Wednesday, going home
Franz started the ride back home - and he also finished it, he's a good driver!! Damn there were many Swedes on the road, but also Czechs and Slovaks ;) !! With all this nice company we made it home to Austria fast, just right to see the cutest baby-bunnies at Kathi's (Franz' GF) place and eat a good "Brettljausn" (Board-Snack) with her, namely at the Buschenschank J�bstl in Wildon!!! Kathi's father invided us all to eat and drink for free ;) !!!

Later I drove to my granny and my parents place, to prepare everything for the flight to Finland on the next day.

I took my bike to go there. First I thought it would be far but all I had to do was to follow the stream of nicely walking tourists to get on a beautiful promenade along the sea. Sailing boats, expensive and super-expensive yachts were moored here. It had some fascination for me. I heard that the waiters of fine restaurants go directly on the boats to serve delicate food there. It reminded me a bit on St. Tropez. I had to think about that probably not many places qualify to be of interest for the owners of these ships. Maybe the one or other came straight from there.

The center was full of people, dogs, live music and immersed in the right atmosphere by the surrounding buildings. Above the scene was a illuminated church, I wanted to go there, to have a birds-eye view over the place. So I cycled up a road that I assumed would lead me there. The street hosted many selling stalls and shops, people were looking and buying. I was also looking - but for a junction that would let me go left, up to the church, but there was none. Stalls and shops got fewer and fewer but I still couldn't go left. After quite a distance I found the street I was looking for.

A different world! Much darker and calmer, no people, no shops. I slowly rode down the street, enjoying the contrast. Two Croatian girls stepped out of a door just to disappear in the next one. The curch had a distanced atmospere, the illumination seemed colder than from the main square. The church-square existed of old and broken marble, I had to think of the ancient places I saw in Greece.

Monday
On the road again to catch the ferry from Brestova to Porozina on the island of Cres. Driving there was nice, at least for me. Small mountain roads in a beautiful environment. There were more cars in Porozina than the ferry could take, so we had to wait, counting our very last Kuna because they didn't take Euros or credit card, it was around 150 Kuna (~21 Euro for us and the car).

After the ferry had brought us to the island, it was time to get some cash and nutrition, like the famous Croatian Ćevapčići for 30 Kuna ;) which we ate in the city of Cres, a nice little place with expensive restaurants and charming souvenirs.

40km later we arrived at the little town of Osor, which connects the bigger island of Cres with its southern part Lo�inj. We stopped and discussed either to cross the bridge to see the prominent little town of Mali Lo�inj or to turn left to go to the more secluded village Punta Kri�a.

It would have been so nice to spent one night outside at the shore, to let the sea wake us up with her gentle sound. That was what we wanted to do!! So we packed a ton of things plus a hectolitre to drink in our backbags and rode once again to the Kamenjak to swim and to find the right spot for the night.

Cycling the hilly terrain was once again great, even though the heavy backbags were pulling down. We soon found the place to get wet and I had a short manic fit, it was so wonderful refreshing to swim in the cool sea!!

Back in the city of Medulin we decided to join hundreds of others walking the tourist mile, eating icecream, buying souvenirs, going to the amusement park...I liked it! A thing I didn't like so much was the forest fire burning on the other peninsula just across the bay. The large fire coloured the night sky red.

When buying my souvenirs from a young boy I asked him:

"Do you know what's burning there?"

"I think it's Premantura."

(shitshit, the place were we stayed) "Really?!? What?!?"

"I think it's campsite Stupice... I THINK!!"

(shitshitshitshit)

We met a good old friend there who showed us around and introducted us to some nice scout people whose good deed of the day was to (illegally) harpoon some fish, yes.

Well, after pitching our tent at parcel U112 (so if you camp there, remember us!!) we got on our bikes to explore the cape Kamenjak. Kamenjak is the most southern part of the peninsular of Istria and has been a natural preserve once. The area is famous for its numerours orchids. While some parts of it are closed for cars, it's hilly terrain is ideal for hiking and biking.