Day 8 - Sarajevo

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First "bags out" this morning. Right on time and the porter arrived as we put the 2nd bag out so big tick for us....

On to the bus and seat rotation has us in the front seat behind Guisseppe our Italian driver. Good spot you say, not quite. Guiseppe is not the best driver and there are several pieces of spectacular driving of which more will come in later parts of this blog.

Any hoo, away via the port. 4 cruise ships in today so lucky we did our tours the last few days. Onto the new suspension type bridge out of Dubrovnik on our way to Sarajevo Via Moston (old capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina). All going well, get to the border and there are 3 buses in the queue in front of us so Guisseppe decides he needs to go to the toilet while we are waiting. Viktor says they normally get through this border quickly. All of a sudden, the buses go and we are stuck without a driver - in the toilet..... border control people waving us up, but no good without a driver, so they call all the other traffic behind us around - 3 or 4 buses, and lots of cars. Viktor isn't happy and when Guisseppe finally arrives he looks a bit green. Hmm, who knows how to drive a bus in our group.

Get through here and have a wee stop just down the road. Guisseppe disappears into the toilet again, but when we get back on the bus he looks much better. Viktor also very happy as he was stressing about what would happen if he had no driver.........

Drive on and then we pass back into Croatia but no border stop this time, pretty much straight through. We have another entry into Bosnia and Herzegovina coming up which Viktor keeps saying is the worst. Sure enough, we get to within sight of the border and cars lined up everywhere, but the bus is allowed a special lane so we get there quicker. A few buses so off go our passports. Viktor happy that he gets thought Croatian side quickly, but needs 3 bottles of water for the Bosnian side. Lots of waiting when one of our people realises that they didn't give Viktor one of their passports. Panic.... Luckily he gets it through Croatia really quickly and doesn't lose his spot with Bosnia. All done and away we go. Line of cars coming the other way is about 1 km long. Wow.

A few km on and we enter a town to see 2 cars in the middle of the road - head on. One guy still in a car, the other out - both shaken but look ok. Guisseppe decides he is going to drive through the middle of the 2 cars. Lots of yelling, gesturing and no movement. He then backs up but changes his mind and tries again. Finally someone comes and starts to direct traffic a bit. We get around in the wrong side of the road and go. Hmm, not sure about his driving decisions some times.

Finally get to our first destination, Mostar, the old capital of Bosnia. This town has a stone bridge - problem is that the bridge is like 2 ramps up and down but they are built of marble rocks the size of tennis balls. Good for massaging the soles of your feet but a little slippery. Didn't have any falls but there were some very worried tourists hanging on to the rails for grim death.

Quite a pretty little town, their main things seem to be beaten copper plates and lace work. Everywhere you go you hear the hammering of copper with a guy leant over a table producing original art work. Lunch at a restaurant that has a terrace. Bloody hot today (about 36c). Almost cold beer and cevapcici. Waiter asks if we want another beer and I say yes as long as it is really cold. He then produces a wine bucket full of ice and our beers. Good man.......

Off to Sarajevo. Beautiful countryside. Viktor describes it like scenes from Switzerland. He is right, but no snow capped peaks. Lots of snoring on the bus now.

Hit peak hour in Sarajevo. Slow trip along major road to the centre of town where we are staying. Lots of buildings with bullet holes and quite a few with big gaping holes from artillery shells. These haven't been fixed because of the cost. Interesting mix of old and new. Some very ugly old communist built ones as well.

Get to hotel which is down a very squeezy street. Guisseppe has to go backwards and forwards about 4 times to get the bus around the 1st corner, nearly taking out a group of tourists on the footpath. Finally manoeuvre to the front of the hotel and get off. Nice hotel, our room is on the 6th floor. as we are going up in the lift, Chris says it would be nice to have a bath. Go in the door and room is huge, with a bath. Chris gets her wish and is in the bath in no time.

Go for a walk in the old town after dinner, then on the way back meet our kiwi friends, Wayne and Dianne who are about to have a drink so join them for a nightcap. Watch the crowd go past with a cold beer and then off to bed.

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