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Published: August 26th 2007
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The train ride to Sarajevo was always going to be our longest for our whole time in Europe (over 11 hours in total). Like the train into Belgrade, the one leaving it also went painfully slowly. The only difference however was that this one had no airconditioning and needless to say it was very hot! However the windows could be opened enough to stick your head out and take photos so that was nice.
Again the train was relatively empty and we shared a 6 person compartment with only one other person. He got off while we were still within Serbia as did most of the train. In order to get to Sarajevo we had to first cross into Croatia briefly before we could cross into Bosnia-Herzegovina. Our train was bound for Zagreb in Croatia to the west which ment that we had to change at a little outpost station in Croatia in order to head south towards Sarajevo. Despite a timetabled connection of 47 minutes (and one of only 2 train options for the journey) only one other person got off the train with us to make the connection!
At the outpost station (Strizivojna-Vrpolje) we had to buy
tickets to travel into Bosnia-Herzegovina as no type of Eurail pass would cover this country. It was here that Ross, whilst videoing the freight wagons in the station yard, got told off for the first time on our trip for photographing at a train station. Who would have thought at such a remote place as that! When our train arrived it consisted of only two carriages. Obviously it is not a very popular connection!
Unlike the scenary throughout Serbia and through much of our travels so far, the scenary within Bosnia-Herzegovina is much more spectacular and consists of significant mountain ranges. (This is probably the main reason why there is not a more direct route from Belgrade.) We were also almost immediately confronted with the impacts of the recent 1990s war in Bosnia with numerous buildings in the various villages we passed by dotted with bullet holes and other buildings only remaining in ruin. The other noticeable difference is that the further south we headed within Bosnia, the sight of Orthodox churches in every village started being replaced with mosques.
When we eventually arrived at Sarajevo station we were two of only about 6 people who got off
our train. All were foreign backpackers. The station was small compared to most of the grand stations we had seen on our trip, but still a reasonable size compared to railway stations in Victoria. The main difference was, this one was almost totally empty.
As we were quite tired when we arrived at the station and hot from the lack of airconditioning on both trains, and we did not have an accurate map of the location of our accommodation, we decided to take a taxi rather than try to figure out the local public transport if it still ran late in the evening. This was an experience in itself, the taxi driver quoted a fee to us up front and then off we went, very fast and without a seatbelt in the back seat that worked. After we had gone quickly through a maze of narrow streets the taxi driver stopped and asked us again for the address. It seemed he was lost but neither us nor the taxi driver could understand too well what the other was staying. Luckily we had agreed on a price up front so this was not costing us. Also luckily, we had taken
down the phone number of the place we were staying so the taxi driver called there and was given directions. When we arrived, a girl met us and told us the place was full and that she would take us somewhere else instead. Luckily it was right around the corner, the catch was it didnt have air conditioning!
In the morning both of us felt a bit sick in the tummy and Ross especially had to start making a lot of unexpected visits to the toilet. Nevertheless, we still pushed on and went for a walk around Sarajevo. Sarajevo is an interesting city. It has a lot going for it in that it is located in a valley and is surrounded by impressive mountains on all sides that get used for skiing during winter. It also is littered with mosques everywhere you look and has an old town area which is in a Turkish style rather than the typical medieval style of other cities. However, evidence of the recent war is everywhere with bulletholes still remaining in most buildings and also buildings evident that are still in ruin mixed in with other buildings in the city centre. There are
also massive graveyards visible on the slopes of the mountains surrounding the cities containing large numbers of very similar grave stones for people who died during the war.
We visited a museum which gave some history of life during the war years without electricity and in constant fear of snipers. We also visited one of the grave yards. We also found a significant landmark relevant to a different war - the Latin Bridge where a Bosnian Serb assassinated the Austro-Hungarian Duke Franz Ferdinand which caused Austria-Hungary to declare war on Serbia which sparked World War One when the rest of the world came to the defence of Serbia.
As well as visiting an Orthodox and Catholic church, we also visited a mosque. This required Kerrie to wear a long dress and head scarf!
We managed to catch a tram in Sarajevo. They even had low floor trams but were mainly the high floor type. The amazing thing was their tickets were magnetic stripe like Metcards, but you had to buy them from a kiosk before you boarded.
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