Croatia Cycling
I was away for the back half of last week & over the weekend on a teaching job in Croatia.
I took my camera, and enough other assorted electronics to ensure that my hand luggage got to go three times through the X-ray machine, flying out on Wednesday from Newcastle to Zagreb via Heathrow Terminal 5. I stayed in a swish hotel for the night, and then on Thursday got the train up to Osijek where I was teaching in the early evening on both Thursday and Friday, and on Saturday morning.
So while I was there, I had some time to kill on Friday, and went for a walk around the city - in the rain:
Natalia - she came back to find out why I was taking photos
Cold hands mean it’s cool to ride like this.
Two friends, one bike.
Spiral bike racks - everywhere you look in the city centre.
Hotel Central’s bike for guests to use.
Unfortunately I didn’t have the time!
You can view the full slide show on Flickr.
The trip back was . . . interesting. I came from Zagreb via Brussels, and looking out the window of the plane, couldn’t see much, except for tiny pinpricks of light around the wingtip beacon. I watched all the usual signs that we were getting near to the ground - flaps, slats, the clunk of the undercarriage locking down, more slats, etc. But I couldn’t see the ground. Then suddenly, there it was . . . all white and snowy, including all the runways and apron areas. The cloud was so low that we only had 15 seconds from seeing the ground to touching down. Which was all a new experience for me:
Lucky you didn’t get to go later in the year, or in January - you might have found snow instead of rain. Mostly when I’ve been in Zagreb (I’ve never been to Osijek) around Christmas/new year time, there’s been up to a metre and a half of snow and temperatures lower than minus 10 C. No cycling then (and it’s real fun digging the car out).