• Leonardo Floridia
  • Leonardo Floridia

Balkan car trip 🚘

2 highschool friends and a white Skoda Fabia
7 countries (🇦🇱, 🇽🇰, 🇲🇰, 🇷🇸, 🇧🇦, 🇭🇷, 🇲🇪) and 1750 KM
9 days (6 to 14 April 2024)
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  • 🇷🇸 Belgrade - Sundet from the fortress

    9 de abril de 2024, Serbia ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    Beautiful sunset over the Sava river seen from the Belgrade fortress.

    A little further to the right, the Sava joins the Danube, which after touching Vienna and Bratislava, will carry these waters to the Black Sea, in Ukraine.

    The right place for many picture, and compared with other cities (such as Porto or Rome) the are is not really overcrouded.
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  • 🇷🇸 Belgrade by night

    9 de abril de 2024, Serbia ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    Belgrade is famous for its very active nightlife.

    At sunset you can meet elderly gentlemen playing chess in the square.

    After 8/9 PM he city center is full of tourists, families and young people walking, eating something or having a drink in the many bars present in the city center, also enjoying the very warm day and night (afyer lunch there were almost 30 degrees!).Leer más

  • 🇷🇸 Serbian dinar banknotes

    9 de abril de 2024, Serbia ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    We withdrew some money to fill up with petrol (sometimes in the Balkans they don't accept cards at petrol stations). €1 = SD 117,10 (April 2024)

    An excellent opportunity to see the banknotes, more similar to euros than the Madecon ones. The 100 dinar banknote with Nikola Tesla on it and the Tesla formula, a unit of measurement of the magnetic field, is beautiful and will come with me to Luxebourg as a 1 euro souvenir.Leer más

  • 🇷🇸 Belgrade: it's time to say goodbye!

    10 de abril de 2024, Serbia ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    Unfortunately we have to leave this city. For now, among the cities visited, it is certainly the largest, most modern, most expanding and a real European and global Capital city. It really seems being in Eastern EU more than in the Balkans.

    We saw a lot, almost everything, but to really enjoy the city without rushing and also experience its nighlife (clubs, bars, parties, etc.) probably you need a full weekend. A good excuse to return!
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  • 🇧🇦 We are in Bosnia and Herzegovina

    10 de abril de 2024, Bosnia y Herzegovina ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    We crossed the border at the Zvornic crossing. Serbian control is on the east bank, and after you cross the river on the bridge at the end of which there is the Bosnian control on the west bank of the river.

    Funny moment at the borders pt. 3:
    We arrive at customs control, we say hello in English and we give our passports to the policewoman. The agent, a distinguished lady in her 60s, sees that we are Italian and starts speaking to us in almost perfect Italian.
    Amazing welcome!
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  • 🇧🇦 Driving between rivers & mountains

    10 de abril de 2024, Bosnia y Herzegovina ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    It is impossible to explain how the landscape changed between before and after the border. The straight roads and towns on the Serbian side give way to narrow roads that pass between very high green mountains and blue rivers.

    Certainly, among the countries visited so far, Bosnia is the one with the most challenging roads, in particular if you suffer of car sickness.
    But the beauty of the landscapes doesn't make us miss the perfectly paved Albanian and Serbian 2-lane highways.
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  • 🇧🇦 Sarajevo from the Žuta Tabija view

    10 de abril de 2024, Bosnia y Herzegovina ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    From this panoramic point it is possible to see all the city and, on the right, the monumental cemetery of Kovači, with its hundred and hundred of white gravestones that recalls the recent past of this city (siege of Sarajevo - 1993).

    Sarajevo is a city built on the mountains and souranded by the mountains.
    From the lower part of the city, through narrow and steep streets surrounded by houses, people and cars you can reach the "yellow fortress" from which it is possible to admire the whole city.
    Lisbon's up and down is nothing compared to Sarajevo's ones.

    Looking at the right there is the monumental cemetery of Kovači, where the majority of the soldiers and civilians who fell during the long siege of the city (1992-1995) are buried. The first president of independent Bosnia and Herzegovina is also buried in this memorial.
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  • 🇧🇦 Sarajevo and its the recent past

    10 de abril de 2024, Bosnia y Herzegovina ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    The many monuments, flowers and plaques around the city recall the recent past and the tragic war fought between Croatians (Catholics), Serbs (Orthodox) and Bosnians (Muslims) between 1992 and 1995 in all the country.

    Today, without these monuments it would be impossible to imagine that among these clean and quiet streets, today full of tourists and shops, just 30 years ago there was a war that caused almost 100,000 deaths.
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  • 🇧🇦 Sarajevo - Churches and mosques

    10 de abril de 2024, Bosnia y Herzegovina ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    One of the most beautiful things about the Balkans (but also one the main causes of the conflicts that have occurred here) is the presence of beautiful churches and, just few meters away, sumptuous mosques full of mosaics and paintings.

    The consequence of a very heterogeneus population result of the numerous foreign dominations that these lands, situated between Europe and Ottoman Empire have experienced.
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  • 🇧🇦 Sarajevo - Baščaršija (Arab market)

    10 de abril de 2024, Bosnia y Herzegovina ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    Like the other cities of the Balkans that were under Ottoman Impere, Sarajevo also has a very large market in the central streets of the city, where in the past merchants traveling between Asia and Europe could rest and exchange goods. Today Baščaršija is visited by many tourists and is a popular meeting place.

    In the center of the Baščaršija there is the "Sebil", one of the symbols of the city. It is a wooden fountain typical of Ottoman/arab countries where people could take fresh water for the purification ritual and for drinking.

    Every step in this city brings to mind an episode of XXth century.
    A few meters away, in 1994 the Serbian forces bombed from the mountains the civilians present in the market (Markale), killing almost 50 of them. This was the casus belli of NATO intervention in Bosnia, which finally led to the Dayton peace agreements and to the stabilized Bosnia that we can visit today.
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  • 🇧🇦 Sarajevo - Latin Bridge and WWI

    10 de abril de 2024, Bosnia y Herzegovina ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    The Latin River is the most famous bridge crossing the Miljacka River on which Sarajevo stands.
    The bridge in itself has nothing special, except that on one of the two sides of the bridge an event that changed world history occurred.

    In 1914 the nationalist Gavrilo Princip killed the Archduke Franz Ferdinand (heir to the throne of the Austrian empire) exactly in this place.
    This event is considered the casus belli of the First World War, an event that caused more than 17 million deaths and changed the world.
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  • 🇧🇦 Leaving Sarajevo on the Sniper Road

    10 de abril de 2024, Bosnia y Herzegovina ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    Unfortunately it's time to leave Sarajevo.
    To leave the city we pass through a street (one of Sarajevo's main street) known in the past as "Sniper Alley".

    Indeed, during the Bosnia War this road that connects the city to the airport was known by this name because anyone passing from this street was be targeted by the snipers stationed around the city during the siege.

    Sarajevo is a relatively small city, but every corner has something to tell and in order to visit all the monument dedicated to the history of this city (including the famous tunnels) it is necessary a full weekend.

    It's incredible how in just 30 years it has gone from a besieged city to a city full of tourists.
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  • 🇧🇦 Mostar - The view from our room

    10 de abril de 2024, Bosnia y Herzegovina ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    It looks like the setting of a Disney film, instead it is jut the amazing view from our room in Mostar.
    An apartment of a friendly an funny Velez Mostar fan located on the Neretva River.

    For around 15 euros you can sleep lulled by the sound of the rushing river and you can wake up with the call to prayer rising from the nearby mosques.Leer más

  • 🇧🇦 Mostar and its bridge by night

    10 de abril de 2024, Bosnia y Herzegovina ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    The old town of Mostar is very small but full of tourists who come to see the ancient bridge or who pass by after visiting the nearby Mejugorie.

    The river and its bridge in 1994 were considered the border area between Croats/Bosnians (Catholics) and Bosnians (Muslims).
    After being hit by all forces in the field, on 9 November 1993 the bridge was completely destroyed in a Croatian bombardment.

    The new bridge was inaugurated in 2004, cost 12 million euros (3 of which were paid by Italy) and was built using medieval techniques.
    Today it is a UNESCO heritage monument and symbol of reconciliation after the war.

    Curiosity: pay attention on the bridge and the old city in general because the friction on the stones is almost zero and you risk slipping.
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  • 🇧🇦 Mostar bidges in the morning

    11 de abril de 2024, Bosnia y Herzegovina ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    When we wake up the next day we go back to the center of Mostar to see the ancient bridge, the city and the other bridges with the sunlight.

    The city is even more full of tourists, and it is truly relaxing walking through its streets and cross the river under the sun.

    We take some more pictures and then we go back to our room to continue the travel.
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