Zadar to Biograd - riding the islands

Tuesday, March 25, 2025

Today is a special day! Happy birthday Jacek, it is March 25th!

It was supposed to be nice this morning but after torrential rains the night it was still raining at 7 and 8 so I sat down at Art Kavada café and did some planning. By 9h30 the sun was out the sky was blue. WOW 😎 started riding with my sunglasses for the first time in days. I also put some protection on my lips that were falling into pieces and hardly recovered despite several days or rain. I was riding from Zadar along the coast which sent me zigzaging until a roundabout where the only way forward was to take the highway... As I turned back I saw a "EuroVélo8" trail sign pointing to a ferry... and hop I went, tried to find out where the ferry was going with the lady at the cash (speaking in french) and just made it onboard by a hair! The ferry was already starting to lift the bridge when they lowered the cable to let me in at the last second. Big thanks to the team for this great gesture!

Onboard I found out where I was going: Preko and my first stop was at the Tourist Office or info Point (Tourist Board of Municipality of Preko) where I had a fantastic welcome and great insights on riding the islands to Tkon where I will be able to take another ferry. The islands are a godsend for cyclists, especially at this time of the year. I was able to ride on the coastline and at times on the main road with very little traffic and when cars passed me they were well behaved (for a change!). I felt safe, the air was clean and the views magical. What a great decision! I am behind on my schedule but if you cannot enjoy the riding there is no point anyway! I am grateful for the advice in Zadar from Antonia at the Info Point in the old town and also here - many tourist offices in Europe could take lessons from these ladies. A big thank you!!!

When I arrived in Tkon to take the ferry back to the mainland there was a long wait... over 1h30... Nowhere to eat and I decided to stop in Biograd for lunch and plan next steps from there.