21/7/19 Ravno to Trebinje

52km  Total 2,462km

Riding on the rail trail again today. Almost no traffic, great views, but sooo hot (36deg) and nowhere on the way to get extra water or drinks.

Looking back to where we'd come from

Dermot in the distance

Ciro signs.  The track was well signposted with lots of info boards along the way

Quite a few of the places we went through are now deserted.

Looking for somewhere to get water

Yesterday's 95km in the heat plus more today has taken its toll, so we've decided to stay in Trebinje for a couple of days.  Booked into a very cheap but nice apartment.  Unfortunately it isn't available tomorrow night so we'll have to move - got something booked for 2 more nights and we'll try and get a hire car to go exploring on some of the busier roads.

20/7/19 Mostar to Ravno

95km plus 20km in Mostar - Total 2,410km

Yesterday Dermot was missing being on the bike so we rode up a hill on the outskirts of Mostar.  Great view, and we met a couple of dog handlers who had a 2 Belgian Shepherd dogs in their truck - they are searching for mines - not in this area but between here and Sarajevo.  They find about one mine per week.

The dog handlers

Belgian Shepherd

Today we headed for the Cero Trail - a railtrail from Mostar to Dubrovnik - there's a bit of info on the internet, but we couldn't find a map or get any details of what to expect along the way.  Fortunately it turned out to be great.  It's mainly on roads.  South from Mostar we followed the Neretva River Valley.

Then past a couple of lakes.  Temperature up around 36 deg.

Rehydrating before a 400m climb

The 400m climb was on a narrow winding road in 36deg heat! Tough!!  The last 20km for the day was directly following the old railway line, so nothing too steep, no traffic, great views.

Then we were in luck finding a really nice hotel to stay at.  Designed by an architect.  great food, wine, proscuito and a comfy bed.

Local Zilavka white wine

The wine tasting room

Proscuito drying

Sumptuous meal

18/7/19 Mostar and Sarajevo

We spent a day in Mostar then caught a train to Sarajevo for a couple of days and now we're back in Mostar.

During the Balkan Wars it almost seems like it was a civil war in Bosnia, with Serbia and Croatia getting involved too.  We went on a great free tour of Mostar, led by an Australian who has only been on Mostar for 2 weeks, but has befriended a local, Zica, who was 17 during the war.  Alex, the Austalian, centred the tour around Zica's involvement during the war.  Mostar was severely bombed and Stari Most (the famous bridge) was destroyed (the middle at least).

Below are just some of the sights from the tour.

This building has been renovated, but this wall has deliberately been left with lots of bullet holes as a reminder.

This was a sniper tower

A very sad place.  So many young people.

The area of Sarajevo that we saw didn't have the same evidence of the war - the city was under siege for 4 years, so there would have been vast damage, but lots of countries have contributed to its reconstruction.

Sarajevo was also where Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand of the Austro-Hungarian empire was assassinated which triggered WW1.

  

In 1984, Sarajevo held the Winter Olympics.  We took the goldola trip up to where the bobsled was held.  Great view of the city below.'

The old city directly below, with the modern part off to the left

The bobsled track

Josip Tito, who I can remember my parents discussing back in the 60's seems to be revered by quite a few Bosnians as a benevolent dicatator who kept Yugoslavia together.  He died in 1980.  We went to Tito Cafe for a coffee and to look at lots of photos of him on the walls.

Unfortunately there's another side - a ruthless murderer who ordered mass killings and imprisonment of opponents to his regime - one of them we spoke to the other day was in prison for 20 years.

Bosnia now has a government system formed by Bosnian Serbs (Orthodox christians), Bosnian Croats (Catholics) and Bosnian Muslims (who are the majority) and the leader rotates between the 3 every 8 months.  What chance has that of working!!  And there seems to be a fair bit of mistrust between the 3.  Not a good outlook for the future.

16/7/19 Vrgorac to Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina

57km  Total 2,295km

We took advantage of a car wash to give the bike chains etc a clean prior to leaving Vrgorac.  Keeping the running gear clean is always a challenge!

Today we left the Croatian cycling route cos we were heading into Bosnia and Herzegovina.  We're using RidewithGPS and we ended up on some pretty ordinary dirt roads.  It keeps us off the main roads, but it's a learning experience working out how to avoid in the future.
The day started with a wonderful descent down into this huge valley - you can see Vrgorac in the photo.

The border crossing this time was really straight forward.  The border official even asked if he could take our photo cos he was so impressed with what we're doing!

We must be getting into mosque country - this is the first one we've seen

I reckon Croats and Bosnaks must be drunk alot judging by the way there are grapevines everywhere.

In one of the towns along the way we got talking to one of the locals.  During Tito's time he was gaoled for 20 years for being anti communist.  He was in a cell with 200 people, one toilet, lots of mental health issues among the inmates.  It would have been great to spend time with this guy and understand his story more.

Mostar's at the bottom of a valley so another huge descent at the end of the day.

And finally into the hugely touristy town of Mostar, famous for Stari Most (The Old Bridge) that was destroyed during the Balkans war and was rebuilt via aid from other countries.

View from Stari Most

We're here for a couple of days and will do a train trip up to Sarajevo, spend 2 days there then come back to Mostar where we'll store our bikes while we're away.

14/7/19 Zvecanje to Vrgorac

71km  Total 2,238km

Another fantastic day of riding through rural Croatia.  We're avoiding the coast cos it's too busy but it means we have lots of hills.

The view riding out of our AirBnB

Crossing the Cetina River that we'd looked down upon yesterday

Climbing out of the Cetina River

Nice place for lunch

Look closely and you'll see Dermot at the other end of the tunnel

Our view once we got through the tunnel

Not much doing in Vrgorac - couldn't even find somewhere to eat, so bought a couple of small pizzas from a bakery - lucky it was open.  Staying at the only hotel in town.

Tomorrow we'll cross into Bosnia Hertzegovina

13/7/19 Trogir to Zvecanje

53km  2,167km

Last night was in a tiny campground where we were under the olive trees.

We rode through the outskirts of Split in rain.  Split and surrounds population is around 350,000 so lots of traffic on dirty wet roads. Stopped for a coffee and some lunch and the rain stopped :-) Fire swept through these hills last year, but we're not sure whether that's what's stopped the agriculture on the terraces - lost in translation.

Fantastic view of the Cetina River.

And staying at a great little AirBnB.  Fresh tomatoes, cucumber, capsicum and onions from the garden. On our way back from the shops, Dermot helped an elderly lady carrying her potatoes, so she invited us in  for a drink of wine and slivovice.  We bought 6 eggs from her for about $2.
Thunderstorms in the evening.

View from our balcony with the a satellite dish in the foreground

12/7/19 Lake Vransko to Trogir

106km  Total  2,114km

We're riding the N1 route through Croatia, and today's was really good.  Quiet flat roads out of Lake Vransko through rocky, dry countryside.  Lots of olive trees and grapevines on our way to Sibernik.  Avoided a dirt road but should have taken it as we ended up having to ride on the busy coast road. All the traffic was really good though and gave us plenty of room.

Views coming into Sibernik.  They use this bridge for bungy jumping.  We had to cross it.

Beyond Sibernik the climbing just seemed to go on forever.  Big 400m descent down to the coast but it was a fairly busy road so had to take it easy.

Early to bed tonight after a big day, our longest so far.  But there wasn't really anywhere else to stop along the way.