Albania

Our route out of Montenegro is a backdoor road to a small border crossing at Muriqan and we literally had to take a goat trail again to accomplish this task. Along the way the road turned to gravel, donkey’s had broken their tethers and were wandering around, and close to the border, Montenegrins’ were displaying Albanian behavior by dumping their trash and rubble just off the road into Albania.

Now Albania was a communist dictatorship for quite a while and it’s apparent that everything was very poor. The road network was terrible and according to some most travelled by horse and cart. In fact we saw a lot of horse and cart traffic still. Our friends Mike and Ruby reported terrible roads in 2006 when they went through, but some recent reports were more favorable so we had picked a route and wanted to get to southern Albania in 1 day. On entering the country some of the first practices I saw were farmers dumping animal manure into a water source just outside Skhoder. They dumped it there because the road facilitated an easy dump of an embankment.

Next, chaos on the roads. As we drove people had pretty much disregarded any rules of the road, vying for position whether they were in their lane, you were in front or behind or were going to turn.

We were told about the great A1 roadway, a stretch of autobahn road that would take us quickly to Tirane. That was true for what was still in place but some is damaged to the point people are now driving down the other side where they can find passage. And on our side I was travelling at 110 kph when a pothole opened up and I could do nothing to avoid it. It was so jarring I worried about damaging a rim, fortunately that didn’t happen.

As we looked off to the side both of us saw the same thing, an eastern European Morocco in many practices. When we stopped 2 gypsy children came out of nowhere ( maybe a pothole) and began pestering us for food. We had by this point decided to actually drive through so we were sharing 1 banana and a granola bar that was our ‘lunch’ at 3:45 pm. So we weren’t about to give it away.

Everywhere you looked you could see they dumped their garbage into gullies, and there were many ½ built or vacant buildings all over. One industry that has cropped up is the Car Wash (Lavange). Borne from all the exotic cars that have surreptitiously found their way to Albanian shores , there is a need to wash them, since half of all roads are gravel and ½ the people who live adjacent to these roads under construction turn a garden hose onto their stretch so that they can keep dust down, so you go wet, dry wet dry for miles and miles. The bike is  filthy at the moment.

Just outside Vlore we were told by a local that the new road SH4 was new and good so we decided to take it to Girokaster and then perhaps go down to Sarande that way. Well about 45 kms into the 130 km stretch the road turned to gravel, then worse, like an Alberta forestry road after washouts, then worse with trucks there to repair them hung up or broken down in the middle preventing larger vehicles from getting by without falling off an embankment or hitting the vehicle that was stuck. Honestly it was that bad. We picked our way through, encouraged by small amounts of pavement that only left us in 4-500 meters. In fact some of the drop offs were so bad I nearly hung the bike up on them, and then you would get 6-8” high ridges running parallel to your direction but squeezing you off the road unless you jumped them, which we did. By Girokaster (110 kms) we decided we had had enough of Albanian hospitality and would head instead over the border into Greece, which we did. Originally a 410 km day turned into 500 plus kms, and easily ½ on gravel or broken roads.

We have now since been rewarded by heading quickly this morning down a beautiful high mountain Greek road to the shores of Kanali near Pervaza, where we have an idyllic 4 star hotel on the beach with everything imaginable including a Greek breakfast for 55 E. We could never leave!

View from our 4 star hotel outside Pervaza

Montenegro

Pivaska Canyon Road, near Durmitor NP

After watching the weather, and taking a rain day in Sarajevo we decided to head for the Pivaska canyon road. The forecast was for it to get better as the day aged.

The route takes a high pass over some mountains toward Foca and it was here we encountered some rain, with it quitting after we came down the pass from the top. Well prepared for it, the rain was of no bother at all and by Foca I installed our helmet cam for what lay ahead. The road from Foca to the Montenegro border does become a goat trail, complete with goats and a herder, which we hadn’t seen since the French Alps in 2011.

The border crossing was one of the easiest yet, complete dispelling a number of  comments written by some on the H U site, one specifically about the Eco-tax, and another that EU insurance doesn't cover Montenegro. Now the fun began. A warning on the highway to drive carefully.

Well the Pivaska Canyon route follows a canyon to Niksic and along the way goes through about 100 tunnels. As I watched the video briefly to get to tunnel 47, a spectacular hole in the rock that then there is a tunnel bored into lower, I was pleased that we had put up with the gravel in sections leading to the border.

The ride into Niksic was otherwise uneventful and after a break we decided to head to Oshrog Monastery, an Orthodox monastery built into the mountain and containing to large cave

Oshrog Monastery

openings within it.

This road proved a challenge with its twisty back route nature but we were up and back down in likely 1 ½ hrs. total and then onto Pervast.

Now Pervast had been recommended to us as a good place to stay from a location standpoint, which we agree with, but the accommodation there leaves a lot to be desired. We finally settled on the Hotel Admiral, just because it was the only clean place in town. There was a Konoba close by that we ate at that was very good though, the waiter grilling my chicken fillets on the open charcoal that the “lamb under bell” was also available on.

Bay of Kotor

Today, we spent a lazy morning getting ready, then headed into Kotor, an old walled city and another WHS ( of course). Actually there was a scene in the James Bond movie Casino Royale that had the Chief of Police of Montenegro arrested for drug charges. It was filmed in the square just after entering the old walled city. Since our friends Rick and Debbie will be here in a couple of weeks on a Cruise ship we wanted to get a report together for them. They should really enjoy the day trip there.

Casino Royale Scene

We then headed on to our destination for the day, another 25 kms away,  Sveti Stefan, an Adriatic Sea based beach town where we will get a chance to soak up some rays for a couple of days before tackling the roads of Albania. Stay tuned for more fun. Our B&B is Villa Drago, another excellent choice by Sandra.

View from our Balcony Sveti Stefan

View from our Window in Perast

Without a doubt our 2 days at Sveti Stefan and Villa Drago were top notch. We had room #3 which provided a great view over the Adriatic, and the small island which has now become private. The Villa Drago  is run by a family and they could not do enough for you. At one time we left our room to buy some stuff for breakfast the next day and when we came back they advised us they had a workman in the room fixing the bathroom door which wasn’t working. They offered us wine and beer and a seat on their patio. So while we waited a couple of Scotland came by and took a room so we were speaking with them about their travels. At 28 yrs, they had traveled a lot. The staff then brought out 8 puff icing sugar desserts, small like a donut, and served them to us for the delay as well. They were utterly fantastic. We were sad to have to leave there but Albania needs crossing.

Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina Food

Mixed Grill Meal in Mostar at Hindan Han

OK, let’s talk something more uplifting like food.

One of the things we love about travel is the opportunity to try the cultural ethic foods of the regions. Here in Croatia (Hrk) and Bosnia i Herzegovina (BiH), they have many Slavic cultural dishes.

In Rovinj, Sandra was the first to try Cevapi,

Cevapi

which is sausage like shaped small meats of a mixture generally of beef and lamb mixed, (shaped by hand) and grilled. It was very good, and while I had an excellent Italian pasta dish, Sandra always shares so I learned to like this as well and have had it since.

In Mostar  we tried  two dishes on subsequent evenings, the first a mix of meats from Bosnia (this was what was left on the shared plate after we both helped ourselves) and secondly a mixed Bosnian dish called Mostar Servrhan, which was cabbage rolls with a minced meat filling (called Japrak), stuffed peppers, cevapi and potatoes. It was absolutely excellent and very reasonably priced.

Japrak

Bosnian (pervakas) bakeries sell a great snack food called Burek which can be a pastry filled with lamb meat, spinach, or a goat’s cheese which is slightly sour, almost like cottage cheese. It can be had for breakfast, lunch or a snack and if very reasonable priced.

Burek

And today in Sarajevo, afraid that I was going to miss my “grilled meat” meal,

Spit roasted lamb with sauerkraut and burek and bread

as we drove back from the Tunnel museum I spotted a grill, a ½ block walk from our Pension, so we just headed over there and had a dish very similar to this, it included sauerkraut with spicy peppers ( amazing), burek, grilled lamb, and bread with huge beers, the only way to eat this dish. 

Sarajevo

Sarajevo in Mourning

Sarajevo is located high up in the mountains of Bosnia Herzegovina and was the host of the 1984 Winter Olympics. 

Sarajevo is not a stranger to tragedy. The first occurred June 28, 1914 when the Archduke Ferdinand and his wife Sophia of the Hapsburg Empire were assassinated by a Bosnian nationalist, and this started WW1. The tragedy that surrounded the Balkan war started when Marshal Tito died in 1980. Until that time he had held the Union of Slavic Countries (Yugoslavia) together with his brand of politics but after that others had Nationalistic ideas and by 1991 the countries were unraveling.

First a picture of the Latin bridge where the assassination took place, and the plaque  of remembrance.

Latin Bridge

The Siege of Sarajevo became the longest in modern warfare lasting from April 1992 to February 1996 when 13000 Bosnian Serb soldiers surrounded the city and reduced its people into medieval practices where the water source from the brewery (PIVO) was the only source of drinking water.

WW I plaque

Excellent Beer here

Click on image to enlarge

Here you will see a map that depicts the area under siege (remember you can click on any image to enlarge it) and the window (a tunnel) to freedom, dug in 1993 under the airport runway. The UN forces (loosely speaking) maintained the airport runway as a common area between the occupying Serb’s and the Bosnian’s. Unfortunately they lit the airport at night so there was no way Bosnians could flee to safety, therefore the tunnel became a necessity.

Entrance

Remember there was no water, electricity or heat in the city for over 4 years. The guide who spent time with us at the museum was born in 1992, is Muslim, and still gets very choked up with every explanation she provides. There was no currency during this period of time, save packages of cigarettes.  Anyone could use the tunnel but they had to get permission first which could take up to a month and when they returned they wore packs of food stuffs that could weigh close to 150lbs in total. No alcohol, fuel or other things that could influence a black market were permitted.

Mother of Sarajevo Freedom

This lady provided her home as the terminus for the tunnel and provided every person who crawled through a glass of water. She is 86 and still alive today. Her name is not provided.

Today the city is still recovering with many burned out buildings still hoarded off, many occupied structures still bullet riddled and pock marked from the artillery of that war. It can be a daily reminder to many of what transpired only 20 years ago.

Inside Markale Mkt.

The Markale square massacre of late 1995 caused President Clinton to intercede and send bombing missions in to break the siege. These war crime trials bear a striking resemblance to the WWII trials. We walked through the Markale and there is a small commemorative plaque of the people who died that day.

Markale Plaque

During the siege it was unsafe to venture outside most of the time and with so many dead a central city park was converted out of need to a cemetery. 

Straddles Olympic Way

Exterior of Tunnel House

One picture is of the park converted to a cemetery and the other of a cemetery that straddles both sides of the road out to the Olympic Stadium.

Park to Cemetary

WAR, What is it good for? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!! (Credit Edwin Starr and Motown Records))

Stari Most at Night

Our travel down the Croatian coast ended with us travelling the short distance from Sibenik to Trogir, a small island city, famous as a Venetian outpost and surviving The Plague due to its isolation. A pretty little place that we had visited in 2006 with Pat and Belinda but Sandra didn’t remember so we returned. Our memory of this place will now be, in addition to the scenery,  the fabulous meal we had at “Kristian’s Pasta’ a trip advisor rated place in the old town that was great. And we were treated very well with a free appetizer and a free liqueur after supper. Just splendid!

Venetian island of Trogir, Croatia

But the theme of this entry is about War isn't it?  

"War" a song by Edwin Starr circa 1970

Back in 2006 when we visited Croatia, we had heard one version of the truth about how the 1991 war started. 

And it was true in the small detail we heard, which was that the Bosnian’s entered Croatia at Plitvice Lakes and occupied it, as a Croatian National park symbolizing the takeover of the country. 

But there was more to the story, and Rick Steve has some good information in his guide book on the break-up of Yugoslavia. His entry link is here. https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/understanding-yugoslavia

From the Battle Ground - A true Story

In 2009 when sailing in the Broughton archipelago we met Zorana McDaniel, who was from Bosnia and escaped on the last plane out of Sarajevo, leaving

Bullet holes
evident today
1 block from our Pension

her husband and father behind to face the war. When escaping through a tunnel under the airport she and her toddler son were confronted by an elderly set of grandparents who held an infant child in their arms and pleaded with her to take the child to safety with her on the plane. 

Without knowing them; the child, or who would claim the infant when she got to safety, she undertook that selfless act. 

The sadness in her eyes and face as she told us that story which likely saved that child’s life, showed us that we didn’t know the damn story at all. 

Soon after Sandra and I would both read the book, ‘The Cellist of Sarajevo’, an amazingly well written novel by a Canadian author about the experiences during the Balkan war. If you haven’t read it you must. Its viewpoint is through the eyes of a sniper, and an old man, and the Will of a cellist who plays every day at noon in Sarajevo regardless of the consequence. 

Please see our Italian friend Mauro’s video footage on the tunnel in Sarajevo.  It is extremely well done. http://youtu.be/S9lsT3tNWVI

So here we are first in Mostar, whose famous landmark the ‘Stari Most’ bridge was bombed several times and finally destroyed 09.11.1993. Yes another 9/11.

Mostar by Day

Equally tragic for the people here. As we watched the home shot video footage of the bombing of the bridge , see footage here, https://youtu.be/_5tTbXAQ4uA?si=RldCntFNpyR9PnC- we were repulsed by the sheer stupidity of the action, which served nothing more than to demoralize the people of Mostar, a small city 126 kms from Sarajevo. The bridge, a foot bridge in the Old town served no military purpose.

The town is very much like Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic, a scenic river winding through the town, rushing fresh water in the mountains and a very ancient background. Beautiful in all aspects. 

I do not want to portray Bosnians as victims here, they aren’t, they perpetrated similar atrocities in Croatia. In 2006 many of the men we saw in Dubrovnik were without limbs, all very sorrowful looking. The mood is improving but it is only 20 years and it will take a generation to lose the feelings but hopefully not the memory of this wasteful effort. 

There was something more lost than a bridge, lives, and a war. The world lost a community of Christians, Muslims, and Jews that lived in harmony, that was fractured along ethic, religious, and political lines for nothing.

Medjugorje, Poticejl and surrounding area

Our second day in the area was to take in Medjugorje, the 2^nd most popular Catholic pilgrimage sites in the world, and another WHS, this time Poticejl, a fort, mosque and artist community on the banks of a river about 17 kms outside Mostar.

French Mass,
everyone is under the shade trees

Mass was being said in Slavic inside the church and in French at the outside mass site, with a beautiful singer. Truly a memorable event.

Poticejl is a fort and mosque built into a turn in the canyon the river runs through. At one time it was strategic for controlling movement up the river.

View from the Castle Tower

Pula and Sibenik (Shebenick)

Couldn't get any better parking?

Not bad having front door parking for the bike in front of one of the great amphitheatres.

1 of the 6 best in the World

It was constructed in 27 BC - 68 AD^[1] and is among the six largest surviving Roman arenas in the World. This should really part of the first entry since it was our last visited place on the Istrian peninsula but we decided to drive on instead of return to the base apartment we had set up for 2 nights. Pula is located 35 kms south of Rovinj and the amphitheatre is it’s main tourist attraction. Sandra remarked that we must have seen all the great amphitheatre’s, Epidavros Greece for it’s sound, Pergama Turkey for the dramatic backdrop, Efes for the story of St Paul and “The Coliseum” in Rome, and Delphi and the Temple of Athena.

From there we continued on through Rijeka to a small town called Senj where we stayed last evening, just tucking in before it started to rain. We found a great, not so little 3 brdm apartment there for 35E, super clean with a great view of the Adriatic Sea, but alas the rain took away the view. This morning we awoke to dark skies, donned our rain gear and rode ½ way to Sibenik in rain, the other in bright sun arriving here to another great place called the Villa Korina. There is something about that part of the Croatian coast that won't let me ride it in the sun.

We had one little fun adventure with the bike today. As we drove out of the mountains to a point where the GPS told me to turn, there were tape marks through the name Sibenik indicating I could only go to Benkovac. We stopped at the gas bar then cafe and they all confirmed we would have to go to Zadar then on. Undaunted I wanted to try it anyway and when we got to Benkovac, sure enough the road was closed. So I followed some others toward the detour to Zadar only to see what looked like some local cars turning left into a church cemetery  I followed and sure enough it led to a gravel lane that cars would pour out of, 1 at a time and less than 1 lane wide. When it was my turn I headed through talked with a woman who kind of confirmed in Croatian that yes I could go that way to Sibenik and in 2 kms we were back on tarmac.Saved us a lot of kilometers of backtracking.

The Villa Korina has a beautiful private deck, kitchen and wonderful access to te water. After another nice late lunch by the water overlooking the island of Kapanj we headed back into town to view another World Heritage Site, the Cathedral of St Jakov (James).

The dome of this cathedral suffered a direct hit in the 1991-95 war

and is only now being repaired. The cathedral dates back to the 14-15^th centuries and is very much a part of Sibenik’s town centre. Beautiful gardens, overlooks to the surrounding islands make this a great destination.

rose trees

Croatian islands

Venice to Rovinj ( think of Raveen for pronunciation)

Venice to Rovinj ( think of Raveen for pronunciation)

Rovinj

From the town centre

Can you say foggy? Our 3 nights in Venice were great having been able to visit with Betty and Mauro and little Dario, and Massimo and Elisa. We again got to see the real Venice away from the crowds of St Mark’s square to where Venetians relax and enjoy themselves. A “Scarpe Rotte” http://www.scarperotte.it/ visit was in order, here there is a clash between government and the people of Italy over selling off treasures. We visited the Fortress Marghera,

Real Life in Venice

a famous fortress built to defend against attacks from land on Venice. We enjoyed a great grilled lunch with wine, lasagna, roast beef, pork and chicken and met more of their extended families. Another day living like real Venetians do! The next day we headed into to Venice to visit the Frari church, visit St Mark’s Sq. ( I think that’s enough) then back to Masimo’s and Elisa’s for an unforgettable lunch of  Baccala, Brushetta, Pasta with shrimp, zucchini and arugula, and then a main course  of raw Tuna with arugula and lemon. This was topped with in season strawberries done to perfection.  

Lunch at Scarpe Rotte
From Left, Betty and Dario, Mauro, Massimo, Sandra and Elisa

We then headed back to Mauro’s where some maintenance I wasn’t able to do at Heiko’s was performed here. It was great because there were a few unexpected turns in the repair that we were able to use Mauro’s tools for. We bid farewell only too soon, hard to believe we came a day early and staying 3 days feels like still a rush. 

We headed out in the fog on Friday morning and made it to Trieste by lunchtime on the backroads. Next we crossed through a small part of Slovenia and entered Croatia at Buzet. The border crossing personnel (yeah they love me, don’t you know it) complimented me declaring me "The first Canadian who had all the right documentation at the border. " Nope no ceremony, I was crushed. They even asked for my international driving permit, the first time I've been asked since getting one.

We got a chance to relax and have a nice dinner on the Quay in Rovinj.

Great view and company for eating

Today we walked back into the centre of Rovinj and toured the Cathedral there, marked with a 12 century bell tower that is a match to the one in St Mark’s square in Venice.

A little bit about Croatia and the Istria Peninsula. It sounds like Iberian which would be the peninsula Spain and Portugal are on, but it isn’t. It was once part of the Hapsburg Empire, is just east of Venice on any Europe map, and was part of Italy from 1918 – 1947 when Mussolini’s war reparations were to lose it back to what became Yugoslavia. It is a hilly and wooded region with beautiful bays and coves and was once inhabited by the Venetians as an extension of their empire. It will become part of the EU July 1, this year after being involved in a bloody war in the mid- 1990’s. Our trip in 2006 documented a lot of this.

Rovinj is very beautiful and we were lucky enough to be here for a typical Saturday Sail race day. Some very nice action was to be had including a maxi sailor that was close to the old 12 Meter yacht standard. With Mylar sails aplenty, there is a lot of money poured into these sailboats.

Start of Race

Next we day tripped to Porec, just 40 kms away home to a 5^th century Basilica of St Euphrasis, a World Heritage Site. As we travelled there along the coast what was evident is this is a camping paradise with coastline camping, including ‘Naturist resorts”, google FKK, to learn more. Yes there might be more googling to follow. Actually that might be Ogling.

Sailboats in race

Scarcophogus of St E.

The Basilica here has some very amazing intact artifacts as pictured here. Next we head to Pula at the southern base of the peninsula and onto southern Croatia next. 

4th century tile work still evident

WHS Info on site