Blogs from North, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Europe

After checking our of our hotel in Sarajevo we hopped in our car and headed in the direction of our next destination, Jajce. Not long after we left Sarajevo we entered a tollway and rather thick fog. The fog continued for most of our trip to Jajace so we didn’t get much of a chance to admire the scenery for the first part of the drive. The tollway ended before the fog did and soon we were back on local roads which were fairly good quality although tough to overtake as they were quite windy. On the way to Jajce we made a small detour to visit Mlinčići, also known as the Watermills of Jajce. The mills, which are in a park next to Pliva Lake, were constructed during the Austro-Hungarian period and used by farmers ... read more

Correction July 16: in my flawless map reading abilities (or maybe it's the definitely-not-flawless internet), I misread Google Maps. Baščaršija does not mean old town, but is rather the name of the square in the center of Sarajevo's old town. That being said, we were near the old towns in both Sarajevo and Mostar. **** Today was certainly a busy day. It was actually the busiest day we have scheduled this trip; most days in Belgrade have 2 meetings at most. Apparently several have nothing planned since we're kicking the work into full gear then. We started with a trip to the Parliament of Republika Srpska, where we had the chance to take a tour of their conference rooms, press rooms, and rooftop deck. One thing I noticed was their defensiveness; they knew we just came ... read more

All safe and well in Banja Luka yes but man it was one helluva ride to get here (but not on a bicycle). That action is still to come. No, I bought my bus ticket as planned although I had wanted to leave on the Wednesday if it was possible. No, no bus on Wednesday. OK Thursday it is which means I can still go to see the Marionette Theatre in Duesseldorf perform Never Ending Story. Yay. I know I'm a big kid at heart. I love puppet shows, children's books and children's toys. My auntie thinks I'm weird. Not sure if she really appreciated being dragged along on Wednesday night to see the performance (actually I know she didn't) but for me it was worth it. It was a wonderful way to cap off what ... read more

Disaster at the crossing Northern Bosnia was the beginning of the end. In retrospect, if it had to happen – this was the place for it. It started ominously enough. As I attempted to cross the border from Croatia, there was a problem – just a little one. The loosely-uniformed border agent at Bosanska Gradiska (who wore a tired old uniform that didn’t entirely match his partner’s and more closely resembled a costume from Kevin Costner’s best-forgotten “Postman” cinematic catastrophe) informed me that I’d need a “green card.” So typically American, I tried to explain that I wasn’t intending to work in Bosnia. In Bosnia and several other countries, the term “green card” refers to an automotive insurance card for non-EU countries. Green cards cover insurance claims in countries not covered by my EU insurance policy. ... read more

We decided to make a side trip to Bosnia. We took the crossing into the Serbian part of Bosnia. The bridge right after the border still shows thread marks from the tanks crossing it. It is the only way to cross and it shows the signs of wear and tear. You can see the language difference. There are J's added everywhere. Djeca prelaze ulicu, instead of Deca prelaze ulicu... After about an hour drive we arrived to Bijeljina We met up with 6 other guys from Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia and Canada and proceeded to a place that was build for a movie but continued to be used a restaurant. It is quite amazing. It is called Etno village. It is small self contained village with log cabins, man made lakes, bridges and even a castle ... read more