3. Balkan Blitz

We woke up in Bled, well rested and just a couple minutes’ walk brought us to this view.

Along with Hira taking good pictures with a proper camera (most of the pictures on this blog are taken by her, so go ahead and follow her on instagram) I was able to take some with my phone.

This is such a beautiful area with plenty to do for relaxing vacation, both for families and individuals so do check it out if you are in the area. The local bakery around the corner had delicious wares.

Since we initially wanted to go to Sarajevo, the morning’s weather forecast for the route was less than helpful. There was snow on the way and we had switched to summer tyres for the journey so the mountain roads, with snow on them, was a big no. We decided we could do a Balkan trip at a later stage since it is reachable from Germany on a day’s drive and should make our way eastwards as fast as (legally) possible, as long as the motorways built by EU assistance are at our disposal. So we set ourselves the goal to be in Sofia by nightfall. Or to at least get as close to it as possible without tiring ourselves too much.

The mountain roads through Slovenia are some of the most beautiful you’d ever drive on. Same couldnt be said about the ones through Croatia (no disrespect). The section we drove on was pretty much through plains and we made good distance.

Just as we were about to enter into Serbia, we saw a sign indicating an exit for Sarajevo. After a brief stop for coffee, we checked that snow had indeed passed and if we wanted, we could drive to Sarajevo in roughly 3 hours. So we decided to go for it.

Took the next exit.

Cleared Croatian Immigration. No issues. This seemed like one of the less frequented crossings. We were leaving the EU for the first time.

Cleared Bosnian Immigration: A friendly officer had a brief chat with us. Where are we coming from? Where are we headed? Are we crazy to drive all the distance in a mini? Checked our papers, specially the car insurance and stamped our passports and waved us through.

What followed was one of the weirder experiences we had on the whole trip.

What the navigation system showed as a highway, was in pretty bad shape, with plenty of pot holes and bumps. Drivers speeding up and down as if no law applied to them. Plenty of buildings with signs of war along the way. After half an hour, we made a brief stop but the over all feel of the area was such that we decided to head back. I had no intention of driving another two and half hours on a bumpy, single road like that.

So barely after an hour of crossing into Bosnia, we were back at the same crossing, now heading the opposite way.

As luck would have it, the same inquisitive (but friendly) immigration officer that greeted us on arrival, was now seated at the exit window. He was not amused to see such a quick turnaround from us and let us know of how suspicious it looked that someone would cross in and out of the country in an area that didn’t enjoy the best of the reputation. He did stamp our passports though and signalled us to move on to the Croatians.

He also signalled to the Croatian officers that something didn’t seem right.

Hence followed our first search of the car and some questioning by the young officer who was not the least bit pleased that we’d not been satisfied with the road conditions. Apparently, the petrol station where we stopped is just a couple of Kilometers away from the motorway that goes down to Sarajevo. Anyway, once the border guards were satisfied that this was merely a case of poor navigation and not some criminal activity, we were allowed to drive back in. Most of the hassle was probably down to the fact we were entering EU where border controls are pushed to external borders so that there is hardly any left on internal country borders of the Schengen zone. Anyway, we didnt let this dampen our spirits.

The Bosnian ‘leg’ of our trip.
Entry and exit stamps within an hour.

We were now headed to Belgrade.

Route_of_the_day_version_4 (seriously, it wasnt an issue to change where we wanted to go at any time, was actually fun to be free like that).

The border crossing into Serbia has one of the most dilapidated roads either side of it (but they’re being renewed ahead of the tourist season). Once across, we stopped for a coffee break and looked up a hotel for the night. Settled for ‘Admiral Arena Hotel’. The name belied the humble rooms but everything was clean and we could park the car right in front of it so all was good. Cost: €45 for a double room with breakfast (basic stuff).