Horizons Unlimited - The HUBB - Finding Freedom...World Wide Ride

Horizons Unlimited - The HUBB (https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/)

- Ride Tales (https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/ride-tales/)

- - Finding Freedom...World Wide Ride (https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/ride-tales/finding-freedom-world-wide-ride-65365)

Sometimes the hotel tries too hard to be helpful. Like when they iron your under armour..... :)

https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7707/2...b5b39413_b.jpg Delphi by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

You drive up to the passport control of Albania, where they want your passport and bike title. Here they stamp your passport and cancel the computer TVIP.

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7208/2...57f4c17e_b.jpg Meteora CC by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7397/2...2a552a56_b.jpg Meteora CC-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7271/2...a981e330_b.jpg Meteora CC-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Next there is a short drive to the Greek passport control. They only want your passport here. The agent was so funny when I pulled up beside Dan at the checkpoint he gave me a big thumbs up and said “Sara you are a long way from home”. As he was reviewing our documents he was asking Dan questions about our trip. Then he grinned and said “ clearly you are spies”. Passports stamped back into the Schengen zone. YEAH!

https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7055/2...d59a5f84_b.jpg Meteora CC-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7007/2...a30610ab_b.jpg Meteora CC-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

The last part of the high mountain pass the sign says “drive at your own risk”. Here we saw no oncoming vehicles, there were some rough patches and loose gravel, and at the end a huge step down across the entire road. When we got to the other end it is actually blocked from traffic entering that way.

https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7573/2...8a8a035e_b.jpg Screen Shot 2016-06-05 at 13.03.06 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7018/2...9fbdb6aa_b.jpg Meteora CC-13 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Snowplow station

https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7208/2...3734dd4a_b.jpg Meteora CC-14 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

You can see the rocks of Meteora from about 20 km away. The view is really stunning.

https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7526/2...3df92514_b.jpg Meteora CC-15 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7372/2...ea72ddb7_b.jpg Meteora CC-16 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7390/2...34d9b970bd.jpg Screen Shot 2016-06-05 at 13.06.49 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Our next destination is Delphi, which you could reach in just over 3 hours on the highway. We planned a better route south thru the mountains with a stop in Agrinio. This took us just about 6 hours for 233 km.

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7401/2...26f7a651_z.jpg Screen Shot 2016-06-06 at 19.14.03 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7766/2...59780939_b.jpg Screen Shot 2016-06-06 at 19.14.44 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

I would say for 5 of these hours we saw less then 5 other vehicles on the road.

https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7208/2...eeb12b76_b.jpg Agrino CC by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7419/2...1cefbcdd_b.jpg Agrino CC-6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7328/2...ecea1cc7_b.jpg Delphi-15 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We did see lots of cows, sheep, goats, and debris on the road.

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7792/2...03e76ca8_b.jpg Agrino CC-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7325/2...155c1b29_b.jpg Agrino CC-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7565/2...6c9d2121_b.jpg Agrino CC-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

There was a short dirt road section in the middle, but this is civilized Greece and the road is a road and there was even trash cans out at the end of the driveways for what was obviously routine collection trucks.

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7412/2...d4432810_b.jpg Agrino CC-7 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7340/2...50f33c41_b.jpg Delphi-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7682/2...ed1b8f22_b.jpg Agrino CC-8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We went up and over several mountain passes and past aqua blue lakes.

https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7425/2...fae2841d_b.jpg Agrino CC-12 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7196/2...19ee9f07_b.jpg Agrino CC-13 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7564/2...5d3c0cdb_b.jpg Delphi-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7793/2...f36efac1_b.jpg Agrino CC-14 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We had picked Agrinio not for its appear, but for the great deal on heels here. Our Greek friends say it is the ugliest city in Greece, but it was nice actually.

We had a short 180 km to get to delphi and small village on the side of Mount Parnassus.

https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7668/2...ed42f6a2_b.jpg Screen Shot 2016-06-06 at 17.23.13 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We are headed here to see the 4th century BC ruins of the temple of Apollo. We took the small secondary roads for the first half. Again we saw 1 car. There were some very steep tight switchbacks like a mini Stelvio.

https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7271/2...3fc9de18_b.jpg Delphi CC by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7418/2...249d2f9c_b.jpg Delphi CC-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7743/2...4ffc0cdb_b.jpg Delphi CC-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7036/2...1e3efdce_b.jpg Delphi CC-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7371/2...cbca2dfa_b.jpg Delphi CC-7 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

You will ride thru thousands of olive trees.

https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7347/2...6c710bdf_b.jpg Delphi CC-9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Where else do you ride into Olympic Hotel and really mean it. And of course the family run place is owned by Nick the Greek!

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7719/2...96a63e59_b.jpg Delphi-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7747/2...4b4d5584_b.jpg Delphi-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

“Among the Ancient Greeks, it was a widespread belief that Delphi was the center of the world. According to the myth regarding the founding of the Delphic Oracle, Zeus, in his attempt to locate the center of the earth, launched two eagles from the two ends of the world, and the eagles, starting simultaneously and flying at equal speed, crossed their paths above the area of Delphi. From this point, Zeus threw a stone from the sky to see where it will fall. The stone fell at Delphi, which since then was considered to be the center of the world, the omphalos - "navel of the earth". Indeed, the same stone thrown by Zeus took the same name and became the symbol of Apollo, the sacred Oracle and more generally of the region of Delphi.”

https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7101/2...df46e449_b.jpg Delphi by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7556/2...c518be64_b.jpg Delphi-19 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Archaeological tour of Europe now? Dan I notice someone has stolen the jewels from the statue :thumbup1:

Not long now for beer time :clap:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rondelli (Post 541331)

Archaeological tour of Europe now? Dan I notice someone has stolen the jewels from the statue :thumbup1:

Not long now for beer time :clap:

You know a few things get lots after 2500 years. Yes!!!! So excited to see you guys. GRAPPA!!!!!!!

Today we are headed to Athens to visit our friend Petros who we met on the Faroe Islands last summer. We planned a wandering route on the small roads thru the villages.

https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7417/2...27f69155_b.jpg Screen Shot 2016-06-06 at 20.15.43 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

This went well until about 8 km from Thisvi when Daniel found he had a flat rear tire. We pulled over and took off the wheel.

https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7326/2...d9e673c9_b.jpg Delphi-21 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7714/2...41917fe0_b.jpg Delphi-22 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7238/2...d73a5c62_b.jpg Delphi-23 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

When we took out the “heavy Duty” tube it had a 2 cm rent in it. It looked like a tube failure. We carefully inspected the outside and inside of the tire (especially after last year in Iceland with the burred metal shard when we had to change the tire out twice and patch the second tube).

https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7232/2...d8f85131_b.jpg Delphi-24 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We replaced the tube.

https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7546/2...a49ab44d_b.jpg Delphi-25 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7214/2...614c9283_b.jpg Delphi-26 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We set off but found there was still a slow leak that got progressively more rapid. We were not 1/12 hours from Athens and had to meet our friend in 30 minutes. We filled the tire and drove the 8 km to the village of Thisvi. Luckily there was a gas station for fuel and air. Also luckily the attendant spoke English perfectly and called our friend to let him know we would not be there as expected.

We limped along and stopped every 15 km to pump up the tire and made it to the small city of Thivia.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7329/2...ef81416a_b.jpg Screen Shot 2016-06-08 at 20.07.43 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7099/2...0ca03f6f_b.jpg Screen Shot 2016-06-08 at 20.05.51 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Here we stopped at the first gas station to ask if they knew where we could get a tube for the tire and luckily there was a tire shop 200 meters further up the road. These guys were great and though they had a slightly smaller tube it worked. They were very careful and thorough. Petros the head technician finally found a metal wire barried sideways in the rubber. This had punctured the second tube.

https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7376/2...7391008a_b.jpg Delphi-28 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7130/2...9c08fab1_b.jpg Delphi-29 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7219/2...ee5993d5_b.jpg Delphi-30 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7328/2...b7d1b17f_b.jpg Delphi-27 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Then we had an hour on the toll road to get to Athens.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7722/2...335b02e3_b.jpg Screen Shot 2016-06-08 at 20.07.08 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

The changing of the guards at the parliament. These guys have to preform the routine and then stand there for 5 hours! When we saw them it was 2 am.

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7375/2...c50f1d8c_b.jpg Athens-17 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7640/2...c1a2ee83_b.jpg Athens-8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Riding north we headed to the home of Petros’s parents in Larissa for some traditional Greek cooking and gracious hospitality.

https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7511/2...f54d5fa9_z.jpg Screen Shot 2016-06-14 at 21.34.54 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We booked it half way on the toll road and then got off just before Thermopylae to make a stop at the monuments for the battle of Thermophlae and the monument to Leonidas made famous by the movie “300”.

“Leonidas I who died in 480 BC was a Greek warrior king of the Greek city-state of Sparta. He led the Spartan forces during the Second Persian War, and is remembered for his death at the Battle of Thermopylae. Leonidas was the third son of Anaxandridas II of Sparta, and thus belonged to the Agiad dynasty, who claimed descent from the hero Heracles. A monument to Leonidas was erected at Thermopylae in 1955. It features a bronze statue of Leonidas. A sign, under the statue, reads simply: "ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ" ("Come and take"), which the Spartans said when the Persians asked them to put down their weapons at the start of the Battle of Thermopylae.”

https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7377/2...67dcd806_b.jpg Larissa CC-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7650/2...91a4bfaa_b.jpg Larissa CC by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7358/2...c9778cc8_b.jpg Larissa CC-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7442/2...4346dc87_b.jpg Larissa CC-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

It was all good except for the 45 minutes of pouring rain and several very slick spots with diesel on the road near to Larissa.

We were warmly welcomes by Petros’s parents and fed very well!

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7339/2...02db9d31_b.jpg Detsika by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Now we must head north. We are on a deadline to get to Venice for June 29 th. We are planning to go to Ohrid Macedonia today.

https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7426/2...5bd31fdd_z.jpg Screen Shot 2016-06-14 at 21.43.06 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

“Macedonia, officially the Republic of Macedonia. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia. It became a member of the United Nations in 1993, but, as a result of an ongoing dispute with Greece over the use of the name Macedonia, was admitted under the provisional description the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (abbreviated as FYROM). After the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991, the name of Macedonia became the object of a dispute as the Republic of Macedonia borders the region of Greek Macedonia. Citing historical and territorial concerns resulting from the ambiguity between the Republic of Macedonia, the adjacent Greek region of Macedonia and the ancient kingdom of Macedon which falls within Greek Macedonia, Greece opposes the use of the name "Macedonia" by the Republic of Macedonia without a geographical qualifier, supporting a compound name (such as "Northern Macedonia”). As millions of ethnic Greeks identify themselves as Macedonians, unrelated to the Slavic people who are associated with the Republic of Macedonia, Greece further objects to the use of the term "Macedonian" for the neighboring country's largest ethnic group. The Republic of Macedonia is accused of appropriating symbols and figures that are historically considered parts of Greece's culture (such as Vergina Sun, a symbol associated with the ancient kingdom of Macedon, and Alexander the Great).”

We set out in the sun shine and only had about 15 min of showers today.

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7287/2...7e706763_b.jpg Ohrid by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Arriving to the Greek border we received out EU exit stamp.

https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7250/2...0f87ba79_b.jpg Ohrid-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7323/2...7b549f92_b.jpg Ohrid-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We then drove the short distance to the “Macedonian” border. Here we reported to the Police for the passport check.

https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7449/2...a5fd55b2_b.jpg Ohrid-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7406/2...59a18d82_b.jpg Ohrid-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

The main issue most people have here is they do not want to pay the outrageous price for the insurance. It is 50 euros plus 5 for processing for 15 days (in a country where you might spend 2 days). We really have no choice as the police will not let you in with your EU Green card insurance. Dan was told by the police that the price is too high, but one of the truckers made a few calls to several agencies in Bitola 16 km away and they all quoted the same price. So no shake down just crazy high insurance prices for foreigners. We are not going to Kosovo since it is also 50 Euros for insurance, you can not drive thru kosovo to Serbia, and you may not get into Serbia from Bulgaria if you have a Kosovo stamp in your passport. Serbia does not recognize kosovo as an independent entity. Why can people not just get along! That said the Macedonia’s themselves were very nice and after this short delay we were on our way.

https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7604/2...1f57c9b3_b.jpg Ohrid-7 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We are headed to the capital Skopje (scope- ia) and will take the small roads that follow the lakes and rivers and also traverse the Mavrovo National park.

https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7472/2...ac89ca32_b.jpg Screen Shot 2016-06-15 at 20.19.36 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7129/2...6379ab75_b.jpg Skpoje CC by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7054/2...5fe7d6ab_b.jpg Skpoje CC-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We arrived to the capital, which is actually quite a strange place. The city centre is full of massive and iconic statues, many of which we are not sure how they are connected to Macedonia. The place is either falling apart or half finished. It is a bit like disney on acid. They have created this grandiose city centre when there is not money for this. Many of these “iconic” buildings were not here a few years ago. There is even theme music playing from the lamp posts.

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7735/2...6de61295_b.jpg Macedonia-22 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7264/2...2c6c0e95_b.jpg Macedonia-21 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7605/2...fd2df939_b.jpg Macedonia-23 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7465/2...0228a386_b.jpg Macedonia-20 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7077/2...91f32fbc_b.jpg Macedonia-18 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7312/2...879073ac_b.jpg Macedonia-15 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7386/2...2a3ab247_b.jpg Macedonia-14 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

The politicians caught in a huge scandal were let off and there was a pain ball rebellion 2 weeks ago where they peppered all the government buildings with paint.

https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7067/2...979d64b9_b.jpg Macedonia-19 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7283/2...30c0388e_b.jpg Macedonia-17 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7501/2...5af1c69d_b.jpg Macedonia-16 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Today we are headed to Sofia the capital of Bulgaria in 245 km and the location of the manufacturer of our awesome Bumot luggage.

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7393/2...ee2ee69a_b.jpg Screen Shot 2016-06-15 at 20.29.39 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Leaving the city centre we saw a lot of police checks and machine guns…time to leave. It is a short trip on the toll road out of town to the secondary highway to Bulgaria. We stopped to visit the Saint Joachim Osogovski Monastery that is about 15 km from the border. The small church there has stunning Byzantine decorations.

https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7430/2...bb284f64_b.jpg Macedonia-28 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7420/2...64ee52ee_b.jpg Macedonia-30 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7700/2...5397156f_b.jpg Macedonia-29 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7417/2...d498be3c_b.jpg Macedonia-27 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7557/2...16dfbc75_b.jpg Macedonia-26 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

The exit from Macedonia took a lot longer than the entry. They wanted our passports, title, and green card insurance (not valid in Macedonia), but interestingly not our Macedonian insurance that had cost us 55 Euros. The official was quite gruff as well and he could not figure out why if we had Canadian passports our bike were from Colombia (ie British Columbia)…..

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7285/2...38485877_b.jpg Sofia CC-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7400/2...b22976aa_b.jpg Sofia CC-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Then it is a short ride to the Bulgarian border, where you give your passport and green card to the border police. They made copies and sent us thru to customs. They were searching all the vehicles ahead of us. When we pulled up he pointed to the passports in the top of the tank bag and said “Are you from Canada?” Dan answered yes and he slapped Dan on the back and said “ good for you” and waved us thru.

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7267/2...b2ab36c0_b.jpg Sofia CC-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7305/2...e2a8fe76_b.jpg Sofia CC-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7701/2...e2f50318_b.jpg Sofia CC-6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We then had a direct route to the capital Sofia. Here were are staying at a hostel right next door to the Bumot factory. Arriving at Bumot we were met by the owner Assen, who gave us a tour of the production facilities.

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7068/2...979239d5_b.jpg Bumot Visit-11 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7037/2...0bf5a51f_b.jpg Bumot Visit-9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7115/2...4b60d454_b.jpg Bumot Visit-8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7112/2...b46bf1b8_b.jpg Bumot Visit-6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7402/2...e9268785_b.jpg Bumot Visit-10 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

He spent some time to try to adjust Daniel’s rack that was damaged in the “fuel truck” incident. He put it on the jig to see just how far off the geometry was and then make adjustments to almost like new. That said the pannier that was badly damaged and repaired still id water tight. Just to be safe Assen had the seal replaced on the lid. A huge THANK YOU to Assen and Bumot for all the help and support.

https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7105/2...cd32fddc_b.jpg Bumot Visit by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7269/2...9bf732b8_b.jpg Bumot Visit-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7352/2...15bbcf04_b.jpg Bumot Visit-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7326/2...ec01abe1_b.jpg Bumot Visit-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7358/2...06e58558_b.jpg Bumot Visit-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We will be back to tour the rest of Bulgaria on our way south to Turkey next year and so now we are headed west again. But we had time for a walking tour of the city centre.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7090/2...cf48d7e1_b.jpg Sofia-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7632/2...cc7ae496_b.jpg Sofia-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7583/2...406ac450_b.jpg Sofia-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7747/2...cd53e062_b.jpg Sofia by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We decided to book it the 425 km across Serbia to set us up to spend more time touring Montenegro, southern Boznia, and Croatia in the next 10 days before we have to go to Vancouver for Sara’s brothers wedding. Serbia is HOT and there is terrible traffic as you can see by how close the SPOT dots are it was slow going.

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7606/2...4b8d0754_b.jpg Screen Shot 2016-06-18 at 21.50.05 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flick

It started with an easy 60 km to the border. The Serbian -Bulgarian border is notorious for it’s inefficiency and long line ups. We were not disappointed there were 3 lines of almost 20 cars each. When you pull up to the Bulgarian police border check they exit stamp your passport. They asked to see the title for the bikes and to see our Bulgarian green cards and then we were on our way after 30 min in the hot hot sun.

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7436/2...202ecb07_b.jpg Zalatibor by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7456/2...428b1784_b.jpg Zalatibor-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7452/2...4f0cb8f5_b.jpg Zalatibor-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

The drive to the Serbian border station was a few hundred meters. Here they stamped our passport and briefly looked at the title. She did not ask or seem to care if we had insurance. It is a bit confusing since Serbia is clearly “crossed” off on the front of the green card, but there is an * and on line it says that the green card is now valid in Serbia.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7395/2...c1161213_b.jpg Zalatibor-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7615/2...111d1bbe_b.jpg Zalatibor-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7302/2...b2ea85bf_b.jpg Zalatibor-11 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

The 425 km took over 7 hours. The riding was mostly on the secondary roads and flat and straight and much of it was full of traffic until about 50 km form Zlatibor. This is a small ski town in the mountains.

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7418/2...028e10c3_b.jpg Zalatibor-6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7304/2...daae8469_b.jpg Zalatibor-7 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7401/2...9c9fc047_b.jpg Zalatibor-8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We did not go into the large city of Nis, but stopped for a photo op

https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7421/2...5a8f18fd_b.jpg Zalatibor-10 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7356/2...883ca10b_b.jpg Zalatibor-9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

From Zlatibor we are going south to the closest Montenegro border station. Today we saw what we have not for almost 2 weeks… tons of bikers. We rode south to Novo Varos and then west to Prijepolje. Here it was a bit confusing and luckily we saw sign to follow to Pljevja Montenegro since the road did not look like much and the GPS kept saying make a U turn.

https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7769/2...78405629_z.jpg Screen Shot 2016-06-19 at 21.16.50 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

There is about a km ride to the Montenegro crossing. Here again they just wanted the passports and title and did not ask for insurance documents.

https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7684/2...b04cfdf6_b.jpg Zlabjak-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7401/2...56b0fc5d_b.jpg Zlabjak-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7328/2...93fddaf0_b.jpg Zlabjak-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7492/2...95a09978_b.jpg Zlabjak-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

This is a really great country for riding and most is beautiful except for the mies and nuclear power stations!

https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7245/2...2bf8e5d2_b.jpg Montenegro-7 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

From here we headed south to Kolasin on the main road for 19 km and then took the R18 back to the ski village of Zabljak. The Tara canyon ride is the more famous and is nice, but there is some traffic. The R 18 is much more scenic and we saw about 4 cars.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7312/2...5b3089e1_b.jpg Montenegro-8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7415/2...7d1a621a_b.jpg Montenegro-12 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7713/2...799ebc07_b.jpg Zlabjak-9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7420/2...3632311b_b.jpg Montenegro-13 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7274/2...fde57da7_b.jpg Montenegro-14 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7399/2...61c93943_b.jpg Montenegro-15 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We met these cool dudes on a road trip from Bulgaria!

https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7422/2...02ffa198_b.jpg Montenegro-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7404/2...28f97cdf_b.jpg Montenegro by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We arrived to Zabljak and set up in the hostel. We walked into the village to get some groceries and had a traditional dinner of “mixed grill”. Leaving the restaurant it was lightly raining, but by the time we ran the 2 blocks back it was torrential raining and we were soaked. But it did not last long and with the lack of humidity here our clothes were dry by morning. We woke to a cloudless blue sky.

The plan today is to go about 200 km to Kotor on the coast and this will take at least 5 hours with out stops.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7292/2...27e2e952_z.jpg Screen Shot 2016-06-22 at 16.57.23 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Google will not route to Kotor because of this fun switch back road down the mountain side.

https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7301/2...63d38123a2.jpg Screen Shot 2016-06-22 at 16.58.44 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

The route starts with a high mountain road thru the cathedral mountain of the Dormitor National Park. The views are spectacular. There was very few other vehicles.

https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7086/2...0db415ea_b.jpg Zlabjak-10 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7436/2...4900e96f_b.jpg Montenegro-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7610/2...de3a30c8_b.jpg Montenegro-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7405/2...e74aea50_b.jpg Montenegro-6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Dan likes to ride off to scout photo ops and sometime takes a dirt nap.

https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7091/2...9a417bb2_b.jpg Montenegro by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7333/2...d6bd3666_b.jpg Montenegro-7 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Midway there is beautiful alpine meadows and panoramic view of the mountains.

https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7107/2...ac01795f_b.jpg Montenegro-8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

From there it was a quick 60 km on the “main road”, which is a nice two lane secondary road to us.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7461/2...2a11924e_b.jpg Montenegro-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7464/2...f527859e_b.jpg Montenegro-16 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Here again we exited to the “country or connecting road” south and west from Orlina to Cevo. This is a one lane road on which we saw only 2 other cars the whole way. Cevo is where you join the “main road” again, but there is literally very few cars here too. We dropped into one valley from here on the switch backs on the way to Njegusi.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7292/2...27e2e952_z.jpg Screen Shot 2016-06-22 at 16.57.23 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7342/2...9f6ab2e7_b.jpg Screen Shot 2016-06-22 at 17.06.06 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

From here you head to Zanjev Do and Google will not route from here to Kotor down the sheer mountain side there are more than a dozen switch back to get to the sea side.

https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7584/2...cc424d9eb1.jpg Screen Shot 2016-06-22 at 16.57.59 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7310/2...723f19bd_b.jpg Montenegro-17 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.jpg Screen 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.jpg Screen 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.jpg Croatia 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.jpg Croatia-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7412/2...2fb4974c_b.jpg Croatia-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7390/2...0bfd64b1_b.jpg Croatia-7 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7618/2...3366b80b_b.jpg Croatia-8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7726/2...f9c77894_b.jpg Croatia-9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7570/2...f5fa6be5_b.jpg Croatia-10 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7584/2...8717fd95_b.jpg Croatia-11 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7044/2...679d964e_b.jpg Croatia-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7139/2...48679abc_b.jpg Croatia-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7683/2...7a80048b_b.jpg Croatia 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.jpg Screen 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.jpg Croatia-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7627/2...2a4f1880_b.jpg Croatia by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7610/2...0426fcb5_b.jpg Dubrovnik 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.jpg Mostar 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.jpg Mostar 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.jpg Bosnia 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.jpg Bosnia-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7335/2...fcdbf234_b.jpg Bosnia-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7528/2...022eba84_b.jpg Bosnia-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.jpg Mostar CC-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7298/2...60fe43d1_b.jpg Bosnia 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.jpg Bosnia-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.jpg Bosnia by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7400/2...59bce87d_b.jpg Bosnia-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7396/2...10f2c57f_b.jpg Bosnia-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7438/2...48772f93_b.jpg Bosnia-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7387/2...17fec06e_b.jpg Bosnia-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.jpg Screen 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.jpg Croatia-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.jpg Vodice CC by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7609/2...3254845a_b.jpg Vodice 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.jpg Vodice CC-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7451/2...b93fa502_b.jpg Vodice 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.jpg Vodice 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.jpg Vodice 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.jpg Screen Shot 2016-06-26 at 16.55.42 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7373/2...63b3bdd3_b.jpg Beograd CC by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7638/2...f535cb39_b.jpg Beograd 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.jpg Croatia-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.jpg Croatia-22 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7308/2...528ec17c_b.jpg Croatia-23 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7739/2...5bd6a7b4_b.jpg Croatia-15 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7611/2...8ab9161e_b.jpg Croatia-17 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7620/2...e9650cd3_b.jpg Croatia-16 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7429/2...8b8a4af5_b.jpg Croatia-18 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7099/2...de4d1af7_b.jpg Croatia-19 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7373/2...c677f2b9_b.jpg Croatia-20 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7353/2...c4f5692d_b.jpg Croatia-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.jpg Screen 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.jpg Pula CC by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7384/2...41d7715f_b.jpg Pula 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.jpg Pula by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7318/2...574e90f5_b.jpg Pula-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7374/2...20dc16e0_b.jpg Pula-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7283/2...70689ef1_b.jpg Pula-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7579/2...c553a284_b.jpg Pula by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7457/2...ee8d07b5_b.jpg Pula-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7326/2...e1276c15_b.jpg Pula-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7371/2...1771da60_b.jpg Pula-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Leaving Pula our plan was to get north into the western mountains of Slovakia and then into Italy far enough that we would be in striking distance of Bassano del Grappa to meet our friends Gino and Fiona arriving from Scotland.

https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7441/2...a1b98f8e_z.jpg Screen Shot 2016-06-29 at 18.51.24 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We made it north in Croatia on the secondary roads and then arrived at the long line of traffic snaking to the Slovakian border check. This is because even thought both Croatia and Slovakia are in the EU, Croatia in not in the Schengen zone and so there is passport control to enter Slovakia. This is a minor issue and they scan and stamp your passport, but this does delay the flow of holiday traffic.

There is no check at the Croatian “border”

https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7416/2...e893df71_b.jpg Tolmezzo CC by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Welcome back to the Schengen zone!

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7631/2...83030e0a_b.jpg Tolmezzo CC-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7129/2...dd58a34f_b.jpg Tolmezzo CC-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7314/2...d2155511_b.jpg Tolmezzo CC-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We then drove the 23 km across Slovenia’s link to the sea in a line of caravans and cars for about an hour.

https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7668/2...f56ffe22_b.jpg Screen Shot 2016-06-29 at 18.51.43 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Then it is back into Italy with out a border check and a 63 km drive up to the Border of Slovakia again at Gorizia. From here we snaked out way on the mountain roads north east to Tolmin and then northwest to Zaga. Here you can decide to do one of 2 passes over the mountains and into Italy again for about 380 km. We chose the north route on the Vrsic Pass thru Trenta. This MUST be a good Motorcycle route!!

https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7290/2...b05abc86_z.jpg Screen Shot 2016-06-29 at 18.52.52 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7444/2...d479d6d9_b.jpg Screen Shot 2016-06-29 at 18.53.04 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7460/2...c5b048ed_b.jpg Tolmezzo CC-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We had some dark skies in Slovenia and a smattering of rain for the pass, but in general it was not too bad. The hairpins are about half on each side. On the east they are paved and fairly tight and off camber at times. There was very little traffic. The western curves are bricked, which was a bit slick as they were wet and made for some slower going.

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7458/2...30e61aae_b.jpg Tolmezzo CC-6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7645/2...ac2c1f66_b.jpg Tolmezzo CC-7 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

“The Vršič Pass with an elevation of 1,611 metres (5,285 ft), is a high mountain pass across the Julian Alps in northwestern Slovenia. It is the highest pass in Slovenia, as well as the highest in the Eastern Julian Alps. It connects Upper Carniola with the Trenta Valley in the Slovene Littoral. The road across the pass, known as the Russian Road (Ruska cesta), was built in 1915 for military purposes, to supply the Isonzo front of World War I. The Russian Road rises from Kranjska Gora in a series of 50 hairpin bends, traverses the top of the Vršič Pass, and descends into the Soča Valley. The upper elevations of the road are rendered impassable by heavy snowfall during much of winter.”

https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7460/2...f0fe91f0_b.jpg Tolmezzo CC-8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7484/2...03a721a2_b.jpg Tolmezzo CC-9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7082/2...f01c6ce8_b.jpg Trento by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7282/2...f2734efc_b.jpg Tolmezzo CC-11 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7520/2...6de982c5_b.jpg Tolmezzo CC-10 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7077/2...b89e508b_b.jpg Tolmezzo CC-12 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We gassed up just before the “border” at 1.21 E/l and were happy we did since the station on the Italian side was 1.43 E.

https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7574/2...2d69c352_b.jpg Tolmezzo CC-13 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

The next good thing that happened was that the blue sky and sunshine appeared for the rest of our trip towards Tolmezzo.

https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7321/2...69363750_b.jpg Tolmezzo CC-14 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We drove on the secondary road that essential fell beside and at times right under the elevated toll highway. Our plan was to camp by a small lake near the village of Cavazzo Carnico. The weather cooperated and we set up camp and watched the kite and wind surfers on the lake.

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7247/2...80289179_b.jpg Tolmezzo CC-15 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7211/2...316277be_b.jpg Trento-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We only had 185 km today to get to Basanno del grappa and so we had a nice late start and wandered about on the small village roads.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7335/2...8e24ce8b_b.jpg Screen Shot 2016-06-29 at 18.57.24 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7415/2...6fee2ea3_b.jpg Screen Shot 2016-06-29 at 18.57.46 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Some of the hair pins are a bit of a traffic jam.

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7407/2...4f1d8693_b.jpg Bassano CC by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7266/2...6e34c48f_b.jpg Bassano CC-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We planned to meet our friend here and spend the one night before we fly home for 2 weeks and they head south on their road trip to Sicily. We had been here last year, but that was the day of Dan’s run in with the fuel truck and he was laid up in the hotel.

“Bassano Del Grappa is also famous for inventing the spirit Grappa, traditionally an after-dinner drink made from pomace (discarded grape seeds, stalks, and stems). The city was founded in the 2nd century BC by a Roman called Bassianus. The symbol of the town is the covered wooden pontoon bridge, which was designed by the architect Andrea Palladio in 1569. The bridge was destroyed many times, the last time during WWII. The Alpine soldiers, or Alpini have always revered the wooden bridge and Bassano del Grappa.”

We came across this lake in a nature preserve for the Griffin birds.

https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7358/2...578a6d12_b.jpg Bassano CC-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7556/2...bb8d2f7c_b.jpg Bassano CC-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7255/2...058a68bb_b.jpg Trento-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

I had to stop for to take a picture of the name of this town for obvious reasons!!!

https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7083/2...cdaa5217_b.jpg Bassano CC-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

From here we made a B line to the coast near to venice and the BMW dealership, which is also only 4 km from our hotel. The swing arm bearing is squeaking and in the end only needed grease. The front wheel bearings also needed to be replaced.They agreed to do the work and then then store it for us for 2 weeks. The hotel, which is very near the airport agreed to store the 800 inside a garage with the rest of our gear.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7354/2...7ab1fc14_b.jpg Screen Shot 2016-06-29 at 19.03.52 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

The best thing about getting here today was that waiting in our room was a gift from Frey Daytona! They have sent me a new pair of Daytona Ladystar GTX with a custom Daytona sole to make my short inseam taller! The original hand made boots have a 6 cm elevation built in, but they added an additional 2cm for me in the sole! I will be comfortable, dry and flat footed! Thank you SO MUCH Frey Daytona! Your boots are the best gear I own and I never ride without them.

https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7094/2...f81dc56d_b.jpg Daytona by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7089/2...a3e5a470_b.jpg Daytona by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7405/2...8256dbff_b.jpg Daytona-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Glad you guys are back on the road!! Gives me something to do during my slack periods at work:D
Great photo's as always...... Walk tall Sara :thumbup1:

Gino & Fiona

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rondelli (Post 543881)

Glad you guys are back on the road!! Gives me something to do during my slack periods at work:D
Great photo's as always...... Walk tall Sara :thumbup1:

Gino & Fiona

Yes but slacking on the RR. You are the only one who reads it I think anyway!! I see the rest of your road trip went well ....except the rain and the moto Guzzi issues of course!! You came back home to real summer in Scotland. Amazing...we will have to come back. Hope to see you guys soon. SP

Garry and Ivonne put there sticker on the same pole in the Watson Lake sign forest (totally by accident) as we did 4 years ago!

https://c5.staticflickr.com/9/8086/2...f8b0fc39_b.jpg 13728534_852891824846504_43915365_o by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Arriving back to Venice it was like Christmas in July as we had a special delivery from Bumot Motorcycle luggage in Bulgaria! Finally got to put our rather large collection of stickers on too! So stoked to have the newest luggage system from Bumot!

https://c4.staticflickr.com/9/8784/2...6af97962_b.jpg 13726747_901531606618141_6445099799375871918_n by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c2.staticflickr.com/9/8716/2...951bc1d9_b.jpg Stickers by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We picked up the 650 from BMW. They found that the front wheel bearings needed to be replaced and that the swing arm bearings just needed lubrication to fix the noise. They did a great job at Motorsport SRL Mestre. Thanks so much to Gigi the head mechanic who speaks English perfectly and helped us so much with translation. He is also super excited about his Choral group.

https://c3.staticflickr.com/9/8634/2...299eb779_b.jpg Pusteria giugno 2016 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c5.staticflickr.com/9/8123/2...d22fcaa3_b.jpg Sfilata palio 2016 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Today we are going north again thru the Italian Dolomites and our original plan was to stop in Lienz Austria just over the border, but we arrived there at just after 2 pm and decided to press on to Zell am See and go over the Glossglockner pass.

https://c4.staticflickr.com/9/8654/2...107b3af2_z.jpg Screen Shot 2016-07-20 at 21.02.21 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c7.staticflickr.com/9/8824/2...1e7ea5a4_z.jpg Screen Shot 2016-07-20 at 21.07.07 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

“The Grossglockner High Alpine Road is the highest surfaced mountain pass road in Austria. It connects Bruck in the state of Salzburg with Heiligenblut in Carinthia via Fuscher Törl and Hochtor Pass at 2,504 m (8,215 ft). The road is named after the Grossglockner, Austria's highest mountain. “

The weather there yesterday was poor, today’s forecast is cloudy, but not rainy and for tomorrow may or may not be better (or worse). We decided to go for it in case the weather is poor and we miss the iconic road that Jeremy Clarkson from Top Gear said was “The best driving road in Europe”. We also planned to meet fellow rider Mario (Tradex56), who has followed our RR on ADV since the beginning. He posted to the RR that he had been sorry to see we had ridden very close to his home on our way to Bassano del Grappa. It was Fantastic of him to ride the 100 km to meet us for a coffee in Cortina d’ Ampezzo.

We rode north from Venice on the SS 13 until Treviso and then made for the even smaller roads thru Pieve di Soligo and over the Boldo pass to Trichiana. Here there are a number of run of the mill switchback, but as you come towards what looks like a dead end you can see a ladder of switchbacks in tunnels that go up the mountain side. It is a one way at a time system controlled by traffic lights.

https://c5.staticflickr.com/9/8755/2...cd830e87_b.jpg Zell Am See CC by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c6.staticflickr.com/9/8707/2...60e72006_b.jpg Zell Am See CC-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c6.staticflickr.com/9/8817/2...03737b00_b.jpg Zell Am See CC-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c8.staticflickr.com/9/8383/2...f37230d1_b.jpg Zell Am See CC-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

I to have followed your travels since the beginning and have enjoyed every post. Your desriptive accounts of your travels have been exceptional. Your Pictures have been magnificient and breathtaking. Will continue looking for your future post to see what's around the next curve in the road.

Hey Guy's, Friday morning, work:thumbdown:, thats cheered me up for the rest of the day, keep on rocking! The 6300 doing the biz there Dan :thumbup1:
Party at Bert & Laurenne's tomorrow, taking the chair so we can carry more beer!!
Gino & Fiona

Quote:

Originally Posted by lectron (Post 544293)

Thanks so much! Stay tuned as we go way east over the "edge of darkness" Cheers S&D

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rondelli (Post 544298)

Wish WE were going to Bert and Laurenne's too! You would need to take the car for enough beers and Whiskey for all of us then!!! Miss you both. See you soon we hope.