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Kotor is an ancient walled city fortified since the middle ages. It is become popular recently due to an increase in cruise ship visits.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7381/2...471cf24f_b.jpgMontenegro-18 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7324/2...a6b0ea9a_b.jpgMontenegro-20 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7609/2...3a514b8c_b.jpgMontenegro-22 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7432/2...9a1e1281_b.jpgMontenegro-21 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
The ride out from here we decided to go the long way to Croatia around the bay and to Dubrovnik in just under 100 km.
https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7209/2...a0aae7e2_b.jpgScreen Shot 2016-06-22 at 17.11.49 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr The exit from Montenegro and into Croatia took minutes and was totally painless. The passports stamped out an then in and our green card is valid in Croatia. We stopped in the picturesque village of Cavtat for a real lunch by the sea. https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7414/2...df7a9ac0_b.jpgScreen Shot 2016-06-22 at 17.12.09 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr We are celebrating 4 years on the road and our 20 th wedding anniversary. Here we met Yvonne and Mike from New Zealand, who were sitting at the next table and we ran into then again later in Dubrovnik. We hope to see them again on the North island in 2018!! https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7497/2...f9057038_b.jpgCroatia by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
The walled city has no vehicle traffic and is very expensive. We stayed about 4 km away and its still pricey, but 20th and all! The hotel is on the direct bus line to the old city.
“Dubrovnik is a city in southern Croatia fronting the Adriatic Sea. It's known for its distinctive Old Town, encircled with massive stone walls completed in the 16th century. Its well-preserved buildings range from baroque St. Blaise Church to Renaissance Sponza Palace and Gothic Rector’s Palace. Paved with limestone, the pedestrianized Stradun (aka Placa) is lined with shops and restaurants.” It is also now famous for its many Game of Thrones filming locations. We bused it into the city late in the day to avoid the heat and then spent several hours walking the old city walls which have a birds eye view of the old city and the sea shore. We got some dinner from a deli and sat on the church steps to enjoy an open air concert. https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7418/2...b6ecfce8_b.jpgCroatia-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7412/2...2fb4974c_b.jpgCroatia-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7390/2...0bfd64b1_b.jpgCroatia-7 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7618/2...3366b80b_b.jpgCroatia-8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7726/2...f9c77894_b.jpgCroatia-9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7570/2...f5fa6be5_b.jpgCroatia-10 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7584/2...8717fd95_b.jpgCroatia-11 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7044/2...679d964e_b.jpgCroatia-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7139/2...48679abc_b.jpgCroatia-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7683/2...7a80048b_b.jpgCroatia by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
The plan for today is a short 170 km to Mostar Bosnia, but we planned to go via Trabinje and have a stop in the ancient city of Pocitelji.
https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7291/2...85a2a2b1_z.jpgScreen Shot 2016-06-22 at 17.23.27 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr The ride starts out with a small back track up the highway to the turn off for the Bosnian border. Just before there is a great look out point and here we ran into fellow Canadian Brian Kennedy from Ontario. He started his round the world adventure in may 2016!! You can check out his blog at Ride4-Adventure https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7512/2...a5b63db7_b.jpgCroatia-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7627/2...2a4f1880_b.jpgCroatia by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7610/2...0426fcb5_b.jpgDubrovnik by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
The Exit from Croatia they stamp the passport and want to see the bike papers. The official in their air-conditioned booth with its mirrored glass and a small pass thru for your papers are confused with our Canadian passport and our Colombian plates! It takes a few minutes to explain that British Columbia in not IN Colombia.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7459/2...df909d96_b.jpgMostar CC by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr That done you ride a few km to the Bosnian border “shack” on the side of the road. Here there are at least 6 border officials in a tiny one room building. They however are very friendly and explain that we have “ a problem”, which is a poor way to say what we already know out green card is not valid here are we need to buy insurance. The salesman for it is the guy standing right there and he speaks English perfectly. The minimum is 7 days and that is 30 euros each ouch, but it is what it is. They kindly let me stand in the air conditioned office and offers me snacks! It is 29 degrees already at 1030 am. https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7286/2...b5a66d44_b.jpgMostar CC-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
From Trabinje you ride east and then north along the base of the mountains and then over a small pass towards Mostar.
https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7088/2...922586c2_b.jpgBosnia by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr It is now 34 degrees and we are very sweaty. Stopping at Pocitelji we had to get cold drinks and we also bought some fruit from this lovely lady. Unlike most countries here in Bosnia they explained they will take just about any currency they can exchange. In Croatia there are signs everywhere that say “We do not take Euros”. So we paid for our fruit partly in Euros and partly in Croatian Kuna. This village is built on the hill side in a natural amphitheater. “During the Middle Ages, Počitelj was considered the administrative centre and centre of governance of Dubrava župa (county), while its westernmost point gave it major strategic importance. It is believed that the fortified town along with its attendant settlements were built by Bosnia's King Stjepan Tvrtko I in 1383. The walled town of Počitelj evolved in the period from the 16th to the 18th centuries. Architecturally, the stone-constructed parts of the town are a fortified complex, in which two stages of evolution are evident: medieval, and Ottoman.“ https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7443/2...cfe5afbb_b.jpgBosnia-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7335/2...fcdbf234_b.jpgBosnia-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7528/2...022eba84_b.jpgBosnia-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
Now it is 36 degrees and we have just 30 km left to go today. Arriving at the hostel we had a ground floor, shaded, and very cool room to wait out the days heat before exploring the city. It gets to 50 degrees here in summer.
We were treated like royalty by the hostel owners. https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7289/2...d8834779_b.jpgMostar CC-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7298/2...60fe43d1_b.jpgBosnia by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr Most of the building here have scars from the war. https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7133/2...379be0e6_b.jpgBosnia-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr “Mostar was named after the bridge keepers (mostari) who in the medieval times guarded the Stari Most (Old Bridge) over the Neretva. The Old Bridge, built by the Ottomans in the 16th century, is one of Bosnia and Herzegovina's most recognizable landmarks, and is considered one of the most exemplary pieces of Islamic architecture in the Balkans.” We finally emerged from the air con at 730 pm. It is a short walk to the old city, which is paved with very smooth and very slippery in flip flops round stones. This makes the slopes a series hazard. Across the bridge we found a nice turkish place to have a traditional meal and to celebrate our 20 th wedding anniversary today. After we made our way to the river to get some shots of the famous Mostar bridge. There is a very Turkish feel to the city in general with the markets and the mosques. https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7297/2...012f0cb8_b.jpgBosnia by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7400/2...59bce87d_b.jpgBosnia-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7396/2...10f2c57f_b.jpgBosnia-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7438/2...48772f93_b.jpgBosnia-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7387/2...17fec06e_b.jpgBosnia-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
It was already 32 degrees when we set out at 930 and headed to the coast to try to cool off in Vodice.
https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7591/2...75b99bdd_b.jpgScreen Shot 2016-06-23 at 22.44.42 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr We made a small 15 km side trip to see the Dervish Tekke house in Blagaj. This is situated on a river that emerges from the mountain or that is how it appears. It is now 34 degrees except right on the river where they have detoured channels of the river thru the restaurants to create a natural air con. https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7389/2...d2f2a18c_b.jpgCroatia-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
Leaving the Tekkie house we headed north west and to the Croatian border. The exit from Bosnia was an easy passport stamp and the Croatian crossing is about 20 meters away and was equally fast and easy.
https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7644/2...edaba289_b.jpgVodice CC by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7609/2...3254845a_b.jpgVodice CC-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr From here we made for the 5 km tunnel thru the mountains to cut off about an hour from our route for 1.50$. https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7473/2...453026f0_b.jpgVodice CC-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7451/2...b93fa502_b.jpgVodice CC-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
The coast road is scenic, but by the time we made it to Split it was 38 degrees. We turned off to get up into the hills where is was a blissful 32! We stopped at a local place to roast lamb and a huge fresh tomato salad. We did not have that many Kuna. We asked the waiter if they took visa and when he said no only cash, we said ok but we don’t have that much Kuna….He said “No problem"! In the end we had enough for the lunch.
https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7672/2...aa2671ce_b.jpgVodice CC-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr We then made the last 30 km to our hotel on the water in Vodice. https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7335/2...d1d1b7df_b.jpgVodice CC-6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
Today we have a very short 36 km to get to Biograd (Beograd) na Moru where our Austrian friend Michael was to moor his catamaran tonight. We had a lazy slow start and then did a loop up to the Krka National park.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7460/2...eb9eaa5a_b.jpgScreen Shot 2016-06-26 at 16.55.42 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7373/2...63b3bdd3_b.jpgBeograd CC by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7638/2...f535cb39_b.jpgBeograd CC-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr There are some very cool waterfalls here with calcium formations, but with conversion the park entry is almost 50 Canadian for us and that is too steep. We took a back road into the park th see the lake and the monastery on the island. It was 34 and very humid so we did not take the ferry across either. https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7439/2...27a936ed_b.jpgCroatia-14 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
Arriving to the Marina at Biograd it is a bit of a gong show as the ferry line up and the hordes of German and Austrian sail boat charter people are all trying to access the same area. Luckily when we drove up Michael had just arrived to look for us. Initial we thought he was one of the many guys who flag you down in these towns to see if you want accommodation! Amazingly we found a parking spot in the charter yacht lot and headed to the boat. We did a bit of a trip to one of the small nearby island for some swimming and then went into the old town for dinner with his charter group. We had our own cabin, which was very nice!
https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7406/2...2ceec62d_b.jpgCroatia-22 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7308/2...528ec17c_b.jpgCroatia-23 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7739/2...5bd6a7b4_b.jpgCroatia-15 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7611/2...8ab9161e_b.jpgCroatia-17 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7620/2...e9650cd3_b.jpgCroatia-16 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7429/2...8b8a4af5_b.jpgCroatia-18 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7099/2...de4d1af7_b.jpgCroatia-19 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7373/2...c677f2b9_b.jpgCroatia-20 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7353/2...c4f5692d_b.jpgCroatia-21 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
Today is is a bit cooler and overcast at 30. We are trying to get as far north as we can and planned to go to Pula on the Istrian Peninsula.
https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7571/2...c6a290e8_z.jpgScreen Shot 2016-06-26 at 16.56.58 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr Leaving Beograd we cut cross country to hit the coast road above Zadar. This is a two lane curvy road along the ocean, but even with a fair amount of traffic we made good time. The north coast of Croatia is much less scenic as the islands are very flat and barren. The water is the same amazing clear blue. The traffic got heavier as we neared Istria and we decided to go for the toll road for the last 100 km to save us an hour and a half in the heat. https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7103/2...476588aa_b.jpgPula CC by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7384/2...41d7715f_b.jpgPula CC-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
Pula is famous for the almost intact Roman amphitheatre. The heat is still on us today and we stayed inside until after 6 pm when it did cool off a bit. We did a bit of a tour of the old town, but it is full of tourist shops and “tourist” food restaurants.
“The Pula Arena is the name of the amphitheatre located in Pula, Croatia. The Arena is the only remaining Roman amphitheatre to have four side towers and with all three Roman architectural orders entirely preserved. It was constructed in 27 BC – 68 AD and is among the six largest surviving Roman arenas in the World. A rare example among the 200 Roman surviving amphitheatres, it is also the best preserved ancient monument in Croatia.” https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7402/2...284f8654_b.jpgPula by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7318/2...574e90f5_b.jpgPula-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7374/2...20dc16e0_b.jpgPula-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7283/2...70689ef1_b.jpgPula-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7579/2...c553a284_b.jpgPula by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7457/2...ee8d07b5_b.jpgPula-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7326/2...e1276c15_b.jpgPula-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7371/2...1771da60_b.jpgPula-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
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