All the cars in the Balkans are required “by law” to ride on a line on the roadways. I swear, none of the local drivers can decide what lane they want! They are always on a line, even if it’s the center line facing oncoming traffic. And they merge or pull out in front of you without warning. And all this with very few horns. I haven’t seen any accidents, but wow, have I had some choice words for the more egregious crazies.
Balkan drivers are also crazy to pass – they cannot wait to get by any car, truck, or semi in front of them. And it doesn’t matter what the road is like, or how much space they’ll gain, even if it only gains them one car length! THEY ARE GOING TO PASS! 😉
One of the funny things about driving in the Balkans is using my iPhone’s Apple Maps app and listening to Siri pronounce the road names! What a hoot!
By the way, how did we ever find our way around in countries where we didn’t know the language, couldn’t read the road signs, etc.? No Siri, no Apple Maps or Google Maps, no Google Translate, etc.. Everything is so much easier now, but somehow we survived just fine thirty and more years ago.
One thing good about driving in the Balkins is that the semi trailers (and sometimes other vehicles) in front of you on two-lane highways are very good about letting you know when it’s safe to pass. They will turn on their right turn signal indicating it’s good to go by them. Nice safety gesture, and one I started using for the cars behind me (who always want to pass)!
In the photo below, the traffic is stopped, or moving very slowly, on the highway. And when that occurs, the cars in the two lanes split wide, as shown. Not sure the reason, but they were consistent. It does seem like it would be good for emergency vehicle movement in jammed traffic.
I have been surprised by the number of police on the side of the roads in some of the countries. Standing along roadways and randomly pulling over vehicles for some reason – maybe safety or insurance checks? And speed cameras, as well as speed traps are widely evident.
There have been a large number of wild or roaming dogs that are on the highways. And this has been out in the boondocks, on interstates, side roads, doesn’t matter. Truly a lot of dogs of all stripes. Some in packs of 5 or 6, some solo, and all just lazily walk in front of traffic like they haven’t a care in the world or they have a death wish, and some others who chase after cars like we’re something good to eat!
So I pulled into a gas station in Montenegro at about 2:00 pm one day. As I pulled up to a pump, the attendant put his hands up and “scolded” me in the local language. After figuring out that I was an English speaker, he scolded me in English. “No, no gas, it is time for shift change. Come back in 25 minutes.” That was a first in my worldwide travels! Closed for shift change. Fortunately, my gas situation was not desperate and I drove on.
I was speaking to a host at one of my lodging stops one evening. She was uncomfortable with English, although she was perfectly clear to me. So she called her adult son out to assist. We talked for a couple minutes, and I mentioned something about Virginia. He said, “You are from America?” I said, “Yes.” And he replied, “Oh, so that’s why you speak English so well!” Funny! Apparently they thought I was just using English as a common language that we could both understand.
I haven’t seen one golf course in the Balkans!
The only wild animal I’ve seen along the entire trip was a pheasant next to the road in Serbia!
One of the things that surprised me about the Balkans is the clothing worn by the majority of people throughout my travels. Most everyone is bundled up in coats and sweaters, with many wearing down-style puffy jackets. The weather has been cool some days, but not uncomfortable. I’ve been mostly in short sleeves, with a very light jacket sometimes. I did wear a fleece quarter zip one morning when it was snowing heavily in the mountains, but that’s been it for warm clothes.
Before you go…
I told my suitcase there would be no vacation this year. Now I’m dealing with emotional baggage.
A Captain’s Adventures 