Korcula – Split (via Vela Luka) 44.77km 🚴♀️ 2.56.33 ⏱ 15.2km/hr ⬆️ 585m ⬇️ 610m
At breakfast we both had difficulties starting the day. We were feeling a bit queasy and it was hard to get going. We did anyway cause most of the time things get better once you get back on the bike. Well since the only way was up for the first 11km it was a little harder to get over it, but the roads were quiet and we cycled through a couple of interesting villages so things got good again pretty fast.
We had our coffee ☕️ break at a cute cafe in Poepnat (Pupnat) 💩💧, and after that everything went from good to great. We cycled mostly off the main road, but even the main road wasn’t busy. The side roads on Korcula island are actual marked cycling paths, perfectly paved and beautiful views!
We crossed all these vineyards 🍷🍇again and cycled along great smelling pine trees🌲 and olive trees. We saw a few bike groups going in the other direction, some definitely looking happier than others. There were some steep climbs and sweet downhills, all in all it was just a real good ride. We felt so much joy cycling along these roads, surrounded by nothing but nature and fresh air. No chocolate 🍫 needed for happy hormones this time!
We arrived in Vela Luka around noon, bought a ticket for the ferry ⛴ to Split and took our entry in a crappy restaurant with no food and gross toilets 🚽. We ordered a drink and ate our own bread 🍞. One and a half hour later we got in line for the ferry ⛴, cutting in front of the line of course, and cycled onto the boat a bit later. It takes 2 hours and 45 minutes to get to Split by boat, which meant plenty of time to discuss our route for the next week or so.
And we decided. Suuz found a national bike route running through Croatia, this gave us some good options. We planned the next two days and will then decide if we steer inland to the Plitvice lakes or do some more island 🌴 hopping. One thing is clear: we are not taking the busy coastal route.
The boat 🚣♀️ trip went pretty smooth, something we cannot say of the 4km ride from the ferry port to the apartment we booked in Split. Mas dropped her bike computer 💻 on the street (which almost got run over by a truck) and her water bottle later on as well, and the sweat 😓 started gushing out again while we made our way up the steep and trafficked streets of Split. Also, it felt like it was ten degrees hotter ☀️ in Split than it was on the islands 🌴.
When we arrived at the apartment it was close to six o’clock. We were hungry, overheated and just gross. We stripped, hopped in the shower and later walked down to a Chinese restaurant nearby as we were feeling a bit homesick, and Chinese is home. It was a party 🎉 . We spoke a little Chinese with the waiter, Mas told him Suuz couldn’t have peanuts 🥜. There was Tsingtao 🍺. We miss China 🇨🇳.
After dinner we bought breakfast 🍌🥐🥖 at the Lidl, withdrew some Kuna 💴 from the ATM and Ubered 🚗 to our apartment, even though it was just a 15 min walk. Our legs were tired and so were we. Big day ahead tomorrow. More then 80 kilometres and lots of climbing. It’s gonna be an early rise.
