Last fall I took a 9 month trip down from my home in Finland to Cyprus. The trip took me through a lot of countries with the highlights being the former Yugoslav countries, Turkey, Cyprus & Irak. I worked remotely on the weekdays and mainly rode on the weekends. Here are some of the highlight of what I saw:

----

When In Bosnia & Herzegovina. Decided to ride up the mountain outside Sarajevo where the 84 winter Olympics were held. Parts of the road were pretty rough, loose stones and very steep. Found the old Olympic bobsled track, that was destroyed in the war. All in all an amazing day of riding.

The border crossing into Kosovo was very memorable. The scenery on the Montenegrin side was breathtaking, and the crossing itself was fairly challenging. The weather hadn't gotten too cold yet in the fall, but still there was snow and ice in the no man lands portion of the crossing.

On the Kosovan side the border guard questioned me and it turned out we both spoke Swedish! He chatted for a while and then he told me to go buy insurance at the booth close by. The insurance agent gave me the insurance for free! I don't know if it was because he was impressed with me riding over the snowy mountain or because I came from a friendly nation (who helped with Kosovo's independence), either way I wasn't complaining.







(I was too scared to take a picture at the peak of the crossing, but here you can see a bit what it was like)


(border crossing was a breeze)



In Pristina (capitol of Kosovo) Bill Clinton caught my eye.

Hi,

Nice pictures.
Which border did you take from Bosnia and Herzegovina into Montenegro ?
My wife and I went there 4 years ago and where surprised about the country name meaning black mouintain. The mountains we saw where beautifull grey and white, definitly not black

I took the Hum Border Crossing (https://goo.gl/maps/kShjjNux82N38tnEA)

The road was pretty bad on the Bosnian side, but stunning on the Montenegrin side! One of the prettiest roads I have ever ridden... and yeah, the mountains are not black, but beautiful.

4 years ago my wife and I took that same border crossing into Montengero. As frameworkSpecialist said the road on the bosnian side is ¨bad¨ but I liked that part too. Funny to see it even has a E-number (road E762) which means it´s a european road.
On the montenegrin side you arrive in the Piva canyon which is very beautifull as shown by frameworkSpecialist. From there you should really take road P14 into Durmitor to Trsa and Poscenski Kraj. Very beautifull.

Turkey was very memorable. I rode down the south coast, which turned out to be a great decision. The roads were twisty and the views were amazing.

In Istanbul, the most progressive city in Turkey, my airBNB host took me out for dinner. He took me to a very fancy restaurant in the center of Istanbul, right on the water, with live music and fresh fish. The food was great and I offered to pay for the food but he insisted on paying. On the way back the very friendly 50 year old man put on one of the most romantic playlist I have ever heard. I didn't think much about it, maybe this is just the world famous Turkish hospitality (it's not really famous). Closer to my place, the friendly owner asked me if I was going to watch some tv, or maybe Netflix?

In the kindest manner possible, I explained to him, that I haven't watched TV in years, and I am not really interested in doing it in the future. He took me back to my place and we went our separate ways. The next day as I was leaving the B&B, I looked over my shoulder and I am almost certain I saw a rainbow right over my hosts room.


Some travel pictures:




(These fake police cardboards are everywhere in Turkey (lots of real cops too))


(Plenty of fun roads)




(And beautiful views)

Cyprus is split. In 1974 Turkey invaded the north side of of Cyprus and as a consequence the island is split in two. The north side is officially an independent nation, but in practice it's ruled by Turkey. There are a lot of unmarked military bases on the north side of the island, witch you are bound to run into if you explore the island.

The riding on the North side is some of the best in the world. The island has both sandy beaches and windy mountains - it's simply perfect for exploring with a motorbike.

Some pictures from the north side of Cyprus:




RoRo ferry, arriving in Kyrenia.






Wild donkeys, that escaped from their owners during the war.









One of the random military zones/bases.

While on the south side of Cyprus I accidentally rode into the UN Buffer zone that prevents the two sides from going to war. I somehow missed the sign and barrier that forbids idiots like me from driving into the area. I snapped a few pictures until I ran into some Turkish soldiers in a guard tower, I promptly did a 180 and rode right out of the area.

Images from the inside of the buffer zone:




The sign that I missed on my way in, snapped this pick on my way out.



About 500 meters into the zone I ran into this sign that I actually noticed. I decided to not continue forward, but I saw something interesting in the background...



Some sort of destroyed airplane! No clue about it's history, but I suspect that the landing was not planned...







I continued deeper into the zone and found some sort of hangar/barracks.



I continued even deeper, and at the end of this road was where I ran into the Turkish soldiers with assault rifles. I got the hint, did a U-turn and rode right out of the zone. On my way out I ran into an UN truck, but I just waved at the driver and continued riding out.

The border crossing into Iraq was quite stressful. My plates were stolen at the border!

I wrote about it here:

https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hu...an-iraq-102703

My final update for this trip.

I feel very conflicted about my time in Iraq. I rode through the incredibly beautiful mountains in the Northern part of the country. The roads were in bad condition, plenty of potholes, but the scenery was unique. Was also stopped many times by military and questioned on why I would come to Iraq out of all places...

My experience of the capitol of Kurdistan - Erbil was not so positive. Huge generators outside every building blowing black smoke onto the passers by. Endless cars on 8 lane wide roads. Desperate people asking how they can come with me to Finland... But the food was good and the Bazaar was interesting!

I don't think I will be going back to Iraq very soon, but I am glad that I have seen what it's like. I would recommend it for people who want something different.









(almost got hit in the head by this broken bridge in Duhok)

Currently I'm already on my newest trip in Algeria! I will write about it soon!

Nice trip
I love the Balkans, its a great part of the world.
As for Iraq, i hear you, i spent 9 years working there, but in the Baghdad and Basra areas

Wayne

__________________
The Balkans
https://new.horizonsunlimited.com/poi_entity/8417