Aventures Bicyclétales ...

country overview, map and followed itinerary, the journal with the best pictures, the highlight, what I liked / didn't like, useful information.
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Country overview (as of April 2009)

• Capital city : Sarajevo.
• Area : 51,309 km2 (= 0.08 x France).
• Population : ~ 3.9 million inhabitants (= 0.06 x France).
• Density : 76 inhabitants / km2. 

• Language : Bosnian (close from Serbian and Croatian).
• Religions : Islam, Orthodox and Catholicism.
• Human Development Index (HDI) : 0.802, the 75th country out of 177. What is HDI ?

• Government : Parliamentary Democracy.
• President : Zeljko Komsic (since July 2007).
• Prime minister : Nikola Spiric (since January 2007).

• Growth rate in 2006 : 6%.
• Currency : Konvertible Mark (KM), 1 Euro = ~ 2.0 KM.
• Main imports : equipment and consumer goods.
• Main exports : steel products.

Bosnia-Herzegovina map and followed itinerary (in green)



The travel journal in Bosnia-Herzegovina with the best pictures :

• Southern Bosnia-Herzegovina until Mostar,
• Sarajevo,
• riding west towards Croatia, via Travnik and Jajce.

Monday the 4th of May : 9.20 AM, I reach the Bosnian immigration office, I get my stamp and I am allowed in. The road from here is a non-stop downhill until the bottom of the valley, this same valley I already rode down yesterday ... and it’s deep …



Welcome to Bosnia and Herzegovina ... and welcome to Republic of Srpska (!!??).



Republic of Srpska (RS) is the Serb Republic of Bosnia, and with the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, it’s one of the two entities of the country. This Serb Republic of Bosnia, a Republic in the Republic … was created by Radovan Karadzic a few months before Bosnia and Herzegovina proclaimed its independence. Bosnian Serbs (Orthodox) wanted to remain part of Serbia whereas an overwhelming majority of Bosniaks (Muslims) and Croats (Catholics) wished to become independent. This triggered a bloody civil war which lasted 4 years, killed more than 100,000 people and pushed about a million people away from their home.



Back on the road, grey clouds and thunder are chasing me … see the rear view below !



My pace is just right and the rain keeps falling behind me. This is quite a strong incentive to push harder ! Unfortunately, after a couple of hours playing this game, a smaller group of clouds goes around and cut my way. I finally find myself surrounded, so I stop, rest under a shelter and watch the rain for a while.

Tonight I stay in the small village of Stolac, located just a few kilometers away from the border between the Serb Republic of Bosnia and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Stolac has not been spared by the war : many buildings show mortar impacts and bullet marks, several have been burnt down … dark walls and collapsed roofs are a common sight. There is still a lot to rebuild here !


Tuesday the 5th of May : sunshine is back, but so is the wind …



This morning I’m riding to Mostar, and I discover on the way another consequence of the war : landmines are still all over the country !



Bosnia and Herzegovina is among the four most mined countries in the world (after Angola, Afghanistan and Cambodia) with about 1 million landmines for only 4 millions inhabitants. Landmines are a real problem, because they continue to kill years after the end of a conflict, and also prevent agriculture to resume safely.


Wednesday the 6th of May : Mostar suffered greatly during the war, and the city illustrates very well the ethnic imbroglio of the country. Initially Serbian forces shelled Mostar from the hills and killed thousands. Croats and Bosniaks then combined to expel the Serbs ... but shortly afterwards they became adversaries. The Croat forces took over the Western bank and the city became divided along the river.

Below : one of the many buildings of Mostar not rehabilitated yet …



… but I must admit that, given how badly destroyed was the city in 1995, today’s result is really impressive. All the old Ottoman district has been rebuilt, shops are open and tourists are back …

 



Below : the old bridge, the icon of Mostar, 500 years old … and collapsed into the river in November 1993 by Croat artillery. It was identically rebuilt and reopened in 2004, with fine words of reconciliation and hope.




Thursday the 7th of May : this morning I am going to Sarajevo !! From Mostar I could only see mountains looking North, so I was ready to ride some seriously long slopes today … but actually this isn’t that bad, since the road follows the Neretva River during the first 70 km.



I arrive in Sarajevo by the end of the afternoon … but watch out for the tramways !!




Friday the 8th - Sunday the 10th of May : Sarajevo, capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina … is a city with a rich and tumultuous history !

The city was created by the Ottoman Turks during the 15th century … and it remained under Ottoman rule until the end of the 19th century. Many people turned to Islam and several Mosques were built during this period. When the Turks were finally defeated by Russia in 1878, Austro-Hungarians inherited Bosnia and modernized Sarajevo, building the tramway and bringing the magic of electricity !

Below : Sarajevo’s tramway in front of an Ottoman building ...



... and the Bascarsija mosque.



Despite the natural prevalence of Islam, some other religions have always existed in Sarajevo, living together in peace and harmony, as demonstrated by this Orthodox church …



… or this Catholic church (below) ! There was even an important Jew community here between the 16th century (when they were expelled from Spain) and the 2nd world war.



 Above on the right : the obvious influence of Austro-Hungarian design ...

Unfortunately, peace in Sarajevo was not meant to last all the way to the 21st century. From 1992 to 1996 the infamous siege of the city grabbed the headlines and horrified the world. Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb commander is reported as having said : “Shoot at slow intervals until I order you to stop. Shell them until they can’t sleep, don’t stop until they are on the edge of madness”. The siege of Sarajevo is the longest in modern history. Bosnian Serb forces completely sealed off the city from the outside world : access roads were blocked, water, electricity and heating were cut. As a result, around 11,000 Sarajevans died and 50,000 were wounded.

Despite all the reparations made since the end of the siege, one can notice here and there shell impacts and bullet marks, as shown below on a wall of the theological seminary ...



… and tombstones all bear the same years of death ... ranging from 1992 to 1995.



Below : the national library was targeted by the Serbs as a repository of Bosnian books and manuscripts, and therefore an entire people's culture. An incendiary shell in August 1992 wiped out a heritage. Restoration work is slow and many books are irreplaceable.



Below : the Latin bridge ... it was here that Gravilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb nationalist, stepped forward to fire his pistol, killing Austrian Archeduke Franz-Ferdinand and sparking off war between Austria-Hungary and Serbia … which, thanks to a series of European alliances, escalated into WWI and lead to 9 million deaths !



But enough with wars and crimes, this is history now and Sarajevo deserves better !

The city centre is very stylish, pleasant and lively. There is a crowd of pedestrians, several parks, squares, games (below, black lose in three moves), there is also music at every corner …



… small cobblestone streets, bars, cafés, restaurants, fresh air … and cars have been pushed far, far away. Sarajevo city centre is a urban paradise.






Sunday the 10th of May : 06.39 AM, Sarajevo railway station, my great friend Grégoire has just arrived from Lille (North of France), via Bâle (Switzerland), Salzbourg (Austria) and Zagreb (Croatia) ... with his bicycle and the trailer that goes with it ! 



He did it and here his piece of advice : it's sometimes easy (France, Switzerland, Slovenia and Austria), sometimes difficult (Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina) and even sometimes impossible (High Speed trains in Italy), but with perseverance and creativity, you can reach Sarajevo by train from France with a bicycle and its trailer. Just one thing, disassemble the bike and keep it in a bag !! All in all, it's certainly a long journey, but it was an unforgettable experience, with lots of fun and a very, very small carbon footprint ...

Grégoire will ride with me until the border between Slovenia and Italy ... and needless to say, after such a long trip, he's in hurry to get in the saddle !!


Monday the 11th of May : we leave this morning for Travnik, but for a first day together, the road is far from ideal : too narrow, too dirty and too busy. However this is a detail and this is clearly not enough to spoil the fun of riding together, as in the old good days, when we were students …



Travnik is a lovely city tucked into a narrow wooded valley (below), and its typical houses have tall and long roofs which make them look like witches' hats !!



Below : the famous Many Coloured Mosque from Travnik …




Wednesday the 12th of May : the day before yesterday, we were not sure which road to take to go to Jajce. We could follow either the main “red road”, longer and busier, or the “doted tiny white road”, with a major pass to climb. However after yesterday the choice is rather obvious, we don’t want to be stuck in the traffic once more, so we take the “doted white road” … and we like it !!



At last we can ride side by side without being bothered by the cars, we can admire freely the mountains and chat as much as we like …

… even when the road goes up, even when the asphalt disappears, even when the rocks are all over …



From the top of the pass, we start a slow downhill in the middle of a very thick and dark forest. There a many different tracks, but no signs of course and nobody around to help, so we keep going more or less west …



… we come across a few minefields, we go left and right repeatedly, and finally we reach the bottom of a valley. It seems we took quite a detour but Jajce is now straight ahead !



Below : Jajce hilltop citadel (14th century).




Wednesday the 13th of May : today we ride along the Sana River …



… and through some nice country ...



... with some pretty unusual mosques !!




Thursday the 14th of May : this morning we ride to Novi Grad where the Una River (below) marks the border with Croatia … this is just another border crossing, one more, and now there are only three left before France !






The highlight in Bosnia-Herzegovina

How can people who have suffered so much and who went through so many atrocities produce a country of such great vitality ? 15 years after the end of the war, this is a real amazement for the traveller … and a true life lesson !




What I liked / didn't like in Bosnia-Herzegovina

I liked	I did not like
dynamism and vitality of the population	landmines
Mostar and Sarajevo old towns	war-destroyed houses, mostly upcountry
the amazing cultural heritage	-
very low pollution	-
green rivers with super-clear water	-

Useful information about Bosnia-Herzegovina :