Damir
Guest
There are some questions about Albania, Macedonia and other countries in the region, so I hope this ride report can be helpful to someone.
Trip lasted for five days, we visited Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia and Serbia. Crew consisted of dr.chala and his wife Xenia on V Strom and I on GS 1200. Dr.chala and Xenia visited area two years ago so they had pretty clear picture what areas are worth visiting. Xenia also took majority of pictures in this report.
Zoltan joined us for first day.
Report can be also called “Extreme heat report” because temperature rarely dropped under 30 degrees Celsius.
Day One, Zagreb – Sarajevo
Friday and Monday (22. and 26.06) are holidays in Croatia, so we skipped last few hours of work on Thursday and hit the road around half past two. Border was crossed at Hrvatska Kostajnica. Border policeman asked Zoltan: “Are you Zoltan from Croatian motorcycle forum?” Cool.
First stop was near Banja Luka, it was terribly hot, northern part of Bosnia is flat, so we didn’t enjoy riding at all. It will soon change, as we entered Vrbas river canyon.
Next pictures show power plant near city of Jajce, turbines and other machinery are placed into tunnels inside mountain, and water comes from nearby Plivsko lake trough 5700 meters long tunnel with diameter of 5,40 meters.
Following Vrbas we arrived in Jajce (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jajce), small city on the confluence of the rivers Pliva and Vrbas. Jajce has very rich history, but it gained prominence during the Second World War because it hosted the second convention of the Anti-Fascist Council of National Liberation of Yugoslavia (AVNOJ) on November 29, 1943, a meeting that set the foundation for the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia after WWII.
We also visited Pliva Lake, near the city.
Trip continued trough Central Bosnia. We passed through very dense cloud of bugs, at first I thought it was raining. Picture was taken next day.
We reached Sarajevo around ten o’clock and settled in BM hotel (http://www.bracamujic.com/). Zoltan’s friend Ivo was waiting for us in Sarajevo. We will part our ways tomorrow morning, as they had different travel plan than rest of us.
It was time for some local food and walk trough city centre.
Day Two, Sarajevo – Bar (Montenegro)
Berislav from Croatian motorcycle forum is living in Sarajevo, so he took us around the city.
When in Sarajevo you must try chevap, sort of authentic fast food. It is very tasty, so we cannot resist eating it even for breakfast, after eating it night before.
We went to see Sarajevo Tunnel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarajevo_Tunnel), it will be impossible to find it without Berislav’s help.
We left Sarajevo and headed towards eastern Bosnia.
After Foca major road reconstruction is in progress, so there is mixture of new asphalt and gravel sections.
Heat is unbearable, so you have to envy these lucky people.
Finally, we crossed into Montenegro.
Piva canyon is beautiful.
We turned towards Zabljak and headed into the mountains, precisely Durmitor National Park.
As we were heading towards Durmitorsko Sedlo (sedlo means saddle), asphalt stopped. There were about 10 km of gravel.
We made little detour to visit Djurdjevica Tara Bridge, engineering marvel from 1930’s. It was built between 1937 and 1940, designed by Mijat Trojanovic, who oversaw the building of the bridge. When it was finished, it was the biggest vehicular concrete arch bridge in Europe.
The bridge is 365 m long, and has five arches, the biggest having span of 116 m. Distance between the roadbed and the river is 172 m.
Monument with Cyrillic letters is for one of the bridge engineers, Lazar Jaukovic, who blew up the central arch, cutting off the only feasible crossing over the the gorge and thus blocking the Italian/Chetnik advance during WWII in 1942. It was a heroic act that cost Jaukovic his life. When he was eventually captured, the Italians executed the engineer on his bridge.
Day was far from over, as we have to reach Montenegro coast. Rest of the trip was quite uneventful after all the beautiful sights earlier in the day. We stopped to meet our friend Ivan near Podgorica, and ended day in Bar enjoying our friend Gasho’s hospitality.
To be continued…
Trip lasted for five days, we visited Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia and Serbia. Crew consisted of dr.chala and his wife Xenia on V Strom and I on GS 1200. Dr.chala and Xenia visited area two years ago so they had pretty clear picture what areas are worth visiting. Xenia also took majority of pictures in this report.
Zoltan joined us for first day.
Report can be also called “Extreme heat report” because temperature rarely dropped under 30 degrees Celsius.
Day One, Zagreb – Sarajevo
Friday and Monday (22. and 26.06) are holidays in Croatia, so we skipped last few hours of work on Thursday and hit the road around half past two. Border was crossed at Hrvatska Kostajnica. Border policeman asked Zoltan: “Are you Zoltan from Croatian motorcycle forum?” Cool.
First stop was near Banja Luka, it was terribly hot, northern part of Bosnia is flat, so we didn’t enjoy riding at all. It will soon change, as we entered Vrbas river canyon.
Next pictures show power plant near city of Jajce, turbines and other machinery are placed into tunnels inside mountain, and water comes from nearby Plivsko lake trough 5700 meters long tunnel with diameter of 5,40 meters.
Following Vrbas we arrived in Jajce (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jajce), small city on the confluence of the rivers Pliva and Vrbas. Jajce has very rich history, but it gained prominence during the Second World War because it hosted the second convention of the Anti-Fascist Council of National Liberation of Yugoslavia (AVNOJ) on November 29, 1943, a meeting that set the foundation for the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia after WWII.
We also visited Pliva Lake, near the city.
Trip continued trough Central Bosnia. We passed through very dense cloud of bugs, at first I thought it was raining. Picture was taken next day.
We reached Sarajevo around ten o’clock and settled in BM hotel (http://www.bracamujic.com/). Zoltan’s friend Ivo was waiting for us in Sarajevo. We will part our ways tomorrow morning, as they had different travel plan than rest of us.
It was time for some local food and walk trough city centre.
Day Two, Sarajevo – Bar (Montenegro)
Berislav from Croatian motorcycle forum is living in Sarajevo, so he took us around the city.
When in Sarajevo you must try chevap, sort of authentic fast food. It is very tasty, so we cannot resist eating it even for breakfast, after eating it night before.
We went to see Sarajevo Tunnel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarajevo_Tunnel), it will be impossible to find it without Berislav’s help.
We left Sarajevo and headed towards eastern Bosnia.
After Foca major road reconstruction is in progress, so there is mixture of new asphalt and gravel sections.
Heat is unbearable, so you have to envy these lucky people.
Finally, we crossed into Montenegro.
Piva canyon is beautiful.
We turned towards Zabljak and headed into the mountains, precisely Durmitor National Park.
As we were heading towards Durmitorsko Sedlo (sedlo means saddle), asphalt stopped. There were about 10 km of gravel.
We made little detour to visit Djurdjevica Tara Bridge, engineering marvel from 1930’s. It was built between 1937 and 1940, designed by Mijat Trojanovic, who oversaw the building of the bridge. When it was finished, it was the biggest vehicular concrete arch bridge in Europe.
The bridge is 365 m long, and has five arches, the biggest having span of 116 m. Distance between the roadbed and the river is 172 m.
Monument with Cyrillic letters is for one of the bridge engineers, Lazar Jaukovic, who blew up the central arch, cutting off the only feasible crossing over the the gorge and thus blocking the Italian/Chetnik advance during WWII in 1942. It was a heroic act that cost Jaukovic his life. When he was eventually captured, the Italians executed the engineer on his bridge.
Day was far from over, as we have to reach Montenegro coast. Rest of the trip was quite uneventful after all the beautiful sights earlier in the day. We stopped to meet our friend Ivan near Podgorica, and ended day in Bar enjoying our friend Gasho’s hospitality.
To be continued…
