Balkan Adventure
Welcome to Cindy and James, Doris and Patrick, David, Seth and Nolan from the US and also to Birgit and Dieter who traveled from Germany to the Balkan Adventure Tour.
The first day on the bike! We leave the hotel in Zagreb on time at 9 a.m. and drive towards the Slovenian border in Bregana. Over small winding roads, through the Zumberak National Park and the Samobor Mountains. A photo stop at a Greek Catholic neo-Byzantine church was of course a must. We then continued through Karlovac, along the Korana River to Slunj, where we had our lunch break. Afterwards heading straight to the hotel and then to the famous Plitvice Lakes. A successful first day on the bikes followed by sightseeing in Plitvice National Park. Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
Today we cross the first border on our journey, from Croatia to Bosnia and Herzegovina. As soon as we have driven a few kilometers in this country, we can already see the differences. Minarets instead of church towers. Through the Una National Park along the river of the same name, we drive through a long valley with wonderful curves. After the lunch break which we had in Jajce right by the river, we continue towards Sarajevo. The last few kilometers are done on the highway and a long day of driving with almost 400 km comes to an end. A quick dinner and then everyone is tired and happy to be back at the hotel. Tomorrow is a “rest day”. Let's see who sticks to it and leaves the bike behind :-).
Our route today takes us back into Kosovo to the city of Prizren. The clouds are already hanging low in the early morning and it looks like rain. It starts just in time for the start of our tour. Liquid sunshine. And today we have the so-called “100 km winding route” ahead of us. Anyway, rain gear on and off we go. But bad weather should not be the only issue today. The first stop after 10 km: a GS with a flat rear tire at the side of the road. Dieter had picked up a piece of metal somewhere along the way and it was now 2 cm deep in the tire. The cut is so big that the tire cannot be repaired on the spot. So we unload the replacement bike and our friend Dieter can continue the journey on a new bike. The rest of the journey is then only marred by the bad weather and we arrive at the hotel in Prizren later than planned. Hopefully the sun will shine again tomorrow....
Unfortunately, it started to rain during the night. The bikes are wet and the way out of the hotel and out of Sarajevo is anything but fun. Lots of traffic and rain, things that bikers don't like at all. But shortly after Sarajevo in the mountains towards Montenegro, the road became dry and by the first coffee stop it has stopped raining. We ride along lonely roads towards the border and cross it in Durmitor National Park. Here and there we are still caught by a short rain shower and it could be a few degrees warmer. We climb to an altitude of almost 2000 m and cross the Prevoj Sedlo pass. We then cross the Tara Gorge and follow the seemingly endless bends to our destination for the day in Kolasin.
After a hearty breakfast at our tour hotel, today's motto was: from Montenegro through Kosovo to Albania. This meant crossing two borders. What's more, in Kosovo you have to buy extra insurance for each vehicle at the border. Paperwork and time.... After all the formalities were completed, we first drove out of the mountains towards Peje. It's amazing what's going on on the roads here. Vehicles of all kinds, lots of pedestrians, dogs, all on the road at the same time, coming from all sides. Crazy, but somehow it works. In Albania, things quietened down again and the landscape became wilder. Some of our participants had enough after driving over two mountain passes and the border crossings and turned off to the hotel in Bajram Curri. The rest of the group wanted to explore the Valbona valley and covered another 50 km. However, these extra kilometers were worth it. We drove to the end of the valley and explored a rugged, water-carved valley in the Albanian mountains. Tired but satisfied, we drove back to the hotel and are already looking forward to what tomorrow will bring. You guessed it - we're going to another country again...
Another border crossing was on our list today. We want to go to North Macedonia. But first a city tour of Prizren is on the program. Rather involuntarily, as our tour guide had a few problems with his navigation system. If you only take one wrong turn ... But after exploring one or two (or was it more ?) side streets, we did manage to get out of the city :-) Our first destination today was not far away from Prizren, namely the old Serbian Orthodox monastery of the Holy Archangels. The monks gave us a warm welcome and even provided us with a guide who gave us a wonderful explanation of the history of the monastery. At the end, we were invited for an espresso and could have spent many more hours telling stories, but we had to keep going. The next highlight, after driving through green forests bend after bend, was the colorful mosque in Tetovo. Built around 1345 and renovated in 1833, we were able to admire the beautiful wall and ceiling paintings inside the mosque. We then drove through the Mavrovo National Park, along the lake of the same name, until we arrived at our destination for the day, Lake Ohrid, The road in the afternoon was just amazing. Endless curves. Fantastic. Tomorrow, for once, we will stay in the same country (North Macedonia) and do not cross any borders.
Once again we had to cross a border. Today we were going from Macedonia to Serbia. No problem for the bikes, but our support vehicle had to do an extra lap. Once everyone was in Serbia, we visited the Prohor Pcinjiski monastery. A Serbian Orthodox monastery from the 11th century. Then we continued towards Lake Vlasina, where we had our lunch break. It's worth mentioning that one of the bikes had a few problems this morning.However with friendly support from the neighborhood, we were able to fix it, at least provisionally.
We spent last night in a hotel just above Lake Ohrid which is the largest lake in Macedonia and lies quietly and peacefully in front of us in the morning under a cloud of mist. After a nice breakfast in our tour hotel we drive up to St. John's Church and admire the ancient buildings with the lake in the background. We stay in Macedonia today and don't cross a border until tomorrow. We drive through the mountains between Lake Ohrid and Lake Prespa and use the highway on the last few kilometers towards Skopje to get to the capital faster. A little more sight seeing in the old town of Skopje and it's time for dinner again.
Today we have planned to get acquainted with the longest European river. But let's start from the beginning, the first kilometers were spent leaving the second largest city in Serbia. So we left the busy city of Niš in order to find a quiet place to sit with a coffee, which we managed to do after about 1.5 hours. Next, we continued to the famous cascade called Iron Gate, which welcomed us with a short rain shower, but it did not diminish the beauty of the Danube river. Subsequently, we continued against the current and as they say: "Water always finds a way" and for us the Danube found beautiful winding roads all the way to the capital Belgrade.
Today we had two nice places in our tour book to take a break: in the morning we stopped at the Petrovaradin fortress directly opposite Novi Sad and above the Danube. Then we continued more or less parallel to the Danube to the Croatian border. The last border crossing on our Balkan tour. In Ilok we had lunch in one of the oldest wine cellars in Croatia. Very rustic and great food. Unfortunately, the rest of the day was not so nice. Soon after the lunch break, heavy thunderstorms rolled in and we had to stop several times to protect ourselves from lightning and heavy rain. Soaked and very tired, we arrived very late at the hotel, but fortunately we were able to get something to eat.
All good things must come to an end, and it won't be different on our adventurous journey through the Balkans. Today's last day was marked by the union of the old with the new. Old roads with new ones, old architecture with new ones, but last but not least, old memories with new ones. That's why we initially planned a visit to the royal stable from the time of Maria Theresa in the Baroque style, where we had the opportunity to see old and new carriages, older stallions and foals. The next stop was the museum of the Holocaust and the historical train with a steam locomotive, which witnessed the transport of more than eighty thousand people. After a joint minute of silence, we continued to more than 120-year-old wooden houses on the banks of the Sava River, which also led us to the penultimate destination - the fortress in the city of Sisak, from where we continued along modern roads and posts to the beautiful Antunovič Hotel in the capital city of Zagreb. Our adventurous journey through the Balkans ends, but the new friendships of the participants begin, and we wish everyone many happy returns to the home garage.