It started with an easy 60 km to the border. The Serbian -Bulgarian border is notorious for it’s inefficiency and long line ups. We were not disappointed there were 3 lines of almost 20 cars each. When you pull up to the Bulgarian police border check they exit stamp your passport. They asked to see the title for the bikes and to see our Bulgarian green cards and then we were on our way after 30 min in the hot hot sun.


https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7436/2...202ecb07_b.jpgZalatibor by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7456/2...428b1784_b.jpgZalatibor-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7452/2...4f0cb8f5_b.jpgZalatibor-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr


The drive to the Serbian border station was a few hundred meters. Here they stamped our passport and briefly looked at the title. She did not ask or seem to care if we had insurance. It is a bit confusing since Serbia is clearly “crossed” off on the front of the green card, but there is an * and on line it says that the green card is now valid in Serbia.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7395/2...c1161213_b.jpgZalatibor-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr


https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7615/2...111d1bbe_b.jpgZalatibor-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7302/2...b2ea85bf_b.jpgZalatibor-11 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

The 425 km took over 7 hours. The riding was mostly on the secondary roads and flat and straight and much of it was full of traffic until about 50 km form Zlatibor. This is a small ski town in the mountains.

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7418/2...028e10c3_b.jpgZalatibor-6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7304/2...daae8469_b.jpgZalatibor-7 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7401/2...9c9fc047_b.jpgZalatibor-8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We did not go into the large city of Nis, but stopped for a photo op


https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7421/2...5a8f18fd_b.jpgZalatibor-10 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7356/2...883ca10b_b.jpgZalatibor-9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

From Zlatibor we are going south to the closest Montenegro border station. Today we saw what we have not for almost 2 weeks… tons of bikers. We rode south to Novo Varos and then west to Prijepolje. Here it was a bit confusing and luckily we saw sign to follow to Pljevja Montenegro since the road did not look like much and the GPS kept saying make a U turn.

https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7769/2...78405629_z.jpgScreen Shot 2016-06-19 at 21.16.50 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

The exit from Serbia was easy. The police asked for the passports and title and we were stamped out.


https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7378/2...76d02212_b.jpgZlabjak by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7287/2...a74df5d3_b.jpgMontenegro-6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7616/2...9b10bf96_b.jpgMontenegro-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7351/2...1cfb14e6_b.jpgMontenegro-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

There is about a km ride to the Montenegro crossing. Here again they just wanted the passports and title and did not ask for insurance documents.


https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7684/2...b04cfdf6_b.jpgZlabjak-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7401/2...56b0fc5d_b.jpgZlabjak-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7328/2...93fddaf0_b.jpgZlabjak-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7492/2...95a09978_b.jpgZlabjak-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

This is a really great country for riding and most is beautiful except for the mies and nuclear power stations!


https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7245/2...2bf8e5d2_b.jpgMontenegro-7 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We saw Lulu and Miguel from Lyon several times before and after the border and we finally met on the side of the road!

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7456/2...ef8bf44a_b.jpgMontenegro-11 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7380/2...5977d7bc_b.jpgMontenegro-10 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7047/2...8ea9f2e7_b.jpgMontenegro-9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We did a loop ride from Pljevja thru the Tara canyon to Mojkovac along the Tara river.

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7310/2...947fae53_b.jpgZlabjak-6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7129/2...a0832e8f_b.jpgZlabjak-7 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7700/2...de502ea3_b.jpgZlabjak-8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

From here we headed south to Kolasin on the main road for 19 km and then took the R18 back to the ski village of Zabljak. The Tara canyon ride is the more famous and is nice, but there is some traffic. The R 18 is much more scenic and we saw about 4 cars.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7312/2...5b3089e1_b.jpgMontenegro-8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7415/2...7d1a621a_b.jpgMontenegro-12 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7713/2...799ebc07_b.jpgZlabjak-9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7420/2...3632311b_b.jpgMontenegro-13 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7274/2...fde57da7_b.jpgMontenegro-14 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7399/2...61c93943_b.jpgMontenegro-15 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We met these cool dudes on a road trip from Bulgaria!

https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7422/2...02ffa198_b.jpgMontenegro-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7404/2...28f97cdf_b.jpgMontenegro by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr


We arrived to Zabljak and set up in the hostel. We walked into the village to get some groceries and had a traditional dinner of “mixed grill”. Leaving the restaurant it was lightly raining, but by the time we ran the 2 blocks back it was torrential raining and we were soaked. But it did not last long and with the lack of humidity here our clothes were dry by morning. We woke to a cloudless blue sky.

The plan today is to go about 200 km to Kotor on the coast and this will take at least 5 hours with out stops.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7292/2...27e2e952_z.jpgScreen Shot 2016-06-22 at 16.57.23 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Google will not route to Kotor because of this fun switch back road down the mountain side.

https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7301/2...63d38123a2.jpgScreen Shot 2016-06-22 at 16.58.44 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

The route starts with a high mountain road thru the cathedral mountain of the Dormitor National Park. The views are spectacular. There was very few other vehicles.

https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7086/2...0db415ea_b.jpgZlabjak-10 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr


https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7436/2...4900e96f_b.jpgMontenegro-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7610/2...de3a30c8_b.jpgMontenegro-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7405/2...e74aea50_b.jpgMontenegro-6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Dan likes to ride off to scout photo ops and sometime takes a dirt nap.

https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7091/2...9a417bb2_b.jpgMontenegro by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7333/2...d6bd3666_b.jpgMontenegro-7 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Midway there is beautiful alpine meadows and panoramic view of the mountains.


https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7107/2...ac01795f_b.jpgMontenegro-8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

On the south side you come out of the mountains on switch backs and thru many tunnels bored thru the rock. Several have switchback in the tunnels and they are absolutely pitch black inside. One has an intersection.

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7492/2...76e45bb0_b.jpgMontenegro-9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr


https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7391/2...d2bb555f_b.jpgMontenegro-12 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7271/2...7e2cb777_b.jpgMontenegro-10 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7603/2...f432ba52_b.jpgMontenegro-11 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7333/2...605c3517_b.jpgMontenegro-13 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7419/2...4cae43ac_b.jpgMontenegro-14 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

From there it was a quick 60 km on the “main road”, which is a nice two lane secondary road to us.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7461/2...2a11924e_b.jpgMontenegro-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr


https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7464/2...f527859e_b.jpgMontenegro-16 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Here again we exited to the “country or connecting road” south and west from Orlina to Cevo. This is a one lane road on which we saw only 2 other cars the whole way. Cevo is where you join the “main road” again, but there is literally very few cars here too. We dropped into one valley from here on the switch backs on the way to Njegusi.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7292/2...27e2e952_z.jpgScreen Shot 2016-06-22 at 16.57.23 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7342/2...9f6ab2e7_b.jpgScreen Shot 2016-06-22 at 17.06.06 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr


From here you head to Zanjev Do and Google will not route from here to Kotor down the sheer mountain side there are more than a dozen switch back to get to the sea side.


https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7584/2...cc424d9eb1.jpgScreen Shot 2016-06-22 at 16.57.59 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7310/2...723f19bd_b.jpgMontenegro-17 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr