Sarajevo, Bosnia – 405 Km

We knew last night there was potential for rain today and that is what we had. It was raining heavily when we got up but as the schedule is set with no leeway for delays, off we went making an early start in the deluge due to the distance to be covered today. This rain persisted until about 10:00 with temperatures dropping to 4.5 C at one point.



Our first stop was the Croatian customs followed by the Bosnia customs – exit then entry to all countries requires two stops with the inspection stations only a few meters apart. Only comment was “Canadian”. Three countries in three days!

After everyone and our support vehicle were cleared we made our way to our first stop at Bosanski Petrovac for coffee. Bosnia coffee was what was recommended. We didn’t try it as we are not coffee drinkers but it was served in a very small copper pots and was poured into a very small cup with a sugar cube in the bottom. It looked thick and dark. They all seem to enjoy it. Looked pretty high test to me.

Our next stop was a bit of muddy off road travel to view Titov Voz (Tito’s train) and have a history lesson on Yugoslavia and the causes of the wars and way the new countries were formed.  After that it was back on the bikes - the rain had stopped so we were able to get rid of the rain gear and made our way to our lunch stop at Livno where we actually had lunch sitting outside in the sun, though it was a little breezy. We tried a Bosnia dish called Burek, which is very much like spanakopita in a roll but served with a drink of yogurt.

Our ride most of the day was through farmland where we saw several sheep herds with the herder and their dogs. Also lots of signs of the destruction from the war, roofs gone, bullets holes in sides of buildings, etc. For a good part of the afternoon we had mixed sun and clouds and the sun actually warmed us up a bit. We stopped at a reservoir for pictures and then away again. We were supposed to stop for an afternoon coffee break but as it had already been a long day with the rain we all opted to just keep going to Sarajevo.

The ride into the city was interesting as the traffic got busier. At one point we passed a retirement complex that had been bombed. Gave you a pretty good idea how scary it all must have been.  Matej, the tour guide, tried to keep us all together but us and Ken and Cynthia got cut off by a bus and weren’t able to catch up to the group. We had a bit of an idea where the hotel was using the GPS but missed the turn off up an alley to the hotel so took the next turn and found ourselves riding through the city market past signs reading “No Motorized Vehicles” as it seemed to be the only “road” close that we thought we could get back from. Doug kept revving the engine to keep people aware we were coming and they were good about getting out of our way (the 6 cyl engine has a nice howl to it). After a few turns we found ourselves on a cobbled sidewalk that we were able to follow, again people moving out of the way, until we could bump down onto the road. It all made a good story but had the guide worried as he and the sweeper got out on the bikes to try and find us.

Dinner tonight was in a small Bosnia restaurant and consisted of cevapcici, supposedly the national dish of Bosnia. It is made of small sausages with creamy cheese and pita bread and a salad very similar to Greek salad. It was quite good.

We have been going through vegetable withdrawal. All the menus here have lots of meat choices but come with no vegetables.

Tomorrow we have a rest day and will take a tour of the city of Sarajevo.