Ljubljana

Arrived at the balkan

pajje 2014 Road trip Balkan Peninsula , , ,

After an calm night in Plzen we hit the road again and towards what we should be calling the actual start of this trip, Ljubljana in Slovenia. To find our way out of Plezen was a breeze and rather soon we were on small, kind a picturesque roads through the lovely nature in Czech Republic and Austria. The roads were actually in really good condition and Austria showed us its best side with newly added asphalt on the roads, almost no traffic and a nice shining sun that you could spot between the alp tops. It also added some excitements then it was time to climb over the alps, our poor Citroën had to work hard (first gear only) to climb the Loibl pass but it was totally worth it, so beautiful and if you are in the area, you must do this pass!

120 miles later and we have now arrived in Ljubljana, Per has just interview Robin who is an local which we will spend the night at (Thank you  couchsurfing). Unfortunately we arrived a bit late for examining the city but lets do that tomorrow instead and now Robin had given us some advices for what to see and what to skip.

Wannabe Serbia

pajje 2014 Road trip Balkan Peninsula , , , , , ,

Today we are in Serbia, well not really its more like wanna be Serbia while we are in Bosnia Herzegovina, the city Banja Luka and the area called Republika Srpska. This is Bosnia but beside the custom who gave us a very long and concerned look until he found a stash of beers in the trunk (that made him smile) we haven’t seen any bonsiaks, Bosnian flags or anything that could give an hint that you are in BIH. There are however plenty of flags here, Republika Srpska which is very similar to the Serbian flag, all signs are written in Cyrillic and yea, this is Serbia light.
We also saw the first trace from the war today. Some houses who were bombed and some with facades covered in in bullet holes but maybe that one who caught me the most was probably all the abandoned houses from the ethnic cleaning, now it feels like we are doing the real deal.

Before we left Slovenia we heard some warnings about flooding. We heard the rumors before and a warning is always nice but it was kind a more than we expected. In sweden we had a nice, hot and dry summer while on the Balkan, they wasnt that lucky. Corn fields laid under water, hay was floating around in what looks like lakes and the roads where protected by sandbags. We had no problems driving through and the roads may be narrow but they are in better condition the the swedish ones. The highway do cost money but as long as they keep this standard I have no problem to pay some extra.

The city Banja Luka is quite small but cosy. Filled with outdoor seatings, bars and cafe’s. Vi also found their stadium and by 1 part luck and two parts cleverness we succeeded to get inside and take a look, unfortunately no match today.