Oh gee whiz, I've done a lot since the last blog post. Checking in from Athens Greece.. I've finished Bosnia i Herzegovina, back into Croatia, another 16 km into Bosnia, back into Croatia again, and then to Montenegro.. (in this blog).. but since I have also ridden through Albania, Macedonia and now in of coarse in Greece.. where to begin!?? Medjugorje..!
Religion plays such a huge tourism role for every country I have been in Europe, which usually includes the high price for accommodation - including this small town. So I found a place out of town that will suit my budget - cheap! Secondly, these out of the way cheap places always have the nicest people anyway with the added bonus of the beautiful countryside, rather than concrete buildings and traffic.
A whole lot of praying going on..from people of many different languages. Mostly Catholic I would assume. Speaking of, it is THE place to go if you need to buy a rosary, every shop was full of them!
Maybe become a priest while your here.. ? (I honestly had no idea you can just buy these robes).
I explored the area for quite a while.. whether you believe in the apparition or not, it is definitely a place with good energy and peace once you get past all the souvenir shops.
Making my way to Medjugorge to Montenegro was easier than I expected. My gps didn't recognize most roads in Bosnia. So I resorted to google maps on my computer, of which also refused to give me an idea of route. My last chance for a plan was the trusty ol' paper map - which again, did not show any roads to or from Medjugorge! I don't understand as this small place takes many tourists every year.. but not to worry. Once I was riding around, the roads are very well marked. So I am really surprised at the lack of map information.
A little ride through BiH toward the coast and back into Croatia.. hello again! Croatia sees me often!
After a short ride, it's back through a border post for Bosnia which has 16 km of coastline. Needed fuel here, but I must make it back into Croatia because I want to use up my remaining Kuna (Croatia money).
I rode these exact roads in November last year through a dark rainy night.. so GREAT to see it on a sunny spring day!
A simple drive by of Dubrovnik, where I stayed for an entire week through the rain last year.. look at it now, so much better!
Need to keep moving though, because my goal is to meet Blazo Milic whom I met along with Nino and Vladimir during their round the world trip in Russia last July. Here is a reminder photo we took from Vladivostok Russia. I remember when these guys told me they are from Montenegro, and I didn't say anything at the time, but when I got back to my computer I quietly had to google it to find out where their country was.. had no idea! ;-)
But today is the day, and I get to meet them again and see how they have got on since they returned from their epic 3 month RTW journey... 3 months! Wow, that is endurance... If interested to see what they've accomplished, you can have a look at http://www.theridearound2010.me/
I made it through the border gates at 11:58, for my 12:00 meet time... whew!
I waited for a bit, and then I hear the motorcycles in the distance... love that sound! I was only expecting Blazo, and I get 2 for the price of one! However, young Blazo is not here... it's Nino and Marko!
Now I understand the wait, Blazo's bike is not happy and it stopped about 2 km away.. so with a warm Montenegro welcome, thanks guys! we head back to see about Blazo.
Something to do with the electronics of the fuel pump.. the guys are ingenius and rig a way to fix.. and luckily my little contribution is we got to use one of my tools.. I knew I needed to carry them for some reason! ;-))
The bike starts again and we start riding the beautiful Montenegro coast. Oops, the bike died again.. this time they call in the mechanics..
Nino waits patiently as well.. ;-)
The mechanics were good, job well done..to the music of Elvis..! So we go up around the corner for a celebratory snack and a drink.
The sun is getting low, so we pass up the plan for exploring and decide to head straight for Blazo's home in Podgorica, about an hour's drive into the mountains.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Glad to see you had a nice trip so far!
ReplyDeleteWelcome to Athens!
See you ;)