Today we had a long climb up a narrow and busy road before descending into Sarajevo. I spent most of my time playing “keep your tires on the white line” game, and not looking around, so here are some updates about the kind of fruits I saw on the ground while staring at the ground and playing said game.
It is high summer season for apples, plums, pears, figs, and quince in Bosnia. Apples are the most dangerous to pass as they don’t decompose as fast as the others. That’s the full update. Sadly we haven’t yet gotten to eat many of these – menus in the restaurants so far have focused on grilled meats coupled with occasional tomatoes and cucumber garnish, though last night we did have some very tiny blueberries as dessert.
No late-night Jack-Daniels-and-sing-along last night (as we’d been included in on the previous night with another guest’s 50th birthday) though the Bosnian/Swedish group all wished us well on our journey this morning at breakfast – after sharing harrowing tales of Bosnian drivers and tunnels. When Philipp mentioned we hadn’t seen many cyclists, the birthday boy said “There used to be a lot but now they are dead.” Good Bosnian/Swedish humor to kick off the day.
They promised to honk if they passed us on their way to Sarajevo, and indeed honking seems to be all of a friendly hello, an expression of enthusiasm for cycling in general, or a last-minute warning about the enormous size of the truck that wants to pass you.
Our legs were fresh from a rest day at Pansion Asim on Jablaničko Lake – a simple guesthouse in a stunning setting that seems to specialize in boat tours for conservative families (read: the women are covered), and we’ll take another rest day in Sarajevo tomorrow to take in the city and celebrate Philipp’s birthday.
Photos of things I did not see today:
Total distance/elevation to date: 4528km/36,532m
Rest days: 15
Route and Stats
Relive Video
The 1948 Tour 
Very happy that you made it in one piece to Sarajevo!
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