May 2015: Getting ready to head over to the Balkans. I will be leaving on Memorial Day and flying to Ljubljana, Slovenia. The first part of my journey will be on a tour for 15 days. It is through Adriatic Moto Tours and we will start in Slovenia and then travel to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and back up the coast of Croatia and returning to Ljubljana, Slovenia. The tour is made up of 6 bikes with a guide from the tour company. Fortunately we all speak English. Three Australians, two Americans and a Canadian. Two couples and 4 guys riding individual motorcycles. It should make for a good group. The nice part of this tour is that we are supplied with maps and a GPS and we can travel with our guide as a group or strike out on our own. We are given our nightly destination and how we get there can be up to us. Adriatic Tours has done a great job in providing material and information to us.
After the tour ends in Ljubljana, I am taking the motorcycle and heading for Cortina d'Ampezzo, in the Italian Alps, the Dolomites. The Alps should provide some spectacular views, fantastic roads and high alpine passes.
I plan on trying to post every couple of days but a lot depends on my picture taking and internet access. I hope you enjoy following along on my journey with me. Jay
After the tour ends in Ljubljana, I am taking the motorcycle and heading for Cortina d'Ampezzo, in the Italian Alps, the Dolomites. The Alps should provide some spectacular views, fantastic roads and high alpine passes.
I plan on trying to post every couple of days but a lot depends on my picture taking and internet access. I hope you enjoy following along on my journey with me. Jay
WEDNESDAY, MAY 27: The plane ride seemed long, especially the wait in Washington, DC. And then the plane change got us out late, but arrived in Ljubljana, Slovenia in the mid morning, texted my daughters to say I had arrived and forgot it was 5:00 in the morning in Cincinnati. Toured the Old City this morning and am posting those pictures. Meeting in the afternoon with my co-riders and tour guide, picking up the bikes and then for a ride.
THURSDAY, MAY 28: Great day of riding, started in Ljubljana, Slovenia and rode out with 10 bikes and 1 guide. ROK is our guide, and LUKA drives the support vehicle. Great Roads, Great Pavement, and Great Speed! Rok is an aggressive rider and in our group if you wish to pass and move up in the order you may do so safely. He uses corner markers (next guy in line) to point out any turns. Didn't really understand the process but seeing it in action it really works, the group may spread out but everyone knows the way, GPS and with the corner markers and the tail gunner, no one is dropped or lost. Traveled for long stretches of curves without traffic really quick. If all the days are like Day 1, this will be a fantastic trip. We get top our hotel and Luka, has our luggage in our room and just hands us our room key. Great service. The Plitvice National Park a World Heritage Site was equally impressive, waterfalls and stretches of peaceful bliss.. Will post pictures later tonight.
FIRDAY, MAY 29: Plitvice to Sarajevo, the weather has been great so far, nice and sunny but not too hot, we are heading south so the weather should warm up. Going into Bosnia you can see the effects of the war in the early 90's. Bombed out communities, buildings, entire areas of empty buildings. It was a long day 420 km, which doesn't seem like a lot but through the Bosnian Mountains and back roads which we are traveling can take some time. However the roads were spectacular and Rok our guide keeps a quick pace. Bosnia is a poor country where farming is on a much smaller scale with much of the work done by hand. In the fields one man was cutting hay with a scythe and another was raking together all by hand. Harder work than I want to do! Tractors, trucks and cars are much older, even the dogs look mangy. In the fields the sheep actually have shepards guarding the flock. Two traditional meals today, lunch was Burek a pastry filled with minced meat which you can cover with yogurt and for dinner, Cevapcici which is pita bread filled with little sausages, add cheese and onions. Of course, I liked them both, or else I was just hungry. Some of the pictures are taken by Dona who is on the back of Steve's bike. Because of that pictures are not necessarily in order. Roll mouse over picture for description.
SATURDAY, MAY 30, SARAJEVO: A day off the motorcycles. Had a tour of Sarajevo in the morning and it was really informative in relation to the war, independence struggle from Yugoslavia, and the ethnic fighting among the Serbs, Croats and Bosnians. The Siege of Sarajevo lasted over 1000 days and the city was without water, electricity, food and other necessities. Over 1600 children died and 11,000 people. Our guide was a student then and lived through that period. To bring in supplies a tunnel was constructed under the UN International airport to Free Bosnia. Ammunition and food was brought in for the people so they could survive and continue to resist the Serbian army. Saw the corner where Arch Duke Ferdinand was assassinated which started WWI. Then traveled on foot through Old Town, and the Bazaar area. Going to the Sarajevo brewery this evening and Brian wanted to know if it was destroyed in the war and much to his dismay it was, but luckily rebuilt.
SUNDAY, MAY 31, SARAJEVO TO MOSTAR: The ride to Mostar was pretty interesting. We stopped quickly at the entrance to Sutjeska NP. A little further up the road was a monument built for the veterans of the Yugoslavia army during WWII. While Tito was in power it was a big deal, with people camping out and paying tribute to the fighters during the war. Today there was one other couple and our group at the site. 226 steps up and 226 back, Ate lunch at a restaurant near the Tekija monastery, which was built over 500 years ago by the Ottoman Empire. It is located at the mouth of a spring fed river. Lunch consisted of trout, ell, squid, whitefish and calamari. For dinner we ate in the old town of Mortar. We were able to visit the "OLD BRIDGE" which united Mortar for over 400 years. This is not the original bridge because that was destroyed by the Croatian side in 1993. It was rebuilt and now divides the town into two sections, the old town with primarily Muslims and mosques (Bosnians) and the other side with Christian Churches (Croats).
MONDAY, JUNE 1: MOSTAR TO ZABLJAK: What fantastic roads, today we where up and down the mountains of Montenegro. Huge sweepers, no traffic, great pavement for periods of 15-20 kilometers. Then we climbed to 6000 feet and were where the snow is still on the sides of the road. Thought I would mention our group: 3 Americans, Myself, Mark from Sedona, Tom from New York, 2 Canadians a father and son, Greg and Alex, north of Toronto. Then the Aussies, what a group: Peter and his brother Anthony, a couple Dona and Steve and two mates Brian and Gary. We are a good group, plenty of good riders, and its fun to watch the individual styles on the bikes. We traveled through Radimlja today in Bosnia, which is a cemetery made up of stecci which are medieval tombstones, with forms and labels on the rock, in an artistic fashion. In the mountains went though tunnels carved from the rock, no lights, with turns, and straight up the mountain. Rok said it was the "stairway to heaven"
TUESDAY, JUNE 2: ZABLJAK TOI BUDVA: We have been fortunate with the weather, no rain so far, yesterday it did mist high in the mountains and was overcast so Rok decided that we would wait and go to the viewing area this morning. Today the sun is shining and looks like another fine day. We started off riding in the forest on a small lane to reach Curevac which is the viewing area near Zabljak. I am not particularly fond of heights and you can get as close to the edge as you wish. It's a long ways down. We then headed down the mountain 11 km of great big sweepers, "S" curves and switchbacks. At the bottom of the mountain is Tara Canyon, which the area claims is the highest canyon in Europe. Pretty impressive but the ride down was more exciting! Has lunch in the village of Virpazar-It's always exciting order, sometimes you never get what you think you ordered. Today was beef stew, looked like chicken soup when it came out from the kitchen. Who knows, but it was good. We then headed for Budva, Montenegro, on a little lane cut into the mountain edge next to Lake Skadar. A hard bumpy ride, no guardrails in most places, sharing it with cars, and hay wagons, Peter almost lost his head to a bale of hay, but the view was tremendous. Finished the ride by stopping and seeing the oldest olive tree in Europe, 2000 years old and at it's base is over 10 meters wide. Our hotel "The Queen of Montenegro" is brand new nice rooms but best of all had a pool, which was refreshing before dinner. Tomorrow we head for Dubrovnik on the coast of Croatia.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3, BUDVA TO DUBRONVICK: Today is day 8 of the tour and time seems to be flying by. We left Budva and headed to the National Park Lovcen- Actually on top of a mountain in the city of Cetinje. The Ottomans built a fort on the top of the mountain but it had little military significance. At the top I met four polish motorcyclists riding Suzuki V-Stroms, like I was riding so they wanted to talk, Ended up they wanted a picture of me with them and gave me a patch of their club back home. Heading to Koto for lunch but first we have to get down the mountain. Great tight roads with lots of switchbacks (18) I think I was told. You were always sharing the road with a bus or truck coming up the hill leaving about 4 feet for us to squeeze by. Motor is a walled city on the Bay of Koto and has lots of Spanish indulgence. After lunch of Spaghetti Bolognese the ride was through lots of traffic around the bay until we arrived at Dubrovnik. The Walled city of Dubrovnik is fantastic. More on that later, but we had a great dinner of grilled sea bass, and then walked it off through the old town. I am glad there are no scales in the hotels.
THURSDAY, JUNE 4 DUBROVNIK REST DAY: A rest day which was needed. Stayed out way too late in Old Town, 5 of us and Luka, our van driver. He showed us the sites. We ended the night in an Irish Pub where they put our beers in plastic cups and kicked us out at closing. A new drink, Guinness, Baileys Irish Crème, and a shot of Jameson's. Visited the Old Town again the next morning and just as impressive. Walls are amazing, they go on for 1940 meters encircling the city, 5-10 feet thick on the sea side and 13-20 feet thick on land, and as high as 83 feet. Built to defend the area. Blazing hot, spent the afternoon at the pool and just chilled out and ate pizza.
FRIDAY JUNE 5, DUBROVNIK TO HVAR ISLAND: Today was hot, probably 90 in the shade. Wearing all the gear, jacket, pants, gloves and helmet make for a hot ride. Started by climbing into the mountains and taking some pictures of the city of Dubrovnik. A great ride on the edge of the mountain along the coast of the Adriatic Sea. They call it the Adriatic Road, comparable to Highway 1 in California, and the Great Ocean Road in Australia. Mali Ston for a break, longest defensive wall in Europe, 5.5 KM which surrounds the city. Built by the Republic of Dubrovnik as a defense from the Vientians We also stopped in the River Valley of Neretva where the local merchants produce olive oil and fruits. We traveled by ferry boat to the city of Sucuraj on the way to Hvar Island. What a neat road into Hvar. Water taxi for dinner, champagne on the trip over courtesy of Luka, main man for taking care of our drinking habits, on arrival two drinks, olive and rose grappa, both like rocket fuel and lethal. Next an excellent meal of anchovies, tomatoes with mozerella , OCTOPUS SALAD for starters and then main course of fish and calimari, check out the picture. Gary took care of the head but left the eyeball. It was another good day.
SATURDAY, JUNE 6, HVAR ISLAND: Another rest day which was really laid back. Five of us went for a ride into the village of Stari Grad which was across the island. Took the old road which was quite twisty to our mutual satisfaction. Rather leisurely pace which was nice, actually looked at scenery while riding. The pictures of the rock walls are where the villagers would clear a patch of land for themselves, build the rock walls, and farm the small area for vegetables. The walls would help retain water and provide some shade near the edges of the plot. Amazing the amount of work which went into one small piece of ground. Hit the beach and pool and just relaxed. A casual dinner and another day is done. Hard to believe I only have three more days of riding with the tour group.
SUNDAY, JUNE 7, HVAR ISLAND TO PAG: I was the tail gunner today-we call it tail end Charlie-you ride last all day. The main idea is that you are the sweeper, you make sure everyone is heading in the right direction, and the corner markers hold their position until you come. If anyone stops for pictures or any reason, you stop and stay with that person until they take off again. Everyone takes their turn, but it makes for a long day. As we traveled up the Adriatic road it is very pretty, the Adriatic Sea on your left and the mountains on your right. The mountains separate Bosnia and Croatia. Pictures don't tell how impressive the mountains are. Pag Island is barren not a lot of vegetation, windy, large windmills are on the hills of the island. It is also know for the production of salt. Salt bogs line the coastal areas near the town of Pag. We stayed at the resort village of Novalja.
MONDAY, JUNE 8, PAG TO ROVINJ: Left Pag on the ferry to the main coast of Croatia. Beautiful coastal still part of what they call the Adriatic road. The weather is holding, has been just great, Sunny and warm , some days hot, but it is better than rain. Today we had our first mishap, not an accident but we had a drive belt break on one of the bikes, The tour carries an extra bike a BMW GS 800 in the van as a spare, so it took about 1-1 1/2 hours to get the van back to where we had the broken down bike and get everyone headed in the right directions again. Waited out most of the time in the beautiful coastal town of Senj. The best part was while we were wanting Peter asked it I ever wrote about speed limits. I said no since we don't follow them. There is hardly any traffic on the roads, they are maintained beautifully, and there are no police, We ride pretty aggressively most of the time. It has been great. Beautiful hotel with a great pool area. Walked along the wharf in Rovij and visited the town square, Most Croatians are Roman Catholics so there are some old churches in the area.
TUESDAY, JUNE 9, ROVINJ TO LJUBLJANA: OUR LAST DAY OF RIDING! Heading for home Hotel Lev in Ljubljana, Slovenia, Crossing the borders of the small countries has been interesting You hand your passport and bike papers to the police of the country you are leaving and then do the same to the country you are entering. Visited the Motovun Castle at the top of the hill, Rok took my knees on another hike, "I thought this was a motorcycle trip". This area is noted for it's truffles. And I had another first today, for lunch, Ravioli and truffles in cream sauce, really quite good. Also for dinner had lamb meatloaf and lamb roast. Both were. Excellent. Rok led us through the final roads of Slovenia around his native town and finally back to the garage where most of the guys turned in there bikes. We ended the evening at the Ljubljana Castle where we had our final dinner as a group.
FINAL THOUGHTS ON THE TOUR: The tour thru Adriatic Motor Tours has exceeded any expectations that I may have had. This is my first tour of this type and from the start working with Klaudija on the arrangements it has been a smooth and easy process. Any questions I might of had she quickly answered, It was nice to meet her in Ljubljana when we picked up the bikes. The guys in the garage did a great job of preparing the bikes, they preformed flawlessly, clean, gassed up and ready to go when we picked them up at the garage. Rok and Luka both did a fantastic job. Rok's local knowledge of the roads, the culture, and the customs was superb. Knowing where to stop for coffee, lunches and dinner is an added bonus. I saw much more of the countries we visited than I would of on my own. Never would of found the BUZA BAR. It was literally a hole in the wall but after he hole you looked out into the Adriatic Sea with surrounding cliffs. Luka, always has our bikes ready to ride, tire pressure, lubing the chains, taking care of our luggage, he did it all. The accomadations always were excellent. Matej, the owner of the company should really be proud of the job his company did and I thoroughly enjoyed my tour and days of riding. Finally, I meet some great people on the tour, and those people are the ones who really made it enjoyable. Now it's off to ITALY AND THE ALPS.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, LJUBLJANA TO CORTINA DE'AMPEZZEIO: After breakfast and last goodbyes to the tour members, I headed out for Cortina. Left around 8:00 using a route Rok helped me plan. It would keep me off the highways and also let me hit a couple of the passes in the Alps and still get to Cortina at a decent hour. The road was another splendid choice, early part thru forests around Ljubljana, and then through some high farmland. Nicer stretch of road and I was caught behind about 5 cars so I pull out to pass and the last car I pass is a van, red with blue lettering, I am oblivious- but after I pass look back in the mirror I can see the letters POLICIA. Luckily I didn't get stopped. As I left Slovenia and traveled up the mountain toward Italy, I fell in behind 5 Germans who took me up the mountain. They are also headed for Cortina, for a few days of riding. As I descended a group of farmers were moving their cows to higher pasture lands using the road. Every town seems to have two things, a Roman Catholic Church with a very distinctive steeple and a sawmill. The pictures don't do justice to the Alps, they are so big, and just surround you completely. On my way went thru Passo del Zovo and Passo Tre Croce. Also rode up the mountain past Lake Misurina and to Mt. Tre Cime. Killer switchbacks, in the alps they number the switchbacks. Tired, headed for bed because another day of riding awaits tomorrow.
THURSDAY, JUNE 11, CORTINA: With my belly full from breakfast at Hotel Natalie, I started out. The plan was to ride a figure 8 from Cortina in a westerly direction through 7 passes. The weather fluctuated between sunny and cloudy but no rain. It's amazing how quickly you acclimate yourself to the roads. Plenty of motorcyclists and also bicyclists. Going up the mountain to Passo Pardon 2239 meters you climb through 35 switchbacks to reach the top. They have a cable car at the top that you cvan take to the glacier on the very top of the mountain. Not for me, too high. As I was going up I passed a group of bicyclists. We met at the top, they were from New Jersey, do this every year, they rode 65 miles yesterday and are riding about 75 today. They said up the mountain is hard but down is scary, they travel close to 40-50 MPH downhill. "FRIKKEN NUTS" !! Found out that Italy has deer as 3 tried to take me and the guys coming up the mountain out as they scampered across the road in the lower forest area. The scenery is amazing you could stop and take a picture every 100 feet, I've tried to ride but find myself stopping an awful lot. I hope the pictures do the mountains justice. Here are the 7 passes that I rode through: Giau 2236 KM, Pondoi 2239, Sella 2240, Gardena 2248, Campolongo 1875, Valparola 2168, and Falzarego 2117 KM high.
FRIDAY, JUNE 12, CORTINA: Going to try and ride 10 passes, heading southwest out of Cortina and doing a big loop. The passes are Giau 2236, Staulansza 1773, Duran 1605, Aurine 1299, cereda 1369, Rolle 1984, Valles 2032, San Pellegrino 1918, Fedaia 2057, and Falzarego 2117.. Depends on the weather, Hopefully like our weatherman they will be wrong today, calling for 80% chance. Might be the first day I get wet and that will make the roads slippery and we don't want to "be slip sliding away" over the mountain. Well I am back and a little damp because as I came over the mountain for the last stretch home it was raining, so the last hour was in a slight rain. Other than that it was a good day. Took a wrong turn and got lost in this little village with streets about 8 feet wide but everything has a silver lining, I found a German bakery and had something like a donut. The village was just like out of a magazine. The pictures near the end are of Mt. Marmalade, huge mountain and the snow just makes the air cold and the picture of the tunnel is actually a switchback inside, makes for fun and games in the dark.
SATURDAY, JUNE 13, CORTINA: Headed for the mountain Grossglockner in Austria today. It is the highest peak in the Austrian Alps at 3978 M (12,461') It contains the High Alpine Road - a motorcyclists and car enthusiast playground. You have to pay for the privilege 24.50 Euros for a cycle and 35 for a car, but the road is worth it. 48km long and it runs up and down and along the side of the mountain. Probably one of the best roads I have been on. I ran it up and back 3 complete times. Once near the top it was 7* C, and started to rain, it turned to little hail balls, but ended in about 10 minutes. Sharing the road were groups of Ferrari's, Porsche's, Jag's Corvettes, Audi's and any other expensive sports car around. It was an impressive site. Check out the picture of the Ferrari's that's only 1/2 of them. Somebody has $$ in Europe. For my last day of riding in the Alps it was impressive and loads of fun. Tomorrow I head back to Ljubljana, Slovenia to turn in the bike. Thinking I might head down to Venice, Italy first on my way back.
SUNDAY, JUNE 14, CORTINA TO LJUBLIJANA: The last day with the bike, heading back to turn it in this afternoon and it looks like it might rain for a while. I got lucky again, only rained for about 1 1/2 hours but it was steady, got the rain suit on and it did it's job, keep me dry, but it is a pain in the ass to ride in the rain. The trip back was eventful, can't read the signs in Slovenia, missed a turn but all was okay, could pick up the road about 6 miles ahead except they closed the road for construction, I am out in the middle of nowhere, don't have a clue and the GPS keeps wanting to go back to the closed road. Just started heading south and sooner or later the GPS will kick in. Well one mountain and one valley later it did and I finally found my way to Ljubljana, Now the tricky part, they closed the road for a bicycle race, biggest of the year in Ljubljana, so I road 200 yards on the sidewalk to get to the hotel. Big Soccer match England vs. Slovenia for European Cup Qualifier, 3 weeks ago you couldn't find a policeman today, dressed in kneepads, shinguards, shoulder protection, helmets and ready for anything. They put on a real presence. I talked with one of the policeman and they said they didn't expect any trouble but if it happened they were prepared with plenty of officers. I have an early flight tomorrow from Ljubljana to Zürich and then to New York and finally Cincinnati. Will take all day and I will land after 17 hours of traveling .