The Detour-Sarajevo 15/3-16/3

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Sarajevo, Bosnia and Belgrade, Serbia. Do the two sound the same at all? Maybe the beginning of the words have the same letter but that’s pushing it a bit. Anyway I’ll get to that in a bit. The bus I was to take to Pogoricha only runs every other day and I wanted to go the day it wasn’t running. Bummer. I had to get there to catch the 10pm train to Belgrade so I asked the lady what my options were. During this time I somehow switched Sarajevo with Belgrade, and she said I could take the bus to be there by 9pm. I was a bit surprised how a bus could get there by 9pm but a train would get there at 7am the next morning but I wasn’t really thinking so I said I’ll take it. So on the bus I went to what I thought was Belgrade. Only when I realised we were going into Bosnia again that it clicked that I was going to Sarajevo. But the great thing about this trip is I don’t have anything set in stone, as long as I catch my flight from Prague to London April 7th. I always wanted to go to Sarajevo anyway.

It was getting dark so I didn’t get to see much of the scenery which was a shame as we drove over some pretty steep mountain ranges and I’m sure it would’ve looked awesome to see. We drove through Mostar, which had been heavily hit by the war in 1992 between the Serbs, Croats, and Bosnians. A lot of the buildings were still shells and you constantly saw bullet holes or mortar rounds covering buildings that were still standing. 15 years ago this was a place of devastation and only recently are they starting to rebuild their lives again.

I arrived in Sarajevo around 9pm and as I hadn’t planned on staying here I hadn’t booked anything and so I had a couple of places in mind. However that changed when I saw a hostel advertising in the train station as it was only 5 euro a night I took it. Lonely Planet said it was a hole but I didn’t care as I was tired and just wanted a bed. Well it wasn’t a hole, and was probably the best value for money hostel I’ve stayed in so far. The book was written in 2009 so there must’ve been some renovating as it looked fine, and had everything you needed, except for wireless, locks on the toilets, and no shower curtain, just a shower head and a small circular ceramic floor. That’s living. There were only 3 of us in the whole hostel, a Bosnian guy and a Dutch girl, who seemed to have gone out together and they came in drunk at 1am and, well, they didn’t fall asleep straight away. I found out in the morning they weren’t travelling together, so it was one of those things where you meet someone in the hostel, go out, hook up, and be on your way.
The next morning I did a tour of the city, which was pretty amazing to look at in the early hours. I took a hike to the top of the hill where the yellow fortress was, and took in the view. There was a haze over the city and a constant smell of burning wood. I walked down to the cemetery, which was dedicated to the Muslims who were murdered in the Genocide between 1991-1995. There were a few of them around the city. I saw other things, like where Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sofia were assassinated which triggered World War 1. That itself was worth the trip. I also so an exhibition on the war, which was so fascinating as I really knew nothing about it, only heard bits and pieces but was too young to know or even care. But it gave me a sense of what it was like during those times, how people young and old lived, and how difficult it was to do normal things like go to school or buy bread and water knowing that a sniper could pick you off of the street or a missile could slam into the ground next to you at any time.

I got back in the afternoon and found there were 3 others that had checked in, a German guy called Andre and a couple from Germany and Poland, Fred and Pauline. Andre was backpacking and hitchhiking with minimal money, and I think he had been to 4 countries and spent like 40 euros or something as he was always given food or water for free as well as free rides. People here are a lot more nice than you think, you just need to try and start a conversation and take it from there. So the 5 of us (Bosnian guy wasn’t around) went to a pub and watched the Champions League and chatted for awhile. We ended up at Cheers for a bit and then back to the hostel, where Andre tried to open a bottle of wine given to him by a Serbian guy who’s house he stayed at, but was impossible to open. We were all frustrated with trying to open it so he went outside, smashed the top of it, and we were all happy again. We sat around listening to random Bosnian music and as it was about 1:30 and had to get up at 5:30am I went said my goodbyes and went to bed. I really enjoyed it here as the city has a lot to offer and it’s got a great atmosphere, full of young people with good vibes. You can still see remnants of the war here as well but they’re doing a good job of rebuilding and trying to forget about the atrocities here 15 years ago. Next stop Belgrade (finally!).

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