Bosnia & Serbia Trip Pictures from July 23 and July 30, 2006  

July 23, 2006.  Temperatures are in the 30's Degree Celsius at 8am in the morning.  Before we even start riding we are dripping with sweat.  From Dubrovnik we ride along the picturesque Adriatic Coast and turn inland at Opuzen to Metkovic.  We decided to detour into Bosnia/Herzegovina.  The border crossing is speedy with no stamp, but the line up is an hour long.  40km from Metkovic in Bosnia/Herzegovina lies Mostar and its 21st Century Arched Bridge (once 16th Century), but was destroyed by Croat shelling in November 1993.  We have hit the hot spot of former Yugoslavia.  The temperature reached an unbelievable 49 Degree Celsius in the shade and 56 Degree Celsius in the sun.  Both Mike and I dip our heads into the Neretva River at the base of the Arched Bridge.  After a stroll through the cobble stone streets of old Mostar we are retracing our route to Croatia.  Entering Croatia was a lot faster then leaving and we are back at the coast and bearable temperatures in the 30 Degree Celsius range.

July 30, 2006. We enter Serbia from Croatia mid-afternoon.  The border crossing is a breeze.  We are on the main Autobahn which cuts straight through Croatia and Serbia to Macedonia and Greece.  All we see is camper vans and trailers (flying Dutchman) heading south.  We pass Morovic, Sremska Mitrovica, Sasinci, Pecinci, Dobanovci and head right into Belgrade.  As always we are looking frantically for our turn-off to Pancevo, going 120km/hr and trying not to miss any signs and run into other fast moving traffic.  Somehow we see a small sign, which turns out to be the truck route and zig-zags its way through residential Belgrade.  We cross the Danube (Donau) River and finally are out of the big city. From Pancevo to Banatsko Novo Selo, we ride past beautiful fields of sunflower. At Alibunar we turn south-east to Bela Crkva.  A small village bustling with people enjoying the close proximity to the Danube River.  We arrive at 8pm at the border crossing from Serbia into Romania.  Serbia officials stamp us out and another adventure begins.  We only spent a few hours in Serbia and the impression we got is that it is the poorest country of all the former Yugoslavian countries and the slowest to recover from the war in 90's.