Blogs from Sarajevo, East, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Europe - page 8

It was past time to get out of Serbia. Our GPS had only main roads, and the paper map we had wasn't detailed enough to help us that much but we eventually made it to a border crossing, a small one. We decided that the small ones are the way to go – no queue of cars and the guards a tiny bit less sullen, if not actually cheerful. Up until we crossed into Bosnia the scenery had been nice, if not exactly spectacular. Border formalities done with, we continued along the road, soon coming to a tight mountain pass. We drove out from the shadow of the mountains into the bright sunlight and….wow. Spectacular mountain roads, deep gorges, incredible views. A blush of autumn on the surrounding mountainsides (which I must admit just looked like ... read more

27 June – Mostar to Sarajevo – almost an hourly bus so got 11am - very crowded and some people standing half the way who got on later. At about 3pm arrived in Sarajevo after getting the tram from rail which is a bit out and taking a stab at where to get off at the Cathedral (it does a loop thru the old city so not that bad to pick). There are so many churches/temples/mosques here it is called the new Jerusalem. Stayed in the Vienna Annex of the Art Hotel – round the corner from the bigger Art and effectively 6 rooms above the Vienna Café. Then went for walk around - spoke to a Bosnian guy now living in Norway (he had been sent away by his parents) with a couple of his ... read more

After more exploration it seems that my initial impression of Sarajevo as a run-down post-Communist city was somewhat exaggerated: the outskirts that I passed through on my way to the hostel from the airport were like this, but the Old Town (where my hostel is located) is much bigger than I first realized, and is really beautiful. Furthermore, there are significant areas which are very modern, with a 100% Western feel: the high street could easily be in Paris or London (if it weren't for the mountains in the background); the parliament building is very modern, with impressive water features outside; and I visited the nicest, cleanest, most modern shopping mall that I've ever seen. It's really evident to me that Sarajevo is on its way to economic rebirth, with a lot of new construction and ... read more

I had a good feeling about Sarajevo on the drive in, and as anticipated it's a fantastic place and easily my favourite Balkan city so far. Once again its a small city centre, interesting to walk round with lots to see and do, and even more East-meets-West than Istanbul - due to Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian rule at various times in it's history, the city has lots of buildings from both periods. We were staying round the corner from the spot where Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in 1914 and a few minutes from Sniper Alley, which was the most dangerous street during the siege years. On Sunday we did a free walking tour with Neno, a student at Sarajevo university, who has lived in Sarajevo his whole life (email walkingsarajevo@gmail.com if you are ever in Sarajevo). This ... read more

Ahoj! Last Tuesday, one of my craziest travel adventures began, a trip to the Balkans. Since Thursday, October 28, is one of the Czechs’ national holidays, celebrating the anniversary of Czechoslovakia’s freedom from the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the creation of Czechoslovakia, we had our “Fall Break,” so Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday off. For this break, Alex, Calan and I decided to head to the Balkans. The Balkans is the name given to the area of Southeast Europe, most of which formerly was Yugoslavia. I’ll give you just a little crash-course in this region’s history, just so the rest of what I’m going to write makes sense. Being in the southeast corner of the continent, this is truly the region where east and west combine…or perhaps better to say collide. The area is made up nowadays of ... read more