Blogs from Sarajevo, East, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Europe - page 16

After leaving the flatness of Serbia, it is impossible to overlook the natural beauty of Bosnia. After a brief border crossing, the bus curved around beautiful emerald lakes and wound around rocky crags into Sarajevo. It was a city that I had associated with terrible violence in the 90s, but didnt know much more about. My mission was to stay in the city until I fully understood the conflict. I had no idea it would take hold of me and not let go for 5 days. One of my first experiences, unfortunately, was having my wallet stolen on the tram. It deferred my exploration but has not tarnished my view of the city. It is a city full of welcoming, hospitable people with the exception of a few, needy individuals who are desperate enough to ... read more

We are in Sarajevo this Thanksgiving though we’re supposed to be spending the holiday in Istanbul. We have been eager to see Turkey and loved the idea of being in Turkey for America’s Turkey Day. About ten days ago Roger developed a few nagging problems that two days ago turned into overwhelming pains in his lower back and groin. This occurred, of course, almost immediately after we purchased our train tickets from Sarajevo to Belgrade for what would ultimately be a thirty six hour train ride to Istanbul. Our two day odyssey navigating the health care system here, which thus far appears to have been fruitful, also gave us insight into the way many people here live (and certainly provides perspective that will likely keep us from complaining about the American health care system any time ... read more

Well, this is definitly the hardest entry I have made yet. I returned late last night from a 4 day trip to Sarajevo and Mostar in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and although it was a fascinating trip, the entire thing seems a little bit surreal right now. I could go into a lot of detail, but I will spare you all and try to give the gist of it the best I can! A group of 6 of us took the night bus Wednesday and after a long and bumpy 13 hours we found ourselves droopy eyed and seriously lacking sleep in a dreary, raining, foggy Sarajevo. After a short ride (with a man I decided I was 75% sure was going to drive us down a strange alley and kill us all), we arrived at our fairly dingy ... read more

They look Irish we thought (we may have even spoke it to each other) when we saw two other backpackers hanging around the bus station. You may have gathered we were heading to Sarajevo; Roland had already gone without leaving anything behind for once. This time when we had no arrangements, we were happy to go with someone offering a room, no such luck. We got a taxi to the center where we stumbled across an accommodation agency; they were very helpful and spoke good English. Two options were available, either to go to a hostel 20mins away or stay with a family. My legs were aching so we chose the 10mins option. A guy from the agency took us to a block of flats with an old lady; she rented out 2 rooms and must ... read more

Hello! We are currently in an internet cafe in Sarajevo, just over the bridge from the spot where Princip assassinated the heir to the Ausro-Hungarian throne, thereby (intermediate steps skipped) indirectly sparking World War I. Finding the spot is a somewhat difficult exercise, however, as almost all evidence of this fact has been eradicated. Princip was a Bosnian Serb nationalist, you see. And Serb nationalists are not that popular around here. Apparently there are moves to reinstate the former museum which marked the spot, but as far as I can tell, these have gained little traction. All there is is a simple plaque, and for the time that we were there we were the only tourists to go there and look at it (and I haven't noticed anybody looking at it subsequently). You can hardly blame ... read more