Tuši

Tuši's blog

Sunday, May 31, 2015

13163

Bosnia and Herzegovina: Cycling on Bobsled track and Motorcycling back to Slovenia


PD Tržič (Alpine Association Tržič) organized mountain bike expedition around Bjelašnica and today was our third and last cycling day (First day - 13161, Second day - 13162). After the breakfast in our Pansion Umoljani, we said goodbye to the owners and we started driving/riding towards Sarajevo. After a while we got a phone call from the owners. One of our guys, Janez, forgot the wallet, but since our host was very nice, he brought it to us. Soon we continued. One group decided to skip cycling today and they visited Baščaršija, old bazaar and the historical and cultural center of the Sarajevo. Nada, Janez, Janez, Uroš, Uroš, Slavc and me decided to do a little more cycling. We cycled on Sarajevo Olympic Bobsleigh track and it was a nice experience. After the cycling Nada and me left the group and with Blue Horse we started riding back to Ljubljana an on the way we stopped a couple of times at nice places.

 
Bosnian style - Coffee served from a copper cezve and me with a fez.

Pansion Umoljani. Good food, cheap beer, great hospitality.

Ready, steady, GOOOOOOOOOO.

Sarajevo Olympic Bobsleigh Track - 1300 meters, 13 turns, 125.9 meters vertical drop

Tuši in action

Group photo with a new graffiti. On the track were Janez, Slavc, Uroš, Nada, Tuši, Janez and Uroš.

View to Sarajevo

3 runs and every time a little bit faster.

Jajce - where Pliva meets the the Vrbas river.

Veliko Plivsko Lake

Bihaćka kula - The Catholic St. Anthony's Church (Crkva svetog antuna) was errected in 1894 as a replacement for the original St. Anthony Church, which had been converted to the Fethija Mosque by the Ottomans at the end of the 16th century. Already 50 years later, in 1944 the St. Anthony's Church was destroyed during allied bombings and only the rectangle bell tower survived.

Ostrožac castle

Riding from Umoljani to Trebevič and back to Slovenia

GeoCaches found (all received a visit by trackable item "Teddy #250", TB2RTEH):
- Jajce, GC2EX43
- Bihacka kula, GC36B0J
- Dvorac Ostrozac, GC36B7X

Saturday, May 30, 2015

13162

Bosnia and Herzegovina: Cycling from Umoljani to Konjic


PD Tržič (Alpine Association Tržič) organized mountain bike expedition around Bjelašnica and today was our second cycling day (First day - 13161). After the breakfast in our Pansion Umoljani, we started riding. Quick descent from Umoljani was followed by a nice warm up uphill cycling to village Sinanovići and then we continued on an unpaved road to our highest point, Visočica pass near Baturak at 1650 m. On the way down to our Konjic, with a vertical drop of more than 1000 meters we cycled by the Neretva river and on the way we stopped by Boračko jezero.

Start of the day 2 cycling in front of our Pansion Umoljani.

Warming up with my Black Mamba

Road towards the pass in Visočica

Our highest point is just a couple of minutes away

Short break on the top, cca 1650 m

Hajr-česma - fresh water fountain just below the pass.

Stećaci at Poljice necropolis. Stećak is a type of tombstone. These monuments were built in Middle Ages and they show a way of life of that period. They are usually decorated witih scenes of daily life, hunting, knight tournaments or inscriptions written in Bosnian style Cyrillic (Bosančica). They were created in the period from the second half of XIV until mid-XVI century. There are two types of tombstones: laid (trunks, panels and sarcophagi), and vertical (poles, stone crosses). In BiH there are about 60,000 tombstones. Out of total number in municipality Konjic is located about 4,160 tombstones. Tombstone decoration becomes more popular in early XIV or late XV century. Decoration style definitely depended on terrain, as well as geological structure of stone used for tombstones. Inscriptions on tombstones are of special value. Bosnian tombstones are the most powerful cultural and artistic phenomena of medieval Bosnia, marking that period and the area.

Better to stay on the road. Mines!

 
Next time we have to to some rafting on Neretva river. 

Snake on the road

The bike, that I provided for Nada, wasn't very good. The tyres were more than 10 years old and the rear one started to bulge. Therefore I swapped the rear and front tyre and hope that they will be good for another 30 kilometres.

Chillin' next to Boračko lake.

Before the last downhill

Our destination - Konjic. The Old Stone Bridge, from the Turkish period, connected the banks of Neretva river for centuries, since 1682. Until March 3rd 1945, when it was destroyed by retreating German troops. It was a rare example of classical Turkish Bridge building. The Old Stone Bridge was reconstructed 16.06.2009.

Amazing 12: Standing: Marinka, Nada, Tona, Janez, Tuši, Slavc, Nadja Sitting: Uroš, Uroš, Janez, Daša, Mateja

The Franciscan monastery

We wanted to return to Sarajevo by train, but it wasn't operating, so we called the owner of the place, where we were staying, and he picked us up.

Only people with special haircut can sit in front row of the van

This is one of the oldest mosques in Bosnia. It has specific minaret and roof design adapted to high snows in winter season. During the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia the whole village was burned down by Serbian forces except for this mosque. The legend says that imam of the mosque cured a child of one Yugoslav People’s Army officer, who was among forces which captured and burned the village and he allegedly didn't allow for mosque to be burned.

 
After the whole day cycling trip everything was more than delicious.

Another day on the bike

GeoCaches found (all received a visit by trackable item "Teddy #250", TB2RTEH):
- Konjic - The Spot, GC4PGP5
- Konjic-bridge, GC2HKX8

Friday, May 29, 2015

13161

Bosnia and Herzegovina: Mountain biking around Bjelašnica


PD Tržič (Alpine Association Tržič) organized mountain bike expedition around Bjelašnica and today was our first cycling day. We explored the area around Bjelašnica, where 1984 Winter Olympics took place. We rode on the downhill track, visited the Igman Olympic Jumps in Malo polje and in the end we went to the highest altitude and most remote village in the BiH, Lukomir.

Last details were set late at night, or better said, early in the morning

Breakfast time

Riding towards our highest point, Bjelašnica, 2067 m

A little bit of snow didn't stop us

Start of the Men's downhill in 1984, where Bill Johnson won. See video on youtube.

Our group. Standing: Uroš, Tuši, Nada, Janez, Janez, Slavc. First row: Tona, Uroš, Daša, Mateja, Marinka and Daša.

Destroyed military radar site next to the peak.

Top of Bjelašnica.

Downhill track.  Quite steep, so only some of us rode down.

Summer time

 
Hotel Igman was destroyed during Bosnian War

Igman Olympic Jumps

Our group without Janez, who had a flat tyre, while he was sleeping on the grass in the sun.

Jump without skis

Tank

Regrouping, fixing the flat tyre, making further plans.

Towards Lukomir.

Lukomir sits at an altitude of 1,495 m on the Bjelašnica mountain. Stećci originating from the 14th and 15th century exist at the village and suggest that it was inhabited for hundreds of years.

Locals



Back to our starting point in Umoljani

Whole day of riding: Umoljani - Bjelašnica - Malo Polje - Lukomir - Umoljani


GeoCaches found:
- Memories, GC5HKCP, where I retrieved trackable item "Teddy #250", TB2RTEH and visited the next cache with it
- Malo Polje Igman Olympic Jumps, GC4K5A8