This four-day trip to Dalmatia is happened last summer. Because , now is to cold for riding motorcycle, I'll give you this RR. Plan for this ride is to go in moto meeting in Livno , Bosnia and Herzegovina, but, we never get there. The reason wasn't a failure of motorcycle, or something like that, but because we have always found some roads more interesting than the moto meeting . As I sad , this is a four-day trip , where we have passed over 1400km, not to much, but , very interesting 1400km. Trip start in Sombor, small serbian city , flat Vojvodina region. Our first stop is Jasenovac memorial, from WW2. Jasenovac concentration camp was the largest extermination camp in the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) and occupied Yugoslavia during World War II. The camp was established by the Ustae (Ustasha) regime in August 1941 and dismantled in April 1945. In Jasenovac, the largest number of victims were ethnic Serbs, whom Ante Pavelić considered the main racial opponents of the NDH, alongside the Jews and Roma peoples. Jasenovac was a complex of five subcamps[2] spread over 240 km2 (93 sq mi) on the banks of the Sava River. The largest camp was at Jasenovac, about 100 km (62 mi) southeast of Zagreb. The complex also included large grounds at Donja Gradina directly across the Sava River, a camp for children in Sisak to the northwest, and a women's camp in Stara Gradika to the southeast. At this spot were killed about 700.000 Sebs, 80.000 Romanies, and 23.000 Jews http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jasenovac_concentration_camp Few pics from memorial Train that was used to transport prisoners Stone Flower, a monument to the victims of Jasenovac We leave behind this horrible place and continued to travel. The place that we want tomorrow to visit the Zeljava airport, but before that, we need to find place to sleep. At the small island in center of river Una, we find camp site. Price for one night is only 2.5 euro! Place is beautiful and quiet. Just few meters from our tents , river Una Few beer for good sleep, and diner off course
Day 2. At the morning, I got a few shot of camp site, simply stunning. Old water mill A beach .. unfortunately , is too cold for swimming. Ducks is all over river We are leaving a camp. I forgot to tell, if you want to camp at the island , you must take this small ferry. Now , we continue our ride to Zeljava. Some pics of river Una, next to road. Than we passed to Croatia, and after some wandering, we find the air base. Construction of the "Objekat 505" (code name), better known as eljava or Bihać Air Base, began during 1948, and was completed in 1968. SFRJ in that time had spent around $6 Billion dollars constructing this object, which is 3 times the annual military budget of Serbia and Croatia put together today. It was one of the biggest and most expensive military constructions in Europe. The role of the facility was to provide, integrate and coordinate the nationwide early warning radar network in SFRJ (like NORAD). The complex was designed and constructed to sustain a direct hit from a 20 Kiloton nuclear bomb, or equivalent to the Nagasaki atom bomb. Zeljava equipped with MiG-21 Bis fighter aircraft and 352.IAE (Reconnaissance Aviation Squadron) equipped with MiG-21R reconnaissance-fighter aircraft. With the length of the underground tunnels being 3.5 kilometers, the complete bunker had four entrances, protected by 100 ton pressurized doors, three of which were intended for use by fixed-wing aircraft. The air base was used intensively during the Yugoslav Wars in early 1991. In the course of its withdrawal, the Yugoslav Peoples Army (JNA) destroyed the airport by filling and igniting the explosive positions that were built-in during the construction phase of the base and as part of base design (see above). To prevent any possible future use of the complex and preclude any advantage to an opposing party the Military of Serbian Krajina finalized its demolition in 1995 by setting off an additional 56 tons of explosives. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Željava_Air_Base Plane located at the entrance Inside plane Pilot cabine Whole area is mined, and it is advisable to go off-road. Entering a tunnel An old picture Small ride at the runways Tunnels is inside hill Thats all from Zeljava Airbase, we continue a journey. Today we will sleep at my cousins home, in small village Smrdelje in Dalmatia. My cousin is lived in Serbia as a refugee till 2004., when she came back to her home. Zrmanja canyon We chose the old road, highway is boring. Krnjeza canyon Plants next to road That day it was really hot, when we find the first shop, we stopped to drink some beer. There was sitting nice crew. They played Bocce all day. Finally, our next stop is Smrdelje, my cousin house. Again, we choose more interesting road. We came to Smredelje at night, and we were welcomed with a full table.Homemade bread, homemade wine , are we need something more in this life?! Night in Smrdelje
I want to know where it is, too. Found it via Google: http://www.unacamping.de Unfortunately, they got a bridge now, no ferry crossing anymore.
Day 3. Third day we decided to skip moto meeting in Livno , and spend this day in Dalmatia. First we toured farm where we stayed. There are lots of animals, which holds in its hands a woman of 70 years, my cousin. Then we sit on our bikes, and gone to ride. Sea is near, maybe 20 km. Sibenik National Park Krka, beautiful river Roads in Dalmatia is interesting, some are fast paved roads little slower some of them are regular asphalt roads but with pigs on road and, then we find some interesting roads with nice view Krka river
Day 4. At early morning we leave Smrdelje and head towards the house. We first visited the lake Blidinje in Bosnia and Herzegovina, of course, alternative tipe of roads, and then home via Sarajevo. Mountain roads in Herzegovina Finally , after too many , we managed to locate lake. We awarded with a magnificent view Church at top Lake Blidinje Some pics from mountain Cvrsnica, above lake Near lake After visiting a lake , road lead us to another WW2 memorial. City Jablanica, where was played the Battle of the Neretva . The Battle of the Neretva (Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, Slovene Bitka na Neretvi), codenamed Fall Weiss, was a German strategic plan for a combined Axis attack launched in early 1943 against the Yugoslav Partisans throughout occupied Yugoslavia during the Second World War. The offensive took place between 20 January[2][3] and mid to late March[4] 1943. It is named after the nearby river, the Neretva. The operation is generally known as the Fourth anti-Partisan Offensive, while it is also known as the Fourth Enemy Offensive (Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian Četvrta neprijateljska ofenziva/ofanziva, Slovene četrta sovranikova ofenziva) or the Battle for the Wounded (Bitka za ranjenike) in ex-Yugoslav sources. Estimated 150,000 Axis combatants engaged a much smaller partisan force(about 20,000 man), Axis failure to achieve strategic goals. There is shot in a 1969 Yugoslavian partisan film, also called Battle of Neretva, it was nominated for Oscar award. This bridge on the Neretva river is interesting, becuse it's built and twice-destroyed during the shooting of the film. That's all! I hope you like this RR, and sorry for my English .
I want to be there right now! Thanks for your cool report. And don't worry about your english, it's fine.
Good Story, Good Photos, Thanks Bub no need to appologize, for most other languages I only know the cuss words
Wow!!! Incredible scenery and excellent off road riding. The photo's and stories are great! Thanks so much for taking us along on this wonderful trip...
I have to second Alpine Gorilla, on all points. Amazing photography and no one cares about the English. Thanks for posting and nice work! My buddies a little southeast of you would say SUPER YAKO! NOZDRAVE! Love the bikes too.
If you like these roads you might want to try participating in the Rallye Dalmatia. Journeys like this help to bring old enemies back together.
Oroku, Awesome RR! Thank you for taking the time and sharing pictures of such a beautiful country! Ride on brother!
