Hi, everyone!
Many days passed since my last blog post, but this doesn’t mean I forgot about you π I’m working very hard for a news I’ll let you know afterwards π
This summer I realized a dream with my son: a bike trip! He rides with me many times every year, but we never made a bikepacking journey together. Last winter we thought it’s time for it. We decided to ride the Slovenian West Loop and visit Krk and Cres islands in Croatia, ’cause we love the Balkans and their culture and we have many friends there, down to wonderful Istrian coast.
Our trip started in a strange way: I had not the bike!!! I sold my gravel one very fast and I found my desired bikepacking model…in Zagreb! The last Kona Unit X 2022 in Europe and…in my perfect fitting size. So, we organized to go by car there, starting in the night and arriving at the bike shop at opening time: perfect! I love when I can go out of my comfort zone and extemporize something different than my plans. I think my quote can be: “My plan? No plan!” π
My bike was ready since the evening before and the guys set me up all what I brought with me for the journey: racks, cages and my saddle. I projected to do it by myself, but they were fantastic. My son’s bike I already set up before to leave home. Just half an hour and we were ready to reach the hostel and to jump in Zagreb.
It’s a very interesting city and the magic of summer did the rest: hot sun, blue sky, and our sightseeing starts with our joy to be there. We decided to leave the museums for the next day, but then we had a surprise: on Sunday all is…closed! No problem: the Universe is giving us a reason to return π We completed the walk visiting all the center and tasting the local cusine.
I was refilled by so many inspirations for my paintings! But it’s time to drive at our bike tour starting point: Tarvisio, Italy. We woke up at 4 Am to set up everything, because we wanted to start pedalling at 8 AM, in direction of Bled lake. I will not speak too much about our bikepacking journey here, but I only say a big THANK YOU to my son for his power, his joy, his strenght and for his smiles, always on his face and his heart, also on difficult moments due to the climbs or the high temperatures. We supported each others in the way I wanted: my target was to donate him an experience for life, no matters what he wants to do by bike in future, but to give him power to believe more in himself and…that happened!
Finishing our West Loop we drove down to Croatia, but we decided to relax for the rest of our holidays and not to ride anymore. My son was tired and not so trained like me and he choose right: temperatures were forbidding and it had to be also a realisation of his desires, at all. Our time there, was unforgettable: we lived fantastic situations like we never could believe, and we met many people on the road, who delighted our holidays before to go to the Istrian coast to meet our friends. We discovered so many beautiful places to let us a little bit sad when it was time to leave…
Before to take the ferry, I took the earth of the island of Cres, our favourite in comparison with Krk, ’cause of its incredible amount of iron inside and its unique colour: I want to see the effects on my paintings very soon!
On our camping place in Istria our time passed with beautiful moments and we had some bike rides in our beloved nature, admiring sunsets and relaxing our souls.
Our friends came from Germany, but some of them from the rest of Europe leaved the place before our arrival, so we have to meet somewhere else π
All those experiences gave us a chance to grow up togheter and we both discovered parts of us we didn’t know. Any journey is an experience of life and to be extremely minimalist gave us the capability to recognize how much we are lucky and how much unnecessary we can avoid in life.
Get in touch soon with my next paintings here!
Ciao π
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