Dude! The Balkans and Budapest

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Bus from Dubrovnik to Bosnia Herzegovina. Lots of farmland in Bosnia, very sparse, sporadically there were houses that were destroyed in the war, or bullet holes all over the place. Pretty sobering experience.
Sarajevo itself is beautiful and small. Especially nice is the Turkish quarter, a pretty small area with lots of interesting shops and stuff. We (Nick from Chicago, and myself) were there during Ramadan, which was cool. Occasionally we could hear the call to prayer being broadcast from the spires of mosques throughout the city, a hauntingly beautiful sound. Also saw the eternal flame, which is dedicated to those who faught in wwi, as well as slavic unity. also saw spot where franz ferdinand was assassinated, starting wwi.
next was belgrade, serbia, interesting place kinda, not really.
next was budapest hungary. amazing amazing city, very beautiful, with Buda on one side of the river and Pest on the other. really cool castle on hill of buda, lots of great architecture and museums. walked all over the place. one of the best spots i've visited in europe by far.

Sorry it took so long for me to get all of these pics up, it takes a while to upload all the pics. plus i had 300+ pics to look through, just from this trip. anywho, i'm leaving for bratislava slovakia tomorrow morning. then flying from there to milan, then milan to valencia: where ideally i'm going to start my teaching "career." wish me luck.

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Photos

sarajevo
eternal flame

sarajevo
turkish quarter and surrounding hills

sarajevo
war remnants

sarajevo
the entirely gutted parliament building

sarajevo
mosque

belgrade
pretty much the only thing to do in belgrade was sit in the park, this one apparently was situated amongst the philosophy buildings of the local university, allegedly where kids go to discuss philosophy-- not true as far as we could tell

belgrade
nick, what a heathen, drinking a 2 liter bottle of beer, the shame!

belgrade
nighttime view from park

budapest
need i say more?

budapest
parliament building, fashioned after the london original

budapest
even the water fountains are sweet

budapest
nightmare before christmas? has tim burton visited budapest?

budapest
mmmkay, view of Buda from Pest

budapest
hero's square

budapest
let me explain, in the national gallery they had a temporary exhibit of japanese prints, by hiroshige and hokusai, so i had to get this illegal pic in front of this really famous print.

Comments

[Matt]

!!
My favorite print. I use it all over :)

[andrea]

law dee dee dee
:) mi amiga christina(te recuerdas ella?) necesita a ver estos fotos porque su familia es de hungary y she's all about hungary pride!! :)! i always tell her she's hungary for loove.. jaja.. well i'm happy to see you are todavia having an magnifico time!! yo tambien! YES!!! (member "yes!" while you pull your arm towards you? we're bringing it back! YES!!!):) te extrano mucho y te amo mucho!! un beso! ciao p.s. YES!!!! :)

[joel"mav"mennella]

roids
is everyone as big as edvin over there?

[christina parker]

amiga de drea :)

[christina parker]

a continuacion lo siento
hola, mi mama nacio en hungary y fui a hungary en 2000...did you see the lions sin tongues on the bridge? it's awesome to see pics again!! hope all is well, have safe travels and good luck with the teaching career! chau besos

[Janello]

I'm soooo jealous. It all looks so beautiful. When are you going to invite me over? I'm glad to see you're having fun. Take care.