Blogs from South, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Europe - page 8

We took a bus from Split to Mostar in Bosnia & Herzegovina. Upon crossing the border, we immediately noticed the damage done to this region in the fairly recent war. There were plenty of abandoned buildings covered in bullet and bomb holes. Mostar itself was one of the hardest hit cities in the country and was under siege for about 3 years. All of the medieval bridges were destroyed and many of the old buildings. Despite all of this happening only 15 years ago, the city and the people have bounced back remarkably well. The Bosnians are well known as being the friendliest people in the Balkans. This was immediately evident as we were unexpectedly welcomed by the hostel owner as we came off the bus. The hostel we had contacted was officially closed for the ... read more

2 Police stops we had driving through Croatia and Bosnia, until we came past the Croat city of Metrovic then the proper border control where both Croat and Bosnian patrol is in the same spot, being boarded by different police force one after the other, we only got checked for ID or passport, no stamps. The drive through was beautiful, from gorgeous coasts to picturesque orange groves. Arriving at the bus stop in Mostar, i had in my hand the card that a fellow traveller gave me about acoomodation, Lena and Rada GH. Lena happens to be in the bus station and we walked together to the GH for 10 euros a night I have a 4 bed dorm to myself, dont know for how long, a bunch of Croatians are apoparently coming later. Found out ... read more

"Look at the silly tourists wandering around confused with their big backpacks, let's go and scam the fuck out of them" was what went through a taxi driver's mind as he pulled up next to us as we contemplated the long walk from Mostar train station to the Hostel Nina. After we agreed a five euro ride, he first asked if we were Swedish (must be my flowing blonde locks), before dropping us at a place with Pansion Pulzic emblazed on an illuminated sign above. "This, Hostel Nina", he triumphantly assured us despite the evidence to the contrary, and shouted up to an old man, who didn't look like a Nina, on the balcony above. This chap took us in hastily and showed us to a double bedroom. Alarm bells were ringing and sure enough, a ... read more

Groeten uit Mostar! Bekend van die brug die 't bijna 500 jaar heeft volgehouden, tot hij in de Joegoslavië-oorlog werd stukgeschoten... maar inmiddels is herbouwd. Het is hier errug warm! De man in ons hotel vertelde dat het laatst 45 graden was... Maar, vandaag zal Simone jullie vertellen wat we allemaal gedaan hebben de afgelopen 9 dagen! Take it away... Simone! ;-) Op woensdag de 13e hebben we vanuit Split met de bus naar Solin en Trogir gereisd. Solin (Salona) is een oude hoofdstad van Dalmatië uit de Romeinse tijd van keizer Diocletius em waar allemaal ruïnes van over zijn gebleven. Diocletius voerde een schrikbewind tegen de Christenen, maar de inwoners van Solin beleden hier toch hun geloof. Daarvan zijn nog diverse overblijfselen van kerken van te zien en martelaarsgraven. Ook een ... read more

Rob left the heating on 30°C all night so we both woke up pretty warm. Neither of us wanted to go back to old town so instead we walked into a part of the new town called Lapad. We bought some stamps so that we could get our postcards sent off and then we were stuck for something to do. We both discussed the possibility of getting something to eat and began to search for somewhere. It was only when we found a pleasant Italian that we discussed with each other that we weren't hungry. After this we headed to a supermarket and bought bread, fruit, dried fruit etc for the bus journey. We sat outside the supermarket and had baguette and the jam from the previous day. Seeing as though we couldn't think of anything ... read more