Beautiful Balkins Adventure


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May 17th 2010
Published: May 17th 2010
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Beautiful Balkins Adventure




Friday, Saturday, May 7 - 8, 2010 Ljubljana, Slovenia



May 7 - I arrived in Ljubljana at 10:30 pm. Our guide Rozje, met me and took me to the hotel. The next morning I met our group, which included:

Our guides with Adriatic Motortours , Rozle, a 30 year old Slovenian who has been tours for 10 years in this area and Clemen, also Slovenian, very familiar with regional history.

Rod and Mary O'Beirne - New Zealand:
Malcolm and June Taylor - New Zealand:
John and Jan Fensom - New Zealand:
Phillipa Saxton - New Zealand
Dave Williams and Sally Chapman - Australia
Dave and Julie Francis - Australia
Mike and Becky - Sacramento, California
Mike Egan - Aurora, Canada

Rozle filled us in on some of the background of this trip. Slovenia, a country with a population of about 2,000,000, was a part of the former Yugoslavia. It was the first country to declare independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. Slovenia became a full member of the European Union (EU) in 2004. Its capital is Ljubljana is a beautiful, small European city of about 270,000 people.

Our motorcycle tour name is called the "Beautiful Balkans Adventure". In total we will be covering about 2,900 kms and touring through 4 countries: Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovinia, Croatia, and Montenegro.
This area is of particular interest to me, since we sponsor 2 boys from Kosovo (my "adopted" sons Musa and Sheremet). All of these countries were part of what used to be Yugoslavia. Our guides have in-depth knowledge of the history and culture of the countries. In particular the recent War.


Sunday, May 9, 2010 Ljubljana (SLO) - Pitvice (CRO) - 215 kms



Our first day of riding and the weather is beautiful. The roads out of Slovenia are good, smooth, easy roads. Perfect for everyone to get used to their bikes. Once we cross the border into Croatia, the roads start to get twisty and narrow. There are more forests, small villages, and local scenery. Croatia has a population of about 4.5 million and its capital city is Zagreb. We are passing through central Croatia on route to Bosnia. Later in the trip, we return via the Adriatic coast and spend several more days in Croatia. We reach our destination, Plitvice Lakes National Park about 4:30 pm.

The park consists of 16 lakes connected by a series of waterfalls set in deep woodland inhabited by many different types of animals and rare bird species. I remember when my daughter Michelle travelled through Europe after University talking about how beautiful Croatia was. I am sure this is one of the places she visited based on her photos. It really is stunning. What makes it truly wonderful is that there is a walking trail along side the waterway that allows you to see and feel mother nature at its best. We walked most of the trail and also took a boat ride across the largest lake. Our destination was the Licka Kuca restaurant in the park, where we had a traditional meal cooked over a wood fired grill in the center of the restaurant.

Monday, May 10 - 11 - Pitvice Lakes - Sarajevo (BIH) - 410 kms



This is one of the longest days of riding of the trip, about 410 kms, which will take about 9 hours including stops. It is reasonably scenic with long winding roads through the mountains. We had been warned about speed traps, and sure enough, I was stopped for the first time. I pulled over and
Plitvice Lakes National ParkPlitvice Lakes National ParkPlitvice Lakes National Park

Hifhest Waterfall in the Park at 260 m
the policeman approached me, shook my hand, admired the bike, and then indicated for me to proceed. He didn't even ask me for a bribe!

We crossed the border into Bosnia - Herzegovina. Now that the wars are over, the border crossings are routine. All of these countries want to be part of the EU, but they are all in different stages of applying for inclusion. Bosnia is at the cultural crossroads of the east and the west. It has a very diverse culture - including Orthodox Christian, Catholic, Muslim and Jewish influences. The capital of Bosnia is Sarajevo (about 400,000 people).

We arrived in Sarajevo about 6pm. What a beautiful city! Sarajevo brings to mind 2 things - the 1984 winter Olympics, and being the hub of the war with the Serbs from 1992 - 1995. I learned also that it was founded by the Ottomans in 1461, and was the site of the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, which sparked World War I.

Tuesday is a rest day. That means we get to spend a day being tourists. A group of us decided to do a war tour. It was led by our lovely guide Elly, and focused on the Yugoslav War. Elly was 8 years old when the war started and was able to reflect on personal stories which made the tour even more interesting. On April 6, 1992, Sarajevo was surrounded by the forces of the Bosnian Serbs. The warfare lasted until October 1995 and resulted in large scale destruction and dramatic population shifts. Most of the city has been reconstructed, with only a few remaining visible ruins in the city center.


Wednesday, May 12 - Sarajevo - Mostar - 234 kms



Its day 5, and the weather for riding continues to be outstanding. We ride through mountains and valleys. The scenery is stunning with snow capped mountains off in the distance. They're are many tunnels, most of which are unlit. This is a very strange feeling on a motorcycle , as it is very difficult to adjust to the dark, and the roads can be very wet and slippery, but we got used to it after a while. We rode through the Susjeska National Park and stopped to see a famous World War II monument at the site af a famous Partisan victory over the Germans. We had for
Elly, Tour guide in SarajevoElly, Tour guide in SarajevoElly, Tour guide in Sarajevo

Explaining how the tunnel was built to get arms and food into Sarajevo during war
a late lunch at the Tekija house on the Buna River, where we enjoyed fresh caught trout cooked in a traditional style. Tekija is famous for a monastery built at the base of a 200m cliff in 1550. It is the destination for a famous pilgrimage in Bosnia, that has hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.

After lunch, on route to Mostar, I was pulled over for speeding a second time. Again, the officer came over to the bike, checked it out, indicated to me to slow down and then let me go. I think they just wanted to look at the bikes. Works for me. We arrive in Mostar, Bosnia around 5 pm. Mostar is a multi-cultural city that was devastated by the Yugoslavian war. It is famous for its Old Bridge which was built by the Turks in the 1500's, and was destroyed by the Croatian Serbs in November 1993. The reconstruction of the Old Bridge was completed in July 2004 using as many of the stones from the original bridge.

For dinner, we went to a small, local restaurant in old town, that is owned by a friend of Rozle (our guide). The owners parents our famous in this part of the world. They are 100 and 101 years old. This year they will celebrate their 75th wedding anniversary, and are said to be the longest married couple in Europe! Cool!


Thursday, May 13 - Mostar - Zablijak (Montenegro) 291 kms



Great riding today. We are riding in very rural areas. Lots of great roads. It is not unusual to come around a bend and encounter cows or sheep in the middle of the road. Late in the morning, we cross the border into Montenegro. Montenegro, the smallest of the Balkan countries with a population of 870,000, lies on the Adriatic coast with Albania to the South West, Kosovo to the East, and Croatia and Bosnia to the north and west. It is mostly Orthodox Christian, with a minority Muslim population.

The original plan today was to cross the highest mountain pass in the Balkans at almost 2,000 meters. Unfortunately, this road was closed due to heavy snow. We took an alternate, but interesting route, which took us through a pass at 1500 meters. We rode through the National Park of Dormitor. Dormitor has incredible beauty and untouched nature. It includes imposing mountain tops, numerous glacier lakes, magnificent canyons and rivers.The Tara river canyon is the second largest in the world after the Grand Canyon. Dormitor is included in the UNESCO World Heritage list. We finally reached our destination, the town of Zabljak at about 7pm (we had an hour and a half construction delay). This town is the main centre of mountain tourism and winter sports in Montenegro.



Friday, May 14 - Zablijak - Petrovac (Montenegro) 291 kms



After leaving the hotel, we ride through the beautiful Tara Canyon. As we reached the lower canyon we passed through a small town. There was a very slow car in front of me, so I accelerated past him. when I turned the bend, I was probably doing 90 km/hr in a 40km zone. A policeman stepped out on the road waving his stop sign. I was going pretty fast, and by the time I realized he was flagging me down, it was too late to stop. There was no where to easily pull over, so I decided to keep going. Fortunately he chose not to pursue me. At our next coffee stop, we were comparing notes about the radar. One of the other riders, Rozle (our guide) that was well behind me, also came around the corner fast. The police were better prepared this time. They stepped out to flag him down. He also kept going, but when he looked in his rear view mirror and saw that they started to pursue him, turned around and went back. While they were writing up a ticket, he realized that he probably should have kept going, as he was worried they would take his papers away. So he jumped on his bike and took off, figuring that he could easily outrun them. He was right. They had no chance to catch him on the winding mountain roads. The score was 2 - 0 for the motorcyclists over the Montenegro police!

We rode through the capital of Montenegro, Podgorica, and intentionally did not stop as it is mainly an industrial city. About 30 kms past the city, we came around a bend and for the first time, saw the Adriatic Sea. Shortly thereafter, we rode into Petrovic, a delightful small seaside village, our destination for the day. After settling in, we went for a walk on the boardwalk and enjoyed a beer at the beautiful Punta bar built into the side of a cliff, watching the sun set.


Saturday, May 14 - Zablijak (Montenegro) - Dubrovnik (Croatia) 143 kms



Friday night, it started raining heavily all through the night. Saturday morning it was still raining, so we put on our rain gear for the first time on the trip. We had planned to go up the mountain to Mount Lovcen, which is supposed to be an incredible ride up, spectacular views from the top, and an even more impressive ride down. Due to the weather, we again had to go to plan B. We rode through moderate rain showers up the coast to the Old Town of Kotor. The ride to it took us around a bay on a very narrow rode along the waterfront, with sharp turns, frequently encountering buses or vans coming from the other direction. Potentially very dangerous, but also very beautiful.

The old town of Kotor is one of the best preserved medieval towns in this part of the Mediterranean. It is very typical of towns between the 12th and 14th centuries. There is a fortress on top of the mountain behind the town, with a walkway up about 500 meters, and a 4.5km wall around the lower city and up to the fortress. There are about 1350 steps to the top, which I decided to climb in my motorcycle gear. Probably not a good idea, but I felt I needed the exercise.

We continued on and arrived in Dubrovnik, probably the best known and most attractive city on the Adriatic coast. The entire old town is walled and closed to cars. We went into the old town, walked the streets, and then met for a wonderful traditional dinner.

I had been to Dubrovnik while on a Mediterranean cruise two years ago and saw all the sites, so I chose to spent Sunday, our rest day, getting caught up on the blog, and visiting the new town. Again, it rained most of the day, so I didn't feel like I was missing much.









Additional photos below
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17th May 2010

Great reporting - makes me want to do the trip again. Keep it coming.
17th May 2010

Next Career
Well Mike, I have a new career suggestion for you when you get back - History and Geography Teacher. Option 2 is to start a Tour Adventure Company or better still be a Tour Guide! Another fascinating adventure!
17th May 2010

wow...
those are some of the most beautiful pictures Mike...Must have been spectacular riding through it.
17th May 2010

how to be inconspicuous...
Mike , read all the posts... however 14 BMW riding english speaking ex-pats.... you're not tough to find. They have these devices called Radios... Ever seen Midnight Express!! keep well! patrick
18th May 2010

So beautiful...
Great photos - I loved Plitvice...one of my favourite places. Mostar, Tara Canyon and Kotor all look amazing too! Sounds like you're having a good time. Can't wait to talk to you about it. Maya says hi!!!
25th May 2010

Good read!!!
Good reading! We are in Pompei. Spent today in ruins - no, not the wine... Really amazing!
26th May 2010

contact
Ikie and I are enjoying following your adventures.

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