South to Bosnia-Hercegovina(hereafter called B-H)

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Tuesday 1st September
South to Bosnia-Hercegovina(hereafter called B-H)
We face probably our biggest challenge of our adventure today as our plan is to drive south through Croatia to B-H and a 2 day stop in Sarajevo,a city that was at was just 14 years ago and by all accounts is still finding its way after a peace deal was finally hammered out between the 3 warring factions.
Although we had breakfast included in our tariff at the Retro Hotel in Pecs it was fairly basic and for a moment we thought we were going to have to pay separately for our coffee at HUF200 a cup!!Thankfully the pleasant woman proprietor came to the party saying that we didn’t have to pay because we booked through Booking.com.Funny how we didn’t notice that coffee was going to be free in our email confirmation of our reservation.Never mind the coffee was out of one of those expresson machines and was strong and hot,just the way we like it.
We held off our departure waiting fore a reply to an email we had sent seeking better instructions to find the hotel in Sarajevo.What we had was so brief it was in our view useless and given that Google Maps didn’t have the local streets mapped we would have to rely upon guesswork where the hotel in relation to route #17 into the city and a roundabout that was named in the hotel listing but not on Google Maps.
The delay gave us the opportunity to chat online with Leigh and Cormac as we have been able to do on many occasions on this adventure.Erin has also joined the show now as she purchased a camera and we have chatted with a couple of times since.
Leigh and Cormac didn’t seem the least worried that we were heading off to B-H.Perhaps they have got used to their parents going to out of the way places although this one is tinged with a little more adventure than what we have tried for a while remembering that there are still unexploded landmines in B-H and it doesn’t pay to wander off the road in the countryside.We did say we would text them once we arrived safely in Sarajevo!!
The email we had waited for arrived just as we were about to give up on it and head off.The instructions were expanded a little and we hope that they will be enough to allow us to find the hotel easily.
We don’t hold any of the local currencies for Croatia nor B-H so we though it wise to fill up with diesel in Hungary and we pulled into a Shell station just down from the hotel as we leave.
As we experienced in Austria they still do have service in gas stations in this part of the world as a young man dressed immaculately in a new Shell Oil uniform and looking a bit like a walking advert for McDonalds(same colour mix of red and yellow)stepped up to fill RR as we stopped.He beckoned us onto the next pump as I was getting out of the car.He broke into fairly good English that the V-Power diesel was a superior product from Germany and the pump we had stopped at was diesel with 5% ethanol from the Ukraine.We think we have been pumping RR with Ukrainian diesel for some time now so we said the cheaper variety will be OK.
As he pumped the diesel we got chatting about where we were from.France he thought(he had seen the number plate of course).No, we were from New Zealand I replied.He quickly responded that a 10 hour flight would be a long one.Clearly he didn’t really know where New Zealand was because I responded that it was in fact a 27 hour flight.That seemed to take him back a bit.He asked if we were enjoying Hungary to which I replied in the positive adding that Pecs was a very nice town and we had enjoyed our short stay.
Next stop would be at a supermarket and as we left town on route #57a Tesco sign appeared before us.We needed supplies for the day and we had HUF690 to spend to get rid of the last of the Hungarian currency.
We never found Tesco but we did find a brand new Interspar store in a piece of Pecs where there was a small amount of brand new houses built in a different,more western style we are used to in NZ,than we had seen in Hungary.
We were like kids in a sweet shop with money to spend as we wanted to be rid of the cumbersome coins that form part of the currency.We did buy wisely and we left with water and lunch and still couldn’t quite spend all the HUF!!!
Our last view of Pecs as we drove towards the Croatian border was one of rows of old communist style apartment blocks in the distance in an outer suburb of Pecs that we couldn’t see from the downtown area we had spent our time in.Our thoughts that the city might have escaped the communist style of apartment blocks had been dashed!!
It was only 10.30am and it was already 26C and with a clear blue sky it looks like the heat wave is back in full and the day will probably heat further towards 30C again.
The countryside leading to the border was again flat and featureless with cropping being the only agricultural occupation around.What they are going to do with all the hay that has been cut that we have passed over the past week without us seeing any animals is beyond comprehension.And it doesn’t seem to be stored anywhere out in the open.
There are two motorways being built in southern Hungary and from the road we were travelling we could see the intense activity going on to complete the highways.At some points bridges over the uncompleted main route were finished and the local towns and villages had brand new sealed roads leading to them.The state of the roads in the towns and villages didn’t look that flash but hey perhaps that will come in time.
There was very little traffic as we took route #56 to the border into Croatia.So little traffic in fact that we thought for a while that we were on the wrong road.Then around a slight bend and we were there.
The Hungarian formalities over we drove on the short distance to the Croatian officials.They too were very friendly and only asked where we were going and with no form filling to do we were soon on our way with a stamp in the passports.
The road number now changed to the E73/7 and we now had to decide whether it would be lunch in Coatia or B-H as it should probably only take us about an hour and a half to cross this small piece of Croatia to reach the B-H border.What decisions we had to make today!!
At Vinkovci however things changed for us as the atlas map showed that the road went straight through the town.Easy we thought but of course the map did not show the pedestrian mall in the way and just as encountered the decision of whether to go left or right to skirt around the mall the road number signs also disappeared!!
Twenty minutes later driving up blind roads and into parking lots we finally found a road to take us to the other side of the mall and we were on our way again.
Now with extra time passed it was going to be lunch in Croatia and we stopped in a small village close to the B-H border under the shade of a tree on the side of the road for a tailgate lunch.And it always seems to be that when we do this on a relatively quiet road that it suddenly becomes busy and today was no different.
We sat there for 20 minutes or so waving to everyone who drove passed us including the man on a bike who couldn’t believe what he was seeing and nearly fell off his bike!!Even the locals came out and had a look at us and said hello or at least we think that is what they said!!
Onwards to the border with B-H.We left Croatia with no problem and crossed the natural border,a wide swift flowing river with a modern bridge to carry us over to the B-H border.Here we were welcomed and with a smile we were asked how long we intended to be in the country and where we were heading for.He handed the passports back without giving them a stamp and we were on our way again.The border crossings had been very easy and although it probably took half an hour in total with some queueing behind a car or two it hadn’t taken any more time out of our day than we expected.
One of the first buildings we passed inside the B-H border was a bombed out motel at the roadside and although we were tempted to stop for a photo we thought it was just a bit close to the border checkpoint to have the camera out.We did wonder though whether the sight of bombed out buildings aws going to be common as we drove towards Sarajevo given that it is 14 years since the war finished
A little further on and we came across an oasis in the desert(so to speak) of discount shop outlets called ‘Arizona’.Just quite while it was here stuck in the middle of nowhere was not clear but perhaps because it was close to the border of the two countries and people from both places came to shop at cheap prices.We weren’t tempted as we wanted to get on to Sarajevo.
More bombed out buildings became obvious as we drove on through small villages and other buildings with bullet or shrapnel holes in them in which locals were still living.We guessed that if the houses stability hadn’t been affected by a few bullet or shrapnel homes then why worry about plastering them over.
All around us now were hills and mountains with lush green growth of trees and the road rose and fell over the hills as we headed further south.Progress was slow with a lot of trucks and very little room to pass although some of the locals took risks including one that must have closed his eyes as he only just made it back into the queue of cars before an oncoming truck!!!
We passed the road off to Tuzla thinking we were making good time only to shortly after come to a grinding halt with cars and trucks stopped ahead of us.The queue was too long to see the holdup was but after a few minutes we started to edge forward.There was no traffic coming in the other direction and we guessed there must be an accident ahead although we couldn’t see it from our position in the line of traffic.
We realised then that the odd car coming the other way were in fact cars out of the queue we were in and they had obviously seen something we hadn’t and were heading for another route to get to their destination.We looked at our map and decided that with the few roads that we would want to travel on we would hold our place until we could see just how long the delay might be.
Eventually with a number of cars ahead of us turning out of the line we were in we reached a spot where we could see that a large truck and trailer had jack knived on the road and nothing was moving past it.After 20 minutes or so I took a stroll up towards the scene of the accident to see what the situation was noting that there were police there but not a lot seemed to happening.
Then suddenly a guy driving a car at the head of the queue climbed back into his car and drove down a small bank around the truck and ‘across country’ to reappear up the other side.Quickly everyone was back in their cars driving to the same spot so I thought I had better get back to Gretchen to see if she wanted to do the same ‘across country’ drive to get around the scene.We took the same path and on the other side saw two cars that had been hit by the truck,one particulary smashed in on the drivers side and another up a bank.There had been no ambulances and nor did we pass any as we drove on now with very little traffic ahead of us especially trucks who could not take the across country route we had to get around the accident.
The road then took us into more mountains and although the grades of the road were reasonable the curves slowed the speed somewhat.
The countryside was very attractive as we looked out over steep valleys to houses perched on hillsides seemingly without any road access.What wasn’t so attractive though was the rubbish on the roadside from what people had thrown out their car window such as plastic bottles etc to whole rubbish bags piled up in heaps in what might have been good places to stop had the rubbish not been there.
As we came down what was the last hill towards Sarajevo we noticed signs on the roadside warning to keep clear because the area had not been cleared of unexploded land mines.It was a rather sobering sign to see as we reached the city that had been held at siege by the Serbs for four years through the war.
We didn’t find the Royal Hotel at our first attempt and so we asked at another hotel for directions.We were in the right area and the man at reception gave us instructions that were easy to follow.
The hotel is only a year old and our room is very spacious with a spa bath in the bathroom.What is interesting is that there are wires sticking out of the wall and not protected in any way!!!We assume that someone still has to come back and fit some more appliances eventally.!!
Because we had no local currency we headed into Sarajevo about 6km away and found an ATM and decided that we would be best to travel back to our local neighbourhood for dinner just in case finding our way back the greater distance from the city became difficult.We found an Italian style restaurant and opted for a nice safe pizza washed down with a couple of beers which were very welcome after a long day on the road.

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Comments

[Rin]

Bombed-out buildings
We were surprised at the number of bombed-out buildings still standing (sort of) in Serbia too - after all that time. Maybe they keep them there as a reminder of the futility of the war.....??