Balkans Tour 2024
Date: June 2024
Duration: 12 Days
Distance: 3,082 km
First stop is Bled in Slovenia, yet again. From Karlsruhe, it’s perfectly placed for the first night away on a tour to south-east Europe. 670km is a good day’s ride, and it puts me on the southern side of the Alps, with Croatia, Bosnia and Serbia just a few hours ride away.
For either the second or third time, I spend a night in Rooms Jani. Not luxury, but clean with parking and it’s just a short walk to the lake. There are a surprising number of english accents. I don’t expect to hear many more on this trip. Sadly I have arrived too late to take one of the boats to the island in the middle of lake – the last time I had opportunity, my foot was in a cast.
I paid the now digitialised Vignette for Slovenia and took the motorway, bypassing Ljubljana and head south-east to the border with Croatia. Croatia has recently joined Schengen, so the border control has been removed and is now simply a “Welcome to Croatia” sign.
I detour through forests, stopping only for a photo break, and ride through to the border with Bosnia. A quick document check, the usual passport, registration and insurance green card, and I am in Bosnia, in the far north-west corner heading for Bihać.
After just a few kilometres, I leave the main road at Grahovo and take a minor road through the mountains right next to the border with Croatia. I pass through several small and quiet villages, sometimes on gravel roads. It’s clear to see why the border is where it is, there are few opportunities to cross the mountains to my right.
It’s at times slow progress on the small roads, and as the temperature is around 35°, the shirt on my back is already soaked in sweat. I find a small hotel just outside the centre of Bihać, and wander into the city.
During the early evening there is a large procession of young and teenage kids through the city. No idea what it’s all about.
The next day, it’s on to Banja Luka. I was here before in 2012 after having been caught in a thunderstorm. I visit Bar Herz for the first time in 12 years and send a photo to the barman who I met during that visit, who now lives in Ireland.
Banja Luka is the capital of Republika Srpska, and somewhere between Bihać and Banja Luka, I crossed the border from the Bosniak (muslim) part of Bosnia to the Serb part of Bosnia.
From the capital of Republika Srpska it’s on to the actual capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo. Here I’m staying two nights in Hotel Corner which has a very small car park that I comfortably fitted the bike into, just 460 metres from where Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in 1914.
I joined a walking tour of the old city and visited a museum detailing the atrocities committed during the siege of Sarajevo during the 1990s, something I remember well from the news during my childhood and no less shocking and traumatic to look back on now. Later I walk along “sniper alley”, where civilians were so easily murdered by soldiers in the hills above.
The weather forecast looks to be deteriorating and my plan is to visit the mountains in Montenegro in the next couple of days. This is not a good place to travel on a motorbike in bad weather. On roads at 1500 metres altitude you’re often riding through the rain cloud. Visibility may be reduced to near zero. I was considering traveling to Mostar before visiting the Montenegrin mountains, but with the weather due to change, I head directly there before the rain.
I take what looks on the map to be a major road from Sarajevo to the border with Montenegro. It is in fact a poorly maintained road, only 1½ car widths wide with pot holes large enough to damage vehicles. The actual border crossing is a wooden bridge that is about 3 metres wide. The exit border from Bosnia is on one side of the ravine and at Šćepan Polje on the other side, I enter Montenegro.
The road changes to a modern, well-maintained 2 lane highway along the side of a canyon, passing through numerous tunnels. Soon I take a sharp turn off, on a single lane road through forests and then over the maintain plateau of Durmitor National Park to Žabljak.
My SatNav reports it is just 45 km to Žabljak but the estimated journey time is 1½ hours. It’s slow but incredibly scenic, and the traffic is light to non-existent.
The following day the rain starts, fortunately it’s only light. I descend from the mountains, on the eastern side into Serbia. There are again no issues crossing the border, the guard pays no attention to the Kosovo stamp in my passport.
My plan is to head north and loop back into Bosnia as part of my return trip back to Germany. There are few routes north, so I’m on one of the main roads with the trucks. Soon the weather gets worse, much worse, heavy rain. I find a nearby rural hotel, and check myself in. There’s not a lot to do, but it’s dry and I have a good book. There’s also pizza and beer.
I want to head back into Bosnia. Along my planned route, there is a large war memorial 🚩 built during the communist period. It’s right beside a small airstrip, so I cannot get any shots from my drone as flying here is strictly controlled. I am alone, until a guy pulls up on a German registered bike. It’s rare to see other bikers from Germany this far south and east. He’s travelling very light, with just a small bag on his rack containing one change of clothes.
At Ljubovija (Љубовија) I reach the exit border from Serbia, but this time Serb Customs have stopped me. They conduct a full search of myself and all my luggage, even checking what tablets I have in my first-aid kit. The drone is fortunately not an issue.
The customs agent is a middle-aged guy who cannot speak English, but he has enrolled a younger colleague who speaks it fluently. He later compliments me on my English, having only seen the registration of my motorbike and not my passport, he thinks I’m German.
The whole process took an hour. I had quickly taken the decision, that there’s no point arguing, and I still don’t know why I was searched. Such questions will never change the fact they have decided to search me, and will certainly not speed up the process. The best strategy is to co-operate and be friendly. Soon I am free to progress to the Bosnian border post.
As soon as I re-enter Bosnia, the rain starts. At first it’s light but it’s getting heavier.
I stop 10 km south at the cemetery for victims of the Srebrenica Genocide in 1995 and nearby museum. This was a designated UN Safe Haven for Bosniaks fleeing Bosnian-Serb violence. The UN soldiers stood by and observed the genocide. There are thousands of bodies buried here, and they’re added to each year as more remains are found of those who were taken away from here and murdered.
The museum across the road greets visitors with the sign “Srebrenica genocide – the failure of the international community”.
The weather has got worse, it is now just constant heavy rain. I look up the forecast for the next few hours, and there is no likely change but further north it is forecast to be dry.
I put my waterproofs on and get back on the bike. The city of Tuzla is 93 km away and that’s my target for the day. The first 50 km are awfully wet and often I find myself suddenly riding through roadworks where the top layer of asphalt has been removed, leaving a surface scored with deep lines which sends my steering into spasm. I loosely grip the handle bars and don’t touch the brakes, just waiting to reach regular wet tarmac again.
30 to 40 minutes before Tuzla I am back in dry conditions, and by the time I am on the outskirts of the city, my clothing is also mostly dry. The only exception is my boots, which will sit overnight with towels from the hotel packed inside to absorb the remaining dampness.
Tuzla is a surprise. The guide book doesn’t have much to say about the city except that it’s a bit industrial. The old town is pretty, with few tourists, but plenty of bars, restaurants and cafés. A good place for an overnight visit.
I’m heading back into the EU with a planned stay in Croatia’s capital, Zagreb. Before I leave Bosnia, I use one of their few stretches of motorway. As I enter my fuel range reads around 300 km but after 10 km on the motorway, my range is down to 180 km and dropping rapidly.
During this trip, I have mostly been on small roads, where my fuel consumption has been excellent. Hitting a fast road and opening the throttle to 130 kmh is a shock to its system.
The motorway is new and the service stations haven’t yet been built, so rather than risk running out of petrol on the highway, I leave the motorway and ask the guys working the toll booth where I can find petrol. They don’t speak English, but we communicate well in gestures.
Zagreb is one of the few European capitals which is not its country’s most visited city. It’s nice, nothing fancy though.
I must traverse Slovenia again, and this time I have no intention of paying the vignette, nor the Austrian vignette for that matter. I plot a route avoiding the motorway network, passing through many villages in the slovenian countryside.
Once in Austria, I ride on the B roads parallel with the border towards Villach where I stay overnight. From now on, I can switch to using the local language, German.
On previous visits to Villach, I have proceeded to head north, over the Alps, but this time I will stay on the southern side of the Alps and emerge into Italy in Süd Tyrol, the German-speaking region.
Shortly before Bruneck, I take the mountain road south to Dürrensee – Lago di Landro, where I break for lunch and an alcohol-free beer. It’s the second time I have ridden this route, and it’s mostly other motorcyclist on this route through the mountains to Bozen. It’s a very popular route, and there are a lot of Austrian, Italian and German registered bikes.
For at least the third time, I stay in Meran, at the same hotel I used on my most recent visit in 2015. There are some cities, usually in or around mountain ranges, in which I frequently find myself. Places like Bled and Meran, strategically located and also pleasant places to visit.
The plan is to stay one night, but the weather at breakfast the following morning, is bad and the forecast for the rest of the day is also poor. Crossing the Alps in the rain will not be enjoyable. I ask at reception if I may stay an additional night, and also purchase a ticket to the local Thermabad – this wet weather day will be spent in saunas and steam rooms.
One day delayed, I depart north through Austria, skirting close to the Swiss border on the only toll-free route to connect Italy with Germany, going via Landeck. I stay overnight back in Germany, in Kempten, and then join a hiking group in Oberstdorf for 5 days of hiking.
