Adriatic Highway, Jadranska Magistrala · part 1

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Rijeka

   Rijeka is a port city that does not try to be pretty, and that is its charm. It lies at the head of the Kvarner Gulf, where the mountains come down steeply to a deep harbour, and it has been a trading city since Roman times. Under the Habsburgs it was Fiume, Hungary's sea gate, and between the wars it was Italian, briefly the plaything of the poet Gabriele D'Annunzio, who occupied it in 1919 and ruled it as a self-styled commandant for fifteen months. Today it is Croatian, and it is the third largest city in the country.

   Read the complete Rijeka write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Rijeka is where the day begins. Next is Zadar.

2. 2. Zadar

   Alfred Hitchcock is supposed to have said that Zadar has the most beautiful sunset in the world, and the people of the town have taken him at his word. The city sits on a narrow peninsula on the Dalmatian coast, with the sea on three sides and the island of Ugljan across the channel, and the sun drops into the water in a long fire of orange and pink. The best place to watch is the waterfront promenade at the end of the old town, where a pair of modern works of art, the Sea Organ and the Greeting to the Sun, turn the shoreline into an instrument and a light show.

   Read the complete Zadar write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Zadar comes up about 290 km into the recorded legs. Next is Split.

3. 3. Split

   Split began as a retirement home. The Roman emperor Diocletian, born nearby, built a vast fortified palace on this peninsula around the year 300 and retired here after abdicating, to grow cabbages, so the story goes. After the Roman world fell apart, refugees from the nearby city of Salona sheltered inside its walls, and over the centuries the palace turned into a town. Today you walk through the Golden Gate, the Peristyle and the old cellars, and find cafés, shops, apartments and washing lines inside what is, effectively, a Roman building, with the emperor's mausoleum converted into a cathedral. UNESCO lists the palace and the historic centre.

   Read the complete Split write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 448 km into the recorded legs you reach Split. Next is Dubrovnik.

4. 4. Dubrovnik

   Dubrovnik was once an independent republic, called Ragusa, and it lasted for centuries by being clever. It was a small city-state that paid tribute to bigger powers, traded with everyone, banned slavery early, and kept a splendid ring of walls that still surrounds the old town. Walking the walls, about two kilometres of stone with towers and bastions, takes an hour or two, and offers views over terracotta roofs and a glittering sea. In 1991 and 1992 the city was shelled during the Yugoslav war, and the damage has been repaired, though a few signs remain. UNESCO added it to its list in 1979.

   Read the complete Dubrovnik write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Dubrovnik closes the day.