Original subtitles

(upbeat suspenseful music)

(cars honking loudly)

(upbeat suspenseful music)

The Adriatic Highway,

a 1200 kilometer long road set against breathtaking scenery.

(cars honking)

The highway is one of the most fascinating roads

in the Mediterranean.

It attracts many visitors and beguiles them.

(cars honking)

(upbeat suspenseful music)

A road of dreams that can turn into a nightmare.

(car engine revving loudly)

Djoko Kristichovic has driven regularly

on the Adriatic Highway since he was a boy.

For him, this road is still a challenge

and also an adventure at the same time.

Djoko loves the highway, but also has huge respect for it

(speaks foreign language)

I've driven on this road countless times

but it always feels like the first time

because it's always so unpredictable,

sometimes straight, sometimes winding

and that's exactly what makes it so appealing.

And as for the beauty of the landscape,

it's indescribable.

(speaks foreign language)

The Adriatic Highway is one

of the most beautiful roads in the world.

This technical masterpiece was built in the 1960s

in the former Yugoslavia.

The road begins just after Triest

and first travels through Slovenia.

Over half of its 1200 kilometer length is in Croatia.

Around Neum, nine kilometers of Bosnia and Herzegovina

are squeezed in between.

South of Dubrovnik, another 125 kilometers stretch

into Montenegro.

The highway is still the major artery

for Adriatic tourism in all four countries.

Djoko's journey on the Adriatic Highway begins

in the North in Crikvenica.

He himself lives in the South where he grows figs,

mandarins and olives.

He processes the fruits at his family run business,

making them into jam marmalade, honey

and the cure in traditional old ways.

He wants to try to sell his products

at selected specialty shops

in the tourist hubs along the highway.

Hello, I'm Djoko.

Hello. Pleased to meet you.

We spoke on the phone about my products.

I'm a bit late.

The road was very busy.

It's all handmade

Figs and mandarins are processed

mainly in the South.

Djoko hopes he can attract interest

for his specialty products in the North.

(calm music)

From Crikvenica, the journey continues southwards.

Just after Senj, Djoko will face the most winding part

of the highway.

For 70 kilometers, it winds in tight serpentine bends

around the Velebit mountains.

Patience and care are required here.

(speaks foreign language)

I think the engineers made a big mistake

in planning these bends.

Some of them are built so that their incline is,

how can I say, just the wrong way around.

However quickly or slowly you drive into a bend like that,

it always pushes you out.

Now we're driving into one of these exact bends

and it always pushes us out to the left.

Now it's pushing me out.

This part of the highway is also known for the bora

which can sometimes blow the strength

of up to even 160 kilometers per hour.

Particularly in autumn and winter,

cars can be blown right off the road by the bora's fierce

gusts of wind.

So this section gets closed off for vehicles

in strong winds.

(wind whistling)

(calm music)

Many car drivers would gladly do

without these serpentine bends,

but motor cyclists come from all over the world,

especially for them.

Tight bends in a unique landscape,

an El dorado for every motorbike fan.

For Yuri Misculin, it's his home stretch,

which he visits when he needs quiet and time to himself.

As a bus driver, he also spends his time on the highway

through his job.

Yuri loves the adventure of this road

if only there weren't all the irresponsible drivers.

(speaks foreign language)

I'm pleased that tourists like to come here.

We depend on tourism.

So as long as there are tourists, things are good for us

but they should be more careful.

Many of them don't take enough care and drive

at 50/60 kilometers per hour then see something pretty

and stop without looking to see if anyone is behind them

and turn around where they aren't allowed to,

putting themselves and others in danger.

(motorbike engine revving)

Considering the beautiful scenery

and it's picture perfect scenes,

you can understand why people so often stop without thinking

and everyone who has ever driven on the highway

quickly forgets anything unpleasant and raves

only about its charm.

Most tourists keep coming back hungry for adventure street.

(upbeat jolly music)

(speaks foreign language)

It's hot, unbearably hot today,

and I'm slowly getting tired.

I feel totally sick thinking about how much more driving

I have to do.

Djoko meanwhile has left

the winding road behind him

and he's getting closer to the turn of Sibenik

on a straight part of the highway.

(upbeat dramatic music)

(truck honking)

Experienced highway drivers know all too well

that stretches like this,

are not at all relaxing, quite the opposite.

The rare opportunities to overtake,

are used here all too often for risky maneuvers

and alert glands in the wing mirror can be lifesaving

It's very difficult to drive here.

It's quite demanding.

It might be a straight stretch,

but as soon as the white line is interrupted,

drivers start tailgating behind me,

impatiently awaiting any opportunity to overtake

and then they race off like crazy.

(car engine revving)

(truck honking)

It isn't normal how they drive.

It's so reckless.

The biggest problem on this road is this speeding,

the risky overtaking maneuvers

and of course, the recklessness of some drivers.

Here again, two people died here as well.

Something has happened at every one of these bends.

Between 1995 and 2010, 30,000 people lost their lives

on Croatian roads.

Almost half of them on this highway alone.

But at least the police here are very much in evidence.

They carry out regular speed checks and alcohol tests

at certain sections where drivers like to step on the gas.

As soon as police cars are visible,

drivers immediately slow down and take more care.

Most accidents happen because of using

inappropriate speed.

The problem with foreign tourists is also

that they can't drive on our roads.

They're just used to motorways where the bends

are very gentle and manageable.

So you can drive much faster.

It's often minor traffic offenses

that can have tragic consequences.

Making phone calls whilst driving

and turning without looking have cost people their lives.

I saw both arrows and thought it was allowed.

The two most common causes of traffic accidents

are disregarding the right of way and unlawful turning.

This lady turned here from right to left

across the solid line that is not allowed.

That often leads to serious accidents.

Local drivers are observed

particularly closely.

The police patrol has just found a repeat offender

whose driving license they have already taken away twice

due to drink driving.

Police officers risk their own lives in car chases

on the highway.

Today, they don't have to race.

The offender gives up quickly.

Everything's fine.

The driver's alcohol test shows no alcohol content

in his breath.

And the data check shows that

he has had his driving license back for a week.

Hello?

Hello, daddy boy.

Yes. Oh no, not now.

It's so hot and I can't right now.

How far is it?

Where are you exactly say where you are?

There's a lot of traffic here.

I'm on the bridge now.

The Sibenik bridge is not only a popular place

for a photo opportunity,

it also offers the very brave, a special kind of kick.

All right.

I'll be there in 10, 15 minutes, okay?

All right.

Okay.

(speaks in foreign language)

(chuckles softly)

(screams loudly)

Djoko has no time to stay.

Dali Bo, his son-in-law has asked him to pick him up

from the Krka waterfalls and take him home.

Dali Bo took a trip with his friends

but has to leave early.

Djoko didn't need to be convinced.

It's rare that he gets the opportunity to make a detour

across the nature park.

The area is famous.

Thanks to the cowboy movies that were filmed here.

(upbeat relaxing music)

How was it in Crikvenica?

Did you sell anything?

Hardly anything.

(car engine revving)

From the Krka waterfalls back to Sebinik,

the highways circles around the old Barrack town

in (indistinct) bends.

One of them is named after the owner of the house

many cars have hurtled into.

(speaks foreign language)

Here Dal Bo.

This is the new tourist (indistinct) bend

where trucks have crashed down into people's gardens

and living rooms.

It's been made a bit safer, but I still find it eerie.

I always drive more slowly here, so I don't fly out.

There have been fewer accidents

since a protected barrier was put in place around the bend,

but (indistinct) stills shivers

every time he hears brakes squeal

My kitchen is down there.

10 meters away.

This is where a truck flew off the bend several years ago

and tumbled down here.

There was a pile of gravel there at the time

that the driver's cabin landed into.

Thank goodness.

The end of the truck was around here and the end wheels

of the trailer were still up on the highway.

(objects clanking)

Anita Cocolo

has also witnessed quite a lot here,

but accidents were a part of her everyday life as a child.

(objects clanking)

(speaks foreign language)

There really have been a lot to fax it into here.

We heard the clutter, the screens,

then we heard the police coming.

The paramedics.

I saw injured people lying in pools of blood.

It was terrible.

(upbeat suspenseful music)

Continuing southwards,

the highway runs through many small villages

like a tightly stretched band.

There's a lot of congestion in summer

when the tourists arrive.

(upbeat suspenseful music)

(speaks foreign language)

I have to get back soon to get to an event.

I'll never get there like this

Sitting in a traffic jam at 40 degrees

is stressful and exhausting.

It doesn't even get any better

when you leave the highway and go into the towns.

There are too many cars moving on streets

that are far too narrow.

And so Djoko is also late for his next meeting.

For this trip, he has only selected a few shops.

First, he wants to test the chances

for his business idea.

Just before split,

nothing is moving on the Adriatic Highway.

It's hopelessly overcrowded.

Streams of tourists come upon tens locals

who want to get moving quickly

just like Maritsa (indistinct)

who runs a small grocery shop

in (indistinct) split.

She drives along the stretch several times a day

with deliveries.

(speaks foreign language)

Did you just see who came shooting out

from a side street there?

Side streets join onto the highway or over.

That is a big problem.

It's supposed to be a fast road.

So there can't be a crossing every few meters.

You have to be permanently on edge.

You never know when someone will suddenly turn

in from the side.

(calm music)

The road tempts you to drive quickly

in the places where it's well-constructed.

Car drivers can easily forget that there are houses,

fields and schools along here.

And that side streets join the road.

Many people have lost their lives here

including many children.

So desperate parents were searching

for a safe way for their children to cross the road.

They found a solution for Andrea and his schoolmates

underneath the road in a rainwater pipe.

This road is very dangerous.

In the past, when there wasn't this ladder to the pipe,

someone always had to accompany us across the street.

Our parents were always worried about us

because children have been killed here

on their way to school.

Sometimes it takes half an hour until you can get the cross.

Now with the ladder, our parents are reassured.

They know that we can cross safely

and now they let us go everywhere, alone.

It isn't particularly pleasant in the pipe.

There are snakes and rats

but it's still better than walking across the highway.

There's no way to cross the street here.

It's unbelievable.

This road here isn't normal.

So much traffic, such hustle and bustle.

It's unbelievable.

And the other ones that live here,

must be one of the most dangerous places in Croatia.

When I think about how many people

have lost their lives here,

hopefully it will get better

when the new section is finished maybe.

It's not good here.

In order to make the highway safer.

There is constant construction work

even in high season.

It's being improved in many places.

It's tight bends are being straightened

and the surface is being repaired.

In some places, the road is built

on such a slant into the hillside that in heavy rainfall

it gets filled up and washed away by mud slides.

People are doing piece rate work in unbearable heat.

When this road was built in the 1960s,

it was an unimaginable feat of human muscle power.

Today, the highway is still considered

to be a great technical masterpiece.

Engineer (indistinct) was involved in its planning

and supervision from the very beginning.

(speaks foreign language)

The construction was an unbelievable technical challenge.

It was only when we received machinery from the Americans

that it progressed more quickly.

Until then we'd worked meter by meter over months and years,

mostly using our bare hands alone.

It was an incredible act of strength.

It was all just rocks and woodland here before.

Look where the rock was cut away here.

Thousands of cubic meters of stone had to be carried away

with bare hands.

But with the machinery, everything ran much more quickly.

People from all over Yugoslavia worked on the highway.

Nobody asked if you were Bosnian, Croatian or Serbian.

We all stuck together.

Anyone would have given their life for someone else.

A great friendship united us

that unfortunately no longer exists these days.

That the fruit stands in (indistinct)

The sellers still hope to do good business in the evening.

The sweet fruit from the Neretva Delta

is known throughout the whole of Croatia.

Under abundant sunshine, the fruit ripens in fertile soil.

Djoko is back home.

Yanja his wife is already waiting for him at her store.

Hello?

How are you?

Fine. How was it? Difficult.

It was hot and busy.

There was a huge traffic jam between splint and marker scar.

It's unbelievable how some people's speed and overtake.

(calm music)

Today's journey is almost over

for Djoko and Dal Bo

but the highway won't be quiet for a while yet.

Even at night, the traffic continues to move ceaselessly.

People are driving to the money clubs and bars

along the road.

(upbeat relaxing music)

And some sparkling nights and in a roadside ditch.

The next morning, Djoko and Dal Bo

load up the estate car to continue the journey

towards Dubrovnik.

Here I am put it in there.

Is everything ready?

So I can go, yes.

Drive slowly.

Be careful and take care of yourself.

All right.

They drive crazily here.

People speed and overtake.

When my wife is at the stand

I'm always scared that someone could run her over.

It has happened before the drivers have tried to get

past other cars and have sped into the fruit stalls

and flattened everything.

You risk your life even just standing next to the road.

(melancholy music)

Accidents on the straight parts of the road

usually end up being the deadliest.

As it's tempting to drive fast there.

It's often young people who are killed.

Often, it's down to alcohol stopping them

seeing clearly after nights out at the club.

It's the careless, speeding and looking

for an adrenaline kick that makes them put their own

and others lives on the line.

Christina has been driving more carefully

since her best friend Pero lost his life in an accident.

She herself also had an accident a year ago

that showed her just how quickly something

like that can happen.

It's been a warning for me after Pero died, I was scared.

And so were our friends who drive.

They say that they always think

of Pero when they step on the gas.

Yes. It's only when someone gets killed

that we really become aware

of how much we're risking our lives by speeding.

After the fertile fields of the Neretva Delta,

the highway dips down towards sea.

From here, the road is open again for trucks.

But (indistinct) has been a truck driver for over 30 years.

He transports goods between Italy and Montenegro.

He spends a lot of time on the highway

and still gets annoyed at the behavior of other drivers.

(speaks foreign language)

When you're driving, you need to concentrate

and mustn't get distracted.

Many drivers stick to the rules

but unfortunately there are just as many who don't.

For example, I can overtake here

because from here I have a good view of the traffic

but others still overtake,

even though they can't see properly.

Look here, if I hadn't put the indicator on now,

he would have overtaken me even with this oncoming traffic.

Yeah. You're allowed to drive 70.

So why do people have to drive 80 or 90?

Why?

Since the Yugoslavia War,

the highway has passed through four countries,

Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro and Bosnia

and Herzegovina.

From Neum, there's a seven kilometer long section

that is part of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

So two border crossings interrupt the Croatian coastline

in close succession.

Hello?

Thank you. Goodbye.

It's annoying that I constantly have to show my papers.

When I leave my country here

and travel seven kilometers back into it.

It's absurd.

Hopefully that won't be necessary anymore

when the new bridge at Neum will join Croatia to Croatia.

(car honking)

(upbeat music)

There are still 60 kilometers

to go to Dubrovnik.

Djoko was already spent the whole journey looking forward

to fresh oysters from the Bay of Molly Stone

which are famous all over the country.

(upbeat energetic music)

Hello?

Hello? Yes, please.

How's the traffic at the moment?

Terrible and frightening.

Do people always drive so fast here?

Yes. Terrible.

Aren't you scared to be here?

Of course. Two days ago, two people drove into each other.

A girl from Neum.

There was an accident here?

Yes. By the rocks over there.

People always speed here.

Convoys start forming.

Big convoys?

So big that you get a headache from all the noise.

We've put these wide concrete bollards in place

as protection as a car race into here three years ago.

While some people fear the dangers

of the highway, others see it as a challenge.

Many tourists have the courage to cycle on the highway.

They want to experience the magnificent landscape

with all their senses

but the heat and intense traffic demand

complete concentration.

And the rest areas are the best places

to enjoy the landscape anyway, even if you're on a bike.

(upbeat suspenseful music)

(speaks foreign language)

Djoko has reached Dubrovnik.

The most beautiful town on the Adriatic

is a tourist magnet.

For George Bernard Shaw,

it was even paradise on earth.

Up on a cliff with waves lapping on three sides

and surrounded by a mighty defensive wall,

Dubrovnik continues to captivate all of its visitors.

Djoko has made contact with two shops

and is hoping that its owners like his specialty products.

(upbeat relaxing music)

He would also like to be strolling

through the narrow alleyways and enjoying the grand beauty

of medieval buildings, but he has to keep going.

(upbeat relaxing music)

(speaks foreign language)

The highway is vital for the livelihood

of people along the coast.

Without it, we would be living under the kind of standards

we did 30 years ago.

This road has taken many lives

but it has also ensured the survival of many,

giving them the opportunity to make a living from tourism.

And the foreign guests who drove on the highway

were always aware of how unpredictable and dangerous it is.

And they came anyway.

Just before Montenegro,

an accident has happened.

Some young Czech tourists wanted to get back

to the hotel quickly after their trip to the beach

and simply turned around in front of a bend

even though there was a solid line on the road.

The oncoming motorcyclist saw them too late

and couldn't avoid them.

Miraculously, he managed to avoid injury

despite the severity of the collision.

This was one of the many operations

for the police on this day.

They're pleased that nobody is injured

and the one's more astounded to see the kind

of rash driving maneuvers that some drivers are capable of.

(speaks foreign language)

Irresponsible drivers like these who don't stick

to the rules do annoy me.

Most accidents happen in the high season in July and August.

Sometimes entire families lose their lives.

The highway leaves Croatia 45 kilometers South

of Dubrovnik and continues through Montenegro.

Since this section is part

of the well-known smuggling routes,

there are strict customs checks,

as a result they can be long delays.

(speaks foreign language)

I'm driving through Montenegro for the first time now.

For me, it's a real adventure.

I don't know the road, I'm also quite tired

but I like it a lot here.

This bay is so beautiful.

I can hardly believe that right now I'm driving

through one of the most beautiful bays in the Mediterranean

the Bay of Kotor.

It's so beautiful.

It's heavenly, a real gift of nature.

(calm music)

Although the customs regulations make it difficult

to export his goods to Montenegro,

Djoko go still wants to try.

He knows that many rich Russian tourists go on holiday

to Kotor and Budva.

Two shops have already shown their interest.

As in Croatia, the highway in Montenegro

passes through beautiful landscapes.

Here too, this is both a travel route and a town road.

You need to be skilled at the wheel

and have patience to drive here.

The highways close proximity to the sea

that makes it so attractive is also its biggest problem.

In some places, it's built so close to the beaches

and the waterfront that beach life sometimes takes place

on the road itself.

(children playing)

(tires squeals)

(upbeat dramatic music)

The highway is like a woman, beautiful, unpredictable

seductive, and somehow also irresistible.

She seduces you into doing stupid things and then

when you least expect it, she gets back at you.

I advise everyone who drives on the highway

to have patience, patience and even more patience.

(upbeat dramatic music)

Although the new bypasses are supposed to help

alleviate the strain on the highway, it is still overloaded.

A trip along the highway simply a must for any visit

to the Adriatic.

Despite all its dangerous,

it's a unique experience to drive

on one of the most beautiful roads in the world.