Our first stop was the Ostrog monastery built in the rocks high up. the road leading to the monastery is rather challenging. Gravel in some parts and very narrow but also very twisty and full of tight switchbacks. Csabi got stressed towards the end and refused to continue so I went alone. In around 15 minutes I heard the sound of his bike in the parking and I cheered him to the end. He made it. I was glad but not happy at all. He told me he is afraid to drop the bike. ‘What?’ I replied. ‘You f***king dropped the bike four times already, you bumped into a car in Istanbul and you got hit from behind by a car in Albania. And you are afraid to drop it?’ I told him he has do decide what he wants to do as most of the roads planned for today include hairpins and small roads. But then I just didn’t want to stress him… it must be difficult. I decided to give up on some of the routes I planned. I’ll do them another time. After a couple of pics and a short visit we turned back and headed for the road towards Podgorica.
From there we took the road north towards the Durmitor national park and the famous Piva canyon. The road is magnificent. Small and twisty running next to the river.
We stopped to take pictures from now and then and to take in the scenery. it was amazing. Turquoise water, green vegetation, pale rocks and clear blue sky. Wonderful. And the weather was excellent which made it very enjoyable.
The Tara bridge was one of the highlights I skipped so we went straight for the Bosnian border. The border station is rather strange. You have the Montenegro customs on the higher side of a hill and then you descend a slope and cross a wooden bridge on the Tara river to get to the Bosnian immigration and border control. No issued to get in. They start though on the road. It is a very nice road twisting along the river but it is rather narrow and full of gravel and/or holes. That’s level one. Level two is the cars speeding towards you in the corners…and you get to level three where you might have cows crossing in front of you unexpectedly out of the bushes. At one point the road just ended and became a gravel path which then continued into the same road after a few hundred meters
We stopped for a coffee at the first village and then continued to Sarajevo on a road that matches any Montenegro road in beauty. We arrived to the buzzing city at 5.00 pm and found the hotel a fellow HUBB contact recommended. unfortunately it was full so we took another one just around the block. We were at the heart of the Turkish district of Sarajevo. I called Zoli – a fellow biker who read my blog and was kind enough to give advice and planning tips as he lives there and has already been to most of the places we visited. Since we never met we agreed to see each other that evening. We showered and changed as usual before going to the main square of the district where we agreed to meet my new friend. Zoli came with his lovely girlfriend. We wanted to have something to eat so we sat in for a cevabcica and a couple of beers while going through the usual introduction and long discussions about various topics. When we wanted to order a second round the owner told us he ran out of beer so we moved on. We walked to the European part of the centre looking for a place that would be more quiet than the usual drink bars in this part of town. We found a cafe and sat in while chatting about almost everything. We only drank coffee though as there was no alcohol at that place either 🙁 It was rather late when we parted company and we walked back to the hotel for a well deserved rest. Sarajevo made a very good impression. A very lively and friendly city which is buzzing with nightlife and is developing fast as I could see. i sure hope to be back for a visit – perhaps on a motorbike again?
Daily trip data:
