Today we reached Bosnia! We managed an early (pre-8AM) start after hitting the bakery below last night’s guesthouse for what seemed like Croatian pop-tarts, one made with sour cherries and one with cheese. Philipp ate something that looked like a croissant made from a dinner roll stuffed with chocolate but we won’t say anything more about that here.
Had some brief climbing away from the coast and were rewarded with an incredible landscape of rolling rocky hills and lakes as we neared the Croatia / Bosnia border. The quiet roads were a welcome respite from the busy coastal route and cloud cover even pitched in to make riding very comfortable. Another quick climb brought us to the inspections leaving Croatia, and a few meters on the customs to enter Bosnia. No stamps or questions at either gate.
Immediately after entering we were confronted with a sign for the EU-sponsored Wine Route through Bosnia – maybe a goodwill project to keep Bosnia’s EU-application moving. At this point the clouds proved they had less benevolent intentions and we donned rain gear as we got into the first town where we planned to change our Croatian kuna into Bosnian convertible marks.
Enthusiasm for Croatian cycling combined with lack of planning or currency research meant we had 1240 kunas (167.5 Euro / 196 USD/ 195 CHF) walking into the bank, and we left with 316 convertible marks (169.5 Euro / 198 USD / 197 CHF). Something with Google’s currency converter must be off, as I do not think we made money off of the exchange. The convertible mark is fixed at about 2:1 against the Euro, and places seem to accept Euro or kuna, but we thought better to go local as we’re heading away from the coast and EU. The helpful English-speaking security guard even intervened to get us small bills from the bank teller.
Next stop: waterfalls! We’d seen signs for these even in Croatia, and so planned a quick side tour that didn’t disappoint, even in the rain. Can’t say whether the natural beauty, tourist watching, or 2 Euro enormous sausage sandwich captured our attention more.
Linking back up with our intended route we discussed whether to go a route that had 300 meters more of climbing or one along the river that was longer. Philipp’s strong thighs and combative style of persuasion won out and we ground out some climbing as the sun came out, just in time for some beautiful panoramas, and a fierce headwind on the downhills, getting into Mostar.
Without searching we were able to spot bullet or shrapnel holes on a building as we entered the city, and our route inadvertently landed us on top of the very touristy 16th – century Stari Most bridge, which was destroyed in the Croat-Bosniak war in 1993. It was rebuilt in all it’s glory, which now includes many busy nearby ice cream stands and pedestrians weilding selfie-weapons. Not a place for cyclists, but we bumbled through and made it to our guesthouse, where our lovely host gave us a map and tips for more riding in Herzigovina. She and a barman both were quite proud of the tourism the city brought, including the upcoming Red Bull divers.
Set out again on foot to see the bridge and eat some delicious (Bosnian? Herzigovian?) food, including trout, meat rolled in grape leaves, and raviolis in a yogurt sauce. We’re both reading books set in or about Yugoslavia, and have a lot to learn about our temporary host country.
Total distance/elevation to date: 4396km/35’308m
Rest days: 14
Route and Stats
Relive Video
The 1948 Tour 
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