Today we originally planned on a 40 km ride from Rijeka to the island of Krk, but looking at the map, the transit from Rijeka to the island was very industrial and not super interesting so we called a few taxies and found one willing to transport us and our bikes from the train station to the bridge over to Krk, cutting 28 km off of hard, hilly, seeming uninteresting and busy roads.
Leaving Ljubljana, we were right on plan, and had an easy, almost empty train ride to Rijeka, Croatia. I was stressed about this key connection, as trains that cross boarders, even within the EU, can be challenging to get bikes on, and this one clearly stated it only allowed 10 bikes. Thankfully, it was not busy and everything went as planned. After a 3 hr train ride we met our taxi, loaded the bikes, and were dropped off at a hidden warf just below the bridge to Krk where an amazing seafood restaurant was situated.
After lunch we mounted our steeds after the better part of twos days off them, and headed across the bridge on a very narrow pedestrian path that challenged out tracking ability on the bikes. Then another fast 10 km to the campground were we tentatively checked in, wondering what the experience would be.like? Another Barney discotech? No, it is a quiet, chill, beautiful campground with great shade, low mosquito count, and amazing beach where we swam in the crystal clear Adriatic, had some quiet drinks by the sea, and a great fresh seafood meal in town. Sara is very sad we can't zero here, but the drum for forward progress is beating again, with a ferry date in Split next Thursday night!
We are really impressed with Krk and the camping here. Wildly expensive (50% of the cost of a room!) but easy, beautiful, and relaxing.
Tomorrow we have to catch a ferry to Pag island at 11:45 am, 20 km from here. Should be straight forward but a lot can happen in 20 km! We are planning for an earlier start to give us some buffer. The islands are very very hilly, so we need to take that into account as well. So far, the first day in Croatia has been very positive partly because of our quick escape from Rijeka, a fairly industrial town.