Bosnia, Serbia and Montenegro - part 2

By Deborah and Johan - After spending a few days in Mostar and Sarajevo we were keen to visit some of the other sites in Bosnia and Serbia that Vahida (our host on Mostar) and Jelena had suggested. Not keen to bike the Balkan mountains though so we opted to leave our bikes in Mostar for three days and rented a car to do drive a loop from

Mostar up along the Drina river into Serbia and then loop back via Montenegro to see some of the lakes in northern Montenegro. 

A great choice although it’s probably the most intense mountain driving I have done. Three days of windy mountain roads with hardly a flat straight road in sight. On top of that I made the mistake of not switching my offline road mapping app from Bike to Car mode so unfortunately we ended up on some very rough four wheel drive tracks with our Hyundai I20. Well as they say, rental cars are the best and the Hyundai lives up to its WRC pedigree. Thank God though we got it back in one piece. Deborah didn’t always like the Co-driver role on those rough parts and I must admit it was nice to find some asfalt again. 

Our first stop; Kravica falls about an hour south west of Mostar. Pretty awesome falls with a total width of 120m and a height of 25m. There is a big swimming hole in front of it but the water was freezing so we gave that a miss. 

From there we went east to Pocitelj, a 15th century village still lived in to this day. Great site, very different from many of the other densely built in ancient cities we have seen on this trip. This is more of a village within a wide castle perimeter. I felt it almost looked like a bit of hobbiton with little walled in courtyards each with their own fortified wooden doors. 

Overlooking the village mosque from one of the towers. I love the marriage of the cultures here.. Slavic and Ottoman

We turned North East towards Serbia via Stolac and Gacko to get to the M20. The M20 follows the river Drina through Sutjeska National Park. Some amazing canyons and valleys in a heavily forested area (which is a big change from the dry rocky areas we had been travelling through earlier.). Lots of adventure sports in these mountains like climbing, mountain biking, hiking, rafting etc. 

Early morning on the river Drina. We found a great camping ground called Camp Drina, just north of Foca. (Highly recommended!). After the hot days the evenings are cool and damp due to the (very) cold river. Pretty magical in the evening and morning. 

The bridge on the Drina. This is also the name of the book describing the history attached to these countries from the Ottoman occupation to the Austria-Hungarian history and how the people fared u der these regimes. The author, Ivo Andrić, won a Nobel prize in Liturature for his work. 

The little boat house in Bajina Basta in Serbia. I saw a photo of this place a few years ago and it was magic!! Mist coming off the river... sun breaking through the clouds.. unicorns frolicking etc etc anyway this is midday, high sun but hey I was there!

The canyon of Uvac- or the meanders of Uvac! WOW!! Just remember there is a well maintained gravel road to the look-out so try to find that one and don’t use the creek bed that we ended up on due to my mapping error. 

The Serbian valleys with a picture perfect church in front. We stayed at a new campground in this little farming town. The family was still building the toilet and shower block so we were invited in to use their bathroom and kitchen. We were welcomed with some Serbian hospitality with some freshly brewed Turkish coffee and some Serbian home made Rakija (read fire water). Such lovely people. (Camping Zlatar) 

Those black mountains of Montenegro again. We drove the scenic road from Zabljak to Pluzine in Durmitori National Park. Great alpine road! Good surface but narrow at times and two way so it can get cosy. 

Absolutely loved this circuit. Great scenery. Three days was probably a bit rushed. Luckily the border crossings weren’t too much of a hassle for us. If you drive here make sure your papers and car are in order. I have never seen sooo many police about. Quite a few speed cameras and many random stops. We were stopped a few times for car papers and drivers licence too, although some of them let us go when they realised we only spoke English.