Arrival in Sarajevo

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I safely arrived in Sarajevo this morning after a short flight with unsurprisingly poor food provided. When I arrived at the airport there was a taxi driver waiting for me with my name written on a piece of paper, which made me feel pretty important. He didn't speak a word of English but was fortunately fluent in German, having lived in Düsseldorf for five years. He gave me a lot of advice about things to see in Sarajevo, which was helpful. After dropping my stuff at the hostel I went for a bit of a wander around the Old Town. From what I've seen so far, much of Sarajevo is how one would picture a run-down ex-Communist city to look, but the Old Town is a different story completely: absolutely beautiful buildings and pedestrianized streets. Really confusing is the fact that there are countless interesting and attractive old buildings, completely open to the public, with no apparent entry charges, and next-to-no visitors. I found myself wondering whether I was even allowed to enter some of these churches and mosques. It's quite the contrast to Istanbul, where every monument and building of note is swamped with tourists. Also very arresting about this city is the fact that it's surrounded by breathtaking hills, which provide a fitting backdrop to the Old Town and a surprising one to the more urban parts of the city. I'm not yet sure what my plans are for Sarajevo, but I'll probably leave on the 27th to go to Mostar. I haven't yet decided whether I'll stay a night in Mostar or just spend a day there before heading to Dubrovnik.
Unfortunately, I accidentally left my camera at the last hostel. The receptionist there told me he'll mail it home for me (along with a t-shirt I left there), but I still won't be able to take any more photos to upload!

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Comments

[mr mink]

the hills of Sarajevo etc - and Supetar pix etc
James, it was interesting to come upon your blog when i searched to see what others had written about Croatia generally etc. I just spent a couple of weeks coming down the coast from Slovenia, down the Croatia coast, then into Bosnia - Mostar/Sarajevo etc myself. A great shame you lost your camera (hopefully only temporarily) - as I have a Canon DSLR this has contributed very much to my blogs on the same places on an almost daily basis - you might like my pix of Supetar which I Iargely visited for a swim for the day from Split - I know most people dash off to Bol but I simply did not have the time - see my entry at http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Croatia/Dalmatia/Splitska/blog-623515.html if links are not banned on this blog - otherwise search for me on Tblog as blogger "mr mink" aka Michael