Today we passed from Montenegro to Bosnia Herzegovina. It was a long drive in a minibus hired by our tour group (of 9 passengers). We traversed numerous ravines... up and over mountain passes... and down the other side... before finding the next ravine. I did envy the driver today... tackling such a challenging route... but I certainly don't claim to have his skills.
To give you an idea of Sasha's (the driver) skills, I need only recall the drive down the mountain from the Ostrog Monastery. Ostrog Monastery is one of the three most visited religious destinations on earth... its a miracle built by nature and human interaction... carved almost in its entirety in a vertical positioned mountain cliff... and is visited by a hundred thousand pilgrims from around the world and of travellers of all religions... every year. (Being Easter for Orthodox Christians there was a special service in progress visited by senior clergy - judging from the size of their hats).
Back to Sasha... on the drive up to the monastery, our tour leader told us how lucky we were to have Sasha as our driver, because he is so careful. This was of comfort to us... because the road was dangerous... if you went over the edge, there was nothing to break your fall for 1,000 metres... not that it matters after the first 100 metres. The hairpin corners were so sharp and the road so narrow, Sasha had to resort to three-point turns on numerous occasions. I was quite relieved to step off the bus when we reached the monastery.
However, Sasha showed his full range of skills on the way down. No sooner had we started the descent, than Sasha's mobile phone rang. He answered it in the manner of all Montenegro drivers... holding his cigarette in his teeth... talking at top volume. For some reason, he had to hold the phone in his right hand. To do all the gear changes and three-point turns, he had to hold the steering wheel with his legs while he reached between his legs to grab the gear lever to change gears. This was the guy our tour leader had singled out for praise for his low-risk driving. I felt a little safer when he had smoked his cigarette down to a stub and was able to find time to spit the but out the window. When talking of safety, all things are relative!
Nothing can compare to mountain driving to get the adrenalin pumping and cameras clicking. Sitting on a minibus for 9 hours does not sound like fun... but Joye and I loved it.
Tonight, we are in Sarajevo... a lovely city still showing the scars from its 1990's war. We will get a closer look at its history tomorrow.
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