Everyone was in great spirits this morning because there was blue sky outside. The rain has been a big downer for everyone. No rain today so everyone was excited to get going. It was not an easy ride with two significant mountains and 100Km of riding but all in all it was a very pleasant ride. Evidently, TDA views mountains as an enhancement to the ride rather than a negative. Our new tour leader, Gergo, mentioned at our rider meeting that the routes along the coast had be designed to go inland instead of following the coast so that we could get more climbing in. Not so positive to me but then, the Odyssey is known for having a lot of climbing so I shouldn’t be surprised.
Last night I walked through old town Mostar. It is very much a tourist destination. There were many tour groups walking through the streets and it was fairly crowded. Lots of small shops with tourist oriented goods, ice cream shops, coffee shops and restaurants. The area is known for its old bridge which dates from about 1680. There is a good size river running through it and all in all pleasant enough but a little too touristy for my taste.
Today was a nice ride. The first 40 KM were in Bosnia, then we crossed the border into Croatia, (our fifth country). There was a good deal of climbing but the stopes were not too steep so it was just a matter of keeping the petals turning. When we got to the top of the second mountain you could see the ocean in the distance and then we had a 20Km downhill with a view of the ocean the whole way. Very nice way to end the ride.
We are staying in an upscale beach resort (at least compared to everything we have stayed in so far) People are out at the pool and the ocean looks lovely and best of all the sun is shining. Tomorrow we head to Split. We could have taken a route that was somewhat flat along the coast but instead we head into the mountains first. Oh well.
