After another crappy nights sleep due to jet lag (Ken slept about an hour), we stumbled out of bed and down to breakfast. Not a good way to start the biking portion of the trip! We grabbed a taxi and headed to the Cornaro Hotel the meeting point for our 18 travel partners. After a brief introduction by Katja, one our tour leaders, we walked several blocks to the docks where we boarded our boat for Brac (pronounced Brach).   

Once on board, while we lounged on the top deck, Katja gave a more detailed talk on the what to expect for the week. We also started to meet our biking buddies for the week. They are mostly our age, with one young couple from Cleveland. The cities represented are Toronto, Vancouver BC, NYC , New Haven CT and Santa Monica.  As last year, we have several doctors in the group, which is always a good thing.  

After 1.5 hours, we docked at a small village on Brach and met Anja our second leader. We all got fitted for our bikes, had our pedals put on (if you clip you bring your own pedals) and then had a detailed safety briefing and our first "route rap" for the week. For those that followed us last year in Tuscany, you may remember that every morning starts with a route rap where our leaders walk us through the ride and the options.   

Now, it was time to get on and start riding. Of course the first few kilometers were ALL uphill. Welcome to Croatia biking! Ken hung with me for a bit, but at the first sign of the downhill he was long gone. I tend to be a bit timid on downhills, but actually did better today on some very long windy portions. I was also happy that I stayed on the bike for all of the uphills except about 25 yards of a very steep hill.  

Most of the ride was along the most beautiful coastline...aqua blue water, with small villages with very old stone houses. So cool.   As I was pedaling into one of the small villages, Ken had doubled back to wait for me (he is so wonderful) and we pedaled the last 10k together. Unfortunately, at one point a car came up behind us which caused him to swerve, lose his balance and crash. The couple in the car stopped and hopped out to see if he was OK...which he was, thankfully. We went on to Dol, a very small village where an amazing lunch was waiting for us.   

After lunch, we could have chosen to ride another 18k...but with lack of sleep, we decided to call it a day. We had already done 25k with some serious hills, So, why push it. We grabbed the van along with a few others and headed to the hotel, which is a former palace owned by a very gracious Countess.  

After a much needed shower, we walked around the little village and stopped for a beverage at a small pizzeria on the water. Several old men were at the next table and one was fishing with a small string. In the short 20 minutes we were there he caught 4 fish, each about 5" long. Not bad with a string!   

We met our group in the garden behind the hotel and everyone introduced themselves in more detail. Then on to a wonderful dinner of local foods,, including octopus, braised beef in a very dark sauce, pasta and salads. Afterwards, we treated ourselves to another walk around the very picturesque village before turning in for the evening.