan was to stay for one night, but I had a bit too much fun with Damir to leave so soon and we ended up spending a couple of great days together. I had been doing quite a lot of cycling without any real rest in a while, so taking a couple of days of the saddle was really nice. Most of the time we spent in Damir’s house right outside of the city, listening to music, talking, laughing and – of course – eating.
But I also had time to discover the Old City and I got to embarass Damir a bit as I made him join me for all the dorky tourist photos. Two activities which I both enjoyed very much!
I’m so amazed by how many fantastic meetings I’ve had with people all along my journey. How I meet them and how we spend the time together is always different, but one thing is always coming no matter what. The goodbye. It always sucks, and leaving Dubrovnik and Damir sure was no exception.
Good thing though was that I was very close to one of those moments that are always awesome. A border crossing! The countries in here are so tiny, and as the borders are just coming one after another I’ve constantly had the feeling of progress all the way through Europe. This time I was entering Montenegro!
So what happened there? Did I find some nice Montenegro locals who would teach me about their culture and way of life? No. I found myself in the company of three Finnish guys who didn’t really teach me anything, but they definitely delivered some good entertainment and surely gave me a night to remember. Unfortunately though, I’m not so sure that they themselves remembered much of it when waking up the next morning.
From briefly having connected while I was stopping to have an apple by the side of the road, one thing – like they ususally do – led to another. And soon I had abandoned my plan of finding a place to camp for the night and instead spent the last hours of sunlight having a few local beers with my new odd friends.
Finnish guys in the age of 50-70 years old are not really my usual crowd, but believe me, I had so much fun with Peter, Heikke and Bruno. I ended up crashing at Peter’s – the Finnish version of Plura Jonsson (not just because of the looks) – place, after having spent the whole night laughing with and at them (and myself) all at the same time.
I went to bed long before any of the others who stayed up partying like teenagers all through the night. Surely – I was missing out. However, at breakfast the next morning I was pretty happy about my decision to throw in the towel the night before. All three of them were still chatty and friendly, but you could just tell. They did not feel well.
Picture of a bike. And three horribly hungover Finnish men.
After having left my Finnish rockstars I had a few amazing days of cycling in Montenegro. The road around Kotor Bay was really incredible. If you go to Montenegro, which I definitely think you should, don’t miss out on this. It’s nothing but magical.
As the name suggests Montenegro offers some really stunning mountains, and I got to enjoy both them and some nice coastal riding on my way towards my next border. These were a few really easy and problem free days in the saddle, and had I known what was coming, I’m sure I would have appreciated them even more than I did.
From Montenegro, I would then pass into Albania – the by far most challenging country yet on the trip. With the highest highs and some pretty rough lows, my week there many times felt like a rollercoaster I never agreed to get on.
But as usual, I won’t let you in on those stories until the next post.
Until then,
Take care & tailwinds!