1. intro
2. week 13
3. interesting people encounters
4. my first mountain pass

After doing city exploring in Prague, I head south towards one of the prettiest old towns I've ever seen. This one is named Český Krumlov and I made a short stop here. In a small hidden basement restaurant I found my favourite meal on the trip so far - garlic soup in a loaf of bread with added melted cheese. Yummy! I make haste towards the ocean cost of Croatia through Slovenia's Soča Valley.

It was a difficult goodbye leaving the legendary Prague for so many reasons. The extensive historic centre known as Old Town has a captivating almost hypnotic grip on you as you stroll the maze of streets loosing your sense of direction and time amongst the well preserved architecture from a medieval European metropolis. Its brilliance, fame and importance becomes very clear as you walk across historical bridges to the largest ancient castle in the world overlooking the city from a hilltop where Kings, Holy Roman Emperors and Presidents have had their seat of power.

Also being my first longer break and deep dive into a city, it allowed my to discover and connect with people in a different way. Setting the scene was an epic hostel called The RoadHouse. It was my perfect home away from home where travellers bonded over family dinner and nightly social events. We shared deep personal histories, hilarious travel mishaps, interesting cultural differences and mind blowing life events. I met a modern day young American Rain Man with a career set out to build space rockets, an ambitious Dutch environmentalist who represented her country at the U.N. Climate Action Summit in New York and who listened to Greta Thunberg's speech backstage, a modest and humble Nepalese PhD student with dreams to change the world through Artificial Intelligence. I remember whispering to myself: “Whoa, I am meeting, seeing and discovering the world trough the people I connect with!” That might have been obvious to me for years but it struck me again with an amazing clarity. In Prague I made myself a promise to connect with, listen to, discover and be amazed by people at every opportunity that would present itself.

These thoughts echoed in my mind as I packed my bike a late morning with a slight headache from previous night's farewell beers, best wishes and long hugs from people I have had the pleasure to befriend during my stay in Prague. A city I will never forget. I plotted a route straight south following the Vltava river that would take me to Český Krumlov. Another architectural gem from Czechia with its well-preserved Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque architecture. I had my fair share of excellent Czech beer, garlic soup and fried cheese building up a good energy buffer for my upcoming charge on the Austrian mountains. Austria was a rainy experience and it saw me make a chase for warmer weather in the south. It was not all lost though as I got to journey in between gorgeous lush green mountain valleys with raw and rugged mountain tops sprinkled with occasional snow patches. Magical mountain lake cities like Hallstatt crowned my touring in Austria and made a lasting impression.

I continued the mountain theme by crossing the Vršič Pass in Slovenia and followed the emerald green waters of the Soča River. The color comes from small particles of lime- and marlstone in the water also known as 'rock flour', which reflect more green and blue when hit by the light. It has its origin in the Julian Alps of Slovenia and spans most of the western part of the country before entering the ocean. As you approached the river you could feel the cooled air surrounding it and dipping yourself into the river on a hot summer day was a gift sent from heaven. I broke off from the river and journeyed into the wine valley of Vipava where I found myself camping in between the rows of wine trees. I passed the days there by sipping local wine as I was soaking up the heat from the sun mesmerized by the view of old wine stonecastles sitting on top of terrace shaped hillsides. Small family based vineyards dominates the area and wine making is a way of life in this region.

The roads onwards led me to the western coast of Istria in Croatia and the first sights of ocean since I left Denmark. I welcomed the ocean smell and the sound of water with an open heart. Never knew that I would miss the ocean so much and it made me realize that I actually have never been away from the ocean in any of the numerous places I have lived. The number of travelled cities, borders and countries have stacked up fast the last few weeks and it is time to digest the experiences with the blue views from the ocean cliffs outside of Pula.... and hopefully meet more of the world!

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