Blogs from Bosnia & Herzegovina, Europe - page 29

I'm officially in love with Sarajevo It's basically like travelling to Morocco without all the shit parts of Morocco, plus all the great parts of the Balkans. Utterly incredible. And even though I'll probably have frostbite somewhere by the time I leave, I couldn't be happier. So, the tour was very interesting. There was me, 3 kinda snobby Slovenian girls, and a very keen Asian guy. We drove to the tunnel museum that was used to smuggle in food and supplies to Sarajevo (and smuggle people out) during the war. It was kind of one of those Anne Frank-house experiences for me: too huge to effectively take in. We got to walk down through the little stretch that is still there, way up in the mountains. You can't even imagine people going up there with all ... read more

It has been a while since I have done much writing here. Partly because I just had trouble finding the time. Another reason is because I just could not find much to write about. I was seeing cathedrals, buildings, stuff. It was all very interesting but I think I was a bit worn out of it all. I am sure I have great stories to tell about all those places but eh, nothing jumped out and said write about me. I also had some real terrible weather after leaving Vienna it was cold and rainy, and I was feeling sick. (Vienna was amazing by the way, and there I have a ton to talk and write about, including great friends, but that is quite overwhelming. The article is in the process lets say.) But all that ... read more

FOUR COUNTRIES IN ONE DAY II We headed across BiH to Banja Luka and then back into Croatia, Slovenia and onto Italy, with a visit to Trieste in mind. As we drove down the steep incline into the city we were hit by a storm - heavy rain, strong winds and some hail - then spend a bit of time trying to find a place to stop and get our bearings. A very white-knuckled Sam had her first introduction to Italian city traffic with success. Afterwards we were told that even our Italian relations don't drive in Trieste! We eventually got out of the city and found a pleasant little seaside village, Duino, on the Adriatic to spend the night. We dined on local fish and calmed our nerves with some local wine. ... read more

Allora, ci eravamo lasciati a Mostar. Come abbiamo gia' detto abbiamo trovato alloggio presso una stanza in affitto in una casa privata. La stanza e' bellissima, con un lettone gigantesco, arredamento tipo casa della nonna (avete presente merletti, credenze piene di foto, servizi, biecchierini, ecc.?) Bellissima, e la cosa piu' strepitosa e' il prezzo: 10 EURO a notte!!!!!!!!! Mostar come abbiamo gia' detto e' un gioiellino, il centro storico e' stato completamente ricostruito, compreso lo Stari Most, il ponte vecchio di costruzione ottomana (risale al 500), che era stato brutalmente distrutto durante l'infame guerra che ha colpito la Ex-Jugoslavia. Il ponte e' circondato da viuzze medievali (scivolosissime), localini, negozietti d'artigianato, moschee, casette antichissime. Mostar e' in gran parte musulmana (credo), ma una parte di essa e' cattolica. Fa davvero effetto vedere l... read more

The train ride to Sarajevo was always going to be our longest for our whole time in Europe (over 11 hours in total). Like the train into Belgrade, the one leaving it also went painfully slowly. The only difference however was that this one had no airconditioning and needless to say it was very hot! However the windows could be opened enough to stick your head out and take photos so that was nice. Again the train was relatively empty and we shared a 6 person compartment with only one other person. He got off while we were still within Serbia as did most of the train. In order to get to Sarajevo we had to first cross into Croatia briefly before we could cross into Bosnia-Herzegovina. Our train was bound for Zagreb in Croatia to ... read more