Beautiful Bosnia and Hercegovina

---

There's no war in sight... although there are reminders.

Well we got up at the crack of dawn the other morning in Duborvnik to get to the bus station for our 800 bus away from the coast into Bosnia. Nothing was open and we were starved. I had a bag of paprika potato chips and a twix bar, and jeff had espresso from a machine and a bag of pretzels for breakfast. then off on the bus, which was pretty empty, further up the beautiful coastline. bosnia has a short coastline so we had a couple of border checks along the way but basically just flashed a passport and off we went.

the Neretva river flows through bosnia and out to the coast of croatia in a huge delta covered with farms growing lemons, oranges, veggies and other plants. too bad i'm not a botanist. ti was beautiful however, with a great view from the highway on the mountain over the delta, and the mountains of the islands offshore in teh distance.

finally we turned onto another highway to head inland following the river up. it started to pour for a few mins, then the sun came out. reminded me of home. then there was a beautiful double rainbow across the valley. the river is a beautiful emerald gree ncolor, all the vegetation is still green and lush (by newfie standards)...

finally we started heading up into the mountains. wow beautiful. we stopped for a few hours in Mostar which is the largest city in the Hercegovina part of the country. They have a bridge, called "stari most" which is the 'old bridge'... it symbolized the bringing together of the various cultures in the region. the bosniak muslims, the croat catholics and the orthodox serbs. well during the war, of course the bridge was drestroyed. they rebuilt it again a few years ago and, while nothing overly impressive on its own, what it stands for is pretty impessive.

there wasn't a whole lto to see in mostar, but ti was a nice introduction to bosnia. too bad it rained yet again. we had chocolate bread (yes jenn, it does exist - its white bread, kinda rolled into a huge bun, with chocolate in between some of th elayers - and only a buck!) for lunch, then some meat kebabs and fries for supper.

we heade dback to the bus station to catch the bus to sarajevo - the capital of the country. about 10 bucks for a 2 hour ride. well it was crowded at the slip where our bus wa scoming in and of course, being the curteous canadians we are, were the last ones to get on the bus. only two seats left, it was hot, damp but at least we made it! and again, BEAUTIFUL scenery. climbing through mountain passes, snow capped peaks, forests, green rushing rivers, towns clinging to cliffs, mosques and churches everywhere... then to sarajevo just as it got dark.

we arrive at the bus station, check times for the buses out of here for a few days time, then try to catch the tram downtown. well i booked our hostel and neglected to writ edown the directions. we had a name of an area of town where we knew it was, and an address. so we ask information where to get the tram - they say at the railway station next door. we get to the railway station and ask the information people there where to get the tram. they point right out the front door an dbam there it is. we hop on tram #1 and have no idea where to get off. the guy checks out tickets so we ask him. he says 3 stops but we don't believe him
having no better ideas we get off in 3 stops, look up and there is the hostel right in front of us! bam we rock

not a bad place, 20 bucks each a night for a private room, twin beds, shared abthroom. but right in the middle of downtown in a great spot

the city is nestled in a valley surrounded by snow capped mountains. there isnt' a whole lot of war damage left, but we did see some buildlings just outside the center that are condemned and not torn down or anything. and lots of buildlings still have little holes from weapons fire. but it feels very safe, and is actually a VERY atmospheric city. loving it so far.

today so far we went ofr a walk around, found th eholiday inn where all the journalists were holed up during the war, the bridge where archduke ferdinand was assassinated to start WWI, the canadian embassy...

now we're just trying to figure out where to go from here. its a long long bus or train ride to ljubljana where jeff is flying home from on friday, and we don't eally want to waste a hundred bucks and two days travelling to get there so we're trying to book some flights but having zero luck.

we're off to find some lunch, hopefully MEAT! haha and chocolate bread.

YUM


ps my apologies if this is all over the place and doesn't make much sense and has a million typos. we're trying to book flights and look up some info some i'm back and forth and my train of thought is shot. also thats a long sentence.

---

Comments

[E. Mackey]

Bosnia & Hercegovina
Hi boys! Don't worry about the typos or sentence construction -- we all love to read your commentary --very educational actually -- little bit of drama when you don't know where your digs are at (ha ha) . Your description is not like the mental picture I had of the region -- pictured a very austere, closely guarded area with authoritarian approach to tourists --dead wrong! Transportation is surprisingly cheap. Take care, N.

[Jenn]

Ah ha!
Wow Jason. I can't imagine living through what those people must have. But nor can I imagine touring it! It sounds as though you are really enjoying it. Did you take a picture of the place where the Archduke got shot? Okay the chocolate bread; so not what I was picturing when you were calling it chocolate bread. I thought it was like whole wheat bread only chocolate - not that there was chocolate IN the bread! Your blog was totally readable. I wouldn't worry about it. I wonder if you guys found a flight after?