Day-2 May 17

Plitvice(Croatia) to Sarajevo (Bosnia & Herzegovina)

It was another chilly day with tiny bouts of rain. After an early breakfast, we headed to the Unesco world heritage Plitvice National Park. This National Park is situated on the eponymous Plitvice plateau between the mountains of Licka Pljesevica and holds 18 lakes and numerous beautiful waterfalls surrounded by a large forest complex around it.

These lakes are renowned for their distinctive colors ranging from azure to green to grey or blue depending on the minerals being deposited. Anyways, due to the heavy rains in the region, the water levels in the lakes had crossed the danger mark and so we are told the authorities have closed down large part of the National Park due to flooding & safety issues. What a bummer!! So we take a long walk along the small part that’s open for tourists. Its indeed a sight to behold the pristine beauty of the place.

We return back to our B&B and around noon, we start off our ride eastwards towards Bihac in Bosnia. The International border crossing from Croatia into Bosnia was again simple since both immigration outposts are beside each other and we had the procedures done without getting off our bike or removing our riding gear.

It was a cloudy day and piling on the kms in freezing temps was no easy task inspite of our BMW bike equipped with heated seats & handlegrips etc. As we make our way thru decent rural border villages of Bosnia, the landscape was captivating, but amidst it we could also see among some modernity there were also old rundown buildings and lesser economic fortunes. We stop for a quick lunch without a word of English spoken. Glad we atleast got what we thought it should be!

Thereafter we ride thru following the contours of the land leaning thru curve after curve with beautiful green foliage on either side. Along the way it is clearly evident that the floods from the days before which caused many fatalities in the country were visible as the streams & rivers along our route were at full level and we also had to carefully navigate some roads partly submerged in water.

Travelling thru Mrkronjic Grad, Jajce and then hopping onto the A1 motorway, with the daylight gradually disappearing into the horizon, we steadily make our way to the destination for the day, Sarajevo, which is the capital & the largest city of Bosnia & Herzegovina. Also refueled our stomach with an early dinner along the way.

It’s a long day and we arrived late into the evening at 8:30pm into Sarajevo and riding to our B&B was almost a roller-coaster ride as this city is spread out on mountains with steep climbs, descents and narrow streets crisscrossing at steep inclines & dips with general traffic at a fast pace, handling the fully loaded bike with a pillion on some dim lit streets was no easy task!!

Our GPS finally takes us into a street that’s a dead end!! As I am looking for a space to maneuver a tight U-turn with my heavy bike and almost started few choicest of words to my GPS, my wife suddenly spots a tiny board Vila Una and signals me on the intercom. Bravo! that’s indeed our B&B. Profoundly apologize to my GPS...

We check into Vila Una, which is run by an elderly couple. Bosnia as a country although a lesser European cousin, is an absolutely beautiful land and it surpassed our expectations in terms of sheer beauty of nature. We are tired & frozen but enjoyed the ride thoroughly today. It’s definitely a cold night and not sure if the room heater is working to full capacity or some cost cutting happening..., but we finally hit the sack and get a good night’s rest.