Greetings from Bosnia-Herzegovina

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Hi

Greetings from Bosnia-Herzegovina

We took a ferry off Hvar to Split and then a coach down to Dubrovnik. Simple except that our ferry was cancelled at the last moment so we took a the earlier ferry - lucky we were early enough to make the change.

Dubrovnik is lovely but very touristy. Cruise boats stop in the neighbouring harbour and passengers are bussed to the old city gate and let loose for the day. Luckily, we were staying right in the old town - up a little alley and turn right up a smaller alley to find our apartment ( see photo of Gill looking out of window ). In the mornings, late afternoons and evenings we had the city nearly to ourselves. In the peak of the day, we drank coffee in a cafe and watched the tour groups.

Another bus took us through three borders into Bosnia (into, out of and into again,actually!) and on to Mostar. Famous for "that bridge", it is a lovely little town and much restored from its Dresden like look of 1996. However, many building still show the tell-tale signs of war and a little walk out of the centre brings one to burnt out shells of buildings, new and old. We have been seeing burn out buildings since we drove across Croatia but Mostar was the first city where the signs of the civil war are so chillingly around you.

That said, Mostar is an attractive city and felt much less European than anywhere so far on the trip. The Ottoman/Turkish influence is very apparent, we are clearly moving East.

And so on to Sarajevo, this time by train. And what a train ride! Mostar is low, Sarajevo is high and there are a load of mountains in between. The train went through maybe 70 tunnels in 3 hours and wound back over itself - strange seeing track down below in the valley or high above you on the mountain side.

Sarajevo is, of course, famous for all the wrong reasons. The assasination here of the heir to the Ottoman Empire started world war one. And then there was the 1992 to 96 seige. No electricity, no gas, little food and suppliers brought in by the UN and through a smugglers tunnels; 300 incoming shells on an average day, over 1000 on a bad day. And 350,000 people held on until Europe got involved and NATO bombed the surrounding Serbs to make them retreat.

Strangely, the city has less signs of war than Mostar. It is richer and, we guess, repair and rebuilding work here took priority. There are still signs when you look - holes in the pavements repaired with symbolic red concrete and a bullet hole in our bathroom wall! A short walk in any direction and you get to a graveyard where all the dates are in the 1990s.

But now Sarajevo is heading towards being just another European city. The old city is still here - all very Ottoman with corner coffee shops and brass workshops. But just a walk away is the modern shopping centre with Mango and other fashion labels in shiny new stores. It is all very positive and great to see.

Today a local guide took us up for a walk in the mountain villages. Many have been rebuilt since the war but some are so remote that they escaped the war. In the highest village - 1550 metres up - we took lunch in a very modest little cottage cooked by a 65 year old lady, watch by husband and a friend. Sadly, only old people now live in the villages, their children all work around the Sarajevo area. Even they have to leave in mid-winter, only two people are mad enough to stay when the snow stacks up to over a metre and the temperature drop to minus 30. And we thought Sarajevo was chilly at +10!

Tomorrow we have a long coach ride in to our last country, Montenegro, and back to the coast and plus twenty something.Hope al is well with you all.

Love, Gill and Alistair

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