It’s been over two months since we’ve changed our motorcycle adventure base and six weeks since my hand operation. With my right palm back in one piece it was finally time to get back in the saddle. It may take a whole year for the full finger mobility to return, but all I need at this point is being able to grab the handlebar and pull the front break with my middle finger. Quite doable.
Just before my hand went on the chopping board we put the bikes away in a great little storage place walking distance from the Sarajevo airport. This couldn’t have worked out any better than it did. We were able to drop off a few things flying out to Belgrade and pick the bikes up right after we flew back in from Warsaw. For anyone in a similar need: https://www.ostavi.ba/. The storage place is 5 out of 5. Professional, convenient and safe. Ensar, the owner, is extremely accommodating and speaks multiple languages.
Sarajevo to Split is just a day’s ride, but we decided to split it, no pun intended, in two.
Our flight from Warsaw landed in the early afternoon, but it would take a good hour or more to sort out our luggage and get rid of anything we’ve acquired over the past two months that wasn’t essential. No point pushing it.
Mountains over Jablanica at sunset.
This put our first stop back in Jablanica, a cute little mountain town we’ve ridden through on our way from Mostar a couple months earlier.
The following morning we were done with breakfast and ready to go by 8:30am. They day ahead would be pretty hot, around 32C, which, as we all know, isn’t all that much fun on a bike. The early departure bought us a couple hours in the 20-27C range.
At first, the terrain was very much the Bosnia we already know and love — rolling green hills and granite rock.
But later we were in for surprise. If someone showed me this photo taken about 1/2 way between Jablanica and Split I’d swear it was taken in northern New Mexico or Colorado. For a moment there was even a scent of a wild fire in the air, completing the illusion.
Eventually, the road leads along unfamiliar bodies of water and the illusion disappears.
Too crystal clear blue for anything I’ve seen in the American southwest. Perhaps the eastern portions of the Columbia river further up north, but that’s something I’ve only seen in a documentary so can’t confirm.
When we finally made our leisurely way to the border I had no choice but to put on my funny hat. Half an hour standing in line under the scorching Balkan sun was too much even in the light adventure gear we wore that day. I suspect it was that hat that got me in trouble with the guards when our turn came. My normally privileged EU passport was suddenly deemed suspect and right of passage withheld pending secondary verification. About 8 minutes later I learned that this particular crossing was a favorite of counterfeiters who’ve chosen Polish passports as means to an end. Exonerated, the guards opened the gates to the land of milk and honey. Min was allowed to enter Croatia in one go albeit doing so required the non-EU photos and fingerprints. Her remaining permitted time in Schengen read: 70 days.
About a 1/2 hr later we crested the final mountain range and rolled into Split. Above, the island of Brac, accessible via a 20 min ferry. Photo taken on an off-road exploration the following day, but the view is representative.
Split, just outside the fabulous old town. Ice-cream pause before one last dash to the Airbnb.
The town is more beautiful than they say.
And the nearly two millennia old Roman architecture, humbling.
The ride on day 2. Closer to 4.5hrs in with coffee/water breaks and the wait at the border.