Really sorry about this!

I was interested to get some pics of rural Istria so I went of on my bike to find some. But riding a bike and mixing it with crazy Ivan is not fun. The local driving position is one hand holding the mobile phone, usually to the right ear, a fag burning held in the mouth, and the left had doing everything else. Ivan drives down the middle of the road, and we are pleased to note that any roadsigns or speed limits do not apply to him. So cycling down the carriageway at 15kph with CI doing 130kph 3mm from your left elbow is not pleasant. There are no cycle tracks so I gave up very soon after discovering this.

I went to Tar and discovered these weird constructions. Anybody know what they are? I think the communist ideals of Yugoslavia have something to do with it...

Typical road junction, advertising hoardings and all. 

The local village was very ordinary...

And the high street too.

Nice ballustrades.

Local wreck was still occupied!

But new work is ongoing...

And despite the delayed state of the economy the most people drive about in fancy new cars like this.

But I have been very disappointed with Istria. It is very dull and scenically poor. The weather has been awful and the prices are high. I could not recommend it to anybody. There have been a few pleasant occasions but compared with other parts of my tour this is the lowest. It is so bloody cold I have had to break out the heavy English cold weather gear....not nice. Don't be fooled by the pics, it is cold cold cold......

So I am in travelling mode tomorrow. I am heading through Italy. I do not intend to hang about. I have been there before and I am not stopping long. South of France here we come!

End of post.