Beautiful Balkans: Three weeks through Eastern Europe

[zavi]

[darwinBlacky]

oh wow ...
very..very beautiful place
so peacefull ...

[Klay]

[enduro0125]

Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate and we had to leave the Julian Alps without seeing all it's beauty.
The highlights of today would be Vrsic pass,the highest pass in Slovenia,and Bled Lake.
Again it was cold and rainy as we set out for Škofja Loka
The temperature dropped steadily as we made our way through the pass.
(liners set to high)




We didn't see any cows,this video was borrowed from YouTube.
Actually we didn't see anyone.
The lowest temp I read on the dashboard thermometer was 4C.
We made our way to Bled and stopped here for a cappuccino and hot cocoa for Ellie.

Once warmed up we took this picture of the lake.

Notice the numbers on the picture?
This is the second picture I've seen with numbers on it of this lake.
I used my digital camera,the same one used for the rest of my pictures and this is the only one where the numbers show....strange.
The ride to our hotel was incredible.
Here are a few pics along the way.




We were glad it was a short day,riding wise.
So we checked into the hotel early and cleaned/warmed up.
It was a short walk into town.
Skofja Loka one of the oldest, and most beautifully preserved medieval settlements in Slovenia.http://www.skofjaloka.si/en/
We were looking forward to tomorrow as we are going to Croatia to see Plitivice Lakes National Park.
Also we are meeting fellow ADV member Damir at the border for a nice escort to Plitivice

[Stuart T]

Went to the Balkans last year, sadly not on a bike. There are some great roads in Montenegro in the mountains, stunning construction, scenery and curves. I can't remember the actual route, but we were heading from Sarajevo to Ostrog.
If you make it to Sarajevo and like your coffee, head for the old town and look for the small courtyard coffee shops. There's one just off the tinsmith street which is just fantastic.

[enduro0125]

Originally Posted by Stuart T

There are some great roads in Montenegro in the mountains, stunning construction, scenery and curves.

We did make it there...stay tuned.
This trip happened last fall.

Originally Posted by Stuart T

If you make it to Sarajevo and like your coffee, head for the old town and look for the small courtyard coffee shops. There's one just off the tinsmith street which is just fantastic.

We made it there too.
The coffee was different than what I was used to.
It grew on me though after a while.

[Damir]

I've been waiting for this RR.

[enduro0125]

Originally Posted by Damir

I've been waiting for this RR.

Fala Damir !
Glad you found it.
It's been a busy winter here,a lot of snow.
Thanks to you and your own RR's, or perhaps we may have not visited your wonderful homeland.

[enduro0125]

Today we say goodbye to Slovenia for awhile.
As nice as Slovenia is we were looking forward to heading south to warmer and hopefully drier weather.
We wanted to get to the border around 11:00 to meet Damir and give us enough time to see the upper lakes of Plitivice,so we took a ride on the auto-highway to scoot around Ljubljana.
Caught some twisty forest roads and we made it , 11:00,still raining.
We crossed into Croatia at Metlika.
Damir grew up in Karlovac so we were looking forward to visit his home city.
Once through customs we found Damir waiting in the rain for us
Our first stop was in Karlovac for lunch.
Damir:
After being treated for lunch(thank you)and a lesson in city driving
We went to see this.

This would be my first glimpse of the war through the 90's
Really hard for an average American(me)/Canadian(Ellie) to understand.
Not being ready for war the Croatians used all the equipment they could find.
Old WW2 tanks

Even a tractor with homemade armor.

[enduro0125]

After leaving Karlovac http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karlovac_County ,we made our way to Plitvice.
With Damir leading the way,we stopped at "Mini Plitvice"
I forgot the proper name.




One thing all that rain was good for, it got the water flowing.
We slowly started climbing in elevation and made it to the park.


We said goodbye to Damir,


Thanks again,it was a pleasure meeting you.

We had just enough time to see the park that evening,and the rain was letting up.

Here is the park:











http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plitvic..._National_Park

[Banshee]

oh man, I really want to ride in that area!

[enduro0125]

We were greeted this morning with sunshine!!!
Although it was cold.
Yes that's 1* C

(It would warm up nicely though!!)

Today we would cross over to Bosnia and spend 2 days in Sarajevo.
After the border crossing,no problems which would be the scenario for all the borders we crossed ,we got our first glimpse of Bosnia.
Near the border it was pretty depressing,alot of dirty streets and propaganda posters.(Not to different than most cities I guess)
Once we started getting further from the border, things started looking really good.
Nice highways:


Gas stations:

This one had the cleanest restroom I have ever seen.

We worked our way towards Petrovac(Muratovac) where we would have our lunch.(and I would take the garbage bag liners out of my boots...dry feet whooo hoooo)



And the open air market where we grabbed lunch.


From Petrovac it was up and over the hills to Sarajevo.
The climate was getting drier and warmer.


Soon we would see the city.

After finding our Hotel we walked to the "Old City" for dinner.


Rest day tomorrow...

[picoda]

It is nice to see the places you know in the RR. Great report
Waiting for more

[enduro0125]

Originally Posted by picoda

It is nice to see the places you know in the RR. Great report
Waiting for more

Thanks.
I miss Croatia

[enduro0125]

Today is our day to tour the city of Sarajevo.
Being a country boy I'm not to big on cities,but this is one city I was looking forward to seeing.
I'm sure we all unfortunately know about the Yugoslav war (1992-1995)
This would be one of the, for lack of better words, "highlights" of our trip.
Reconstruction of Sarajevo started as soon as the war ended in 1995.
By our visit most of the city has been rebuilt.
If you look hard enough there are still some signs of that horrible time.
Some random pictures of Sarajevo:






Sad reminder of that awful time.....


The Bascarsija http://www.bascarsija.com/ ,
was one of the more interesting places I've seen.
Ottoman rule from the 15th to 19th century is still prevalent.
The Seblij Square,with it's public fountain was another famous landmark I'm glad we saw.
We tried to do a "Time of Misfortune tour" but weren't able to get a guide.
So we set out to try to find the tunnel by the airport that at one time almost everyone who lived in the city during the war had passed through.
http://blog.lukaesenko.com/2007/09/1...tunnel-museum/
We did find it but unfortunately took no pictures.
We actually weren't sure if this was indeed it.(It was)
This area again showed some of the poverty still abundant in the world.
I'll never forget the "squeegee" kids trying to wash the GS's windscreen.
I wasn't able to get money out to help but they did enjoy turning the throttle on the big twin.
Sarajevo is a city I will never soon forget.
Tomorrow we would head for another major city in the war :Mostar