Monthly Musings – The Balkan Road Trip

Strictly speaking, the road trip was Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro, and Bosnia-Herzegovina, so maybe half of the Balkan Peninsula.  But it was enough to make me want to do the rest of it by car, not just by the bus that I took from Zagreb to Sofia then on to Thessaloniki.

Driving was a great idea.  There were three of us.  I drove, partly because I prefer to, partly because it was the first visit to this part of the world for my friends.  Driving here is easy.  Signage is generally good, as was the nav system in the car, and for backup, maps.me worked well, too. Drivers are predictable, and they follow rules – stay right unless passing and no passing on the right, they use their signals and share the road.  And road rage seems to be non-existent – I rarely heard a car horn.  One that I heard was a German vehicle!

Driving has the distinct advantage of flexibility.  When the tour groups hit Lake Bled, thankfully after we had walked around the lake in the morning, we drove to the “other” lake,  Lake Bohinj,which was unspoiled and natural, with equally clean water.

With a car, we were able to stay outside of the busy areas everywhere, and just drive in and find paid parking, which generally, by North American standards was not that expensive i.e. about $1 per hour (US or Canadian). Sometimes, we stayed at a place that was in the countryside, such as Lake Bled and Sukosan (near Zadar), and in Zagreb, we stayed up in the hills with a view of the city beyond the forest below us.  We had an assigned parking space, and either took the bus or taxi down or walked – that would be me, I really needed the exercise! And in Dubrovnik, we had street parking and about a 20-minute walk to the old town.  Moving the car was not even a consideration – we walked or took the very easy and cheap city bus!

We stayed on and covered half of Korcula Island, some of us (not me, the driver) probably with eyes closed because the hilly, curvy roads lacked guardrails most of the time.  At least, I assumed the back seat person had eyes closed because back seat driving was minimal – maybe too scared on those “frilly” (as we called them ) roads to even squeak?

So yes, much of the driving took a lot of concentration.  I have now basically driven the entire coast of Croatia, and the roads are curvy and hilly for the majority of the way.  This means, of course, that the scenery was spectacular.  We thought the drive from Rijeka to Zadar was incredible, with the mountainous islands forming the horizon, every curve a new ooh-ahh!  But south of Split, it changed to tighter, narrow, hairpin curve roads, following small inlets with sweet little villages and small waterfronts.  Down and back up, views of the inlets and coves and village, then views of the sea, then back down and in.  Long drive, I suppose, but absolutely worth it!  We ended up spending a night in one of those sweet little spots, after passing a few larger places with more options.  My motto was “oops, I missed the turn.  If I can’t find the center, we’re not staying there! Next town!”

We also stayed in an apartment in one of those small coves within a cove on Korcula Island, but that was intentional!

Something else that I really appreciate about the countries that we visited is that the water is drinkable from the tap everywhere.  And not just drinkable, but really good water. Being able to turn on a tap and drink the water is something that I really appreciate, which in Canada, can be taken for granted.

The flip side of taking water for granted is that I have to watch myself to turn off the water more  – don’t let it run as freely as I do at home and treat it like the precious commodity that it is, which, I know, I should do even in Canada.

Everything felt clean – the water, the food, the streets, the countryside.  Because we stayed in apartments, we shopped for our food and bought fresh local produce. It tasted as if it was just picked, fresh from the garden outside.  I don’t know how to describe it other than saying that the produce tasted vibrant, alive, fresh, healthy and just makes one smile when eating it.  Seriously, all of the fresh food tastes this way here.

We were also able to enjoy coffee on the terraces in Korcula, looking at the sea, and Zagreb, looking at the city.

One dish that I really enjoyed eating was Peka, a traditional, Dalmatian way of roasting with a bell-shaped lid over a metal tray, made with lamb and/or veal that tasted like the gods had decreed that this is how it should be cooked. The potatoes cooked in the Peka accompanied the meat and were caramelized on the outside and creamy inside.  If anyone ever doubts that you can taste the difference in how things are grown or raised, they need to eat in Croatia to find out how food is supposed to taste.

And I will give a nod to my favourite food place, Italy, because Dalmatia was part of Italy for centuries, so Italian food is readily available and very good in Croatia.

Along with the food, there is an assortment of indigenous grapes for interesting wines – Posip, Vranac, Plavac in Croatia, Žilavka and Blatina in Bosnia.  Wine tasting, either in a restaurant or visiting a winery is fun here!

It does help to know the history of at least the last 30 years in this part of the world.  The war comes up a lot in conversation.  It doesn’t matter where you are.  You will see bullet holes in buildings, cemeteries, and graveyards in the middle of fields, monuments in all countries.  And a reference to the war will be frequently said by a local in Croatia, Bosnia or Montenegro.  “Before,” “during,” or “since” the war.  The UN may have stepped in and created treaties, but it is still present in the lives of the people here. As an example, Mostar is described by many as a divided city – Muslims on one side, Croats on the other.  They are all nice, as far as I am concerned, but this separation is a remnant from the war, something that did not exist before 1991. The war has left physical, mental and emotional scars in all of the countries, and in some places, you can still feel the sadness. It doesn’t feel like hatred, it feels like sadness. And bewilderment, as someone said about Mostar, neighbours killing neighbours, how did that happen?

Perhaps not a very happy note to end this post, but it does make me realize again, how lucky I have been, to have never had to experience this and to not even have it as part of  Canadian history. And to wish these countries and the people well, because what I experience in my travels in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro, they are good people, and good countries.