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Published: August 16th 2006
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Mal, homebrew, sunset
Mal drinking our hosts' homebrew on the beach at Bibinje. Hello!
We are currently in an internet cafe in Sarajevo, just over the bridge from the spot where Princip assassinated the heir to the Ausro-Hungarian throne, thereby (intermediate steps skipped) indirectly sparking World War I. Finding the spot is a somewhat difficult exercise, however, as almost all evidence of this fact has been eradicated. Princip was a Bosnian Serb nationalist, you see. And Serb nationalists are not that popular around here. Apparently there are moves to reinstate the former museum which marked the spot, but as far as I can tell, these have gained little traction. All there is is a simple plaque, and for the time that we were there we were the only tourists to go there and look at it (and I haven't noticed anybody looking at it subsequently).
You can hardly blame the locals for not wanting to celebrate the cause of Serbian nationalism though. The town has recovered (physically, at least, I can't comment further than that) much better than Mostar has, but the mass graves that you pass at every entrance to the city are a testament to what went on during the siege. In any event, Bec and I are learning to
Sunset
The sunset in Bibinje. watch our p's and q's. We made the mistake of asking (twice) where it was possible to book bus tickets to Belgrade, and were met either with stony silence, or with a dismissive "ne". Belgrade is like Voldemort around here. Finally, we were able to get some help, from someone at the very basic tourist information centre. The information took the form of a slip of paper with departure times and a phone number of the company that goes there. Somewhat unusually for the capital of the neighbouring country, the buses to Belgrade do not leave from the main bus station, or indeed any bus station, in Sarajevo. Instead you have to travel to the neighbouring town, where they leave from. So, reading between the lines, you can tell that while the physical scars may have healed, it will take a long time for the deeper pain to go away.
But, politics notwitstanding, Sarajevo is a fabulous city to visit. It really is as beautiful as it looks on TV. The city is framed on all sides by hills, with a river running through the middle, and an old city that it probably the most beautiful we have yet
Bibinje
With the family we were staying with in Bibinje. seen. The population is roughly 40% muslim and 60% christian, so there is a great fusion of cultures, best exemplified by the music and the food. Ahh the food. It is fabulous. And plentiful. And cheap. I'm sure that Bec will write about it in more detail later, so I will refrain from any detailed comment, save to say that it is delicious.
Our travel plans from here on have suffered a bit of setback in the form of Romanian bureaucracy. To obtain a Romanian visa, you see, you need all sorts of paperwork - including booked tickets in and out of the country, proof of funds, travel insurance etc. As it is impossible to book Railway tickets into Romania from Serbia until you get near to Serbia (complicated also by the factors outlined above - viz most people around here would like to pretend that Serbia didn't exist) it was impossible to obtain this visa before we left NZ. No worries, we thought, we can get one in Sarajevo. After not getting replies to our emails, we tried to locate the Romanian embassy here. This was complicated by the fact that the street it is on does not
Palace by night
Inside Diocletian's Palace, Split. appear on any maps, and the locals had no idea where it was. A trip to the aforementioned tourist office gave us a vague idea of the area it was in, so we hiked up to the embassy district (not dissimilar from Thorndon, except that it is atop a dirty big hill). The vague directions turned out to be vaguer than we thought, so we enlisted the help of a policeman guarding the German embassy and got slightly more specificly vague instrucutions. Eventually we found the place, but learned that counsular hours were, helpfully, between 9 and 11am. It was 1pm. So we left, only to return the next morning at 9am sharp. We pushed the bell. No reply. We waited, and pushed the bell again. No reply. At 920ish we saw the ambassador's wife open and close a door, and five minutes later the ambassador appeared, opened the gate and ushered us into his residence. After sitting us down and exchanging civilities, the ambassador told us he had received my email, but that it was not possible to obtain a visa from Bosnia as the resident of a third country, for reasons which still remain a bit murky. He
Palace by day
Inside Diocletian\'s Palace, Split. advised we try Belgrade. This will pose timeframe problems for us, which are also complicated by the fact that the Romanian embassy in Belgrade is now not replying to our emails. My working hypothesis is that those in the Romanian diplomatic core miss the inefficiencies of central planning so much that they wish to replicate it in their official functions. Bless them. Anyway, it now looks like there will be no Romania for us. Not to worry...
In other exciting news, yesterday we ventured off the beaten track (against the advice of the lonely planet, MFAT, and probably voided our travel insurance, which all advise sticking to the formed road for fear of mines or unexploded ordinance) and went hiking in the hills of Vosoko (about 30km out of Sarajevo) is search of the famous (sort of, although there were only us and a Danish couple looking for them) "Bosnian Pyriamids". You may remember seeing them on the news earlier this year. For the uninitiated, see http://www.bosnianpyramid.com/ and http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10335950/). We had to catch a bus from the local station, and then walk in the blistering heat, towards the pyramid. The place hasn't really cracked onto its tourism value yet
Split Harbour
Cruising Split Harbour. (in fact, the bus driver laughed at us when we asked which direction we should walk to get to the pyramid), although we were able to purchase a t-shirt depicting Egyptians visiting Visoko (the caption reads something like ''home at last''). It was rather a strange experience visiting said ''pyramids'', as at the top of the hill there is some evidence of stone plates and if you look at the things from a distance they do look rather pyramid-like in shape. However, I left the place in the same mood as I arrived - willing to believe, but not entirely convinced.
Anyway, internet time is running short so I'd better go. We have managed to buy (scalped) tickets for the Bosnia v France football match tonight (France's first game since the World Cup final debacle, and the first post-Zadine match). Will post a match report later! For now, we have updated the photos, hope you enjoy them!
For now, goodbye. Join us next time, when Spidey says "bwaynay".
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Edvin
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Religions
Since when is Sarajevo 40% Muslim and 60% Christian? I think it is more along the lines of 90% Muslim and rest Christian and others.