Slovenia and Croatia Blog. June 9, 2008
Svemir and Jamie before the steep island climbs. Brac Island, Croatia
Greetings from Sarajevo, Bosnia! I just rolled in last night with my Croatian guest rider and great new friend Goga. We were welcomed with many open arms as we connected with some of our Croatian brother Svemir’s great friends Nevana, Tarana and many other amazing local souls here in the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It has been raining almost non stop since I arrived, but you don’t have to venture far to simply feel the vast difference between here and any other place I have ever visited. More on the “now” at the end of the post, but first I want to take you on an adventure from the tail end of my Slovenian adventure through the magnificent country of Croatia.
For those of you following the blog you know I skimped on the juice of the Slovenian adventure from when the stunning Mojstrovic sisters Vesna and Sonja joined the ride. My AMAZING Austrian friend Helene went nuts when I told her I was heading to Slovenia because she had two great friends Vesna and Sonja that she said I just MUST meet. And boy she was not kidding. From the first few email introductions until the first day we got our welcome hugs and throughout the adventure together I simply adored these two sisters, and I think the feeling was mutual as we were non-stop smiles and giggles for days!
Turns out the Peace Pedalers rainbow was following me and shining bright as BOTH the sisters had a day off work miraculously the day that Leonard had to go home! So they drove out to the town of Ivancna Gorica where we were camping and we began the Mojstrovic rely ride about 85km to their house through some of the most stunning landscapes I’ve ever seen, on a day custom made from the heavens with perfect temperatures, sunny skies and a cool and gentle headwind.
Sonja was the first taker and we were able to offload about 60 kilos of weight in our support vehicle so the going was smooth, fast and effortless. Sonja’s positive attitude, endless smile and strong legs kept the fun going as we rocked our way from towards Otocec where we would meet Vesna. Vesna had a kidney failure many ears back and has been a kidney dialysis patient several times a week. But what impressed me so much about her was the fact that she did not let this slow her down a bit! She was strong, vibrant, positive, and active and even still traveled the world while handling the realities of her health challenges. She inspired me in a huge way and hopefully will inspire anyone making excuses from health challenges.
We stopped plenty to do some filming, took several dozen great photos, and found a picture perfect stop on the river where we met a lovely local woman who took us in like family with food, cold beers and some riverside shade and giggles. It was simply a perfect day! As the afternoon rolled around we got in touch with Vesna about a meeting point on the river next to a castle. Vesna had amazing food and cold beers waiting for us, and a swim in the fresh river was just what the doctor ordered!
Vesna and I did the final 25km or so to the house where more amazing conversations and philosophizing went down. We had a nasty headwind and sun at our back so I decided not to do much filming that day as it was getting late. We finally made it to their small village of Kostanjevinca na Krki where we picked fresh organic strawberries and salad for the evening from their garden. It was a perfect day, but we did have a pretty huge buzz kill about 10PM when I went to show off the 54 photos that I had taken throughout the day.
Leonoard heads home and Sonja takes the bars for the day
For the last six years of this adventure I have NEVER had any issues “losing” photos or having them disappear. But there is a first for everything because when I looked at my SD card there were NO PHOTOS of our adventure together. Yep, something, somehow, mysteriously deleted 54 photos from the SD card! We were gutted! We only had a few from after the ride but EVERYTHING was gone! We are all pretty strong but we could not help from being disturbed from this event. However, we are still searching in some mystery volumes of space from the SD card so PLEASE say your prayers that they show up. They are stunning!
Okay, so the buzz kill wore off and the next day we were all in good spirits again! Vesna took her sister to dialysis in the early morning, then took me and my bike down town where I would catch a train to the capital Ljubljana to do some media work with the Delo newspaper and meet up with my friends from Ljubljana and Kranj. Vesna was able to fetch Sonja for a cup of coffee together which filled me up with positive energy and some great contacts for the newspaper mission in the capital.
My media contacts from Vesna and Sonja worked like a charm and, as I write, the NeDelo Sunday paper is telling our story to the nation of Slovenia ;) Turns out that the reporter of the paper knows BOTH Bojana and Ursa who we rode with in 2002 in China! Small world after all! After that victory at the papers nation of Slovenia should be in “Friday Night Boogie Fest” I was hoping to organize to reconnect with everyone I had met as it was my last night in Slovenia.
The Boogie Fest w/ the boyz Rok and Luka
I was pleasantly surprised when I packed in nine people into an apartment I rented for the evening. I did not have to pay for one night of accommodation the entire week in Slovenia so I decided to treat our crew to a central location to gear up for the night. And what a night it was! Slovenians know how to party, I tell ya that! We were rockin and rollin to disco till 5AM or so! Amazing last night! I even got an escort to the train station and tears almost fell from my eyes saying goodbye to everyone!
My lovely escort out of the capital. Can't beat it!
But Croatia was calling and the plan was to ride with Vesna from Kostanjevinca na Krki to Zagreb, Croatia in the late afternoon with Sonja as the support vehicle. I was thrilled when they agreed to accompany me to Croatia, especially from the symbolic standpoint of peace making. Slovenia and Croatian often do not get along well and tensions are high on several political issues. So I was happy to bring a few Slovenians over to play with the Croatians!
We had a few hiccups to our plan as the trains back from the capital were far and few between on Saturday and I had a major mechanical issue on the bike just before departure. But it was meant to be as I met back up with a Slovenian friend Sloako who is a tattoo artist and recently unemployed by choice. Sloako accepted the invitation to ride to the border of Croatia where he would turn over the seat to Vesna for the final ride to Zagreb, Croatia. We had a stellar sunset ride, ran the camearas for an inspiring moving interview, and hit the border as the sun was setting.
Me and Sloako off on our evening ride
Turns out Sloako took us to a remote border and the support vessel was at a different one. Combine this with the setting sun and we soon realized that it was safer to just pack up the tandem in the car rather than try to ride into the capital at night. Vesna already had a spin on the bike so it was not the end of the world. We met back up, packed up everything in their station wagon and off we went towards the “Flower Power Peace Pedalers Party” that Svemir had organized for us.
After a wild adventure finding Svemir’s house we finally arrived and were greeted in the streets by a dozen very welcoming Croatians. Svemir set us up with great people, food and our own room to store our gear and sleep so we were set. We showed videos, chatted with new friends until 1AM and had a slumber party with Vesna and Sonja until we smelled breakfast cooking.
Svemir had this on his wall to welcome the guests and us
The first day in Croatia was a Sunday and we had a full plan by Svemir including a great breakfast with our new friend Goga, Vesna, Sonja, Svemir and I on the balcony in the sun. After that Svemir and I went off on the tandem to join a massive bicycle event with about a thousand Zagreb cyclists pedaling away in the warm sunshine to the city lake. It was great to feel the energy of so many folks cycling and I could think of no better first day in Croatia! It was amazing to meet back up with Svemir after over 6 years since our connection in Nepal in 2002. It was like nothing had changed—still a strong, positive and fun connection. We were having a blast!
Riding in the huge bike event in Zagreb
The local park was stunning with a clear blue lake for swimming, a huge stage with live music, tons of restaurants and bars and big open space for families to gather. I loved Croatian lifestyle already! We had an interview scheduled by Svemir with national TV station RTL Croatia. After a hot interview in the sun we hit the cool lake for a swim, Balkan history lesson and some chillin time at a local restaurant with more cool new friends. Life was good indeed, but we did finally have to say goodbye to Vesna and Sonja and that took a bit of wind out of my sails. But I know I’ll see them again and the memories of our time together I will not soon forget!
I spent the rest of the day with Svemir and a new friend Goga who both Svemir and I really like. We had some lunch, coffee, took care of my Croatian mobile number and began talking about both Svemir and Goga coming out on the ride with me. We got a good night sleep as the following morning we were up early to hit the second major national TV appearance Svemir set up for me on “Good Morning Croatia”. It was an amazing experience to be able to share Peace Pedalers with so many people as in just one day we reached hundreds of thousands of people between this show and the RTL “Exploziv”. Thanks Svemir!
We hit downtown after the show for a peak at the amazing Austrian-Hungarian architecture and the happenings in the capital. Our tandem riding inspired Svemir to accept the invitation to ride the next day with me down in the islands off the coast of Split so we pedaled home like little kids to make our final preparations. But in the excitement we were pedaling over 30km/hour and went off a curb and broke my rear rack! It was a shocker as aluminum is hard to weld. But Svemir and I had clear intention of leaving the next morning so Svemir went right into action and took his bike to ride to the ONLY aluminum welder in town just before they closed. He made it just in time and came back smiling with the welded rack, but quite exhausted.
The rest of the night was mostly work for us both, and Goga came over in the evening where we shared our desire for her to join us out on the islands. Turns out that Goga had some time off and yep, you guessed it, she also accepted the invitation so now the tandem was filled with great Croatian souls down in paradise! Whooo hoooo!
After only a few hours rest we were up at 5AM to catch our train to Split and hit the island of Brac in the afternoon. As we passed hundreds of destroyed houses Svemir explained more the history of the recent war in Croatia. It was sad to think of all the pain, death and destruction in such a beautiful country.
Svemir has a friend on the island of Brac we could stay with so that made the decision easy to hop a ferry there and begin our cycling on the most mountainous island in the region. Neither of us really knew what we had in store for us, we simply knew we had to go over the mountain to get from Supetar to Bol, and figured the 33km could not be that tough in one afternoon.
The weather was quite unsettled and a massive thunderstorm hit just as we arrived so we had some lunch and waited it out. But we ended up starting our climb in the rain, with thunder rumbling as we left at about 5PM hoping to arrive with plenty of daylight left. The climb started off great but then got downright brutal with 12% grades that never seemed to stop. We did not know it at the time, but we set off on one of the most difficult climbs in the entire area!
We had to climb from sea level to almost 700 Meters in just 12KM (that’s 2500 feet in 8 miles!) and we were dead tired by the time we his the plateau and got a taste of downhill. But the rain was nonstop just about all day and just as we got some downhill we had to climb more, and more and more! It was a tough day, especially for Svemir. Steep hills and a 100 kilo bike do not go very well together and I vowed from now on to investigate my rides more closely.
But the scenery was amazing, the teamwork experience unforgettable and we rolled into Bol to meet Alfonso at his restaurant at about 9:30 feeling strong and proud. He was not getting off for several hours so we found a place to grab some food, meet some new friends and celebrate our victory. But we both grew totally exhausted waiting for Alfonso and ended up sleeping next to our bike waiting until almost 2AM to push the heavy tandem up the final 18% grade we called “Calvary” to Alfonso’s apartment. It was a tough day indeed!
Dead to the world in the middle of the night. Bol, Brac. Croatia
We both got amazing and were eager to get up and hit the ocean but the rain showed no sign of stopping. It was cold, windy and grey all morning with just a short clearing enough for us to take a spin to the beach and a quick dip in the ocean in the afternoon. We decided to just spin around locally on the bike rather than head back out in the rain and enjoy our last day together before Goga arrived in the evening to join us.
Goga arrived just as the next major dumping of rain was beginning to fall but nothing could dampen the spirits of us all coming together again on the islands! We found a nice café to enjoy some warm drinks and chat the afternoon away meeting some new friends. We then hit our apartment, which Alfonso gave us fully to ourselves, and had showers, giggles and chats until our hunger bugs hit and we went out for a final meal together at an amazing Konobe local restaurant.
Svemir and I had some touching last moments together and shared our desires to not only stay in touch but commit to support each other on many shared goals and visions for our lives. I’ll never forget this man and I suggest if you ever go to Croatia and want to meet an amazing soul, this is your guy! He had to get back to Zagreb to continue work on launching his new music therapy book and CD called “Om Didge”, where his master didjeridu playing and throat singing is ready to rock the world. For more info on Svemir, check his website www.svemirvranko.com . He’s a star!!
At 6AM we got our final goodbye hugs from Svemir and by the time Goga and I woke up the weather had fully cleared and the sun was shining brightly on the island of Brac! It was so good to see! We had some breakfast and charged on the bike down to the water to catch our boat to Hvar where we hoped to catch another boat to Vis to do a few days of riding. The scenery was stunning with bright torqouise Adriatic waters glimmering in the new sun and buildings shining white after days of rain.
The boat ride was awesome with endless views of all the islands in every direction. But it was clear that the sunshine was not there to stay as by the time we got to Hvar it was threatening once again. Turns out there was no connecting boats to Vis island so we decided Hvar was going to be our island of exploration. After a nice meal overlooking the million dollar yachts and spunky crews roaming about we did the short but extremely steep and brutal climb over the hill in the midday sun. Our destination was a campsite we decided to stay at to drop our weight for more enjoyable cycling adventures on the hilly island and we found a winner spot overlooking the ocean with a perfect hammock area!
Goga and I shared two amazing days of swimming, hammocking, cycling, eating, philosophizing, filming and sharing our very similar visions of life. Goga has been a passionate dancer all her life and recently has fallen in love with the 5 rhythms dance (info at http://www.5rhythms.co.uk/5rhythms.html ). Professionally is a psychotherapist working as a school counselor. She is hoping to combine her passion for dance and therapy into something special, and she also has a vision for a center for vegetarian food, meditation, healing and events similar to one I have had for years so it was great to synergize and share ideas. Goga loves butterflies as much as me too. I have a tattoo of one on my ankle and she has them all over too. So I simply called her butterfly and we fluttered around our island base camp blissfully!
Our last day was an early morning sunrise ride back over the steep hill to the catch a ferry to the mainland town of Split. The weather cooperated and we got a truly amazing moving interview with scenery to die for. With all the time we had together the conversation flowed perfectly and we rolled into Hvar with just a few minutes to spare to get on the boat—and boy was that an adventure! Turns out that we had plans to take a boat that did not allow bikes! But this is where the power of clear intention works it’s magic.
A perfect last day of riding in Hvar, Croatia!
I had a speaking engagement already set in Sarajevo that night so it was “not an option” not to catch this boat. Goga told me that the ticket office said “no bikes”, but I asked the conductor of the boat if I could make my bike into pieces and gave her a Peace Pedalers sticker to get her onboard. In a sweaty, frantic and wild last minute disassembly we got all the parts, pieces and bags on the boat JUST IN TIME, just seconds before the boat left! I knew then that my mission to Sarajevo was indeed meant to be and I was happy I made the change of plans and accepted the invitation up there.
When we hit Split I invited Goga to come to Sarajevo with me as she had never been there, but knew several people through shared connections. She was hesitant, but finally accepted and we were both excited to have one more day to share together. We caught a bus with no hassles at all and entered Bosnia in the pouring rain but with happy hearts. We got picked up at the bus station by Nevena and Mario in a VW van and whisked away to a vegetarian food club, the only one in town, which made the vegetarian Goga VERY excited.
Turns out that the owners of this Vegetarian Club, a group of 7 passionate vegetarians, also host events and speakers and this would not only be where I speak and eat, but also where I sleep and where I write this now! I’m in my host Tarana’s room now in the upstairs apartment surrounded by posters of Hindu goddesses and enlightened gurus in India. It’s amazing!
The presentation went very well and I have been blessed to meet some very gentle, conscious, genuine and connected local Bosnian crew already. Most of them had to leave the next day to an event back down in Split so I have spent the last 24 hours working, exploring the city of Sarajevo and getting some time to myself after a very sad final goodbye to my butterfly Goga.
That’s the latest from Bosnia! I’m off to Serbia tomorrow and then its direction north to Budapest and onwards to Scandinavia by late next month. Life is good!!!
