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Douglas Brown's Travels
Today's ride was 234 km and we travelled via Srbinje, Gacko, Nevesinje, Blagaj. This was the best and most technical days riding yet. Despite dropping my bike once I had the biggest smile on my face at the end of the day.the roads through The mountains quite often are literally through the mountain with long unlit tunnels with several bends in the tunnel. Outside of the tunnel the road is a series of switch backs many of which require 1st gear and a fair bit of slow speed riding skill. d*** one of the group mounted his GoPro on his helmet and took some footage of the ride http://youtu.be/iJVsXDtwMpw We had our morning coffee stop in Sutjeska National Park. There are 235 steps to the WWII monument on the hill. This park is famous for the Partisans victory over the Germans in WWII. It also hosts one of the last two remaining primeval forests in Europe. Lunch was at Blagaj which is a real tourist spot and very popular with the locals. Ruins of a middlecAges fortress can be seen in the hills above.. The river Buna has its source here at a spring in the side of the mountain. Ou resturant was on the other side of the river and we sat on little man made islands while we dinned. This site is also the location of the Tekija Monestry with whirling dervish monks. First established by 1550 by the Ottomans. Mostar is a very beautiful city and in former Yugoslavia it was the city with the most number of mixed marriages. As such it was devastated in the 1992-95 war. It has bounced back and the streets have been rebuilt. It is a town that is alive with young people enjoying themselves and as such has a very strong night life. It reminds me very much of a market city. The river decides the town into two parts the Bosnian half and the Croatian half. The bridge which joins the two halls was destroyed in 1993 during the war and has been totally rebuilt in its original 400 year old form. The bridge is very significant to the city as Mostar was named after its old bridge (meaning Stari most) and the towers on its sides, "the bridge keepers" ( mortars in Bosnian/Croatian)
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