Una river
I have been wondering about a question all this time: where are all the bad and mean people? Not that I am planning on meeting any of them, but almost everyone I meet on this trip is super nice and kind...I stop for directions and get invited for dinner, getting a full explanation of the surroundings, etc...
The breakfast was amazing and after eating, I decided to discover Bihac. It is a bustling town, a mix of new and old, young and old, rich and poor...there were a large number of people drinking coffee in the morning, chatting, walking around...by the way, this seems to be pretty typical for all towns in Bosnia I will be riding through. The town has an ancient church, which was converted to a mosque some 500 years ago, behind that you can see houses with bullet shots from the Balkan war. Right next to the cafe are some stray dogs, but they are laying peacefully, not bothering anyone and vice versa. It was the last day of school that day, so you had a bunch of youngsters walking with their certificate. One girl showed me hers, she was rather proud of failing some 3 subjects. Hmmm.
Leaving the town was hard, as it had a great feeling to it. But then what followed was also really nice: the road started inclining, next to a river called Una and it went by more mosques and ancient Muslim graveyards, with the stone having a turban or a half crescent instead of a cross. Reaching the top, I had a rewarding view of the lush green surroundings, where I made my first stupid decision, at least that is how I feel (have not regretted other turns - yet): even though I was warned by folks in the tourist info, I turned off towards the basin of the Una river, thinking to be really smart and make a shortcut. Well, the tourist info place was correct, the road was close to unusable, but I kept going and going, getting stuck in sand, being faced by huge inclines, then sudden descents, so that I had to push and shove my bike. For the 14 km I needed some 3 hours - but the outcome was beautiful: I was at the waterfalls of the Una river, one of the national parks of Bosnia and Herzegovina. You see, this river is the calmest ones I have ever seen, but when it reaches the rocks, it suddenly speeds up, making a roaring noise that echoes through the valley. I even plunged in, it lasted about 7 seconds, the water was just above freezing.
Following the river, I reached the well-maintained road I should have taken in the first place, which curved through more lush landscape spotted with castle ruins and mosques. The remnants of the Balkan war were not to be missed: one saw signs (a lot of them) warning about mine fields, these are yet to be cleared, and I did not volunteer for that exercise, so no wild camping or taking walks off-road. Also, there were memorial places (also a lot) next to the road for the fallen soldiers and the civilian victims.
Martin Brod was the name of the last town on the Una river, here there was an orthodox monastery with two brothers - remember, Bosnia is a mix of three religions. The town had a waterfall right in the middle of it and the remnants of old watermills. I had a great cevapcici, as the only guest around. They plead that I stay, but I lost so much time on the bad road, that I felt compelled to ride on.
Up went the road, really steep this time and there was the weirdest thing happening: as in a Hitchcock horror movie: a myriad of bugs appeared out of nowhere, flying right above me, they were everywhere. I have to contest they did not taste good, they enjoyed flying right into my mouth.
Had it not been night, I surely would have enjoyed the view from the top, it looked down into the canyon of the Una river. With some imagination, we could say that the view was indeed beautiful, but I saw next to nothing, as it was dark.
It was late at night that I reached the city of Drvar, where I got a good room in the only hotel in town for a favorable price. It would have been quite a productive day, had I not lost so many hours riding (and shoving) on the banks of the Una river.