Slovenia and IstriaSlovinsko a Istria

This year we picked the Adriatic as our cycling destination. In late August, on a Saturday, we get on an early train in Bratislava, and by the afternoon the heat of Ljubljana is already welcoming us. The first day is easy going, we look around Slovenia's capital and leave it around five, now with fully loaded bikes.

Shortly after dark, the summer heat turns into a noticeable chill - we are, after all, at a fairly decent altitude. After about 50 kilometers, a village auntie takes us in on her garden, we pitch the tent and fall asleep instantly. In the morning a random neighbor brings coffee, that's the custom here. Kika drinks mine too and, speeding on caffeine, pedals away.

Our destination is Italy, but it takes us the whole day to reach Trieste. Brutal atmosphere in the villages - people sit under trees in the park, read newspapers, play chess, or drink coffee. Drivers honk wherever a person moves, we start distinguishing the different meanings of this communication, it's quite the science.

This time we sleep in a meadow by the forest, and in the morning roe deer wake us up next to the tent. We hit the border to Croatia on the second try - on the first, police turn us around, saying not this way, this way is only for smugglers. Three hundred meters of climbing for nothing, but we turn back with our tails between our legs. Pretty much a fail.

Istria makes up for it though, it meets our expectations. From Umag through Novigrad, Poreč, Rovinj and Pula we ride and enjoy every single turn of the pedals. Beautiful coastline and old towns with narrow streets where it's a pleasure to get lost. You'd think all the towns here would be the same, but they're not. Rovinj, built on a steep peninsula, feels completely different with its twisted little streets than the much bigger Pula with its ancient colosseum.

Every now and then someone greets us - Slovaks recognize us by the little flags on our bikes. We finish the first leg of the cycling trip in the village of Brestova, almost at the northeastern tip of Istria, where the guys join us - Peťo, Mišo and Janči. Together we set off on the next part of the journey - the Croatian islands and Dalmatia.