Croatia
 Croatia














3/9 Orasac, Croatia
Lat N 42° 41,77', Long E 18° 00,75'
Today: 89.6 °F ( +32 °C)
03 Sep 2005
14620 km

We had a guest for breakfast this morning saying “Give me some cheese, man”. We took a morning swim before heading for Bosnia-Herzegovina, more closely Mostar and Sarajevo.

Today we passed many borders going in and out of Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. We were lucky they all paid us no interest; otherwise it would have been a long day.

Mostar was far more wounded by the war than we expected, there were a lot of bomb-wrecked houses in right in the middle of town that reminds us of what happened in 1993. All the other houses were complicatedly shattered by bullet holes from all angles, exept for the new houses or the few ones that had been renovated. All over town there were warnings for wrecked houses.

Mostar is a segregated town since the war. The Croats live west of the river and the Muslims control the east part and both sides of the riverbank. The street named Bulevar Hrvatskih Branitelja , also”The Front Line” draw the border between the two sectors, but there are no bars, feces or military posts. Everyone can walk freely around town, and it all seems to be a thing of the past.

Stari Most – the old bridge crossing the den emerald green and swirling Neretva River was also destroyed during the war, but has now been rebuilt. This bridge is probably the most famous view over Mostar.

After that we drove the remaining 140 kilometers to Sarajevo. We arrived in the evening and went out a meal in Bascarsija – the Turkish quarters.
















5/9 Omis/Split, Croatia
Lat N 43° 26,39', Long E 16° 40,89'
Today: 77 °F ( +25 °C)
05 Sep 2005
15256 km

We slept at a very big and well equipped campsite with a washing-machine in Omis, south of Split. Our laundry got dry just before the rain cloud came in. Instated of staying at the beach, we decided to move on.

We are not the only one to have an odd vehicle. How about this “rolling hotel” that we found at our campsite.

Before traveling north we stopped to take a look at Split . Then we took the highway – a 150 kilometers”toll road” northwards from Split, and we had to pay 11$. That is outrageous!

Here and there you can see signs of the war even in Croatia. Some places in the countryside are still not cleared of mines, and there are warning signs along the road.

As we got close to the national park where we was going to stay; we talked about that it felt safe enough to go “wild camping”. Just seconds later we passed a road sign that warned us for wild bears in this area. Hmmm, a campsite was maybe a good idea anyway…














6/9 Plitvica, Croatia
Lat N 44° 56,87', Long E 15° 38,60'
Today: 77 °F ( +25 °C)
06 Sep 2005
15557 km

Today we spent ha day at Plitvica Jezera National Park. A beautiful park area with 16 turquoise-green lakes tied together by numerous small cascades and big waterfalls. The biggest waterfall was 78 meters. We took the 25 kilometer trail; it was a six hours walk that gave us a lot of exercise and we stopped along the way to cook .

Pleased and tired we came back to our car and realized that it was only 350 kilometers to Italy and Venice, and we decided to go there immediately.

In the dark it is hard to discover the radar speed checkpoints in time, and there are a lot of radar speed points in Croatia. And there they were – the police waving their red stop signal in the dark. We had been driving 25 km/hour to fast. It was nothing to say about it, just to confess and pay the 45 €.