Start & Transport
We started travelling from home, in Verfeil, on April, 3rd. We took several trains from Toulouse to Ancona, in Italy, making two steps in Nice and Modena. From Ancona, we took a boat to Split, in Croatia, and another boat to the island of Vela Luka, still in Croatia. After 3 days of transports, the “real” trip can start ! 🚀
Croatia 🇭🇷
We started cycling in Vela Luka, in the island of Korcula, in Croatia. So we went through the Island of Korcula to join lands of Croatia. We did a rest day near Dubrovnik, that we visited. It’s a very beautiful city, especially from above. A thing I liked very much in Croatia is a dish called “burek” : it’s some paste with meat, cheese or potatoes inside, and it’s cooked with much butter !
Monténégro 🇲🇪
Next we arrived in Monténégro. People in Monténégro speak Croatian and also some cyrilic serbian. We went through a road called the “Serpentine Road” which is a road with many laces that climbs very well ! The landscapes along this road, were beautiful : you can see the sea, but also the mountains. Further in the Monténégro lands, there’s a lake called “Skadar Lake” which is shared between Albania and Monténégro. We rode along it : it was very hard, but another time beautiful !
Albania 🇦🇱
We arrived in Albania after a hard stage of climbs, near Shkodër, which is one of the biggest cities in Albania. We headed to the mountains and North Macedonia. People in Albania are very nice, almost every car honks at you, or people say hello when you pass, which is not the case is France, and cities are very alive.
North Macedonia 🇲🇰
We made a little step in North Macedonia. Here people speak Macedonian, which is written in cyrillic alphabet. So I learned it a little, even if it’s just to understand phonetics. We visited Охрид (Ohrid) which is a beautiful city with romans and medievals remains, such as a theatre or an old orthodox church. There is also a lake in Ohrid, but due to the cold, we didn’t dare to swim !
Greece 🇬🇷
We arrived in Greece a few days later. We rode through mountains to go to Καλαμπακα meteoras, then Δελφοι and Αθινα. All the landscapes were very beautiful (the pictures speak by themselves). I especially liked Delphi archeological site.
Turkey 🇹🇷
We took a boat to Bodrum in Turkey, from Athens. One more time, we passed through mountains to go to Denizli. But this time, slopes were very hard (Eg. a step of 48km and 1400m d+), and the legs hurt ! We met very nice people who invited us to their house in Kale, through a network called Warmshower. In Denizli, we are making two rest days to visit beautiful Pammukale and Hierapolis sites, and then Salda Lake. By the way I try to learn turkish with an app, because we’re thinking we’ll stay in the country for two months, and turkish people don’t speak so much english.
