Bosnia the 9th country this trip and the third new country with new roads for us!
We found Bosnia intriguing, the people were very nice once they warmed up to you, the scenery was breathtaking, the food was yummy and, for us, living was very affordable. Once again, as in Serbia, the country has had a troubled past and we are no closer to really understanding it now than we were before this trip. People have been very graciously trying to explain it to us but as they themselves say ' it is very complicated'.
After a friendly good bye to Serbia we headed to Mostar, not our usual kind of destination as it is very touristy but sometimes you just have to bite the bullet. We didn't quite make it on our projected day however, when we stopped for gas 40 km east of Mostar, in Nevesinje, the gas attendant told us about Lake Alagovac where there was great free camping and it was only a few km from town. We spent two nights camped at the side of the lake, did a hike up a logging road into the mountain and alpine and enjoyed the peace and quiet of the area...oh! that is until the guns started going off around three in the morning...but don't worry, I guess it is only a wedding tradition to shoot into the air, all is good. Something we have had to get use to is the water quality here in the Balkans, as beautiful as the lakes look at first glance, most are reservoirs and the water is never as crystal clear as it is in Canada. Believe me, when it is 37-38 degrees outside and you have been sitting on a bike for a few hours any water fells good to swim in.
We travelled to Mostar by recommendation from Silke, who we met at Motocamp in Bulgaria. "You have to see the old bridge, left from the Automan days". She showed us pictures of herself on the bridge with not a soul around. When we got there, however, the town was so busy we could only book a room for one night, then we had to leave. Too busy for us anyway. As it turned out, there is a special event that happened once a year, men jumping off the bridge into the river on the last Sunday of July. You will never guess what day we arrived in...yes, just in time. It was great to see, but just our luck...really? All the same, we had a great room at pension Most, enjoyed a very tasty meal with a view of the river and left in the morning. Good enough for us.
What was a little complicated for us was getting from point a to point b. After investing in what we thought was a pretty good map we still had a hard time finding the right (paved) road to the places we were going. As in our excursion to Provosto Lake, we ended up on a logging road(s) up into the mountains where there was a lot of dirt, mud, rock and was fairly deserted. Our description of adventure riding. Thing is, our destination was one that I had found on trip adviser so it should have been busy??? As we finally found our way to near the top of the mountain, we came to a fork in the road and it suddenly was very busy...tour buses delivering tourists from Saudi, Oman, the Emirates and other counties from the east there for the day. Crazy, but the setting, with the village with no electricity surrounded by mountains, sitting by a lake, was so beautiful we stayed two nights.
Next it was on to Banovici, where we were told we could spent a few days hiking in the mountains. We treated ourselves to a mountain resort, a switch from camping...the shower floor was broken and leaked water all over the bathroom, no fan or air conditioning, the dogs barked ALL night and the lights from the hall and yard shone directly into our room...we really like our tent. But the hike was great and we met some very nice local people.
Our last stop was at the ski resort where the Bosnians hosted part of the Winter Olympics in 1984. Here we stayed at, get this, the Relax pension (do we sound like we need to relax any more?) which was hosted by a very charismatic lady. Stayed another two days! Again, did a hike, and enjoyed the locals and other tourists, including a couple of girls (one Bosnian, now living in Vancouver) who lived in Sarajevo during the Bosnian war. Again, they tried to explain the war to us but we ended the day with jet again another question mark.
Are you finding the theme here? The weather is sooo hot, high 30's to low 40's, a real heat wave in the Balkans so we headed for the hills, Prokosto Lake with Veranica mountain, Varna mountain, and Babanova mountain...a good thing is that after Bosnia is Montenegro and more mountains.
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