After a beautiful trip from the old city of Pula up the southwestern coast of the Istrian Peninsula to Vrvar, things went flat from there to Trieste. While Vrvar and Rohinj were classic charming seacoast towns, over development has taken the joy out of visiting the rest of the Istrian coast. My camera rarely left its bike mount. We were just putting in the K’s. We decided to skip the Italian city of Trieste and simply point towards Ljubljana.

A combination of the EuroVelo 9 and Highway 409 got us over the Slovenian border, then a beautiful series of cycling lanes brought us into the city itself. The cycle lanes combined with specific crosswalks made it so easy to deal with city traffic because they kept cycle and vehicle traffic separated. Cyclists and pedestrians have the right of way on the crosswalks unless there are traffic lights. The culture here respects bikers and hikers.

Cyclists are everywhere here in Slovenia. Whether they are elite road bikers, folks on new electric bikes, or just simple commuters on city bikes, they are in use all over the city. The infrastructure is here and so is the culture. People like us bikepacking travelers fit right in. We are welcome here.

Today we stored Lindsay’s trailer and everyone’s camping gear. Tomorrow we head northeast on the EuroVelo9, eventually switching to roads into Austria and then following a loop west before ending once again in Ljubljana for our trip home.

2nd century arch in Pula