Slovenia - Trieste - Venice

Day 17 (5.10.): Rovinj - Vrsar - Piran 90 km 1000 hm

Yay - in the evening we have crossed the 1000 km mark. For that, we still need to tackle 90 km today, a quarter of which is beautiful gravel and quite wet forest paths. After three days of rain, it will stay dry today, although cool. From Rovinj, we head east not far from the Limski Canal until we have circumnavigated this arm of the sea and reoriented ourselves westward after a steep ascent. In Vrsar, we are back by the sea, riding along the coast without a long break over Fontana to Porec. This coastal section has many large hotel complexes that now seem quite desolate. It’s nice that we can ride close to the shore for long stretches - often on gravel. From Novigrad, we ride on paved side roads in the hinterland up and down until we reach the Slovenian border. In Slovenia, there are finally good cycling paths again, on which we will soon and safely reach Piran, our destination on the Adriatic today. Piran surprises us. 

In the almost car-free center, it is wonderful to stroll along the long pier with closely built houses, past Tartini Square in the center with the neoclassical town hall and the beautiful Venetian house. Just above is the St. George Cathedral with its bell tower, from where you have a good view of Trieste and the mountains behind it. In good weather, you can also see the lagoon of Venice.