Travelogue - Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro Moto Trip
August 22nd - September 5th, 2009
Prologue - Originally I had thought about doing
Greece this year for the annual moto trip, but a good friend on mine, Greg, planted
the seed of Croatia in my brain and it stuck. It sounded a bit more
dashing and exotic and I had heard good things about Croatia for a few
years. I went online and found a great company,
Adriatic Moto Tours, that fit the bill
for a 15 day trip and had a good reputation.
Below is the map of where we went. We started in
Ljubljana, Slovenia and continued inland on a southeast route. We
dropped down onto the coast in Petrovac, Montenegro and mostly followed the
coastal route north back to Ljubljana.
Day 1: Saturday, August
22
– Ljubljana, Slovenia
My flight was from San Francisco to Frankfurt,
Germany and then onto Adria Airways into Ljubljana, Slovenia.
All was uneventful with the exception of the gauntlet in Frankfurt.
Signs were lacking, as was assistance, on how to get to your next
destination or connection. No one had heard of Adria Airways and
finally I went to a United counter for them to tell me that Lufthansa
handled Adria. I was wondering if that was a secret and why it wasn't
posted or listed on the boards. More meandering, but no missed connection
fortunately. The Adria flight to Ljubljana was not so comforting.
My seat cushion seemed to already have been used as a flotation device - it
was warped and crunchy and uncomfortable. How lovely. My seat also smelled heavily of body
odor, eeww, a little Fabreeze please.
Upon arrival in Ljubljana on Friday night,
Matej (Ma-tay), one of our guides and owner of the company, was there waiting to pick
me up. He also had two other guests there already, Ron and Terry, that
had just arrived. As I walked over to meet Ron and Terry I
noticed that they both needed canes to walk, seemed shaky, and were in their
mid-70's. Oh my I thought, are these people really riding
motorcycles. This is starting out interesting already.
Funny how first impressions can sometimes be very wrong. Ron turned
out to be an amazing rider, Terry a great passenger, and the two ended up
being my favorite senior couple of the group. They were warm, kind, generous,
funny, thoughtful, and an inspiration to us younger folks.
We got settled into the hotel and then met
some of the other guests that had already arrived the day before. We
had some drinks on the patio and ended up chatting and getting acquainted
until midnight. There were a total of 14 guests that would be on the
tour, a mixture of husbands and wives riding 2-up and a few of us solo
riders. So far so good, everyone seemed pretty cool.
Saturday was a free day in the morning to
roam around town and do some sightseeing. Six of us decided to take
the bus downtown and go to some of the sights Matej suggested. We had
a nice time wandering around the walking area where there was a big market
of people selling their wares, a farmers market, and castle on the hill
above. I couldn't get over the fruit and vegetables. Everything
was so fresh and vibrant and big! It looked like some of the fruits
and veggies were on steroids. We also took the funicular up to
the castle and wandered around there were I got some great shots of the city
and panorama below.
In the afternoon there was a general
meeting with everyone, where we took possession of our motorcycles and
filled out the necessary paperwork. I met the rest of the guests and
observed that I was by far the youngest in age. Most everyone
was in their 60's and 70's. Hmmm, did I somehow sign up for the senior
tour. By this time I was starting to get a little nervous about the
physical ability of some of these folks to handle a big motorcycle with
a passenger on the back. Unlike Ron and Terry that were good riders, it
turned out that some of the folks should have hung up their riding boots a
few years ago. We had several accidents over the course of the tour, minor fortunately.
After we had our bikes and all paperwork
was complete, the other guide, Rozle (Rosh-lay), took us out for a 50 mile introductory
ride in the countryside. This gives the guide a chance to assess the skill
level of the group and address any issues of slow or dangerous riding.
Everyone did ok for the most part, but it was here that I noticed some of the
riders may have some issues. Just a "note to self" for me to know who
NOT to
ride behind.
Click on the thumbnail pictures for a
larger view
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Bikes ready and waiting at hotel in Ljubljana
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Walking tour in downtown square of Ljubljana
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Walking tour in downtown square of Ljubljana
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Brian, Terry, Dick, Shira, Ron - walking tour in downtown square of Ljubljana
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Walking tour in downtown square of Ljubljana
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Mariachi's playing in downtown market square of Ljubljana, go figure
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Some of the goods for sale in downtown market Ljubljana
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Mmmm, watermelon
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Mmmm, berries
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It was hard to capture the size of these grapes, but they were 3 times the size of normal grapes here
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Ride up the funicular to the castle tour
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Views of Ljubljana from the castle
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Views of Ljubljana from the castle
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Day 2: Sunday,
August 23 – Ljubljana, Slovenia to Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia
And away we go at 8:30 am, heading for
Croatia on an southeast inland route. After less than an hour of riding
we have our first of several riding episodes for the day. Dick
disappeared from the group on his BMW 1200 RT. Once we eventually
re-grouped we found out that one of the side cases on his bike popped
open when he was riding on rough pavement and some of his extra clothing was
strewn about the road. He had not properly latched the case after he
had packed gear in it at the hotel. Oops. I did get a little
chuckle on the visual though, sort of a pop-goes-the-weasel and out goes
your stuff. Not soon after Dick's malfunction, Jim and Carla on their
BMW 1200 RT had a little mishap of their own. I was riding in back of
Jim (Carla as passenger) and for no good reason he decided that he preferred
the gravel shoulder to the pavement, imagine that. I have no idea what
he was doing or thinking, but he just got too far over on the road and went
off onto the gravel at 50 mph. Wholly bumpy ride, Batman. I
watched in shock and horror and then amazement as he managed to keep the bike
upright and eventually merge back onto the pavement just as the gravel
shoulder was ending into bushes and trees. I am sure they both needed
a change of skivvies after that little detour. I decided I couldn't
watch nor be a part of any further antics that might involve me, so I
quickly passed them and mostly remained away from them the rest of the trip.
I had noticed on the introductory ride that they had some issues, so best to
mosey on along and avoid.
We crossed the border into Croatia not long
after the morning antics. The crossing was easy in all countries, only
providing passport and bike registration. No hassles or bribes needed.
Once we crossed into Croatia the landscape was a bit dismal initially, it
looked like something back from the Russian communist era of government
housing. The buildings were dark, dingy, and depressing. As we
rolled along we saw remnants of blown up buildings and buildings riddled with
bullet holes. However, as we moved into the countryside the landscape
changed to beautiful mountains and valleys and was overall very nice.
We arrived in Plitvice in the early
afternoon. Most of us met in the lobby to head out hiking around the
Lakes. We were a 10 minute walk to the main entrance, which was
convenient. In fact all our hotels were convenient to downtown areas
and activities, all within walking distance. We walked and hiked
around the various lakes and waterfalls for a few hours, absolutely
stunning. Later was a nice dinner of lamb and veal cooked on
spits in a cool restaurant. All of our dinners were pre-arranged and
paid for as part of the package, so we usually ate together as a group.
The meals and food were great, always fresh, lots of meats, fresh fruit at
road stands, fresh veggies also.
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Our coffee break stop after we crossed into Croatia
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Jim/Carla and Shira on the F650GS, leaving our coffee stop
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Mmm, baklava, at our lunch stop restaurant. I was good and resisted though
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Entrace to our hotel, Hotel Plitvice, for the night
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View from hotel bar balcony - you can just barely see the water of the Lakes in the distance
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Shira, Brian, and Jim in the hotel parking lot
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Stunning view of some of the little lakes at Plitvice
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Plitvice Lakes
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Fish at Plitvice Lakes
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Waterfalls at the Lakes
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Waterfalls at the Lakes
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Waterfalls at the Lakes
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Tourists checking out the various caves at the Lakes
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Waterfalls at the Lakes
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Waterfalls at the Lakes
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Waterfalls at the Lakes
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Oooh, aaah
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Shira and Brian, Bob, Rojle, on our way back to the main entrance via boat
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Boat dock at the Lakes
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Day 3: Monday, August
24 - Plitvice to Sarajevo, Bosnia
By now everyone had been
sized up on their riding ability. The pecking order had been
established and different subgroups started to break off from the main group
and ride by themselves for various reasons - more photo stops, not
comfortable with certain other riders, etc. About half of the group
had rented GPS's from the touring company with the routes for the day
pre-programmed into the GPS. Matej had given everyone pre-printed turn
by turn directions on sheets of paper that would fit in your tankbag map
holder, and everyone had a full sized map of all the countries with the
roads highlighted. This was all fine and dandy but the GPS was the
best way to go and in hindsight I should have rented one. The printed
route sheets were pretty good, but there was road construction frequently
which made the sheets useless in some instances. If this was the case
then you needed to make sure to follow the guide closely or buddy up with
someone that had a GPS. Fortunately I buddied up with a couple from
Sacramento that had a GPS, Ken and Marcia. They were awesome and Ken
was an excellent rider. We ended up riding a fair portion of the trip
on our own or with one other guy, Bob, who didn't have a GPS either.
After our usual coffee
and then lunch stop, Ken/Marcia and I broke from the group to go get gas.
His gas light had clicked on and I wasn't about to leave my new wingman,
plus Matej told us to never ride alone, always two bikes together. The
rest of the group went ahead and we went back down the road about 10 miles
to gas up. Ken was quite proud of having his nifty Garmin 660 GPS and
stated, "and boy do I know how to use this thing too." As I followed
Ken away from the gas station and back through town, we seemed to get
off-route as we went in a few circles and the opposite direction from what
the printed route sheet said. My inner helmet monologue immediately
kicked in gear, "yeah, boy, you really know how to use that thing don't you,
Ken....how is that working out for you...clearly not so well...hehe."
This was the first of a few glitches that had us lost or twirling around in
circles. No worries though, we eventually got pointed in the right
direction again and back on track. It was nice to break free from
the pack and be on our own and ride at our pace. We all felt quite
brave and adventurous navigating our way through a strange and foreign land.
Our afternoon ride was
wonderful as the three of us went through amazing scenery of moon-rock
looking landscape to lovely lakes and mountains. It seemed like over
every peak you dropped into a different setting. We had our own
"unsanctioned" coffee break in the afternoon in a little town called
Jablanica. The printed route sheet had all the "official" stops.
Again, we felt quite brave for being unchaperoned and fending for ourselves.
Ok, it wasn't that dramatic, hand signals and Coca-Cola are pretty
universal. Locals were curious but reserved much of the time but
the younger ones would ask questions if they spoke English. They were
astounded that we were from California and riding motorcycles in their
country.
Onward we went in search
of our hotel in Sarajevo, which was about 60 miles up the roads. All
was going well until we hit a major traffic jam coming into the city.
We split lanes to get through the snarl and saw that our cutoff to go into
Sarajevo was blocked with traffic cones and everyone was re-routing a
different way. We could see that there had been a 4-car accident but
no emergency vehicles were on scene yet. Ken and I both decided that
our bikes could squeeze through and since there was no police to stop us, we
went through and around the accident. What a mess! Pretty
bloody, needless to say we didn't linger or dilly-dally. But wait,
there's more. As we approach the big city center Ken's GPS decides to spaz out again and completely looses satellite reception. We revert to
the printed route sheets and yell at each other between stoplights that we
think we are on track. But the route sheets become unclear and
fuzzy, English is not Matej's first language and things are definitely lost
in translation. Then Ken's GPS comes back online for a moment and
enough to see that we were off-route. UGH. By now it is 6:00 pm,
we are tired and just want to get to the hotel. After another 30
minutes of twirling down side streets and alleys, us both cussing, and nearly
getting sideswiped by angry aggressive drivers, we finally see a painted
sign on the side of the road with the name of our hotel. Woo-hoo,
getting close. We follow the signs up narrow streets swarmed with people and
pull into the parking garage of the hotel Whew, just in time.
Rozle was suited back up and going to head out looking for us, so he was
relieved. We were the last to arrive at the hotel. I felt like I
was on the Amazing Race show and we totally blew it.
Matej and Rozle led us
out to dinner down the street and into the main square. They decided
we had to try a local dish and just ordered the same for all of us. It
was a great meal
of cevapcici which is a ground meat roll served in pita style bread, but way
better, with yogurt type sauce. It was delicious along with the local
beer. After dinner was a walk over to a local brewery down a little
alley. Brian and Shira and I opted for the bar as opposed to the
group table. We bellied up and tried the different beers, which were
good. Because we felt that we didn't have enough alcohol in our system
already, we decided to check out more of the local bar scene. We went
to a place called City Pub where Shira and I were oh so creative and sucked
down a few Jack Daniels and Coke. We stumbled back to our rooms around
1:30 am and called it a night!
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Scenery shot on the moto going through Croatian town
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Crossing the border into Bosnia
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Scenery shot of Bosnian town
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Scenery shot of Bosnia hillside
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Scenery shot of valley on the other side of hillside in Bosnia
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Jim and Carla at morning coffee stop
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Locals at our coffee stop. The little boy was mesmerized with Brian's motorcycle and doll (Mr. Happy). More on Mr. Happy later
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Scenery shot in Bosnia
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Shira taking shots of some of the war damaged area in Bosnia
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Same area in Bosnia with some randomly still standing buildings
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Lunch stop in Livno, Bosnia - Brian and Mr. Happy finding sanctuary in my helmet
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Our lunch - called burek. It is phyllo dough stuffed with cheese and spinach. This is a very common dish and it was delicious!
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War memorial around the corner from our lunch spot
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"Why" written on a slab next to the war memorial - very profound and moving
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Locals at our lunch area, haning out
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Ready to zoom-zoom from our lunch spot and hit the road
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Scenery shot after lunch when Ken/Marcia and I split from group. This was town of Prozone
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Eeert, brake around the corner to a stop. The guy in the backhoe was also the truck driver so we were parked for a while waiting. Ken in front of me
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Ken/Marcia scenery shot
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Unsanctioned afternoon coffee break in Jablanica before Sarajevo - local guy was shy and wouldn't let me snap his picture
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Locals in Jablanica - don't know what they were saying about us, but we def were a source of entertainment for them
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Day 4: Tuesday, August
25 - Rest Day in Sarajevo
Our rest day in Sarajevo started with a 1/2
day tour that covered the history of the war in Sarajevo, a war
tunnel tour, and ended with a walking tour around the city. We started
out with the tour operator and guide taking us from the hotel to the house
and entrance of where there was a tunnel that had been built in the early
1990's. The tunnel was built in several months and went under the
airport in Sarajevo. It allowed for food, water, weapons, and the
wounded, to be safely transported into or out of Sarajevo, which was
surrounded by Serbian forces. Sarajevo was heavily bombed and was
prone to sniper attacks as opposed to much of the actual fighting, that was mostly
happening in other locations. Our guide, Zelza, was very knowledgeable
and fielded all our questions eagerly. She was 6 years old when the
Serbian forces surrounded Sarajevo and much of the countryside. She
lived in her basement in the evening because of the bombings and strict curfews. Her
story and the history lesson had all of us captivated, it was very
interesting to learn about this conflict and the hundreds of years of wars
and fighting all in the name of religion and territory. Hard to wrap
your brain around a religious war with neighbors fighting and killing each
other because of what they believe or don't believe. I thought
religion, well many religions, were about peace and tolerance and
acceptance, etc.
After our war tunnel tour and history lesson we
hopped back in the van to head downtown for a 2 hour walking tour of
Sarajevo. But not before we had a little delay while the van driver
tried to find the keys to the van. Oopsie. He and Zelza were
scouring the dirt road and high grass looking for keys. After 15
minutes of kicking up dust and weeds the driver discovered the keys were in
his pocket the entire time. Alrighty then, I so enjoyed those 15
minutes of sweating my ass off in the hot sweltering van. Of course I
kept my thoughts to myself after just hearing about the horrors that many
endured way beyond sitting in a hot van for 15 minutes. That certainly
puts things in perspective. The walking tour of the city was again
very interesting as Zelza pointed out many significant buildings and
provided historical background. We ended up in the downtown square by
early afternoon and she concluded the tour. From there we were free to
wander Sarajevo and enjoy the rest of our day. I felt like I just got
out of a college prep course on Bosnian history. Man, my brain was on
overload trying to fathom and process what happened, why, and how crazy it
all seemed to a westerner from the US.
The group pretty much disbanded and people
went their separate ways to go explore the city. Ken and Marcia
invited me to join them for lunch and wander around the Bascarsija, a lively
bazaar area in Sarajevo's old centre. I gladly accepted, I enjoyed
their company, and we had a nice rest of the afternoon eating tasty strange
food and wondering about.
Overall I found Sarajevo interesting but a
bit dicey and wild west-ish. The shop owners in the square were not so
friendly, they would yell at you to buy something instead of taking photos
of their merchandise. I found it rude, aggressive, and hostile. You
are yelling at me and telling me to buy something at the same time, yeah
right, buh-bye. It just seemed that there was tension and simmering
tolerance all around you. Not my cup of tea. All very
interesting and enlightening, but let's just say I won't be returning for an
encore performance.
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Fruit stand next to our hotel in Sarajevo
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Entrace to war tunnel and first part of our tour in Sarajevo. Notice the bullet holes and damage
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Entrace to war tunnel tour
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Plaques on the house outside the war tunnel entrance
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Outline showing what the Serbian forces had surrounded
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We got to walk through part of the actual tunnel
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This is the backyard of the house where the war tunnel started and went under the airport
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Downtown Sarajevo
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Carol, Zelza our guide, Ken, Marcia, Gary - on the walking tour in Sarajevo
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Wares in the coppersmith area of the downtown square
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Wares in the carpet area of the downtown square
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Wares in the downtown square
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Wares in the coppersmith area of the downtown square
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Church tower in downtown square
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Some of our lunch in Sarajevo, onion rings they were called. Not exactly what we expected, but absoutely wonderful!
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Day 5: Wednesday,
August 26 -
Sarajevo to Mostar, Bosnia
I was anxious to move on from Sarajevo and
onto another day of riding and discovering the next town of Mostar. We
enjoyed a nice day of riding with the group on and off, but mostly on.
We figured out that if we jump in back of the guide, or pass everyone to get
in back of the guide, then life was good and the pace was nice We
stopped at a WWII memorial which coincided with our morning coffee break.
We hoofed it up what would turn out to be many many stairs throughout the
tour. I later wondered why always at the top of some mountain or
hillside that required painstaking crawls to get to the top. But the
view from atop the WWII memorial was worth it. Matej provided the
history lesson this time in regards to Yugoslavia's involvement in WWII.
Ken/Marcia and I took off after the coffee
break and zoomed along many scenic twisty roads. We quickly found out
this was cow country though and they roamed freely wherever they pleased,
which meant on the roadway too. We backed-off the pace and tiptoed
around many of the turns to find lots of cows and donkeys and horses along
the way. Later as we had stopped and waited for the rest of the group
to catch up for our impending lunch stop, Ken/Marcia discovered it was a
high gravity day. We had stopped on the side of the road and decided
we should turn around and go back down the road a bit where there was a wide
turnout and it was a bit safer to wait for the group. Marcia
misunderstood and thought we were going on ahead to wait. So when Ken
pulled a U-turn her weight and balance was not shifted properly and they
toppled over on the bike down a little embankment on the other side of the
road. Whups. I rolled on over to find everyone ok with the
exception of Ken's severely bruised ego. The big BMW 1200GS weighs a
ton and it took the 3 of us to get it uprighted. Marcia and I were
both very calm and matter-of-fact and Ken was stomping mad and yelling at
Marcia that it was her fault. I thought to myself of course, ah, no,
not really Ken, you are the driver and you should be talking to your
passenger. I kept my mouth shut and just meandered away. As my
neighbor says: Rule #1 - do not get involved in the domestic
affairs of others, Rule #2 - revert to Rule #1. After Ken's little
tirade had subsided we motored back to the turnout we had intended upon
earlier. Not a minute later did the rest of the pack show up,
splendid, what timing, nothing happening here, nope nada :-).
We all followed Rozle onto the lunch spot
in Blagaj, which was more beauty. We walked over a small river via a
bridge and sat at one of the restaurants perched right on the river.
The backdrop was this huge wall of rock with the water coming out from a
cave below. The water was freezing and we all took off our boots and
soaked our feet and legs. This was one of the hottest days, well into
the 90's. The water from the river is so cold that they store all
their beverages in a cordoned off area on the river, brilliant. As we
sat for lunch, it seems there were a few squabbles going on with a few of
the others. Apparently others had high gravity days and went down on
the bikes. Bob had stalled his bike in a hairpin turn and went down
and Ron/Terry who were behind him ran into him and went down too.
Terry hurt her neck and shoulder a bit and ended up riding in the transport
van the next day. We also learned later that Shira had a tip-over that
afternoon.
The rest of the ride that afternoon was
pretty, but uneventful, thankfully the high gravity areas had subsided.
We got to our hotel in Mostar and all met in the lobby an hour later for a
walk into town. I was so mad at myself for forgetting my camera this
evening because this would be the second prettiest town I'd come across.
It was built on two sides of a river connected by a stone arched bridge,
complete with high-divers entertaining the crowds for a few Euros. We
all wandered about and had beers and dinner later in a cafe along one of the
many cobblestone streets. It was a beautiful sunset and full moon that
evening and we all wondered what the workin' folk were doin'.
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Brian getting ready to roar on outta the parking garage in Sarajevo
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Scenery shot before our morning coffee break
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Some type of berry
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Ron and Terry at an overlook
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Morning coffee break stop
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The WWII memorial on the hill, yes we hiked all the way up
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View looking back from the WWII memorial
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WWII memorial
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WWII memorial - shot from above
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Scenery shot on our way to lunch break
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Scenery shot on our way to lunch break
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Our lunch stop at Blagaj - beautiful river and mountain wall backdrop
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Where we ate lunch
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Source of the freezing cold water that felt so good on our warm feet and legs. Temps were in the 90's plus high humidity
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Day 6: Thursday, August
27 - Mostar to Zabljak, Montenegro
We stopped in the morning at a walled
village with a castle high on the mountain top. Marcia and I both made
it about half way up the stairs and then said forget it. It went up
and up and up and it was already 80+ degrees and humid. This was the
only challenge we failed, or chose to fail, on the Stairmaster 2000 tour.
Enough already. But we wandered around for 20 minutes checking out the
views and stonework. Our coffee break was down the road a ways and by
that time the temps had soared into the 90's again. Although we
stopped and sat in the shade for a cold beverage it was miserable. I
don't do well in the heat, especially humidity. I have fair English
skin and the heat just zaps the life outta me and can trigger a migraine.
Fortunately everyone was feeling the same so we drank and ran to the bikes,
quickly suiting up and getting the wind flowing through our gear again.
Besides, the restaurant staff was not friendly, they had yelled at us for
not properly parking our bikes at the curb in front of the restaurant.
What-ev-er! I think I even flashed the W handsign, I know, how mature.
We soon crossed the border into Montenegro.
This one took a bit longer than the other crossings as they are not as up to
date technologically. They had to manually enter all the data from our
passports into their system. But no problems and we eventually all
breezed through.
The last section of the ride today was up
the backside of a mountain and into Durmitor National Park. It was
probably one of my favorite sections of road on the trip. Hardly any
cars, no cows, narrow "goat trail" of a road, just the kind I like, and
incredible scenery of mountains and valleys. Ken/Marcia and I let the
rest of the group go ahead of us. As soon as we heard hairpins and
tight narrow roads with curving tunnels we knew someone was goin' down.
Sure enough, Dick went down in one of the sharp tunnels. Oh and did I
mention that Dick had back problems with 2 herniated discs. Good Lord
how was he even riding, why was he even riding. He had this oversized
air inflated butt cushion strapped to his seat, which Marcia fondly referred
to as his whoopie-cushion, that was suppose to be of some relief. I
had to giggle at they whoopie-cushion comment, but was really wondering if
he would make it through the trip without further injury.
After a few more GPS and route sheet
glitches Ken/Marcia and I got pointed up the mountain and on our way.
We almost had our own accident as two huge trucks came around a turn in a
narrow section and forced us onto the gravel shoulder, thankfully there was
a shoulder, other places just had drop-offs. After that it was smooth
sailing until I got to the peak and stopped for a panoramic picture shot.
Ken didn't see me stop but had pulled over to wait somewhere on the other
side. I took a couple of photos, still sitting on my bike, and when I
turned around to start the bike and proceed there was this tall guy
straddling my front wheel and holding onto my bike. ACK! He
scared the crap outta me. I never saw or heard him. He was
speaking Serbian and demanding something. He was shoving some sort of
ticket booklet in my face, so he obviously wanted money. I thought,
why the hell is he hassling me, he let Ken and Marcia through and a
bicyclist was riding by too. Matej was always good about telling us
where we would have to pay a toll and this was not a toll stop. There
was no kiosk and the guy wasn't wearing a uniform. I said "ENGLISH?".
No response, just more squawking in Serbian. He then flashed some
official looking park badge just as I caught a good whiff of booze on him.
Lovely, a drunk dude impersonating a park official. I started yelling
back at him in English to let go of my bike and get away from me. I
was on an uphill incline so I rolled the bike back and he kept following me.
I started yelling louder and doing as the Serbians always seem to be
doing, yelling at each other. I guess it finally dawned on him that he
wasn't getting any money from me and that we weren't going to understand
each other. I started my bike, rolled back again, and he finally let
go and I was able to ride around him. As I came down the hillside, Ken
was just starting to turn his bike around to come find me. Thanks,
Ken! I was starting to wonder if I was going to need some backup.
I later told Matej the story when we pulled into the hotel and he was a bit
surprised and upset. He said that was bogus and he'd never seen or
heard of this happening. But wait there's more :-) ... The next day
Brian and Shira and Dick went back to the same spot to snap some photos and
have a picnic and guess who shows up, yep, drunk park ticket dude. He
tried to hassle them as well. Brian is an intimidating looking guy,
shaved head, bodybuilder, thick neck and muscles. Needless to say they
pretty much laughed him off. After Matej heard this story again he
called the park service to report the guy. But lo and behold the guy
turned out to be legit, WTF!?! The park just so happened to start
collecting fees for people that stop at that spot to take pictures, linger,
have rest breaks, etc. Crazy but true. We all got a good laugh.
Once Ken and I get rolling again, we catch
up to Bob who had decided to linger along and take in the scenery. As
we come into the outskirts of town, heading for Zabljak, the road we are
suppose to take is blocked off due to construction. We get off-route,
again, according to the GPS and of course the route sheets are inaccurate.
Great, here we go again. We turn around looking for alternates and are
trying to feel our way around when we see Rozle coming our way, whew.
We were the last ones out again and he knew the roads were blocked and
signage wasn't good so he went out looking for us. Good man! He
led us into the hotel and got us situated, I headed for the bar :-).
Dinner was at the hotel and then it was early bed for everyone.
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Looking out onto Mostar from my hotel balcony window in the morning
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Looking out onto Mostar from my hotel balcony window in the morning
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Cool kid selling fresh and dried fruit, it was delicious. Ron put the kid on his motorcycle and the kid lit up like a xmas tree. It was neat!
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Wares being sold a road stand next to stone village.
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More hiking for Marcia and I through this stone village, very impressive
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Stone village and castle at the top. People lived in house dotted on the hillside
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Stone village
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Stone village - steps to someone's house
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Stone village
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Stone village mosque or church
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Castle which we never quite made it to - darn stairs
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Houses dotting the hillside of the stone village
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For the life of me I can't remember what the significance was of the headstones. It was blazing hot and I was dumping water over my head
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Me at the headstones - gives a perspective of the height
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Scenery shot on the way to Montenegro
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The group waiting for road construction to let us through
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Our morning break in a little town where the restaurant waiters were not nice and yelled at Rojle for parking the bikes wrong. We didn't stay long
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Scenery shot, heading to Montenegro
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Montenegro border crossing
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Montenegro border crossing
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Lunch stop after the border crossing, more good food.
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Beautiful lakes of Montenegro
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Photo stop with great mountain views
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Same great mountain view
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The start of the climb up the backside of the mountain to Durmitor NP. But narrow dark scary tunnels through the mountain first
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Ken and Marcia ahead - out through the portal and into the countryside heading to Durmitor NP
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Detainment camps along the way to Durmitor NP, sort of creepy and sad and fascinating all at the same time
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Amazing shot capturing some of the road up to the top of Durmitor NP. Here is where the creepy park impersonator stopped me and held onto my bike
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Baaaa-ck down the other side of Durmitor NP heading towards Zabljak
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Day 7: Friday, August
28 – Rest Day in Zabljak
Today was a rest day in the quaint little
ski village of Zabljak, I think we were up around 5000 - 6000 ft.
Carl, Gary, Bob, Marcia, and I decided to go for a hike in Durmitor National
Park. Matej was kind enough to drive us all over to the entrance of
the park. We had a nice hike around several connecting lakes.
The trail was nice with a variety of flat to steeper rocks and roots.
Everyone in the group was in good shape so we hoofed it around in about 2
hours and had our fill. As we walked back toward the entrance a few
people had set up little stands and were selling fresh picked blueberries
and raspberries. Mmmm, we each bought a cupfull and gobbled them down,
then looking like little kids with red and blue hands and faces.
We later called Matej to see if he was
around to pick us up instead of having to walk the several miles back to the
hotel. He was happy to oblige and then drove us over to the amazing
viewpoint on the side of this mountain. Not OSHA approved by any
means. Everyone had to be very careful walking up the trail, one slip
and you'd tumble miles and miles into oblivion. But the views were
well worth it.
Matej brought us back to the hotel and
recommended some lunch places. Carol, Gary, Bob, and I were hungry and
headed over to have Matej's recommendation of Durmitor steak - steak that is
stuffed with cheese and prosciutto and then grilled. OMG, yum.
We also had corn porridge, which was polenta, also delicious, cucumber
salad, and washed it all down with a beer. I think I went into a food
comma it was all so good. As we were all stuffed and couldn't eat
another bite, Ken and Marcia and Dick came strolling up to help finish up
the leftovers. Good timing guys. Our waiter was a really nice
young guy that spoke very good English, he said he had learned his English
in school but mostly from watching American movies. Right on!
We wandered back to the hotel to discover
that Jim was very ill from some food he ate at the hotel the night before.
Uh oh. Matej had gone to the drugstore with Ron (who is a
veterinarian) and they managed to get him some pretty strong stuff for the
food poisoning. He was in bad shape the night before and all day,
fortunately it was a rest day. The meds did kick in and he was well enough
to ride the following morning.
The rest of the day was spendt reading and
relaxing about the hotel and enjoying some cooler weather in the mountains.
Dinner and drinks were at the hotel and we were all a little cautious, not
wanting to get what Jim got.
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View of Zabljak and mountains from our hotel
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Our hike through Durmitor NP - Carl and Gary are tempted to trade-in their BMW's
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In Durmitor NP - some sort of tribute to communist leader Tito of the former Yugoslavia
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Hiking in Durmitor NP - nice safety rope, eh
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Hiking in Durmitor NP
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Mmm, yummy fresh picked berries we all bought and scarfed down. Right along the main trail into Durmitor NP
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Cute goats along the way to Durmitor NP entrance
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Not sure what its function was, but looked interesting. Parked near the entrance to Durmitor
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Matej's super secret lookout point that he took us to...watch your step
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The town postal carrier...
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Day 8: Saturday, August
29 – Zabljak to Petrovac, Montenegro
Ken/Marcia, Bob, and I took off on our own
into the fog of the early morning. We were ready by 8:00 am and raring
for a day of riding and heading south to the coast of the Adriatic Sea.
Our first "unsanctioned" coffee break of the morning was a funky little
Tibetan hut type looking place. It was tucked against a mountainside
and was a round wooden structure. We had sat down outside and ordered
some Cokes, but wandered in to take some pictures of the structure.
One of the ladies inside was pouring shot glasses full of some unknown
alcoholic substance. Ken sort of poked his nose over, she smiled, and
handed him a shot glass and said something in Serbian. He graciously
accepted and took a snort. He handed it to me and I did the same,
along with Bob and Marcia. Whoa! It was some sort of homemade
hooch and actually wasn't bad. I usually don't start drinking at 10:30
in the morning, but we didn't want to be rude and not accept the woman's
offer. She motioned to pour us 4 shots and we held up a finger for
just 1, but she kept trying for 4. She finally did just pour us 1 and
we shared it, sort of. I ended up drinking most of it, but for a good
reason. I had eaten breakfast at the hotel in Zabljak and my tummy had
started to feel funny, uh-oh, I thought about Jim. I was starting to
get a little panicky as I had packed my ImodiumAD in my suitcase which was
in the van heading to Petrovac. Perfect. So I figured that this
hooch, that was potent enough to strip paint off of just about anything, may
just kill whatever it is that is thinking about wreaking havoc on my tummy.
I don't know if it was the hooch or what, but whatever happened, settled my
tummy. Whew. Before we left, one of the older local guys that
had been sitting outside watching us pull in, waves me over. He knew
we only spoken English by know and he only spoke Serbian. He puts both
hands in the air like they are wrapped around handlebars and with his right
hand motions like he is pulling on the throttle and then points to me.
I get a big smile on my face and so does he and he gives me a high-5.
I took it as he was impressed to see a woman riding a motorcycle by herself
and not being a passenger. It was cool to run across these type of
people occasionally that were friendly and curious and interactive because
it was more the case that they were not so friendly.
We ended up reconnecting with the rest of
the group for lunch as we turned off to go around the enormous Skadar Lake.
We all had lunch together and then half the group opted for the lake route
and half the group opted for the direct route to the hotel. The lake
route was more hairpins and narrow single-lane roads but rewarded us with
more incredible views and scenery.
Rozle led Ken/Marcia, Bob, Ron/Terry, me to
fill up with gas after our adventure around the lake. We had dropped
down from the mountains closer to the coast and the temps were soaring
again. The gas station was brand new and as soon as we went inside to
pay we were blasted with air-conditioning, aaaah. No one wanted to
leave, can't imagine why, so we ended up having our afternoon break in the
gas station, which had a bar in it too Wah-huh! My tummy was
fine so I couldn't use that excuse to try some more exotic substances :-).
We all settled for ice cream bars and water.
Our little group was perfect, good riders
and good pace, so we all stayed together the remainder of the afternoon with
Rozle leading us into Petrovac for the evening. Petrovac is a neat
little beach town tucked down a hillside. Our hotel was overbooked,
but Matej found us rooms at another hotel, which was actually nicer.
Myself, Bob, Matej, and Rozle got pampered with nice air-conditioned and new
renovated rooms.
I cleaned up and headed down to the beach
to check it out. As I hit the beach I froze and whipped out the
camera. Good Lord I had never seen so many people packed together on a
beach. It looked like something out of a European movie, but I was
living it. I strolled along the main walkway enjoying the scenery and
chaos on the beach. I saw Ken and Marcia at the very end of the point.
They were already on their second gin and tonic and waved for me to come
sit. Ken had a beer at the table for me before I sat down, I love
these guys :-). As we sipped our drinks, laughed, and talked about the
day, I notice a kid about 8 or 9 and his mom seated just in front of us.
I noticed the kid sort of giggling and looking at us and then talking to his
mom in Serbian. She would smile and chuckle too. Finally she
couldn't resist and asked us where we were from in ok English. I said,
"I knew it", smiling at the kid, "you understood every word we were saying
didn't you." He beamed and said, "yes, I speak English." They
were trying to guess our accents and thought at first we may have been
British. We told them we were from California, riding motorcycles, and
their eyes got big as saucers. We chatted with them for a while and
then said our goodbye's, heading off to meet the rest of our group for
dinner.
It was nice to have a little variety in
food now that we had dropped down onto the coast. We had pasta and
seafood added to the menus and we tried some local wine which was very good.
It was late by the time we all finished dinner so Bob and I walked back up
the hill together in search of our hotel which was further away. We
eventually found it :-)
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Map of Montenegro area. We were almost at the Albanian border
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View of arched bridge we stopped at
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Our morning break stop at the Tibetan hut, as I named it, the lady with the bottle in her hand poured us some of the tasty homemade hooch
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Visit to monestary along the way
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Monestary
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Monestary
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Bells at the monestary
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Serbian alphabet is cyrillic, all Greek to me
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View near the monestary
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Little cafe serving drinks next to the monestary
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Skadar Lake
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Skadar Lake
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My moto at Skadar Lake
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Ron, Terry, Bob at our air-conditioned gas station with a bar, we are actually sitting in the bar taking a cool break
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Marcia and Rojle contemplating
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Finally the coast and the town of Petrovac. Insane number of beachgoers packed into such a small area
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Beach and town of Petrovac
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Day 9: Sunday,
August 30 – Petrovac to Dubrovnik, Croatia
Our first scenic stop of the morning, just
after leaving the hotel, was the little island of Sveti Stefan. It
used to be a fishing village that was turned into a hotel. In the
pictures you'll see a walkway that was built from the mainland to the island
when they opened the hotel. The hotel flourished in its heyday and
many of the rich and famous from actors and actresses to politicians
frequented the hotel. During the war the hotel went belly-up and has
since been vacant. Currently a Greek financier is looking at
rebuilding and opening it up again as a hotel.
Our coffee break that morning coincided
with a stop at Njegus Mausoleum. Yes, more steps and the most yet of
any site we stopped. Marcia and I siked each other up to hike the 461
steps to the top. We did it, but we started kicking and screaming
about a third of the way up. Who the hell was this guy again and why
are we going up here. We made it though to be rewarded with a 360
degree panorama of the countryside. The Mausoleum tour was 3 Euros and
you got to wander around, see some clothing of the times, a marble statue,
the actual tomb and then hike down 461 steps. Did I mention that I
lost a few pounds on this trip, who loses weight on vacation.
Our lunch stop was in the walled city of
Kotor. Ken/Marcia, Bob, and I wandered off in search of lunch and
shade within the city walls. We found the perfect spot, complete with
fans misting cool water on us. We all shared a pizza and salads and
then wandered around the shops in Kotor.
After lunch we headed out around a
different section of Skadar Lake that went through lovely little towns along
the water. I took the lead with Ken/Marcia, Bob, Ron/Terry behind me,
Matej had stopped to take some photos and told the rest of us to go on
ahead, just follow the route sheet. Yeah, right, here we go again.
I was following orders and the route sheet but blew by a left turn we were
supposed to make, not properly marked on the route sheet of course. I
was merrily cruising along when Ken/Marcia blazed by me and pulled Bob and I
over to the shoulder. I knew what that meant - we were off-route.
This was our drill if one of us had missed something. My turn.
Ken's GPS was pointing back down the mountain. As we got turned
around, here come Ron/Terry, having made the same mistake and missing the
turn. I didn't feel so bad then. We motioned for them to spin
around and they caught up just as we all met Matej at the proper turn.
Isn't that convenient, darn route sheets! It was a good thing
Jim/Carla and Dick had gone off on their own because the next section of
riding was a few miles of tight hairpin switchbacks down the mountainside.
Looking back up after we got down was incredible to see what we had just
done.
We skipped our afternoon
break as it was getting late since we had stopped at a few other places and
took extra time in Kotor. We boogied on up the road to the border
crossing into Croatia. Ken was the last one through and when he went
to start his bike after getting cleared it wouldn't start. Matej
fortunately was waiting for everyone to cross and noticed Ken. Thank
goodness we had stayed riding with Matej. Matej and Ken pushed the
bike to an area where they could work on it. Turns out Ken's battery
had been having problems and all the starting/stopping at the border
crossing weakened it to the point of not starting on its own. Matej
had a set of jumpers so all was fixed quickly and we were back on the road,
only 20 miles from the hotel.
When we pulled into the
hotel parking lot Rozle was talking with Carol and Gary and their seemed to
be some drama going on. Turns out Gary had lost his passport and they
think it was at the border crossing. He meant to slip it in the front
zipper pocket of his pants, but missed and it dropped on the ground.
Rozle piled them in the van and they drove back the 20 miles to go look for
it, but to no avail. They had to find an American embassy somewhere.
The closest was in the capital of Croatia, Zagreb, which was 300 miles away
and it was Sunday. They called the embassy on Monday morning, getting
an appointment for 1:00 pm on Tuesday and then booked flights to fly up
there and back the same day. It was quite an odyssey listening to
Carol's story on Wednesday when they got back, but all turned out well and
Gary was issued a temporary passport for the remainder of the trip.
They stayed in Dubrovnik an extra night and caught up with everyone the
following day. Note to self, don't loss passport in foreign country!
I got cleaned up and was
going to wander around and ran into Shira, Brian, Dick in the hotel lobby.
They were heading into downtown Dubrovnik and invited me to come along.
We caught a cab and wandered around the walled city, had a drink, and
watched the tourists go by. I think the coolest thing I saw on the
whole trip was what I saw next in the harbor area and darn if I didn't have
my camera again! There were 3 girls about 7 or 8 years old sitting out
along the harbor area fishing. They had hand lines, not poles, and
were catching little fish about 3 inches long. Surrounding them were 3
cats, not too close, but not too far. I watched as one of the girls
hauled up a little fish on her line, grabbed the fish, unhooked it's mouth
and tossed it at one of the cats. The closed one dove and caught it
and darted away before the other cats could steal the fish away. The
cat devoured the fish in about 3 bites and then circled back to take his
spot surrounding the girls. It was awesome to watch the game of cat
and fish.
We meandered over to the
arranged dinner spot in town and tagged up with the rest of the group.
Dinner was grilled sea bass, again tasty. After dinner I took a cab
back to the hotel, I was beat and didn't feel like continuing on with the
party crowd.
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Sveti Stefan island. Old fishing village that had been turned into 5-star hotel but abandoned during the war
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Scenery shot of the Adriatic from the moutains above
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Scenery shot of the Adriatic from the moutains above
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Njegus Mausoleum entrance and morning coffee break stop
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Looking back down the stairs as we hike up to the mausoleum
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Traditional garb of the time - shot inside the mausoleum
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Traditional weapons of the time - shot inside the mausoleum
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Statues inside the mausoleum
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Njegus himself
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The tomb of Njegus
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Scenery shot of Skadar Lake
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Scenery shot of Skadar Lake
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Day 10: Monday, August
31 - Rest Day in Dubrovnik
Since Gary and Carol didn't have to head
off to Zagreb to get a new passport until Tuesday, they were able to join
Bob and I for a morning of kayaking. It seemed we were all avid or
close to avid kayakers and were anxious to go tool around the shore and
little islands off the shore. We walked down to the beach to discover
that the kayak rental dude was not there yet. We were told he opened
at 10:00 and eventually he showed up around 10:45. No mind, we sat
under the shade of a grapevine terrace and had mineral waters and watched
the sunbathers. Not like we were in a hurry to get anywhere. We
rented sit-on-top kayaks and headed off for an island across a busy channel.
That was a little dicey as big boats were coming through at a regular rate.
A few of the big boats thankfully tooted their horns, knowing they saw us,
and we either halted or paddled like hell to get out of the way. Once
across the channel we explored the neighboring rocky island that had a
walled city of its own. We eventually made it back across the channel
but way up shore. I was out front and noticed that the beach area up
shore was a nude beach, whatever. As the rest of the group paddled
closer the nude bathers seemed to get in a dither and all peer their heads
up from behind their respective rocks. They looked like a bunch of
angry meerkats and I started busting up. I could care less what you
wear or don't wear but if you are going to go nude, don't get all huffy if I
am kayaking here in clothes. It wasn't like we were staring and
pointing and taking pictures. We were just paddling along minding our
own business.
We returned the boats and then headed back
to the hotel around noon. We all wanted to do the city wall walk later
and agreed to meet in the lobby again at 4:00. I was hungry and needed
a little alone time, so I got my book and headed out to find a shady cafe
where I could read and enjoy some lunch fare. I found a nice spot, had
some pizza and beer and read for a while.
The walk around the city wall was certainly
a highlight as was the city of Dubrovnik. It was a little crowded and
touristy, but not that bad. It was beautiful and a favorite for me.
The city wall walk is a walk around the walled city upper section. You
overlook the coastline of the Adriatic and the walled city below. It
took about 2 hours, but we took our time and enjoyed all the amazing views.
Afterwards we went down one of the little alleyways in the walled city to a
wine bar called D'Vino. I had found this in the hotel guide book and
they had all sorts of local wines to sample. It was a wonderful little
place. Carol and I had some local wine recommended by the owner while
Gary and Bob opted for beer. We were all ready for dinner and headed
over to a restaurant on the waterfront that Matej had recommended. On
the walk over I noticed the same 3 girls fishing again and feeding the cats.
I got a big smile and warm fuzzy feeling, it was such a great scene.
For dinner I had a big pot of steamed muscles, Gary had the best fish pate
ever, and Bob and Carol had some marinated anchovies, that I declined to
try. Yeah, thanks anyway. We got some gelato after dinner,
walked to our bus stop, hopped on the bus to our hotel and called it a
night. Another terrific day!
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Carol, Gary, Bob - across the channel and nearing the neighboring island
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Neighboring island lighthouse and point
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Carol at the point
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Gary rounding the point
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Bob, soaking in the sun and the view
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Gary and Carol exploring one of the many nooks and crannies along the rocks
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Mr Happy was everywhere
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City wall walk - shot of the main walk inside the city
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I couldn't resist this shot. Everyone dried their clothes on lines but this line only contained a single pair of skivvies :-)
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City wall walk
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Shot from city wall walk
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Shot from city wall walk, can you find the 3 kitties. Many inhabitants and house right along and below the wall.
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Cafe perched on the other side of the city wall
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I couldn't belive this cat, near the cafe perched on the rocks. He seemed to be doing fine tho and was just hanging out.
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City wall walk
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Zzzzz, lots of siesta time for the cats of Dubrovnik. Still on the city wall walk
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More zzzz's. All the cats I saw around here looked pretty healthy, lots of fish to eat
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Harbor area outside the city wall
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Back inside the city wall walk
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More of the harbor from the city wall
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Rooftops inside the city wall
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Alleyway inside the walled city. This is the alley where we found the wine bar and tried local wines
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Gary, Carol, Bob, at the wine bar
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Day 11: Tuesday,
Sept 1 – Dubrovnik to Hvar Island, Croatia
Everyone headed out together this morning
as we had to leave earlier than usual to catch a ferry over to Hvar Island
at a reasonable hour. The ferry ran about every 1.5 hours. We
had a few morning stops, coffee break and photos before the ferry ride. Once
over on the island the road was fun, "goat trail" of a road again but much
of it a bit unnerving to some. There was absolutely no shoulder on the
road. The pavement ended, period, and you dropped off the side of a
cliff or hillside or not so steep incline, if you were lucky. I
thought about Jim running off the road days back and hoped he was on his
game today because it was go time.
Rozle led us to a neat little fishing
village for lunch where a few went swimming in the little bay to cool off.
I was tempted to go change and jump in but the thought of having to suit up
again into my hot riding gear and boots deflated any enthusiasm I had
previously mustered. Did I mentioned it was HOT and HUMID, yes,
several times now I believe.
We got to the hotel early that afternoon,
by 3:30, and we were all treated to a fabulous hotel right on the cliffs
with our own beach area, albeit rocky, but inviting and refreshing. I
rushed to the sanctuary of my room and the oh so heavenly invention of
air-conditioning. I collapsed for a while under the cool air while
dinner plans were arranged by Matej and Rozle.
They had a special dinner and evening
planned for us that was the best of the trip. We had a water taxi pick
us up from the dock of our hotel and transport us 45 minutes up the coast.
As the water taxi approached, I noticed the skipper had a mascot laying
front and center across the bow of the boat. Yoko, the pug dog.
Awesome! I love these dogs. Yoko moved aside and allowed us all
to pass and board his vessel. We motored up the coast and the skipper
dropped us off in a little fishing village. We walked up the road
about 10 minutes and were on the property of our hosts for the evening.
I have no idea how to spell their names so let's call them Michael and
Michelle. They were locals and had built their stone house and
furniture with their bare hands, amidst their olive orchard. The house
was small, but rustic and charming with a huge stone barbeque area and a
fabulous stone kitchen and bar. All tastefully decorated with vibrant
colors and local artifacts. The front patio area was amongst the olive
trees in a beautiful setting. Michael and Michelle open their house up
to larger parties of guests for dinner feasts that they prepare themselves.
Everything is fresh and caught from the sea that morning by Michael or
purchased locally.
Michelle started us off in the kitchen with
a tasting of their homemade schnapps. There was cherry first, than
olive, followed by some other type of unidentifiable but absolutely
delicious spirit. They also made their own wine which was served with
dinner, it was fabulous too! We admired their gorgeous place, chatted
with them, sipped wine or schnapps, gazed at the sunset, and pinched
ourselves in disbelief that we were here. Michael busied himself at
the barbeque area cooking homemade bread in his own version of a Dutch oven
and preparing other tantalizing goodies. Michelle was in the kitchen
working her magic. After a while they told us to sit and relax and
enjoy the food. First severed was fish pate, octopus salad, and the
homemade bread. The platters and presentation of the food were so
beautiful and appetizing. Next came platters of prosciutto and cheese.
We had to pace ourselves because plenty more was coming and every dish was
even better than the last. Michael arrived with the main course of
fish stew in the biggest pot I had ever seen. It was freshly caught
sea bass with potatoes and herbs and spices in a creamy broth. The
smell and taste is still lingering with me. After we let that settle a
bit, Michelle arrived with more - grilled veggies and a platter of barbequed
fish and octopus. Finally, dessert, as if we needed it, was tiramisu.
The wine flowed, the conversations flowed, the evening waxed and waned,
giving us all a night and memory of a lifetime.
It was time to bid our hosts farewell, they
needed rest too. We all hugged and kissed and said our goodbye's.
Matej had called a van service that came to pick us up and took most of us
back to the hotel. The van driver stopped in the downtown square of
Hvar and Matej, Rozle, Ken, Marcia, Brian, Shira and I decided to wander
around and take in the harbor scene. It was a scene too. Lots of
expensive party yachts docked and hosting parties onboard. We
eventually headed for the taxi stand, still talking about the incredible
evening we all shared.
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Vista shot of Dubrovnik
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Morning break at Mali Ston. This was a quaint little village and a muscle growing farm
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Parked in the garage next to the cafe where we had our morning break. Nice!!
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Brian and Rojle getting some shots of the stone, heading out of Mali Ston to Ston. Ston, mean stone
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Roadside stand where I purchased some homemade cherry and mandarin schnapps, before we jumped on the ferry to Hvar
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Ferry to Hvar Island
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Ferry shot
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Our lunch stop on Hvar Island. So refreshing, some stripped down and went for a swim
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Our lunch stop - the inviting little bay
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The view from my hotel balcony on Hvar Island - can't beat that
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Talk about a room with a view - I stood there for a while, soaking in the air-conditioning and gazing out.
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Kitty cat on the terrace at our hotel. She was so sweet and friendly and would jump in your lap if you were sitting and sipping a cold beverage
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Our own private swimming area at the hotel. It was only a little surgy when a big boat would come through, otherwise flat and inviting
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Shot from hotel swim deck to across the way
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Shot of our slice of heaven from our hotel terrace
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Water taxi coming to the hotel to pick us up for dinner, notice Yoko the pug on the bow
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Yoko wasn't too happy with Mr Happy. He growled and snarled, it was funny.
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Me with Yoko. I picked him up and sat him in my lap, petted him, and he stayed there most of the trip. Good boy!
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Ron and Terry enjoying the ride on the taxi. Well, at least Terry is.
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Brian tormenting Yoko with Mr Happy.
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There he is, on the dock at our destination. Ok, last shot of him. Can you tell I was missing my animals at home.
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Arrival at Michael and Michelle's house, our dinner hosts for the evening.
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Their house and lovely olive grounds
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Seating amongst the orchard. All wood furniture was made by hand by Michael and Michelle
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Michael and Michelle in their kitchen. I was bummed this turned out blurry, but it's the only shot I have. They were such a fantastic couple
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One end of their living room, all build by hand by the two of them
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The stellar barbeque that I think Micahel was most proud of :-)
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Our dinner table under the stars
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Shira, Terry, Brian enjoying some drinks
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Let the food parade begin - fish pate
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Octopus salad
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Main course of fish stew in the biggest pot I have ever seen
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Fresh grilled veggies
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Another platter of barbequed fish and octopus
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I loved this shot of Terry, happily enjoying the evening
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Rojle, he really was enjoying the evening
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Rojle and Mr Happy teasing Matej, way too much wine at that point
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Day 12: Wednesday,
Sept 2 - Rest Day on Hvar Island
Is all I have to say for this morning was
thank God it was another rest day and I didn't have to get up early and
ride! The intoxicating spirits and food of the night before served me
up a hangover and food coma. First and last of the trip, I know only
some of you will believe me, but it's true, really, only one hangover.
I think I crawled out of bed around 10:00 am, I know, the horror. I am
usually bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 6:00 am. Water, I need water!
I skipped breakfast and finally mustered enough energy to suit up and drag
myself out to the terrace of the hotel. I bumped into Ron, Terry, and
Dick on the way. Ron and Dick were going on a walking tour of downtown
and Terry had book in hand and was headed for the lounge chairs. We
saw Brian and Shira already collapsed into lounge chairs and looking like I
did, wah-huh. Terry and I pulled up some chairs and then I wandered
down to the water and swam for about an hour. Aaah, much better.
The water was refreshing and incredibly salty, which made for significant
buoyancy. I felt like I had on an invisible life jacket. Shira
joined me for a while in the water so we chatted and paddled around, letting
time and some exercise heal our hangovers.
I later wandered into the downtown area for
some lunch and to see the area in the daylight. I found a nice little
cafe and ate lunch while I watched the locals and tourists stroll by.
I walked back to the hotel for a much needed nap in my AC controlled room.
Later I poked my head out around dinner time to see if anyone was out and
about, I found most of the group gathered in the lobby ready to head into
town for dinner. A few asked "where ya been, Laurel", aah, yeah, about
that, sleeping? The hotel van drove us into town and then we split up
as different folks wanted to try different places. Ken, Marcia, Bob,
and I ended up having a great dinner at a place called Bounty on the
waterfront. It was one Matej had recommended. The four of us
decided to walk back to the hotel from there. The temps had cooled and
it was a nice evening for a stroll.
No pics for this day, I sort of took the
day off from the camera, plus there was really nothing new to shoot.
Day 13: Thursday,
Sept 3 - Hvar Island to Pag Island, Croatia
We had an early call at 7:00 am to hit the
road. Rozle wanted to catch the early ferry over to Pag Island.
This was the longest ferry ride of the trip at 1 hour and 45 minutes.
As we left the hotel I was behind Bob and we had a few steep hairpin turns
in order to get out to the main roads. Bob stalled the bike twice on
two separate turns and nearly went down again. Hmmm, all together now,
downshift, first gear, clutch, throttle, go. Dick had some issues as
well and I was wondering if everyone forgot how to ride over the rest day.
Ok, let's keep it together gang, we are almost home.
Once we got off the ferry in the town of
Split we headed to the town of Trogir for our morning coffee break.
What a mess of a town this was! Crazy traffic, farmers markets, people
everywhere. The last thing I wanted to do was stop here and navigate
through this chaos. But I kept my whining and inner monologue to
myself and soldiered on. Some of the group walked into the downtown
area as I huddled under the shady umbrella with Terry and Ron sipping
mineral water.
Eventually we were on our way riding
through cool lush scenery again and finding a fabulous lunch stop away from
the busy town and congestion. We motored on from lunch with Rozle
taking us through some worn torn villages again. We stopped for a
photo opp and he cautioned me to be careful and not leave the roadside.
He pointed down at the ground to a white strip of plastic tape that was
caught in the bushes. I looked at it wide-eyed as I read the words
MINE MINE MINE in big black bold letters. "Yes, that is a mine field,
Laurel, and please do not wander about.", he said. Don't have to
tell me twice, boss, got it. Scary. I actually scampered back to
my bike and got on, ready to go, nothing to see here, move along.
At another photo opp a bit later, we ran
into Brian and Shira. Brian and Shira own and publish a monthly
motorcycle magazine (Backroads Magazine) and this was a working trip for
them. They get to go to all sorts of cool destinations and write about
their trips. Talk about a dream job. Anyway, they had parked
their bikes and took off to photograph. It was here that I seized my
opportunity to play a joke on Brian and steal his beloved Mr. Happy,
which travels everywhere with him. I am not sure how to categorize Mr.
Happy. He's not really a doll or puppet or stuffed animal and is not
part of what most men would refer to as a certain part of their anatomy.
He is just this yellow stuffed fuzzy cloth "thing" that has a smiley face
sewed onto the head. But for sake of this story and to mess with
Brian's ego, let's call it a doll.
As Brian and Shira were stopped taking
photos, I put on my cloaking device, crept over to Brian's bike, and
snatched Mr. Happy out of his tank bag. As I was darting back, I could
have sworn Brian saw me clutching Mr. Happy. Ok, ok, busted I thought.
I had already reached my bike so I just put him in my pack and would return
him later. Our group continues on to the hotel. I get checked-in
and throw my pack and Mr. Happy on the sofa in my room. Matej and
Rozle were taking us early arrivers swimming at the beach down the road, so
I suit up and meet the others at the van. We have a nice time at
the beach and cool off, getting back to the hotel about 1.5 hours later.
As I enter my room and glance at the sofa, I notice Mr. Happy is gone.
Hmm, I could have sworn I left him on the couch, am I losing it.
Uh-oh, where'd he go, Brian will kill me if something has happened to Mr.
Happy. I start digging through my pack and the rest of my stuff and
can't find him, crap. Then I smiled and figured it out. Brian
had to have somehow gotten in here and stolen him back, no other answer,
touché. At dinner, Brian confesses his story. He did not see me
take Mr. Happy and when he returned to his bike and saw he was gone, he
freaked! There just happened to be some kids playing near where his
bike was parked and he thought maybe they took it. When Brian had
arrived at the hotel, shortly after us, Rozle could see that Brian was
obviously in distress over his missing doll. Rozle got a big grin on
his face and Brian picked up that one of us had it and it wasn't Rozle.
By process of elimination it had to be either me, Ken, Marcia, or Bob.
Hmm, not too hard to figure out it was me :-). So while I was
frolicking in the water at the beach, Brian sweet-talked the girl at the
reception desk to peek in my room to see if she could spot a fuzzy stuffed
smiley faced doll. Of course it was in plain sight and she nabbed it
back. I felt sort of guilty causing Brian so much grief and elevating
his heart rate, but he was a great sport and complimented me on getting him
on the prank. He gave me an official Backroads Magazine pin, that he
pinned to my backpack. Ok, now I felt better about everything and knew
he was cool with it all.
Back to the trip. Our hotel for the
night was one of my favorites. My room was the size of a mansion, the
biggest so far, and was newly renovated. I felt like a queen with two
separate rooms, two bathrooms, one with a big Jacuzzi tub, and a great
balcony overlooking the valley. It was a hotel, restaurant, and
winery, perched on a nice hillside looking out over the valley below and the
vineyards. Our dinner was at the hotel and the food was again
delicious. We drank the house wine with dinner, I ended up buying two
bottles to go it was so good, dined on yummy appetizers and had fresh meat
and fish choices for dinner.
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Ferry ride from Hvar Island over to town of Split
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Morning coffee stop in the town of Trogir
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Scenery shot of somwhere near Pag Island
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More war damaged houses in neighboring villages
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More war damaged houses in neighboring villages
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More war damaged houses in neighboring villages
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Uncleared mine field next to the bombed houses in the previous pictures. Tread lightly
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Onto Pag Island
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Photo stop on Pag Island and the location of Mr. Happy's disappearance
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Our hotel for the night on Pag Island
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Hotel grounds
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View from my hotel balcony
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Hotel terrace
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View from hotel terrace
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Sunset dining at the hotel - beautiful
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And our dinners arrive
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And our dinners arrive
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Day 14: Friday,
Sept 4 - Pag Island to Ljubljana
Today was bittersweet as we suited up and
headed out for the last ride of the trip. I wanted to keep riding,
seeing, sharing, and experiencing more, but on the other hand I was feeling
that tug of wanting to get back home. We zoomed off to catch our
last ferry from Pag Island and head towards Slovenia. It was Mr.
Toad's wild ride once off the ferry. Rozle had told us that we needed
to boogie else we would get stuck behind the buses and cars for miles.
The roads were narrow and passing was tricky, so we needed to jump in front
immediately off the ferry. Great advice, but this nearly caused a
disaster for Ron and Terry. As Ron was rushing to get in front of the
ferry traffic, he caught his boot on the metal chain across the entrance of
the ferry gateway. He was dragging his feet and accidentally scooped
it up. He barely shook it off just in time before it would have caught
in the chain and wheel of his bike. Nice save, Ron.
We road furiously for the next few miles,
getting up and away from all the traffic and then things mellowed out.
We had a nice morning break along the waterfront and noticed it looked like
some weather was moving in. Matej talked to another biker that had
raingear on and they said it was pouring over the mountains in Slovenia.
Not a big deal though as we all had raingear. I almost didn't bring it
because I was skeptical it was going to rain at all, but lo and behold I
actually did need it. About 30 minutes later into our ride through the
mountains it started pouring. We pulled over, geared up, and braved
the deluge. It actually felt good to have some nice cool rain and
weather, I thought the sunshine was getting a little boring :-).
We crossed the border back into Slovenia
and continued through the rain to our lunch spot where Brian and Shira
caught up to us. My last chance for wiener schnitzel so I went for it
and enjoyed. We took some fun twisty backroads into Slovenia and then
Rozle turned Bob and I over to Matej in the van. Our bikes needed
servicing, mine had started leaking oil from the head gasket, it appeared,
so we followed Matej over to the BMW shop and dropped off the bikes.
We had a final farewell dinner at the hotel
which was very nice. We had a bit of a shocker story from Carol as she
started telling her and Gary's full trip story. Carol and Gary rode on
their own and never with the group. Carol was a nervous group rider so
the two rode by themselves. However, they liked the social aspect,
security and peace of mind of a group and knowing that they could call Matej
or Rozle for help if needed, hence why they singed up for a group tour.
Anyway, the day after they got back from getting Gary a new passport in
Zagreb, Gary loses his wallet with his money and credit cards. Shira
and I were sitting across from one another, staring at each other
incredulous and shaking our heads. But the story gets better, oh yes.
Gary calls the credit card companies and cancels the cards.
Fortunately Carol had one credit card left in her wallet. The next day
they go out to dinner in Hvar and Gary pays with Carol's credit card and
then proceeds to leave her credit card at the restaurant. Their only
saving grace was that later that evening Shira, Brian, and Dick went to the
same restaurant and by chance the waiter asked them, because there aren't
many of us Americans floating around Hvar, if they knew Carol Graham and
that her credit card was left there. The waiter gave the card to Brian
and he got it back to Carol. Oh no, it isn't over yet. The
following day Carol loses the camera with all their pictures from the trip
and has no idea where it was lost. Gone, daddy, gone, no pics,
nothing. UFB! I am sure glad I wasn't drinking whatever it was
they were drinking. I would think that after losing a passport you
would be double and triple careful about everything. They sure seemed
to handle it all well though, very upbeat, optimistic and positive people
with great attitudes.
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Heading to the ferry on Pag Island
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Heading to the ferry on Pag Island
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Brian being silly on the ferry, finding some sort of rope wig
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Stopping in the mountains to dawn our raingear - first and only time during the entire trip
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Day 15: Saturday,
Sept 5 - Ljubljana to San Francisco
Jim, Carla, Dick and I
all had early flight back to the US and Matej dropped us at the airport
early. Many of the other guests were taking more time and exploring
more of Europe. Ken and Marcia rented their moto a few more days and
Matej mapped out a trip into Italy for them for a couple of days.
Shira and Brian were heading back to Germany, where they originated their
trip. Ron and Terry were buzzing around on another 2 week trip in
Europe somewhere and Bob was taking the train up to Munich.
Epilogue -
Another amazing adventure, this one very educational and more thought
provoking than others. I don't think I would go back to Bosnia by
choice, but I would go back to the coast of Croatia in a heartbeat, it was
my favorite. I was more than surprised at how wonderful and diverse
the scenery was overall, I never imaged it would be so beautiful.
Matej and Rozle did a magnificent job of taking care of us, always pleasant,
helpful, and professional. Herding cats is never an easy job.
The extracurricular activities they offered up or had planned on rests days
and dinners in the evenings were the best. Although 14 people is a big
group, it never really felt like a huge group. Everyone was very nice,
interesting, easy going and independent when they wanted or needed to be.
It was a nice easy flow. What's next, Alaska 2010!
