Tuesday 31 May 2011

Riding in Slovenia and Croatia

The final day of our ride to Biograd in Croatia took us along some spectacular coastal roads alongside the Adriatic Sea.

It didn’t take long before we were leaving Italy and entering Slovenia....


























Our journey took us across a very narrow strip of Slovenia and as I rode along I realised people might ask later what was Slovenia like, so I took a picture just to answer that question. The simple truth is, we were not in Slovenia for long enough to form any decision about that....


























As part of the break-up of the former Yugoslavia, the Yugoslav wars took place between 1991 and 1995. These were complex and involved many different peoples, but especially the Serbs and the Croats. The conflict was extremely bitter and resulted in many deaths, with some leaders being tried for war crimes since the war ended. Borders were moved and today, there is a fully manned border between Slovenia and Croatia....





















As visitors, little evidence can be seen of the war, although talking to some Croatians just 16 years after the war ended, a great deal is remembered about what happened here and it was pointed out to us where shelling took place by hostile forces near to where the HOG rally was we were attending. However, it is easy to forget those conflicts as you ride along such a beautiful coastline. The coast road is narrow and twisty, following the shape of the sea it runs along and it reminded Ian and I of the Pacific Coast Highway in California. It really is that good.

Ian on the road....




















Some of the views along the coast road....












































The water is crystal clear....


























As we got nearer to Biograd, the location for the HOG Festival, we saw more and more Harley-Davidsons on the road, from all over Europe. While sometimes the buildings are not well finished externally, the setting can be stunning....




















This is a small fishing village we stopped for a drink in....



















Smiling on parts of the journey made was just unavoidable....
















As we rolled into Biograd after 1611 miles on the road, we reflected on a fantastic ride through some terrific scenery over five days of riding great roads in incredibly good weather. It doesn’t get much better than that. And there was still the HOG Festival to look forward to!  The star on the map shows where we had ridden to....


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On a different subject, is anybody else having trouble logging into Blogger? I can get into my Dashboard page fine when I am logged in, but when I try to view my blog, the top right hand corner of the page says “Sign in”, even though I am already signed in, or was. I can successfully make new posts on my blog, but I cannot make comments on my own blog in my name, as it asks me to sign in (even though just before I was signed in). On other peoples blogs, I can make comments in my name on some blogs, but not on some others. Very strange.

I think Arizona Harley Dude may be having the same trouble. Anyone else?



15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Me too Gary. If you change your comment setting from "imbedded below post" to "full page" that should stop it. I can only comment on your post by selecting "anonymous". Frustrating isn't it?
I am loving this current trip of yours.

Arkansas Patti

Gary France said...

Hi Patti. Thanks and yes it is very frustrating. I tried your suggestion of changing the comment setting to "full page" and that worked. At least, I can now comment on my own blog in my own name. I wonder if that has fixed it so that others commenting on my blog can now comment in their name and not anonymously? Can someone let me know please?

Now I need to find out how I can comment on other peoples blogs in my name and not anon. I am guessing this is a Blogger problem?

redlegsrides said...

Hello Gary, no issues posting this via blogger, curious...

On a different tack, if Slovenia is part of the EU, why the manned borders....thought it was pretty open transit between EU countries or am I mistaken?

dom


Redleg's Rides

Colorado Motorcycle Travel Examiner

Unknown said...

Gary:

That is stunning coastline. I like those islands in the distance, and the water is beautiful.

I have had problems with Blogger for about a week. It says "signed out" even tho I am signed in. I lost some long comments the other day and gave up. Today I am signed in but it says "signed out" getting to the dashboard is okay but I find if you click comments from the dashboard then it shows signed in, but when you view the blog it goes back to signed out.

I tried to sign in multiple times and it kept going back to the start a new blog screen.

I think the only way to reply to your blog is to fly over and hand you my squiggle and hope you can read it.

bob
Riding the Wet Coast

Unknown said...

Gary:

It just did this to me again. when I went to publish my comment, it went to the start new blog screen, but it posted. other times it just dropped me into the dark vortex of space

bob
Riding the Wet Coast

Jean Nelson Paintings and Photography said...

Lot's of people I know, including myself have problems from time to time. My blog often says "Sign Out" before I have even signed in. Some people have lost their "Followers". Maybe Blogger has a virus - weird! Have enjoyed following your various trips, Gary. Your photos are stunning and your commentary interesting.

RichardM said...

Haven't had any problems with Blogger for the last couple of weeks. I seem to be able to stay logged in for quite a while.

I really like the ocean views especially the colors of the clear water. Does that imply that the oceans there are pristine? I have no experience travelling in that part of the world but your posts definitely make me want to.

Thank you!

Jack Riepe said...

Dear Gary:

I cannot help but notice how the coastline pictures in today's installment remind me of New Jersey in the US. (Just kidding.)

Blogger is driving me crazy. It has me sign in 20 times and occasionally loses poll data. A word to the wise would be to start saving past blogs as suspect this thing is headed for a meltdown.

Love the pictures... Have a great trip.

Fondest regards,
Jack/Reep
Twisted Roads

Learning to Golf said...

Gary, today for the first time in a while it appears I am logged in, so I am trying to comment.

Your latest ride is amazing and the sights are outstanding. You are one lucky guy to get all these rides in the same year. That is the real GOOD life.

mq01 said...

YES, many of us are having blogger trouble. check your google accts. mine was resolved once i noticed that my google/blogger acct had wrongly updated my acct profile with my gmail acct as my primary email address. its there that i found a selection to allow multi email address. once i updated all email addresses and turned multiple sign-in's on, its worked ok.

https://www.google.com/accounts/b/0/ManageAccount

azhd mentioned his started working once he turned enabled 3rd party cookies.

Gary France said...

Hi Charlie6 / Dom – It seems like only some people had a problem posting comments on my blog. Since then, for a reason that I cannot explain, everything seems to be working fine again.

Croatia is not yet a full member of the EU. Croatia applied to join in 2003 and has been granted candidate country status, but its neighbour Slovenia objected due to border issues remaining between those two countries. Those issues which relate to exactly where the border is, are expected to be resolved soon, but until they are, Slovenia may then still keep its border control points for people wishing to enter / leave Croatia. Being a member of the EU doesn’t necessarily mean there will be no border controls between member countries. Take the UK for instance. If you travel on a ship to the UK from France for example, you need to show your passport to get into the UK.

Bob – That Croatian coastline really is stunning and the pictures don’t do it justice. There are islands off mainland Croatia for many hundreds of miles like those in the pictures above. I had exactly the same problems that you describe regarding being signed in or out of my blog, but then suddenly, about a day and a half ago, the problems ceased. Flying over here to deliver your comments personally was a great idea!

Jean – Thank you for following my various trips and my blog and for your kind words. It is nice when somebody who has been doing that makes a comment for the first time, as I often wonder if there are people out there in blogland that read my stuff but don’t comment. Clearly, the problems with being sign in or out were not limited to me as a few have said they suffer the same problem. Luckily for me, the problem has gone away, at least for now....

Gary France said...

RichardM – The Adriatic Sea along the Croatian coast is generally amazingly clear, even in some of the small fishing ports where every detail on the bottom can easily be seen down to (I guess) about 20 feet. In the bigger ports like Zadar and Biograd, the water is not as clear. Diving is popular along the coastline and I would say the waters are probably some of the most pristine here as in any other part of Europe.

Jack – Actually, I did notice the same resemblance, but only when sleeping. You may well be right about Blogger, for it has the same consistency now as a piece of processed cheese just before it hits the cheeseburger.

AHD – I wonder if your Blogger problems suddenly went away, like they did with mine. I pinch myself often to remind myself just how lucky I am. I worked very hard for many years at a stressful job that I loved and to be able to take early retirement and do so much travelling is wonderful.

mq01 – Thanks for the tips. I tried the things you suggested and I am not sure if they contributed to solving the problems I was having as there was a time delay, but they might have. It is frustrating when you have a computer problem, but don’t know how to solve it, so I find asking other

irondad said...

Just for the record I have had similar issues. I was thinking of switching the whole thing to wordpress.

I can't seem to edit posts except on the computer with Windows XP. Vista and Windows 7 don't work well for posting for me, for some reason.

GF said...

What a trip you guys are having. Is your friend comfortable with his knees that high? the bike is beautiful though I just can't imagine riding for long periods of time. Yes, I have also been having problems with blogger :-(

Gary France said...

Irondad – All seems to be working fine now on the Blogger front

George – Well, Ian did well riding that bike all the way to Croatia, but he would say it was comfortable!