Jim Bassett could have put away his bike helmet for the season in October. Instead he packed for a bike trip in Croatia. He had already taken several of the group bike trips he enjoys each year, including a week pedaling across North Dakota and the Jim Klobuchar trek.
Having previously biked the West Coast from Vancouver to San Diego, and across the U.S., one might think the grandfather just past his seventh decade would pass on a trip to Croatia. After South Africa and Costa Rica, did this hold appeal? Where is Croatia, anyway?
An invitation from an old biking buddy with whom he has biked and sailed thousands of miles proved irresistible. "These bike trips are challenges," Bassett said. He relishes the challenge. While this one wasn't as much of a physical challenge as some, covering just 150 miles, getting there proved challenging.
Departure day was October 14. Due to a flight delay in Minneapolis, Bassett and four others out of their group of 23 missed their connecting flight from Chicago to Frankfurt, Germany. Bassett also ended up taking a minor spill on a moving walkway while pushing another biker, age 83, in a wheelchair.
He called home and told his wife Mary about the fall. While it didn't prove serious, his son Tom thought it pretty incredible that one of the bikers, Bill Stang, needed a wheelchair before they even started any biking. Jim said, "It's a good thing I forgot to tell Mary that two of the others out of the five of us were carrying canes!" (Bill's wheelchair was needed due to an old fall, injuring the feet, aggravated by mowing with a push mower right before the trip.) "The incident turned out to be one of the running jokes of the trip," he said.
Vermont Bike Tours set up the 12-day trip, complete with two very helpful young Croatian guides, Marko and Vanja. Bassett already knew and had biked with 19 out of the 23 in the group, "and the others were friends of friends," he said. They found that many Croatians speak English, but their main languages are Croatian, Serbian and Slovene. The country lies between Slovenia, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It has a long coastline and 1,700 islands on the east side of the Adriatic Ocean, across from Venice.
After flying from Frankfurt to Dubrovnik on October 16, they met up with some of their fellow bikers at their hotel, the Hotel Zagreb, "a delightful place in a very pleasant neighborhood." Generally the hotels were very nice, he said, perhaps nicer than what he and Mary would have chosen for themselves.
"After settling into our rooms, several of us took the city bus to the old city, where we ran into many of the other people on the ride," Bassett said. A highlight was visiting a war museum where we learned that Dubrovnik had lots of damage and several hundred casualties in the upheavals of 1991," after Croatia declared independence. The Serbs and Croats fought in a civil war, and in 1998 the Croats took over.
The next day Jim and several others enjoyed a half-day cruise around three nearby islands on a "12 meter wooden old-timer ship." They were served "some sort of squid and another fish that came complete with heads and tails," he said. The lunch wasn't his favorite, but "that paled when we considered the beauty of the scenery and just the fun of being out on the water and getting a different perspective on the area," They walked around neighborhoods at stops on the islands of Kolocep, Sipan, and Lopud.
October 18 found the group on a bus to Split, about 100 miles away. A highlight was visiting Diocletian's Palace, ruins of the edifice built by the Roman emperor Diocletian around the 3rd century A.D. Bassett explained, "This is a historical site of major significance. The palace is one of the most famous and integral architectural and cultural constructs on the Croatian Adriatic coast, holding an outstanding place in Mediterranean, European and world heritage."
On October 19 they took a ferry to the island of Brac, where they stayed at the Hotel Adriatica between daily bike rides for the next three days. They were fitted for their bikes and given the opportunity to try them on a short ride.
"The bikes were very adequate. Not like my Serotta, but certainly OK for our purposes. We all had ordered what type of bike we wanted. About half of us, including me, had road bikes. The rest had hybrids (road and mountain bike)... We then all went on a warm-up ride of about five miles. When we got back we decided the ride was so much fun that we should do it a second time, so we did."
October 20 "was probably the best, most scenic day of the trip -- and, dang, I forgot to bring my camera!" he said. They rode for most of the day, and when offered a side trip that had a two-mile steep hill, several, including Jim, opted for a van ride. But then they took the two miles back downhill, having to brake most of the time.
A couple of local families opened their homes for dinner, with their teenaged children supposedly wanting to practice their English. Jim's group went to the home of a family with a 15 or 16 year old, very charming. "His English is still very unpolished, but I'm sure he's getting there. No matter what, his English beat the heck out of our Croatian."
The teen got about ten cell phone calls during dinner. One of the bike group asked how much the family got for hosting them. "The kid's answer was rather astute. 'Enough to pay for my monthly cell phone bill!'"
There was more biking each day, some of it in chilly weather. On October 22 they took a ferry to Jelsa on the island of Hvar. Hvar has been classified by Conde Nast magazine as one of the most beautiful islands of the world, Jim said, along with Bali, Zanzibar, Mykonos and Capri. A highly regarded stone cutting school there turns out skilled craftsmen, and the travelers got to see some of their work.
They had dinner and a cooking lesson in a private home that evening. "The hostess was operating out of a kitchen that looked about the size of one in a Pullman car. She demonstrated cooking squid. Since I suspect I'll not be doing that in Cannon Falls, I decided not to crowd the kitchen and I let others in to take my place," he said. The group enjoyed a gourmet meal that evening with squid salad and a pasta main dish.
Biking on October 23 provided scenery that was "out of this world, making it mandatory to stop for photo ops or just gaze out at the spectacular views," Bassett said. Rock walls dotted the distant hills, and the guides said that's what they do with all the rocks found while clearing the land. There was a very long uphill ride of several miles and back down. After biking, he and some of the others walked downtown to Stjepana square, "the largest square of the Adriatic after St. Mark's in Venice. Hvar is famous as the current hot spot for the stars, but we didn't see any other than ourselves."
They ate at a waterfront restaurant that the guides had recommended, featuring a glass floor so you could see fish swimming under you.
On October 24 they had another pleasant day of biking past seascape on the left and woods on the right. The guides had packed a delicious picnic of local delicacies, including several cheeses, breads, meats, and salads. That night the hotel provided a great farewell dinner for the group.
On departure day, October 25, after a ferry ride back to Split on the mainland, Bassett and a friend walked back to Diocletian's palace. He got cold and bought his only souvenir, a long sleeved jersey.
They had a funny mix-up when several from their group stopped at a small restaurant, another that the guides had recommended. The host insisted that a large reserved table was for them, "the group of Americans." No one had made a reservation, but the head waiter whisked them to the table. The giveaway was that the menu had been pre-set, so then they knew for sure the table wasn't for them. They moved to some other smaller tables, and another group showed up.
October 26: Like he had on the flight to Frankfurt, Bassett lucked out and got economy plus class (a little more spacious) on the long homeward flight over the Atlantic. He and some of the others beat their luggage back to Minneapolis by changing to a different, earlier flight from Chicago, so after Mary picked him up, they made a quick trip to the Mall of America and then looped back to the airport for his bags.
Now Jim Bassett can see why Croatians have a lot of pride in their country; Lord Byron called it "the pearl of the Adriatic." For him, it provided a memorable journey.
