Spit to Sarajevo

Taylor Keegan

Oct 13

7 min read

My husband has a deep love and appreciation for the Balkans, and so this was a place he was wanting to explore together by bike for many moons. Our good friends Chris and Amanda joined, which was a perfect touring tedrad. Our plans were loose, and included mostly our start and end points with the in between including some "island hopping" and "lots of burek and cappuccinos:" If that was any measure of success, our trip was increadibly successful.

Day One - 9/11/2024

8.81 Miles, 1.25 Hours. 74 Degrees

Chris, Amanda and I landed just before sundown, assembled our bikes and got picked up (on bike) by Nicholas, who was able to secure a lovely flat for the four of us. Such a perfect location, we ate fresh food on the balcony and enjoyed an evening ride checking out the sites and sounds.

Day Two - 9/12/2024

We started the morning with a ferry ride over to Split. From there we too for a ride around the peninsula and found a nice little swimming spot dotted with sailing boats and clear blue water. We stayed the rest of the day in Split and spent the evening walking around exploring the old and the new. Did you know that the Game of Thrones series was filmed in Split, largely in Diocletian's Palace (constructed in approximately the year 300 AD). Or that lace and embroidery is a traditional craft and textile art from Split-Dalmatia County?

8.81 Miles, 1.25 Hours. 74 Degrees

Day Three - 9/13/2024

We caught a morning ferry, and and landed on Brac. Up to the Tommy's and then up up up some more to enjoy a popular viewpoint showcasing the southern part of the Island. After a snack and some photo opportunities, we enjoyed a gorgeous descent to a little cove to find a campsite for the night.

24 miles, 3.24 hours on the bike, 2,550' elevation, 67 degrees

Day Four - 9/14/2024

This day was broken up by a late morning ferry ride, as the first part of our trip we were able to enjoy the island hopping that comes along with an incredible ferry system to each of these small towns along the cost of the islands that populate the coast of Croatia. This day also included a lovely lunch picnic and swim midday finished again by a dip in the sea before nightfall. We were unsure where to camp as darkness set in but found this lovely little rocky peninsula area and land yet to be developed by people seeking their perfect second or retirement home, no doubt. The other three have a high level of confidence with finding a place to tuck away for a night, which is equally as comforting and unnerving for me who would prefer a detailed plan, that would have definitely identified sleeping quarters well in advance. All's well that ends well!

Started morning ride at 7:40a- 5.6 miles, 46 minutes on the bike, 600' elevation, 56 degrees

Started afternoon ride at 11:42am- 20 miles 2.5 hours on the bike, 1959', 63 degrees.

Day Five - 9/15/2024

What an incredible day of discovery this was. We climbed out from the cost and were able to spend most of the day on a gravel road along the ridge of the island. We were treated to a lunch break in a Humac, which featured an out-of-season restaurant and lots of old stone structures surrounded by stone walls. Probably one of the top meals on the trip was from the Konoba Bolat right as we were about to make the descent into to n and catch the ferry over to the mainland, and our last night in Croatia.

40 Miles, 3163' elevation, 5 hours on the bike, 58 degrees.

Day Six- 9/16/2024

From our morning campsite we took a combination of highway shoulders and farm roads to Opuzen, up the Neretva River, crossed the boarder, and then were able to hook into the second half of the Ciro Trail. This route felt like a rail trail, but was in fact a one lane country road that followed the way of an old rail line and river corridor. It was, by far, the least hilly course we could have chosen. We approached Mostar through a more industrial side of town and ended the day pushing our bikes up steep alleyways to our flat that shared a nice view of the city.

57 Miles. 5.75 hours on the bike. 54 Degrees.

Day Seven - 9/17/2024

This day was the first big day climbing out of Mostar - up and over the mountains into Bosnia. Not too many miles, but lots of feet. The top featured a nice mountain spring to refill our water bottles. Nick was much father ahead so he took the opportunity to facetime his mom. We decended down an old gravel road and ended up pitching our tents just as the light started to dwindle.

21 miles, 5 hours on the bike, 5,000' elevation, and 63 degrees.

Day Eight - 9/18/2024

We awoke in the field filled with little plants, crickets, and marginally less trash (because Nick and Chris did their part to burn a bunch into the wee hours of the morning). Breakfast included some burek and instant coffee, and back onto the bikes we got. The goal for this day was to get to Konjik because rain was in the forecast and none of us were in favor of pushing pedals in cold and wet weather.

As you scroll through the photos you will see a Shepard invited us into his summer cottage and shared some tea and fresh cheese. You will also see a number of furry friends to fall in love with, only a foreshadowing of our climb out of Konjic a few days later.

Also of note, a map that shows many of the suspected -still active- landmines, which dot the roadways and extend through much of the country. It made me feel sorrow for people who are often subject to the violent whims of their leaders (or other country's leaders)...our leaders.

28.5 miles, 3.25 hours on the bike, 2,100' elevation, 53 degrees

Day Nine - 9/19/2024

Day of rain and rest. We spent it walking around Konjic and watching high schoolers smoke in the alleyway between each class break.

Konjic itself is a very old settlement (with 4000+ years of history). It was the first town we rolled into that seemed to be predominately Muslim, marked by a couple of mosques, Muslim burial sites, and also citywide prayer announced over loudspeaker five times a day. It is the home to a giant bunker (aka Tito's bunker or the ARK) constructed under the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and one could take a bus there to tour it (Chris and Amanda did).

During the Bosnian War, it was a key location, not only for its production of ammunition and pre-existing barracks, but because it was an important communications link across the region. There is an especially horrific string of events in the town where the Bosniak Bosnian Army carried out terrible acts targeted at the Bosnian Serb community - many were later charged with crimes against humanity.

Today it not only known for its dynamic history (and celebrated for much of the non-violent parts of said history) and is also for its recreational rafting scene amongst the mountains and canyons nearby.

Day Ten - 9/20/2024

This was a gorgeous day where many different types of ecozones were experienced - starting in a lush, mountainous city with a big river running through it and ending it at higher elevations with little evidence of mammalian life except for the shepherds and their flocks.

We did meet some friends along the way - and much to my frustration, my husband could not help but feed a couple of dogs while he was taking a snack break himself. They followed us for 15 miles - one way. At some point, I started to create a checklist in my mind about what types of vaccines would be needed to bring the dogs back to Alaska and if our flat would charge us extra for hosting dogs. One was just a small pup, who at the very top of the mountain was quite tired and I there is not a week that goes by that I do not think of them both.

A town worth mentioning is Lukomir - Bosnia's highest village and an under-frequented tourist destination for Europeans on dirt bikes or with extreme 4WD looking for hand-knit wool socks and a hot cup of Bosnian coffee.

25.63 miles, 5.5 hours on the bike, 5,700' elevation, 58 degrees.

Day Eleven - 9/21/2024

This was a lovely day, full of downhill riding. We started our day at our camp, at which point the livestock had moved on. We biked up for just a bit to get over the saddle and then droped down into one of the1984 Olympic village sites alongside the mountain of Bjelašnica. We stopped long enough for some coffee break, and for me to checkout the playground then on we went.

We were able to side-step onto a route that included recreational roadways that included a bit more topography, but it was a treat to enjoy less vehicular traffic and take the "road less traveled."

As we made it into Sarajevo itself, I was surprised as the variety of everything that we saw. The variety of architecture, varying states of repair and recovery, varied modes of transportation and the variety of cultural and religious backgrounds. I say this with the important note that many of the towns and villages we came through to get to Sarajevo had a very specific identity and economic history/drivers. It was not a surprise to see a city include these things, but was a tangible difference in what we had been slowly watching shift and change over the past 10 days.

32 miles, 3.25 hours on the bike, 1600' elevation, 43 degrees

Day Twelve - 9/22/2024

This was our last full day in Sarajevo, and so Nick and I took the opportunity to hike a bike up to the old Olympic bob-sledding area. The Track does a good job at highlighting the history and present condition of bobsledding in B&H.