Across Europe on two wheels. Sequel. Part 3

Italy → Slovenia.

The next country that I am going to visit on my way back home is Slovenia.

There is less than 200 km between Padua (where I stayed for the night) and the border with Slovenia. But before crossing it I decided to make a stop in Venice, a famous city in the northeast of Italy. Although I had been to it a few years before, I still wanted to visit it.

Venice is a city located on the water. It is famous for its canals, unique historical background and an incredible number of tourists from all over the world, who are brought here by huge coaches, trains and planes. However, you will not be able to ride around Venice itself, since there are no roads for cars and motorbikes in this city. You can go only on foot. Or by boat.

Having left my motorbike in a huge paid parking lot in the Piazzale Roma area, I began to make my way through the labyrinth of the city streets right to the main square named San Marco. I must admit that it is not easy to get to the chosen destination here. In narrow streets (which sometimes are so narrow that two fat people will not be able to go nearby together) the navigator doesn't work that properly and there more and more tourists arrive every hour. In addition, the hot sun and a high level of air humidity are not the best conditions for going on a 8 km walk in a motorbike outfit.

Well, at least, the beautiful pictures taken were able to compensate for my physical and psychological fatigue from this walk.

In the evening I was already in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. And before that I had ridden along a wonderful mountain serpentine around Triglav, which is the highest mountain in Slovenia. In spite of the rain, this road appeared to be a great pleasure for me, unlike running around Venice!

Slovenia → Croatia → Serbia

The weather deteriorated completely. The grey morning sky and the nasty drizzle did not cheer me up. I looked at the weather forecast map on the Internet and figured out that half of Europe was coloured dark blue. But nothing could be done with it. I needed to get ready, put my raincoat on and go ahead, expecting some new adventures!

At moments like this I tend to recall the Kolyma highway, when I was going hundreds of kilometres a day through mud, rocks and puddles under an incessant downpour, all frozen and soaked to my underpants. And there were no petrol stations with coffee and snacks, nothing at all except for the taiga.

So it doesn't feel that bad when there is something to compare it with. :)

Despite the rain I still managed to walk around the centre of Ljubljana (the capital of Slovenia). It turned out to be quite a lovely, tidy and picturesque city with its own vibe and rich historical background.

Of course, it's not like Budapest or Paris… Nevertheless, Ljubljana is quite a decent capital for such a small country.

Yesterday I had an idea of making my route across Bosnia, but as there is no use circling along mountain roads in the downpour, I went to the motorway, unscrewed the throttle handle and "flew" up to Belgrade in 5 hours, having passed across Croatia.

Montenegro.

It is one of the most beautiful countries in the Balkans, which you surely should visit. Last autumn I took a ride along the magnificent paths of the Durmitor National Park and today I decided to stay in a small town named Žabljak, which is located at an altitude of 1500 m in the very centre of the park. There I checked in the hotel overlooking the snow-capped mountains.

However, I was still unlucky with the weather. The following day an orange danger level was declared in Montenegro, including downpours and winds up to 50 m/s. Well, I will never be scared by this but that's a pity that the photos won't be that saturated.

In the morning the rain was not too heavy and I went along a beautiful proven route. However, suddenly, I ran into a snowdrift. Above the height of 2000 m snow still makes up a layer, which is 1 m high. I went down lower and the rain became more intense, therefore, I couldn't turn off the asphalt road because the motorbike tires aren't good at going along wet grass and mud. That's a pity.

And as soon as I took the highway, I got into a real downpour. Some sudden powerful gusts of wind literally tried to blow the motorbike off the track.

I arrived in Budva in the late afternoon. This is a tourist town located by the sea, where my friends-motorbikers, Serj Torchek and his beautiful wife Nadezhda Zaharova, were already waiting for me.

Albania.

A few kilometers from the town Vlorë, which is situated on the southwestern coast of Albania, I made a stop at a small petrol station. A man immediately came up and asked me something in Albanian, pointing to the tank of the motorbike.

"Gasoline, full, please", I also pointed to the tank and opened the lid. Then I went into the building to pay for refueling with a credit card.

After that I went to the parking lot and sat down at the table in the cafe nearby to have a cup of coffee and check the further route. And I expected it to be one of the most beautiful paths on the Albanian coast!

Having drunk up my coffee, I headed for the sea, but after a few kilometres I felt that something went wrong. My motorbikey refused to gather pace, began to sneeze, its valves rattled and black smoke poured out of the muffler when the gas was turned on. I stopped and got off the bike. The smell left no doubt: there must have been diesel fuel poured in at the petrol station.

I wished it hadn't happened to me in the Albanian rural area at 6 p.m! Fortunately, I didn't turn off the engine, otherwise I would have had to spend the night on the rocks by the sea. I went back to the petrol station and then…

If you treat any problems that occur on your way as adventures, then the journey becomes even more vivid, intense and interesting!

I experienced it myself hundred times! :)

And this time it turned out that a friend of the owner of that small petrol station, located somewhere in the mountains of Macedonia, came for a visit and decided to help him refuel my motorbike. But he confused diesel fuel with gasoline. And I didn't control that process. As a result, I managed to ride about 20 km on diesel fuel (!!!) and then I came back. The problem was quite serious. The "consilium" of motorbikers was gathered and, finally, one master found the necessary tool. My motorbike was disassembled, the diesel was drained, washed, pumped, then assembled and… everything went in order!

Then we had coffee together, spoke as much as it was possible with my knowledge of the Macedonian language, laughed and parted in a friendly manner. They appeared to be nice men!

All's well that ends well.

And I am going to continue my journey across Greece.

Two hundred kilometres from the central part of the Mediterranean coast of Turkey there is a very beautiful gorge, through which the mountain river called Zamanti flows and then it is blocked by a dam. The gorge is quite narrow and there are high steep cliffs of all shades, from black to bright orange.

And at the end of it the powerful Kapuzbashi waterfall flows out of the rocks in numerous streams with a roar and myriads of splashes, forming a misty cloud. This place is really fascinating in its beauty and scale.

If you travel around Turkey by car or by motorbike, you should find an opportunity to allocate one day to come here. You surely won't regret it!

My friend from Cappadocia, whose name was Mahmoud, and I spent about two hours in this place and only the sun hiding behind the peaks of the mountains reminded us that it was time to leave.

Don't forget to mark this point on your map! (37.773616, 35.393358).

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