Archived:BalkanPlan

The Balkanisation of the Balkans

Proposed by Ed and Micky, 28/1

AS I WRITE THIS I am well aware that this does NOT use all 16 days. My hope is that we can take this plan and build on it in a way that adds no more than 160 miles per day.

• 1. AM: Fly out. PM: Zagreb -> Sarajevo (260 miles, 6 hrs).
• 2. AM: Sarajevo. PM: Sarajevo -> Mostar (80 miles, 2 hrs), Mostar.
• 3. AM: Mostar -> Dubrovnik (90 miles, 3 hrs), Dubrovnik. PM: Dubrovnik, Dubrovnik -> Podgorica (100 miles, 3 hrs).
• 4. All day: Podgorica -> SCENERY, ROMAN REMAINS, WALLS, DUBROVNIK ETC. -> Split (240 miles, 8 hrs allowing for stops and visits and stuff).
• 5. All day: Split. It deserves a day. Diocletian's palace, etc.
• 6. AM: Split -> Plitvice (160 miles, 4 hrs). PM: Plitvice Lakes.
• 7. AM: Plitvice -> Trieste (160 miles, 4 hrs). PM: Trieste.
• 8. AM: Trieste -> Skocjan Caves (20 miles, 0.5 hrs), Skocjan Caves. PM: Skocjan Caves -> Ljubljana (50 miles, 1.5 hrs), Ljubljana.
• 9. AM: Ljubljana -> Lake Bled (40 miles, 1 hr), Lake Bled. PM: Lake Bled, Lake Bled -> Ljubljana (40 miles, 1 hr).
• 10. AM: Ljubljana -> Vienna (260 miles, 5 hrs). PM: Vienna.
• 11. AM: Vienna -> Bratislava (50 miles, 1 hr), Bratislava. PM: Bratislava -> Budapest (130 miles, 2.5 hrs), Budapest.
• 12. AM: Budapest -> Vukovar (180 miles, 5 hrs). PM: Vukovar (what was there again?).
• 13. AM: Budapest -> Zagreb (190 miles, 5 hrs). PM: Fly home.

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE (CURRENTLY THREE) SPARE DAYS:

• Eger, as a jaunt from Budapest
• One of the cities might deserve some more time
• A mission to Belgrade from Sarajevo
• A mission to Tirana (you'd forgotten about that! will the hire cars let us do it?) from Podgorica
• Note that a longer jaunt could be made if we hire from Split, by simply missing out Zagreb and going straight from Vukovar to Sarajevo, or alternatively by re-ordering the loop so we go from Zagreb to Ljubljana and return also to Zagreb thence; if so I would totally recommend the Eger diversion

MAP

_a_~pos.43.85642610490322_18.413421884179115_Sarajevo%2C%20Bosnia%20and%20Herzegovina_e_~pos.42.642757_18.110659_Dubrovnik%2C%20Croatia_a_~pos.42.448307_19.26959_Podgorica%2C%20Montenegro_a_~pos.43.506985_16.441719_Split%2C%20Croatia_a_~pos.45.65065_13.76709_Trieste%2C%20Fr.V.G.%2C%20Italy_a_~pos.46.051247_14.503062_Ljubljana%2C%20Slovenia_a_~pos.46.36708974838257_14.094659686088562_Lake%20Bled%2C%20Slovenia_e_~pos.46.051247_14.503062_Ljubljana%2C%20Slovenia_a_~pos.48.202549_16.368799_Vienna%2C%20Austria_a_~pos.48.149245_17.107005_Bratislava%2C%20Slovakia_a_~pos.47.506225_19.06482_Budapest%2C%20Hungary_a_~pos.45.35225_19.000285_Vukovar%2C%20Croatia_a_~pos.45.80638_15.967_Zagreb%2C%20Croatia_a_&mode=D&rtop=0~0~0~ Map

PLACES TICKED FOR PEOPLE (based on canon desires) are as follows:

• micky: sarajevo, montenegro (also i remember some other stuff that he wanted was on this route)
• smith: vukovar, zagreb, sarajevo, vienna
• ed: podgorica, split, ljubljana + environs
• rev: budapest, zagreb, slovenia, vienna
• ben: (i seem to recall that he did in fact desire the dalmatian coast, the ruins and preserved stuff at split and dubrovnik, and mostar and the environs of ljubljana; correct if wrong)