Day 27 - Wine before the hills - Triban, Croatia to Pazin, Croatia

July 17, 2026 - biked 57 km (35 mi) - biked 1043 km (648 mi) total

We had a rocky start literally. This country’s foundation is hard soil mixed with rocks.

For lunch, we met Ole from Germany who had lunch with us on the side of the Paranzana trail.

We diverted from the trail to make it across the Isteria peninsula to catch a ferry so we can do some island hopping.

In France, we never happened upon a winery but today we did! So in the name of celebrating my birthday week, we stopped for a wine sampling. It was lovely and we discovered Croatian accents sound a lot like Russian accents. We bought a bottle of red wine and headed to our campsite still 15 miles away. Little did we know we would encounter the worst road conditions ever. With 20% grade we climbed 500 m or about 1500 feet. We literally climbed, not biked. It was impossible because of the huge rocks. No car could even make it up.

We took turns pushing each other’s bikes up since it took two of us to tackle the elevation and navigate the rocks. It was hard enough to just hike it.

We kind of took a wrong turn and got some bad advice but we struggled through because what else can you do.

I can push through and still be grumpy. As it was getting darker, last dinner time and we still had miles to bike, we biked past small house farms. They were still working with a tractor or a hoe or feeding the chickens. Farmers work hard. A lot harder than myself.

We learned some lessons but never any regrets with stopping spontaneously for a Croatian wine tasting.

Wine before hills, in case the hills kill (you). Hill after wine then you can dine, is perhaps better.