Day 25: Piran to Novigrad, Croatia

June 28, 2026

Day 25: Piran to Novigrad, Croatia

This morning, I woke up at 5 AM and started my ride at 5:30. Rather than going the most direct way to Novigrad, Croatia, I followed the EuroVelo 8 route that took me mainly along the coast of the Istrian Peninsula. The Istrian Peninsula is the northwestern part of Croatia. Part of it includes Slovenia and a little bit of Italy.

The ride was about 37 miles in total. I stopped by a couple of places. At the first cafe, I had a banana split and a cappuccino for breakfast. Then at the Skybar cafe, about 1.5 miles away from Novigrad, I had a fruit smoothie.

After drinking my smoothie, just when I was about to get on my bike, a young man asked me about my bicycle. I ended up staying a bit longer to chat with him and his friend about bike touring.

The young man’s name is David and his friend’s name is Ervin. They are both 35 years old and are locals born in Novigrad. David asked me all kinds of questions about touring bicycles and what to look for when buying one. I also told him about my past bike tours and wish I had started an around the world bike tour when I was younger, maybe at David’s age.

Since I’m 42 now, I’m more picky about my accommodations and prefer hostels and hotels rather than wild camping. I tend to eat at restaurants rather than going into a grocery store and cook something for myself. To be honest, I don’t think I have the mentality to ride a bicycle around the world anymore now that I’m so picky. I think there’s a bit of wildness when you are younger, and you can tolerate harsher conditions due to your naivety, or stupidity.

I rode into Novigrad with David and Ervin after our initial meeting. Ervin had to go to work so David and I cycled to the town square and had some orange juice. David invited to see David Byrne of the Talking Heads tonight in Pula, a town south of here, about an hour away by car. It’ll be a late night if I go. Most likely, I’ll stay in.

Around noon, I parted ways with David at the Pansion Comfort Santa Marija guesthouse, where I’ll be staying for the night. I was able to check-in at noon since my room was ready.

After a pasta lunch, I bought some newspapers because I decided that I would cut my hair in my room. Since I had bought a hair clipper back when I was in Ottawa, Canada, I’m going to use it to cut my hair. The newspaper is to catch the hair on the floor.

Everything was going well during the cut until the battery in my clipper went out. But I still had some hairs to cut. The clipper charger has a North American style plug and I don’t have an international adapter. My other plug is the Apple adapters set that only works on USB-C cables. Unfortunately, the clipper has a different type of connector.

I asked the receptionist of the guesthouse to see if she has an adapter. She found some international plugs, but missing the part where the plug goes in. I also messaged my newly made friends, David and Ervin, to see if they had any international adapters. They did not. I even biked to a gas station to see if they sell an international adapter. Nope.

I wondered how weird I'd be if I rode my bike tomorrow with my head half shaved. I’ll definitely be making a funny statement.

Then I thought, maybe I can rig one of the plugs that the receptionist gave me by removing some plastics by the contacts on the input so that the prongs on my clipper’s charger can touch them to get electricity. And that’s what I did with the pliers on my multi-tool. I snapped off some plastics on the adapter and carefully held the charger to the contacts and it worked! I was able to charge my hair clipper.

Funny thing is, after I cut the rest of my hair and took a shower, I noticed there’s a hand vacuum for shavers in the bathroom that took the exact plug type that I needed for the hair clipper. Only if I had looked carefully!

What an adventure it was to get my haircut. That was the highlight of the day. Now, I’m clean, refreshed, and didn’t electrocute myself.

The guesthouse has a free breakfast in the morning, but I’ll be leaving early again. The chef packed a meal for me, which I’m very grateful.

Not sure what I’ll do for the rest of the day. Maybe I’ll meet with Ervin for dinner.

I have to book my accommodation for tomorrow night at the town of Rovinj. It’s the high season and I can’t find cheaper places to stay. It really sucks when I have to pay around $100 for a night.