Now that it’s officially getting colder and I’m busting out my winter jackets, I thought it would be fun to look back at one of my favorite trips from this past year (and a much warmer time): a bike trip through Slovenia and Croatia! I can’t believe that it was just a few months ago that we took an insanely hot overnight train from Italy to Austria (the AC was broken!) and were galavanting across Slovenia by bike (150 miles in 5 days)! So many thanks to my best friend, Kelly, for turning 40 (woot woot!) and for organizing and inviting us on this awesome trip!
Believe it or not, we actually passed through 6 countries in just over 2 weeks (Italy, Austria, Slovenia, Hungary, Croatia, and a surprise trip to Sweden-more on that later), though some were ever so brief day trips by bike. Still kind of cool, though!
And here’s another surprising fact: I didn’t bring a camera. Yup, this photographer, didn’t bring a camera at all. Now let me tell you why!
Reason #1– Kelly was already bringing a DSLR camera.
Reason #2– I didn’t want to risk losing, breaking, or having one of my cameras stolen right before the busiest month in my photography business!
Reason #3– Sometimes it’s really nice to not be the one with the camera and to just sit back and enjoy the trip! Let me emphasize #3 again! Just because you’re a professional photographer doesn’t mean you do not have to always be taking photos! Just sit with that one for a minute 🙂
So even though I edited all of these photos, I did not take them all. Photo credit on a lot of these photos goes to Kelly Swift! So thanks again to Kelly for being the photographer on this trip!
Anyway, enough explaining, and now on to the photos!
We first flew into Italy and explored the city of Milan (above). And surprisingly enough, Italy was great with gluten free food options! (I have celiac disease, in case you didn’t know).
After taking that insanely hot overnight train to Austria and grabbing a ride to Slovenia, we were off on our 5 day bike trip! We ventured into Austria, Hungary, and Croatia on our bike tour and rode a total of 150 miles. We booked the trip through a company called TripSite (this is the trip we took), which helps you to arrange guided and self-guided bike tours all over the world.
Turns out Slovenia looks a lot like Iowa, apparently. Lots of corn fields! But also plenty of gorgeous houses with overflowing flower boxes! People really take good care of their lawns and home exteriors in Slovenia. There were even tiny robot lawn mowers, kind of like a Roomba for the outdoors!
Gotta stop and take a photo when you see a cow like this on the side of the road! 🙂
After the bike trip we ventured into Croatia and had a brief stay in Zagreb before heading down to the Island of Brac. Side note: my favorite restaurant of the entire trip was in Zagreb. It’s is called Melt and is entirely gluten free, plus specializes in brunch and dessert! Two of my absolute favorite things! Definitely stop in if you’re around Zagreb and in need of a gluten free bite!
We stayed in an AirBnb on Brac and spent the last few days of the trip relaxing at the gorgeous house on the beach and exploring the surrounding area (including Hvar) by boat!
Seriously the best place to rest and recover after 5 days of biking!
Definitely a trip to remember!
Oh, and the second half of our flight home was cancelled, which left us in Stockholm, Sweden for 2 whole days. Bonus country! I’ve always wanted to go to Sweden, so I was actually thankful for this fun surprise layover adventure! 🙂
Feel free to send me a message (Sarah@SarahEichstedtPhotography.com) if you’re interested in any additional details from the trip and/or need advice in planning your own trip!
Make sure to check out some of my other favorite adventures below!
Backpacking with our dog, Spruce
Exploring Charleston, South Carolina
Fall road trip through Utah, Wyoming, & Montana
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