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Home , Trebinje, Via Dinarica

IN THE NOW A tour from to and highlights the Western as the next adventure travel powerhouse

WORDS BY ALEX CREVAR PHOTOS BY TAMÁS VARGA

20 ADVENTURE CYCLIST f ebrua ry 2018 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 21 e pedaled from Croatia’s southern remain in the now. We were conditioned Still, our desires — on a tour billed as tip, on the Adriatic Coast, north to keep our collective eye on the fresh equal parts culture and cycling — did not Wto the mountains and into Bosnia landscape, the path ahead of our front lean on the pith-helmeted need to chart and Herzegovina. After crossing the tires, and each new dawn as we rode into virgin territory. Instead, our goal was to border, a curtain of charcoal gray clouds the future and the heart of the Balkans. see this complex region with new eyes. and rain gathered and began to creep As with any cycling tour, each For millennia here in Europe’s behind us, swallowing up blue sky as it new dawn meant our posse was busy southeastern corner, kingdoms have went. Over the next few days, the storm gobbling down breakfast, drinking expanded and contracted, cultures have would reappear at intervals in our rear copious amounts of coffee, and stuffing fused, and the art of hospitality has been view. It was, however, polite — like a jerseys with energy bars. From the perfected. Winston Churchill once said, shy stray dog. It played hide-and-seek outset, however, there was something “The Balkans produce more history than between bluffs and across plateaus. It different about this journey. We were they can consume.” It is more accurate sniffed at our group. It even mustered the to say the region was forced to consume courage to lick our legs a time or two. “The Balkans produce more history than it would prefer. For the most part, the storm The Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman remained at a safe distance from our more history than they empires all staked claims to chunks of gaggle of six cyclists during the five-day, can consume.” the peninsula. The Venetians snatched 260-kilometer (161-mile) cycling tour swathes of the coast. set up from seaside to the ancient riding across one of the continent’s rare shop for a while. The Austro-Hungarians Bosnian capital of . All the undeveloped and unsullied multiborder colonized the area until World War I. same, the weather system’s existence regions. Gardens and fruit trees aproned “Beautiful mountains and isolated was important; it provided both a siren solitary stone houses at the base of valleys contributed to the hardiness of song and a Pavlovian reminder. The the that cut across the the inhabitants and enabled a patchwork deep mauve clouds were mesmerizing — Western Balkans. Free-roaming goats of microcultures to take root across these swirling above craggy hills and sweeping in meadows of wild yellow lilies and countries,” said Vjeran Pavlaković, a through green river valleys — but blue anemones didn’t bother looking historian and cultural studies professor the lesson was clear: stay focused and up from their nibbling as we passed. In at the University of Rijeka in Croatia, roll forward. Stay ahead of the squalls many places, we could have been riding when I contacted him about the region’s enveloping the immediate past and through the 19th century. misperceived identity. “The dominant

22 ADVENTURE CYCLIST f ebrua ry 2018 Riders tackle a climb on Bjelašnica Mountain to the village of Umoljani. The tour took six riders — from the U.S., Bosnia, and Holland — over multiple mountain ranges. narratives of war, so often manipulated by Olympic Games outside Sarajevo. “For in the sea. There was the smell of both local politicians and foreign rulers, cycle tourists,” said Johnson, “the plan is honeysuckle and trees plump with obscure the fact that the diversity of the to mix low traffic and rural routes that will figs. Cicadas chirped in a metronomic Balkans actually resulted in a vibrant yield breathtaking views that likely haven’t rhythm that reverberated in the heat as exchange of ideas, traditions, rituals, changed much for a millennium or two.” we passed crumbling, waist-high rock cuisines, and arts, revealing a fascinating The group flew into and gathered walls — constructed and reconstructed palimpsest of cultures and entangled in Dubrovnik. The famously walled histories waiting to be properly discovered.” city (of recent Game of Thrones fame) “The same forces that “The same forces that impeded so- dangles over the sea and acts as a mass called ‘modern development’ for most of tourism magnet for Croatia’s Dalmatian impeded so-called ‘modern the past century in the Western Balkans coast. However, we quickly escaped the development’ for most of have made it possible for us to experience UNESCO World Heritage Site’s medieval Europe much as it was centuries ago,” Jim fortifications and the cruise-ship, selfie- the past century in the Johnson, the founder and president of stick–waggling crowds jostling for elbow Western Balkans have biketours.com — and one of the excursion’s room. We started our ride south of town, two host companies — told me over the in the country’s Konavle region, which made it possible for us to phone from Chattanooga, Tennessee, runs to the Montenegrin border. Our experience Europe much before his arrival for our adventure. world went from ice cream and tchotchke Johnson has become a regular in the region shops to the classic Balkan experience of as it was centuries ago.” over the last few years, but he was making the sort the tour had promised: solitude his first trip to encapsulated by mountains to the as a matter of birthright since before the (henceforth referred to simply as Bosnia). northeast and the sea to the southwest. Slavs came to the Balkans in the sixth Our route, he said, would take us mostly We cycled through rolling hills, up century. Olive groves and vineyards on asphalt with stretches of dirt road. The gentle climbs, and down long, mild leapfrogged each other within these tour would be eight days total consisting of descents. Reaching a crest felt like flying. ancient plots, the chain broken by five days of riding with segmented stages Views soared across the Adriatic, where villages that had sprouted along the passing through the cities of Trebinje, the white wake lines from sailboats, undulating road. Catholic churches, with , and , on the way to the fishing skiffs, and ferries crisscrossed steeples and iron bells, punctuated the mountains that hosted the 1984 Winter and created fading tic-tac-toe boards stone-pile skyline. Outside of Popovići, a

ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 23 poster advertising a local soccer tournament was tacked go from having no expectations, to being surprised, to next to death notices on a public announcement board asking why more people don’t know about the Balkans — beside a chapel. especially since we’re a bus or boat ride from Italy.” “Konavle is great for cycling because it has all varieties To say something exceeds expectations when there of terrain: flats, ascents, and downhills,” said Tomi Ćorić, are none is, at best, a backhanded compliment. With the a tourism operator from Dubrovnik who cycled with us Western Balkans, which includes countries that were once for the day. Ćorić’s company, Epic Croatia (epiccroatia. part of Yugoslavia, plus , success isn’t coincidental. com), leads bike trips throughout the region. As we Cosmically speaking, people who end up here were meant rode, he explained that this part of Dalmatia is a big to — tourism’s version of “preaching to the choir.” surprise for people, especially compared to Dubrovnik. The more logical explanation is that visitors who find “The valley and River provides an escape from the their way here are typically more evolved travelers and crowds. Life here is focused on the farms. Fishermen have already seen the tourism spots in Western Europe. still work the waters in the old-fashioned ways. Even the They understand the inverse relationship between [folkloric] costumes and accents are different.” commodified, seven-day, 14-city bus tours and those For lunch at Konoba Vinica (konobavinica.com), we sat centered on authentic experiences. As Joubert would often at a wooden table on the bank of the Ljuta River and ate repeat, mantra-like, during the ride, “This is next-layer trout and vegetables baked in parchment paper. We drank tourism.” At nearly every curve along the road, our journey glasses of local, chilled red wine. It was our first post-ride bore this out — not with magical, once-in-a-lifetime meal as a group, and we were quickly adjusting to the moments, but with magical, everyday Balkan moments. embarrassment of unpretentious cultural riches. Villagers “It was the right time in my traveling career to come to sold honey, wine, oranges, and rakija (locally made the Balkans,” said Erica Bower, 25, a member of our group schnapps) by the side of the road. Old men walked next to from New York. Bower, a climate change specialist at the their donkeys loaded with hay and waved as we passed. UN Refugee Agency in Geneva, Switzerland, was making “The Western Balkans is an adventure travel her first visit to the region. “I’ve spent a fair amount of wonderland because the region’s strength is real time in Western Europe and sporadic periods of time experiences rather than packaged product,” said Thierry in the Middle East and in Asia, but each as discrete and Joubert, sitting on a stacked-stone wall next to his bike separate experiences. The Balkans is such a fascinating after lunch. Joubert is the managing partner of Sarajevo- place to travel because it combines elements of East based Green Visions (greenvisions.ba), a regional mingled with West, but equally past mingled with future.” ecotourism operator. Green Visions was the other host In this way — combining elements for those ready to of the expedition and the local organizer. “Visitors here accept them — the Western Balkans has revolutionized

Right: After descending into Bosnia from Croatia, the route turned toward the city of Trebinje past fields and vineyards responsible for the area’s famous red wine.

Opposite from top: The city of Mostar, in the Herzegovina section of the country, combines modern cuisine, adventure travel, and a movie-set backdrop built during the . Near the village of Slano, Croatia’s Adriatic coast, the team rests before climbing across the Bosnian border. On the tour’s penultimate day, riders pedal up a lonely road on Bjelašnica Mountain. A big morning stretch in the village of as the group crossed the southern half of Bosnia.

24 its tourism philosophy with a region-wide push to promote cross-border experiences. Cycling tours like this one have begun to tap into the deep well of authentic culture that goes beyond arbitrary boundaries. For visitors, it means getting something like an eight-countries-for-one deal at the adventure travel supermarket. “When countries here promote the “The Balkans region, we all do better,” said Joubert, is such a who was part of a group behind the Via Dinarica (via-dinarica.org) hiking trail, fascinating which traverses , Croatia, Bosnia, place to , Albania, , , and Macedonia. National Geographic travel Traveler named the trek one its “Best of the World” destinations in 2017. That team because it is now working on the TransDinarica combines (transdinarica.com) mountain bike route across the same stretch. “In the end, the elements of real winner is the traveler who enjoys East mingled multiple landscapes and cultures,” Joubert said. “Cooperation has no downside.” with West, The next morning, with the sea to our but equally backs, we snaked single file from Slano, a tiny Croatian village on a secluded rocky past mingled bay north of Dubrovnik, up a winding with future.” road to the Bosnian border. I rolled up to passport control with one of our guides for the week, Sabina Redžović, a Sarajevo native. When the officer handed our documents back, he beamed with equal parts pride and mockery when he informed us that Sabina was the first woman to cycle across this checkpoint, I was the second man, and ours was the premier group. “We just made history,” Redžović said and shook my hand. Our destination for the day was Trebinje, on the southern tip of Bosnia — a town renowned for its Mediterranean feel, sunny and hospitable squares, and red wine. On the way, we would visit the Serbian Orthodox Tvrdoš Monastery (tvrdos.com) and its wine cellar. Before we could drink any vino though, we needed to perform our due diligence with lunch on the edge of Polje: a massive field, flood plain, and the source for the region’s most famous liquid. We pedaled to the terrace outside Gostionica Zavala (gostionica-zavala. com), a restaurant and inn overlooking . Formerly an Austro- Hungarian train station built in 1903, the renovated structure is now the centerpiece of a stretch of road that includes a museum and the entrance to

ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 25 the seven-kilometer Vjetrenica Cave opened onto an expanse of outdoor café When the officer handed (vjetrenica.ba), the largest system in tables and where linen-clad patrons sipped our documents back, Bosnia. Importantly, it is also the hub wine spritzers beneath the interlocking of a movement to revitalize the former branches of sycamore-like plane trees, we he beamed with equal narrow-gauge railway line — along the secured our bikes for the night. parts pride and mockery same stretch of road — into a cycling After breakfast the next day, we route (ciro.herzegovinabike.ba/gb). climbed out of the valley to a plateau when he informed us Over coffee, we gazed across the fields. beneath the 6,459-foot peak of Velež Corduroy rows of grapes — uniform and Mountain, which stands above our next that Sabina was the first dense with green vine leaves — extended city goal, Mostar. Near the village of woman to cycle across across the plain as far as we could see. We Podvelež, the group pedaled through then clipped in and rode a section of the burial grounds with car-sized, medieval this checkpoint, I was the “Ćiro” (as the narrow-gauge steam train tombstones known as stećci. Centuries second man, and ours was called) railway-cum-cycling route to of weather had rounded the rectangular the Trebišnjica River, where we funneled blocks, which were scattered about and was the premier group. to the town of Trebinje. At the Hotel unprotected — emblematic of epochs Platani (hotel-platani-trebinje.com), which here. Their curlicue and crisscross

Bridge divers put on a show for the crowds gathered on Mostar’s famous Ottoman-era bridge over the River.

26 ADVENTURE CYCLIST f ebrua ry 2018 Croatia’s Elafiti Islands, just north of Dubrovnik, stretch into the distance. The islands provided markers of progress until crossing the Bosnian border.

engravings looked more like messages was built in the 16th century during the storm, finally caught up to our small to interplanetary visitors than biblical Ottoman period, destroyed during the peloton the day before Sarajevo. The homages. In front of us on the next rise, a 1990s conflict, and rebuilt in 2004. veil of clouds and rain, so respectful on shepherd plodded behind his flock, which The smell of ćevapčići (sausages made previous stages of our trip, overtook the grazed on grass stubble. With a DNA- of lamb and beef) sizzling on an open group as we cycled from Boračko Lake woven rhythm that seemed dictated by grill mixed with cherry-flavored hookah to the mountain village of Umoljani the sun and rain, he raised his crook as a smoke pouring out of cafés as we walked along the “caravan” trading route used greeting when we swooshed by in a Lycra our bikes to the 95-foot-long arched during the Ottoman era. The weather blur of blues, reds, and yellows. limestone structure. Throngs of tourists reeled us in on a stretch between the The group bolted down a switchback were gathered at its 78-foot apex to cheer Prenj and Bjelašnica massifs through the road to Mostar. The valley opened. A on Mostar’s famous bridge divers who were heart of the Visočica range. However, as vista of ancient and modern buildings taking turns jumping into the cold waters is often the case in the Balkans, lessons spread out along the aqua-green Neretva below and soliciting visitors for money. come at human speed — and specifically River. The magnetism and heft of history As we wove through the crowd, across the when you stop. was immediate — no matter how far UNESCO World Heritage Site’s slick blocks Our group crowded under a covered ahead of our front tires we focused — spanning the Neretva River, we heard the picnic table next to a house in the village and stitched into the salmon-colored Catholic cathedral’s bells ringing from one of Luka as rain blew overhead. Within rocks rippling into the late afternoon. bank. On the other side, a muezzin’s call to minutes the house’s owner, just awake Bridge divers put on a show for the crowds gathered on Mostar’s famous Ottoman-era bridge over the Neretva River. We made a beeline to the city’s calling- prayer warbled from loudspeakers. from a nap, came outside to say hello. card attraction, the Old Bridge, which History, in the form of our stray-dog Happy for the unexpected company, he

ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 27 D I N A Sarajevo R I C Mount Igman N Bjelašnica Mountain Konjic Umoljani

Prenj Luka A Mountain L P S Mostar Velež Mountain

va et er er BOSNIA AND N iv D R A HERZEGOVINA LM M A O TI N A TE N Slano N C EG OA Trebinje RO ST (C Dubrovnik RO AT Popovići B IA) A A d LK ri I a A T ti N c S A Se L a Y DETAIL 0 25 50 Miles

Just ahead of the gathering storm, cyclists cross beneath Velež Mountain, over a plateau, and descend into Mostar.

served us a tray loaded with homemade set in a crisp, clear sky behind our lodge, dense homemade bread. Carafes of red plum rakija and thick coffee cooked on Pansion Umoljani (umoljani.com.ba). wine stood guard at the surface’s corners. his iron stove and served in copper pots. The other village houses, built close to “The Bosnian word čef (pronounced “My family has lived here 800 years,” the earth with wood shake roofs, faded chaif) has no English equivalent — and

MAP: AMY LIPPUS AMY MAP: Džale Surković told us as the sun poked to silhouettes. The soundtrack of atonal is not easy to define,” Joubert told me through clouds. We sipped from shot sheep bells and bleating filled the dusk as we gathered for our last breakfast. “It glasses and contemplated the idea of as the thermometer dropped to hat-and- means, loosely, that there is a correct way his people welcoming travelers since gloves temperatures. to enjoy something and be completely the time of the Crusades. “Bosnians are In the dining room, exposed stone present … in the moment. This concept known as friendly people. We want to walls surrounded a brick fireplace and a says a lot about how people think about talk to others about Bosnian beauty and woodstove. The owners, who doubled as life and time in the Balkans. This is also history and to hear from visitors about chefs, unloaded our dinner armloads at a the way we try to design our tours for their habits and history,” he said. time on the rough-sawn table. Tire-sized visitors. We want them to have čef.” A steep, two-mile gravel climb, and baking dishes of burek — a phyllo-dough The sun shone bright for the ride’s a steeper one on asphalt, brought us to pastry stuffed with meat — sat next to final morning. Over tea, we pulled out the community of Umoljani, high on the other savory pies called pita, filled with maps to see how far we had come. We slopes of Bjelašnica Mountain, which spinach or cheese. There were pans dragged fingers along topographic hosted men’s skiing during Sarajevo’s of roasted potatoes, plates of grilled profile lines, across peaks and plateaus, 1984 Olympics. The sun had begun to peppers, bowls of salad, and baskets of rivers and lakes. We relived our rides

28 ADVENTURE CYCLIST f ebrua ry 2018 through cities and villages. Through the map we saw vineyards, groves, canyons, and the sheer limestone cliffs that dropped straight to the sea. Outside we mounted our bicycles and faced the last stage of our journey. The group stared into the NUTS & BOLTS distance and studied the day’s path from Bjelašnica Mountain to Mount Igman, the site of the ski jump during the 1984 Games. Our route extended over balkans urgent, soaring peaks and then plunged under GETTING THERE such as Dubrovnik and Sarajevo); jagged ridgelines into deep, cave-riddled vistas. Turkish Airlines (turkishairlines. however, roads for cycling are quiet The route would lead into a valley that would com) has one-stop flights from and off the tourism radar. eventually leave us in Sarajevo. New York’s JFK to Dubrovnik Days ago we were dodging sheep. Today we (with a layover in Istanbul) for HOW TO GO would be in the Bosnian capital’s Ottoman-era approximately $875. Going guided is a great way to learn bazaar talking to carpet sellers and gold hawkers. about history from locals and to We would hear the pinging of coppersmiths WHEN TO GO have smoother communication shaping the intricate vessels used to cook Bosnian Conditions in the Balkans are solid with residents and villagers. There coffee. By the afternoon, our group was regaling from late May to mid-October, are, however, options for taking each other with personal versions of our adventure when the holiday season is in full the tour guided or self-guided, with over rakija at café tables on ancient cobblestones swing and accommodations are or without vehicle support. For in the main square. As we toasted each other, the open. Temperatures in the spring more information about this tour end of our journey in the Balkans felt like a new and fall are ideal and generally and others in the region, contact beginning. We had outpaced the squalls. We stayed mild (with cooler temps in the Green Visions (greenvisions.ba). in the now. Riding out of the village of Umoljani, we mountains), although weather is For more information about trips could already feel the moment filling with čef. more temperamental and changing. throughout Europe (as well as June through August can be quite guidance about this tour), contact Alex Crevar is a journalist based in Zagreb, Croatia. See more of hot and crowded (especially in cities U.S.-based biketours.com. his work at alexcrevar.com.

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