Bosnia & Montenegro revisited

My father and I decided to go for five day ride trough Bosnia (and Herzegovina) and Montenegro. I did similar trip with my friends two years ago.

You can find RR here: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=243240

My Dad and I have been around bikes for our whole lives. This picture is from 1953. Dad on his father’s bike.




It all started with my late grandfather. Bike on the picture was built from WWII BMW military engine and prewar frame and gearbox. Life after WWII in Yugoslavia was hard, but grandfather was skilled mechanic and he and his friends always managed to improvise something to manufacture missing and damaged parts.

Grandfather also raced sidecars in some local races. He is standing on the right side of number 100 bike (dark leathers).




This is me on my father’s bike in 1973. My mom is holding me.




OK, enough about us, let’s start with the trip.

Plan for the first day is to ride from Karlovac (Cro, 50 km from Zagreb) to Sarajevo.

Ready to go.






We crossed into Bosnia and Herzegovina near Bihac after one hour of riding. Few pictures from the border crossing.






After obtaining some local currency in Bihac we headed towards Drvar, place of (locally, ex Yu) famous attempt by German paratroopers to capture partisan leader Tito during WWII.






I did short RR about Drvar some time ago. Here is the link: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=336513

After Drvar we left the main roads.










Then it was time for first gravel section. 30 km of nice road and amazing surroundings.
















We reached Livno and started to move east towards Sarajevo. There is almost no traffic.






There is artificial lake near Rama, dam was built in 1960es. We had a nice chat with local man. He and his grandson were interested in bikes, and we were interested in area, roads and living in Rama in general.






Late afternoon we reached Jablanica, place of famous for its role in WWII Fourth anti-Partisan Offensive, while it is also known as the Fourth Enemy Offensive (Cetvrta neprijateljska ofenziva/ofanziva) or the Battle for the Wounded (Bitka za ranjenike) in ex-Yugoslav sources.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Neretva









In fact, we were moving along the areas where battle took place whole first day.

There was still some riding left to reach Sarajevo, rain started to fall and it was getting late so we just took the main road.

It was time for dinner, when in Sarajevo you should try chevap. Picture is from RR mentioned at the beginning because it was dark and raining so I didn’t try to make food pictures this time.




Route for the first day.




To be continued…

Awesome! I love the family history and pictures. Keep it up!

After breakfast we were ready to hit the road again.








We decided to take little detour and pass trough nearby mountains. Igman was scene of ski jumping competition during Sarajevo Olympics in 1984. It was also frontline during the siege of Sarajevo.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igman







Military cemetery



Dad used to stay in this hotel during his visits to Sarajevo in 1980es.




After Igman we headed towards Eastern Bosnia.



Our next destination was Tjentiste. Back to WWII, after failing to destroy partisans during 4th offensive, Germans prepared new effort, codenamed Schwartz (black).

Quote from Wikipedia: The battle marked a turning point toward Allied control of Yugoslavia, and became an integral part of the Yugoslav post-war mythology, celebrating the self-sacrifice, extreme suffering and moral firmness of the partisans.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Sutjeska

Wikipedia article has some serious mistakes, for example: there was no Greek forces there, and Order of battle is not accurate, instead of 3rd Dalmatian Brigade there was 2nd but it is still quite good short overview of events.

These events are now mainly forgotten. Whole complex is in sad state.











Area also has stunningly beautiful nature and lot of gravel roads. I hope we will be able to come back next year to explore the whole area.

http://www.bhtourism.ba/eng/sutjeskanp.wbsp


After Tjentiste we headed back towards Foca to cross Drina River and proceed towards Montenegro.








River Piva valley is absolutely magnificent, I was there in 2007. It was first time for my dad and he was amazed with stunning views and nice road.










We reached Mratinje dam. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mratinje_Dam







Few kilometers after the dam we turned towards Durmitor Mountain.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durmitor









Climbing…










It was late afternoon, rain started to fall and it was bitterly cold.








Finally we reached Durmitorsko Sedlo pass, it is 1907 meters high. Temperature was 5 degrees centigrade, it was snowing lightly and winds were very strong. I tried to take few pictures, but they are all bad. I was too busy trying not to fall down because of wind.




Then I asked dad: “How are you doing?” He was grinning under his helmet and said: “This is so much better than Alps”.


Few pictures from my 07 trip, just to see how road looks in nice weather. Road was sealed in 07 few months after we were there.







There were 10 more km of descent before we reached our hotel in Zabljak.

Route




To be continued…

Awesome pics
Thanks

Hi Arth,

Kada ces ti do domovine?

When are you going to visit homeland?

I didn't know that there was a local bike race in Karlovac, this picture was taken in very center of Karlovac!
Nice RR and pics of course!

Pudla you are the best PR for Karlovačko beer
When are you planning to drop for a couple of beers?

Awesome pictures and report. Thanks for the work of sharing this fine journey with us. Keep it coming.

Veeeery nice!

Odlicno! Ovo je sad frisko bilo?

nice pics!

Durmitor is really fantastic!
Only problem is, that on motorbike you need only few hours to see it.
The real beauty is when you're visting it on foot.

Cheers
Jaša

Odlicne slike Damire.

Ovo ljeto nisam mogo doc u Hrvatsku..mozda se vidimo drugo ljeto prijatelju.

(I speak Croatian fluently, but make some mistakes when writing, so excuse any that I have made...I'm sure you understood me.)

Hey Damir, I am so sorry that I was not able to see you while you were in Montenegro. Great pics. IN next few weekends I will go to see Sutjeska and Tjentiste.

Wow! Love the food picture. That's what I would eat.

Is this Durmitor mountain? The geologic structure in this pic is awesome! Nice RR looking forward to more.

Its always great to read your reports Damir!! Its been some time now!!

Thank you all.

2 Street
PM me your number and I will call you when I come to Karlovac.

2 picoda
Skroz frisko, od petka do utorka. We were there from 11. to 15.09.

2 Jaša
I am thinking about starting to hike.

2 Johny
Picoda ti je vec rekao, ti samo dodji a ostatak prepusti nama.
2 Goran
I was sitting beside Gasho when you called him. Sutjeska is fantastic, I really wanted to go to Dragos Sedlo and Donje Bare but we did not have the time. It is in fact not bad, now we got reason to come back.

2 Gookas
http://www.summitpost.org/mountain/rock/154418/pruta-.html

2 zakou
Hi, when are you coming back to this part of the world?

i hope i'll share with my son when he grows up, what you are sharing with your dad

Dumitor National park is an awesome ride. i am enjoying it again with your photos.

Hi Damir

again a superb report. Great pics.

Andreas

Looks like a very nice ride you had.
Great scenery and roads.
And to be able to share it with your father... priceless!