European Moto Trip - Croatia: Day 4 - Plitvice Lakes National Park to Split

Today we rode from Plitvice Lakes National Park to Split. On the way we stopped for lunch at Zadar.

As we were leaving our hotel in Plitvice the way was blocked by heavy duty machinery. Bike was on an incline nose down which makes it very difficult to turn so we had to negotiate with Croatians on them moving rather than us back up. We were successful and turn right out of our hotel heading south to Zadar, our first stop.

The way was very interesting where in the beginning we went past the National Park so lots of green everywhere, then we were in a very large plain where wind was quite strong and finally we winded our way down the mountain towards Zadar which is in the coast.

We were very close to Bosnia and Herzgovina and to the city of Bihac. Got nearly tempted to take a detour but as we had the trip all planned out to arrive just before sunset we could not afford it. Military presence is still visible.

The presence of water signaled that Zadar was close.

We then came across a very high suspended bridge where we stopped to take pictures. There are actually two Maslenica bridges both spanning the Maslenica Strait of the Adriatic Sea, north of Zadar, Croatia. One carrying the Croatian A1 motorway and the other a bit south carrying the D8 traffic. We actually went over the D8 bridge which is newer than the A1 bridge and is a replacement for a bridge destroyed during the Croatian War of Independence in 1991.

The "Stari Most Maslenica" bridge is 50 meters high and is used for bungee jumping. The views from it are quite impressive. Will let the pictures and the video speak for themselves

Bungee jumping anyone ?

Zadar Is the fifth largest city in Croatia (after Zagreb, Split, Rijeka and Osijek). It has 75,000 people living in it and gained its urban structure in Roman times; during the time of Julius Caesar and Emperor Augustus, the town was fortified and the city walls with towers and gates were built. On the western side of the town were the forum, the basilica and the temple, while outside the town were the amphitheatre and cemeteries. The aqueduct which supplied the town with water is partially preserved. Inside the ancient town, a medieval town had developed with a series of churches and monasteries being built. The chief interest of Zadar lies in its churches.

It is a walled city where inside you can only walk or bicycle. We rode all round the city and took some pictures but were unable to enter the older part.

We stopped for lunch in a hotel with esplanade where we could see the bike and we both had lasagna. Paula went for the vegetarian kind whereas I went for the meat option.

We took opportunity to take some pictures by the sea.

We then put gas and turned south towards Split. We decided to do the coastal road which was a great decision as village after village the views were very beautiful.

We got quite a lot of traffic into Split and thank goodness the way was still very nice. Ideal motorcycle riding road.

We got to Split and hotel as sun was actually going down for the day. Hotel looks very good and Internet is fast ... Yes, we did move the beds closer together ....