searching for old monuments in eastern europe
 

Starting in mid-August I am going on a motorcycle trip from my home in in southern France to explore former Yugoslavia and other Balkan countries. I will be driving through parts of Switzerland,Italy, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Albania, and Greece.

The purpose of my trip is two-fold. Firstly, to visit or explore soviet-era monuments, namely "spomeniks" but also abandoned villas, hotels, factories, and military bases. Secondly, I want to spend a few days at a time in the cities along the Adriatic Coast, primarily in Croatia but in Montenegro, and Greece as well.

I have not yet decided what I will do once I arrive in Greece. I may travel the country a little or I will head straight to Corfu. From Corfu I will take a ferry to Brindisi, Italy and drive up through the country and back home to Southern France.

This is a leisurely trip. I am not planning on rushing nor do I have a firm deadline. If I should fall in love with a particular locale along the coast I may well set up my hammock and stay a week or so.

As regards accommodation, I will be staying in youth hostels or airbnbs while in cities. I am looking into couchsurfing but I am new to the site and so do not know how feasible it will be to find hosts. For my more rural stops I will camp or set up shop in the derelict rooms of abandoned 4-star hotels (I am very excited about this).

This is an image of my itinerary to date:
https://imgur.com/a/SSAP0Ct
https://imgur.com/a/SSAP0Ct


I am 26, male, and French-American. I recently returned from an 8-year stint in Boston, USA, where I studied and worked. On an extended trip prior to getting job #2. If my trip is of interest to you, please send me a message or comment below as I appreciate good company and the stories of more traveled individuals.

I would love to have the GPS coordinates of these monuments and abandoned structures you have found if at all possible! Looks like I might be heading back to Eastern Europe from Turkey because Georgia is still closed... It would be great to meet up and share the trail as well! Thanks man [emoji2509][emoji100][emoji91]

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Sounds like a great trip. I can't help much with Soviet-era monuments, however good luck with that. re the second objective: I suggest visiting Trogir, Split, Dubrovnik, and also taking the time to go the lakes at Plitvice. There's an interesting castle at Klis, in the hills above Salona, which is worth a visit. We haven't been to the Adriatic coast of Greece however if you're going to be in Greece Athens is worth visiting. Have a look at
https://alanymarcemoreexploration.bl...f-tie-and.html for some ideas in Croatia and Slovenia. If you're heading from Austria to Slovenia and Croatia then I guess you're not planning on Czechia, Hungary, or Slovakia, however if you had more time (and interest) there's a lot to enjoy.


So, when do you plan to visit Eastern Europe (none of the countries you plan to visit on this trip is in Eastern Europe, at least not in the UN Geoscheme)?

Quote:Originally Posted by gnarlynate
I would love to have the GPS coordinates of these monuments and abandoned structures you have found if at all possible


Soviet area monuments and Abandoned structures databases
I have some data- email me if interested
and tell me how you want to use it- format / proximity alarms etc etc

Sure thing!

Hit me up and let's see what you got! Hopefully we can meet up in a month or two and check some of this stuff out together [emoji91][emoji1631][emoji100]

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will do- edit your post and remove your email to avoid spamming chop chop
what format do you need?
as for meeting up errrm I'm on the other side of the NAO!

Couldn't tell from your itinerary but Zeljava air force base is well worth a visit, amazing cold war military installation carved into the side of a hill. Strictly speaking it's illegal to visit but many people do and I've never heard of police turning up. However, I'd advise against camping there - the concrete bits are fine but there are landmines in some of the grassy parts.

https://www.facebook.com/motosunburn...type=3&theater

Elsewhere in your itinerary, Split and Dubrovnik are lovely towns but totally ruined by the crowds of tourists and tat shops. Sibenik, Trogir and Zadar are much nicer to visit.

Hi,

Haven't checked your route, but just for the info most of the "spomenik" or old bases/premises are inland so you will miss most of them if you just take the coastal ride.

We're located in Zagreb, providing support for global overlanding community (cold beer and chat are always available in our office), so if you want to get specific info you can reply here, PM me or email us at info@lobagola-mototours.com .

Loads of nice "spomenik" locations are also in Bosnia as well mostly in the mountainous locations.

Are you planing to ride some non paved roads or only paved ones?

BR
Dooby

the base is on my list of places to go. someone else had forewarned me regarding the landmines. as i do not want to go *boom* i will not be camping there.

thanks for the other recs.

My route has me going to Zagreb from eastern Slovenia. I will come ask questions & enjoy a beer when I am in the city, thank you for the info. I check out a few spomeniks in Croatia & Bosnia before getting onto the coast. Lots of zig zags.

Most of my itinerary is on paved roads. Haven't planned on using unpaved but I could if I wanted to.

I'm interested in this as well. I sent you a contact request. Thanks!

Have you set off?
 

You said you were leaving mid August, have you? I hope to get to Italy, Sicily, in early October but at the moment going back to UK is a quarantine job. Could go on to Greece, could ..???

www.atlasobscura.com has lot of interesting and quirky sites worldwide. Including gps coordinates