From Mostar To Dark Ustaše Memories & Bike Problems

It’s getting harder to find and shift into neutral. I’m worried. The clutch feels spongy due to a stretched cable. So before taking off, I trade a few messages with Dooby at Lobagola B&B in Zagreb, Croatia. He’ll order a new clutch cable for me and find a shop that can repack the muffler that’s […]

Stari Most—Medieval Mostar Bridge. Once a symbol of unity, this bridge now divides a city.

After a few days of getting poked, and jolted with blunt reminders of Sarajevo’s past, I hop on my bike and head west toward Mostar, a city with a population just over 100,000. Though like Sarajevo, where the population has declined some 30 percent since 1991, Mostar lost only over 20 percent. With so many […]

Is One President Enough? Ask Bosnia. They’ve Got Three.

It’s true. Every four years, Bosnia and Herzegovina elect three presidents. So if you think American politics is polarizing with just one chief executive, imagine the tension and hostility that could come from a system that mandates three presidents who rotate and change every eight months. This is life here in Bosnia. It makes my […]

When And Where War Leaves You.

The more I wander the old town, walk along and cross the river, ride my bike through the surrounding hillside neighborhoods, the more I try to get a sense of Sarajevo. I wonder about its glorious past as a cosmopolitan city, and of its slow decay, and now, its stumbling resurgence. The victors write history, […]

Bullets, Bombs, and Bosnia—Sarajevo’s Suffering Past

For the past two months, I’ve been in touch with Mark Anderson, an Indiana-based rider who also has been riding eastern Europe the past few months. We planned to meet for a beer in Sarajevo. After I sorted out accommodations near the old town, we connected at the City Pub for a cold mug of […]

Breaking Borders & Riding Bending Roads to Bosnia

For the past two nights, I laid my head to rest in the town of Becici, south of Budva on the southern coast of Montenegro. It’s been fun sharing stories, beer, and good Montenegrin wine with my new friends at the Hotel Swiss Holiday—they went out of the way to find me secure parking—even moving […]