Croatia, Montenegro & Bosnia — aroundtheworldin-definitely

Dubrovnik, seemingly one of the most popular places on the planet. We had booked a couple of nights in a hotel in Lapad, an attractive port area about 3km outside the City walls, hoping to collect some mail that had been sent from Australia. Having been without credit and debit cards since our unfortunate experience with HSBC AU back in February, our financial relationship with the bank has now been restored and replacement credit and debit cards forwarded to the hotel. Or, as it turned out, not. For some unknown reason, Croatia Post had not been able to find the hotel???? and we had been informed by email that the packet was awaiting us at the Post Office. Which PO was clearly information on a need-to-know basis and forget about driving from one PO to the next as the traffic all around the Old Town was pretty much at a standstill. So, our first few hours in Dubrovnik turned out to be a self-guided, hot, sticky and disgruntled trudge around various PO locations trying to track down our parcel. We did eventually find it and returning to our hotel, Ian immediately went to bed and didn’t get out of it until 2 days later when we had to check-out. This wasn’t a reaction to Croatia Post’s inefficiencies but some bug that he thought he had picked up at Predjama Castle in Slovenia.

Neither of us are particularly susceptible to picking up minor ailments but since being in Europe, we have both suffered from what I am guessing is a strain of Covid. Whatever it is, the result is 3-5 days in bed feeling devoid of energy and with a sore throat and cough followed by three weeks of continued coughing and general malaise. Unfortunately for Ian, after two days of bed rest he had no choice but to get up as the hotel was fully booked and a quick look on Booking.com showed hardly any accommodation available and certainly nothing where we would be able to park Bob. Airbnb was the same and we couldn’t even find a free pitch in any of the nearby campsites. Welcome to coastal Europe mid-summer! We definitely needed to go somewhere for a few days for Ian to recover and due to lack of options in Croatia we decided to head to the Montenegro Mountains via Bosnia.

Croatia’s longest land border is with Bosnia and Herzegovina and there are border crossings in several places with the closest to Dubrovnik being at Ivanica, a mere 20-minute drive from the Old City. We crossed the border easily enough despite moving into a non-Schengen zone which meant having to present documents for us and Bob. A stamp out of Croatia and, a couple of kilometres later, a stamp in and we were having our first look at Bosnia & Herzegovina (BiH). In contrast to Slovenia which is probably one of the greenest and cleanest countries in Europe, the first thing we noticed was the litter strewn at the side of the road (Spain is still the worst we have seen though) and a barren, dry and rocky landscape. But in no time at all we were driving along the M6 (no M does not stand for motorway), next to the crystal-clear waters of the River Trebisnjica as it made its way through a valley surrounded by thickly forested mountain slopes. Trebinje is the southern-most town of BiH and had it not been so hot we may well have been tempted to stay a while in this pretty place. We climbed steeply before passing through the small town of Zujpa close to the Bosnia/Montenegro border crossing of Ilino Brdo. Once again this was quite quick to navigate although I don’t think the Montenegran official had ever seen an Australian car registration before as he kept asking for proper documents. When it was obvious that there was nothing else forthcoming, he rolled his eyes, shrugged and muttered something about us only having a photocopy before stamping our passports and letting us in. We were now in Montenegro, less than 2 hours after leaving Dubrovnik.

Montenegro “Black Mountain” borders Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Kosovo and Albania, and is a small landmass with fewer than a million inhabitants. To try and understand a country that stands on the crossroads of civilisations is always going to be difficult given the complexities of ethnicity and religion; Lonely Planet summed it up quite well - “A family that has never left their ancestral village may have had children born in Montenegro, parents born in the state union of Serbia and Montenegro, grandparents born in Yugoslavia, great-grandparents born in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and great-great-grandparents born in the Ottoman or Austro-Hungarian empires”.

Following the fall of Yugoslavia in the early 90’s when four of the six constituent republics declared independence, Montenegro remained united with Serbia forming the federation of Serbia and Montenegro. It eventually declared its independence in 2006 making it one of the newest internationally recognised countries in the world; It is also one of nine current EU candidate countries along with BiH.

There aren’t too many road options in Montenegro and rather than taking a direct line to our mountain destination of Kolasin, we first had to head down towards the coast, skirting the capital of Podgorica, before turning back around and onto the only completed section (41km) of one of the world’s most expensive roads. Funded by a $1 Billion loan from China, this finished section is just part of an ambitious plan to transform Montenegro into a transport hub for the Balkan region, linking the port city of Bar with neighbouring Serbia via a 163km highway. Cutting a path through mountains and gorges means that more than half the highway will consist of tunnels and bridges but given delays and controversy there is some doubt as to whether it will ever be completed.

Conveniently for us, the highway continued almost to the Biogradska Gora National Park and ski centre of Kolasin. Suffering greatly from embargos imposed during the Yugoslav Wars, Montenegro is now a fast-growing tourist destination and Kolasin was probably a good example of this, as whilst part of town was quite upmarket with boutique hotels and pavement cafes, a meander off to the side lands you in the middle of one of many building sites surrounded by half-finished and semi-occupied buildings. It wasn’t one of the more charismatic places we have visited and the people were neither friendly nor unfriendly, just completely indifferent that we were visiting.

We stayed for a few days in a brand-new apartment waiting for Ian’s cough to improve, which left me with some time on my hands to compile a list of things that I thought useful for the owners of the accommodation prior to any more bookings. Nothing major, just the addition of light bulbs, pans that would work on the induction stove, a guide to turning on the hot water, the correct address details in Google and a heads up that it was cash only on arrival. Nevertheless, the accommodation was comfortable and by the time we left although Ian was still coughing he was at least out of bed.

Our route to Zabljak, the highest town in Montenegro, was decided for us as the P4 was closed due to a huge landslide. Instead, we took the R18 and P5, typical mountain roads with steep ascents and descents cutting through foliage so thick that in places it was taking up most of the road. We were now in the northwest region of Durmitor and it wasn’t until we were 20km or so outside of Zabljak that the thick foliage opened up and we found ourselves driving across a high open plain surrounded by the Dinarian Alps. The growing resort town of Zabljak had a lot more going on than Kolasin, offering typical mountain sports, watersports and hiking within the beautiful scenery of the National Park. Despite hiking on some of the more popular trails within the park, it wasn’t until we were leaving and driving towards BiH via the Sedlo Pass that we got to see just how big an area the Park covered. It took us nearly two hours to drive out, the journey impeded to some extent by having to find suitable passing spots for oncoming vehicles and cows but more so by the constant need to take in the amazing scenery.

Eventually the road meandered down to huge meadows dotted with occasional farmhouses and then descended rapidly through dense forest before popping out on the edge of a cliff overlooking the Piva Reservoir. A series of switchbacks and 56 pitch-black tunnels, mostly positioned on the hairpin bends, continued spectacularly all the way to the small settlement of Scepan Polje and the BiH border. Apart from the many river rafting camps that we saw spaced out alongside the rroad, the area felt pretty remote and with only a few vehicles waiting to cross over we exited Montenegro in about 10 minutes. No-man’s consisted of a single-track dirt road, a rickety wood and steel bridge and about 100 rubber-clad, paddle brandishing rafters. As well as being one of the gateways into BiH, this point was also the main disembarkation point for the hugely popular Tara River Canyon tours. At 1300m, the canyon is the deepest in Europe and just 200m shy of the Grand Canyon. Single width only and with a weight limit sign of 12 tonne, we waited for a clear run to cross over the 70m bridge and then it was a short distance over a pot holed gravel track to arrive at a shabby looking, solitary booth containing a rather lonely looking border official. After a cursory glance at our documents and no mention of our lack of insurance which had expired when we left the EU, he stamped our passports and we were back in BiH.

Sarajevo is only 96km from the border but due to the nature of the roads it took us nearly 3 hours to reach the capital of what would have to be the most interesting country that we have visited so far. I confess that our knowledge of the Balkans up until now was embarrassingly limited and there was a part of my brain questioning the safety of overlanding in Bosnia, but I needn’t have worried. The people were super friendly, everywhere we went felt safe and we were repeatedly thanked for visiting. This complex country is bordered by Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro and four-fifths of it is mountainous thanks to the Dinarian Alps that stretch from northwest Croatia through the heart of B&H and into Montenegro. It does have a tiny coastline of just 20km, gifted from Dubrovnik to the Ottoman Empire back in the 17th century, where the popular beachside town of Neum can be found.

The population of BiH is just under 3.5 million and made up of mostly Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims), Serbs and Croats who identify as Muslim, Orthodox Christians or Roman Catholics. It is the most ethnically diverse of the republics of former Yugoslavia. This diversity is the result of a long and complicated history that originated with the Illyrians, an Indo-European tribe that arrived in the Balkan area. Over the centuries, the region saw other tribes either invading, passing through or being assimilated such as the Goths and Celts. The Roman Empire also had a heavy presence in the area before Slavic tribes migrated from Central and Eastern Europe, two distinct tribes being the Croats and the Serbs. Then the Turks arrived, resulting in BiH being under Ottoman control for more than 400 years. During this period, many Bosnians converted to Islam, possibly lured by economic and social gain and a faith that was a lot more organised than their own, somewhat mysterious, Bosnian church. It appears that the Ottomans were relatively tolerant of other religions, no doubt due to the fact that the Christians, Catholics and other minorities did have to pay higher taxes.

As Ottoman power weakened towards the close of the 19th century, the Austro-Hungarian Empire took advantage and annexed the Bosnian province, a move that caused a lot of instability as nationalism and politics emerged as powerful forces of change. There was also the issue of a Bosnian Serb killing the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire who happened to be visiting Sarajevo at the time. There is a strong school of thought that this was the catalyst for World War I as, in retaliation, the A-H Empire declared war on Serbia, prompting Russia to come to Serbia’s defence, whilst Germany backed the Austro-Hungarians who ultimately lost the war. Seizing the opportunity for independence, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, which also included BiH and Montenegro, was formed in 1918, the official name changing to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929.

The Yugoslav Kingdom was invaded and occupied during WWII, after which a communist government was elected over the six republics of BiH, Serbia, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Slovenia – the Federation of Yugoslavia.

In 1984, Sarajevo and it’s surrounding mountains was the centre of the sporting world as it hosted the Winter Olympics. The event was hailed a huge success – who can forget Torvil & Dean – as it brought the world back together after the highly politicised 1980 Moscow Olympics. It portrayed a country that, regardless of its various ethnic groups, was existing in relative peace.

The following breakup of Yugoslavia was due to many factors. It had seven neighbours, six republics, five nations, four languages, three religions, two alphabets and one party. As well as old animosities bubbling under the surface, there was also huge disparities in wealth and quality of life among the various republics and a growing resentment of Serbia’s control of the region. Following Slovenia and Croatia’s example, more than 60% of Bosnian citizens voted for independence in 1992, a move that resulted in Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia taking part in a three-sided fight for territories, with civilians of all ethnicities becoming victims of horrendous crimes. War raged until 1995 when a peace deal was brokered which resulted in 51% of the land constituting a Croat-Bosniak federation (FBiH) and 49% the Republika Srpska (RS), two separate autonomous entities. There is also the issue of a ridiculously complicated political system that sees three presidents rotating every eight months between a Serb, a Muslim and a Croat, all overseen by a High Representative selected by the EU. Presidency election is decided by the country’s citizens, but Bosniaks or Croats living in RS are only allowed to elect the Serb member of the presidency, Serbs in FBiH can only elect a Bosniak or Croat, whilst Bosniaks and Croats in FBiH can elect a Bosniak or Croat but not a Serb!

We entered BiH through a “red” Serbian republic zone before reaching Sarajevo which is a city divided between the two. We didn’t notice any difference between the zones although once you start looking, graffiti by extremist groups on both sides, highlights the very different ideals at play. After receiving more money per capita than any other country in history for post-war reconstruction Sarajevo is almost completely rebuilt, with just the occasional bullet-ridden building standing as a sad reminder.

The younger generation were very open to discussing their country’s history with surprisingly objective views and were always keen to let us know that that their circle of friends included all of the ethnic groups. Quick witted and good humoured they eagerly shared their knowledge of Brit pop culture and were proud to claim a peculiar love affair with the classic British sit com Only Fools and Horses. The dream for many is to be incorporated into the EU.

So, what did we think of Bosnia? - It is one of our favourite countries so far! Apart from the open friendliness of everyone we met, the mix of east and west in Sarajevo and Mostar in particular, gave a unique feel in architecture, food and lifestyle. Areas such as the Neretva Canyon, the Kravica waterfalls and the Sutjesko National Park offer many opportunities to be amongst spectacular, unspoiled nature and the lack of tourists that most of Europe now seems to be swamped by was refreshing.

With the schools due to restart, we figured it was safe to re-enter Croatia and have another go at exploring the Dalmatian coast. We left BiH on the E65 crossing the modern and efficient border at Bijaca before returning to Split which was only marginally less busy that the last time we were there. Once again we were frustrated by the high cost and low availability of accommodation but then fate smiled on us and we were presented with the option of a last minute, seven day cruise around the islands. I know what you’re thinking - how come there was availability on a cruise when the area was so flooded with tourists? Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, we set about finding somewhere secure to leave Bob. Our only option seemed to be a dodgy looking parking lot next to an abandoned railway line, where a non-English speaking, elderly ticket man gave us a thumbs up which we took to mean that Bob would be OK. Not ideal, but we really, really wanted to go on the cruise. With bicycles stored in an internal office within an underground parking garage 2 km away (we didn’t want a repeat of Barcelona), we grabbed our limited “cruise wear” and headed to the port.

aroundtheworldin-definitely

aroundtheworldin-definitely

The Balkans Blogs

aroundtheworldin-definitely

aroundtheworldin-definitely