It had been a long few days on the busses and trains, nonetheless we were excited. Everyone had told us that the bus trip from Belgrade to Sarajevo was pretty spectacular, so we were keen to see the scenery. The trip took about 4 hours and didn't disappoint. Amazing countryside, and the colours of the trees in Autumn were beautiful. Here are some shots along the way as we travelled over the Serbian-Bosnian border.
We stayed at a fantastic hostel right in the middle of Bascarsija, called Posillipo, Salim who owned the place was the best, he was always up for a beer and a chat and gave us some real insight into the city. We sat up talking with him most nights.
Bascarsija by night. Bascarsija is basically the old town of Sarajevo.
Spent the first few days exploring on foot and visiting museums trying to get an idea of the history of the city. So much had happened here, and a lot of it very recent, it was both fascinating and a bit distressing to learn more about the recent Balkan conflict that had devestated the city.
We also came upon a local bakery treat called Burek, basically meat (pre vego) in puff pastry, we ate Burek every day for breakfast, more often than not lunch, and sometimes dinner. The Bosnian bakeries basically seem to be full of meat or cheese in puff pastry in different shapes, really good though.
Here is a photo that I didn't take of a Burek,
Sarajevo has trams!!
Angie on the other side of the river, the building in the background is the National University Library that had been extensively shelled and was beeing repaired when we were there.
One of the many war torn buildings still awaiting repair.
Angie at the Latin Bridge, where WWI kicked off after a Bosniak shot Archduke Franz Ferdinand while he was visiting.
The infamous Holiday Inn, that was the home base for international media during the seige.
We visited a few different museums, all with a different slant on the recent conflict. By far the most unique and tangible of all of them was the Tunnel Museum. During the seige, Sarajevo was essentially surrounded by Serbian troops, they were completely cut off and isolated. The UN occupied the airport, but was unable to exert enough influence to supply sufficient water, power of munitions into Sarajevo. The Bosnian soldiers took things into their own hands and began to tunnel from the edge of the city, in the Bosnian held suburb of Dobrinja, beneath the airport runway that was occupied by the UN, to a 'safer' more rural area on the other side of the airport also occupied by the Bosnians, Butmir. The tunnel was the lifeline to the city, it was used to supply food, water, electricity, munitions and to evacuate the wounded. International media also used the tunnel to cover the conflict and then safely exit the war zone. The tunnel is recognised as the only thing that kept the city from capitulating in the face of the Serbian onslaught.
The Tunnel Museum is a family house in Dobrinja, owner by a soldier in the Bosnian Army that volunteered his house for the entry point of the tunnel. He is still alive and now runs the museum with his wife and son who was also a soldier. There is a fantastic series of photos inside of people exiting the tunnel, 1 in particular was memorable of his wife handing out cups of water to the muddy and exhausted soldiers coming through. The original entry is still intact along with about 20m of tunnel that you can walk through.
Shell damage
The Tunnel Museum
This is the first section of the tunnel and the only part that remains intact. Its only about 1.5m high and 1m wide. Originally it ran for about 1km underground.
The photos and accounts of people that made the trip through, some on a daily basis, were amazing. There were unprotected high voltage cables running through to provide the city with electricity, the tunnel routinely flooded and soldiers hauled huge packages of food and pushed carts loaded with munitions with mud and water up to their knees. Probably the best museum that we went to anywhere. Salim was also a soldier and he told us about his experiences traveling through the tunnel.
The following photos are from the ruins of an old fort that sits at the top of the city with awesome views across the valley.
There are cemeteries dotted all over the place for the victims of war.
This is the eternal flame, a monument to Marshall Tito, at the end of the main promanade, Ferhadija.
Sarajevo has a really buzzing night life, heaps to do. We went to a few places for a couple of dirt cheap drinks.
Bar.
Sarajevos brewery has been running since 1864.
We spent tonnes of time on Ferhadija, shopping (window) and just people watching, such a cool strip, very Euro. Bought your Bday pressie here Ben.
Shell marks are everywhere on the footpath. At the sight of the worst bombings, they have been filled in with red cement by locals and are known as 'Sarajevo Roses'.
The national museum. Housed a cool exhibition about life during the seige. It had a whole bunch of everyday inventions and ingenious makeshift stuff that people used to get by, as well as accounts by school kids, photos, protest posters etc.
This is the Markale, where one of the most well known and horrific bombings took place.
The mosque in Bascarija and a creepy black cat.
We spent a lot of time on foot just wandering, the city is very safe so we walked a lot at night also. Salim told us you could pretty much sleep in the park or anywhere and you would be safe. We didnt test it, but definitely felt fine everywhere we went. Here are some shots at night.
We decided it would be cool to get out of the city and head up into the mountains for a day. We mentioned it to Salim, and said that we were going to walk up to a waterfall called Skacavac. He was mortified and insisted that he drive us instead and show us around. Alma, a young chick who also worked at the hostel came as well. It was one of the best things we did, as cool as the city was, it would've been awesome to spend some time out in the country as well. Unfortunately, some parts are a bit off limits because they are yet to be cleared of land mines.
We stopped on the way at one of Salims mates place first for coffee and so that he could have a smoke, (everyone in Bosnia smokes)
This was the view from his house.
The colours were out of this world.
Alma and Salim.
Salim.
Me hanging out over the drop, it was a pretty serious waterfall.
Look at the colours!!!!!!! You can see the path cutting across underneath the waterfall.
Salim took us up the back way, so that instead of walking under the waterfall where the tourist path goes, we ended up right on top of it. Brilliant.
Ange in Salims coat.
We were both so glad we decided to visit Sarajevo. It was an amazing place that we could have easily missed out on. The people were inspiring, the history was interesting, sad and really pertinent for us, much more relevant and real than some other things we had seen. Probably because the evidence of it is still there in the streets, in the buildings, on the footpaths and in the people; pretty much everyone you see there my age or older was a soldier or a refugee. Anyway, beautiful country and amazing city, well worth a visit.
Was great to meet Salim too, he is a really good bloke and really helped us understand BiH and the Balkans a bit better.
Thanks mate.
Next stop, Croatia...
OOPS!!!!
We totally forgot about Mostar!! It should've had its own post, but forgot about it all together, so I'll just tack it on to the end of Sarajevo.
So.... before we left BiH and headed to Croatia, we got a bus South from Sarajevo to Mostar.
Mostar comes from 'Stari Most' or old bridge and is the largest city in the Herzegovina region. The bridge is the center point of the town and most of the activity revolves around it.
We arrived really early (as usual) and got picked up by the hostel owner in her car. She drove us back to the hostel and it was not what we were expecting. We knew we were going to be really tired when we arrived, so we wanted a private room so we could have a sleep when we first got in. Salim had booked the room for us as he said he had a friend in Mostar, but he must have forgotten the private room part. We ended up in this place full of really annoying travelers, a local dude who wanted to know all about us and book us into some party bus tour or something and a room that was basically a living room with 8 beds in it. Angie was furious.
Anyway, the owner, sensing Pwee's rage, put us in this cool apartment by ourselves closer to the city for the same price, I think it was hers or her mothers or something, worked out really well in the end.
Stari Most. There were loads of shops along this cobblestone path selling paintings and trinkets and stuff mostly related to the bridge. We tossed up buying a really nice abstract of the bridge that we found, but thought better of it. A few nice restaurants and cafes along here as well.
The Neretva river that runs through Mostar.
Stari Most in the background.
The bridge is the highlight of Mostar and is really important in the history of the place. The younger guys dive from it for money and they have a diving club and a club house and everything. The bridge was destroyed in 1993 in the Bosnian war and rebuilt with help from several UN nations. It was reopened in 2004.
A diver getting ready....
...and diving. The dive in a cross formation, knees first. It's tradition and they take it pretty seriously, good form is paramount. They walk around in their togs for about 30min before chatting up girls and telling jokes and raising money before they dive. They wont go unless they have got enough cash before hand. Here is another bloke taking the plunge.
The bridge
Ready
1...
2...
3!!!
Its a fair way down, and the water is pretty cold and moving fast. By the time they surface they are a good 20m down the river.
We sat at a nice cafe and watched the boys dive for a couple of hours...
Best seats in the house.
The city is really beautiful, especially down on the river Neretva. Here are some more shots of the city.
There are still lots of damaged and destroyed buildings from the Bosnian war left unrestored.
Mosque overlooking the river
Mostar
Stari Most at night.
Us down on the banks.
Mostar is a beautiful town, very picturesque. Not a lot to do, but worth the visit for a few days just for the photos. Would be great fun in summer I think when everyone rides down the river on lilos or kick boards or whatever they can find. We loved Bosnia and Herzegovina, great people, beautiful place, can't wait to go back sometime.
Ok NOW we're off to Croatia!
We stayed at a fantastic hostel right in the middle of Bascarsija, called Posillipo, Salim who owned the place was the best, he was always up for a beer and a chat and gave us some real insight into the city. We sat up talking with him most nights.
Bascarsija by night. Bascarsija is basically the old town of Sarajevo.Spent the first few days exploring on foot and visiting museums trying to get an idea of the history of the city. So much had happened here, and a lot of it very recent, it was both fascinating and a bit distressing to learn more about the recent Balkan conflict that had devestated the city.
We also came upon a local bakery treat called Burek, basically meat (pre vego) in puff pastry, we ate Burek every day for breakfast, more often than not lunch, and sometimes dinner. The Bosnian bakeries basically seem to be full of meat or cheese in puff pastry in different shapes, really good though.
Here is a photo that I didn't take of a Burek,Sarajevo has trams!!Angie on the other side of the river, the building in the background is the National University Library that had been extensively shelled and was beeing repaired when we were there.
One of the many war torn buildings still awaiting repair.Angie at the Latin Bridge, where WWI kicked off after a Bosniak shot Archduke Franz Ferdinand while he was visiting.
The infamous Holiday Inn, that was the home base for international media during the seige.We visited a few different museums, all with a different slant on the recent conflict. By far the most unique and tangible of all of them was the Tunnel Museum. During the seige, Sarajevo was essentially surrounded by Serbian troops, they were completely cut off and isolated. The UN occupied the airport, but was unable to exert enough influence to supply sufficient water, power of munitions into Sarajevo. The Bosnian soldiers took things into their own hands and began to tunnel from the edge of the city, in the Bosnian held suburb of Dobrinja, beneath the airport runway that was occupied by the UN, to a 'safer' more rural area on the other side of the airport also occupied by the Bosnians, Butmir. The tunnel was the lifeline to the city, it was used to supply food, water, electricity, munitions and to evacuate the wounded. International media also used the tunnel to cover the conflict and then safely exit the war zone. The tunnel is recognised as the only thing that kept the city from capitulating in the face of the Serbian onslaught.
The Tunnel Museum is a family house in Dobrinja, owner by a soldier in the Bosnian Army that volunteered his house for the entry point of the tunnel. He is still alive and now runs the museum with his wife and son who was also a soldier. There is a fantastic series of photos inside of people exiting the tunnel, 1 in particular was memorable of his wife handing out cups of water to the muddy and exhausted soldiers coming through. The original entry is still intact along with about 20m of tunnel that you can walk through.
Shell damage
The Tunnel Museum
This is the first section of the tunnel and the only part that remains intact. Its only about 1.5m high and 1m wide. Originally it ran for about 1km underground.The photos and accounts of people that made the trip through, some on a daily basis, were amazing. There were unprotected high voltage cables running through to provide the city with electricity, the tunnel routinely flooded and soldiers hauled huge packages of food and pushed carts loaded with munitions with mud and water up to their knees. Probably the best museum that we went to anywhere. Salim was also a soldier and he told us about his experiences traveling through the tunnel.
The following photos are from the ruins of an old fort that sits at the top of the city with awesome views across the valley.
There are cemeteries dotted all over the place for the victims of war.
This is the eternal flame, a monument to Marshall Tito, at the end of the main promanade, Ferhadija.Sarajevo has a really buzzing night life, heaps to do. We went to a few places for a couple of dirt cheap drinks.
Bar.
Sarajevos brewery has been running since 1864.
We spent tonnes of time on Ferhadija, shopping (window) and just people watching, such a cool strip, very Euro. Bought your Bday pressie here Ben.
Shell marks are everywhere on the footpath. At the sight of the worst bombings, they have been filled in with red cement by locals and are known as 'Sarajevo Roses'.
The national museum. Housed a cool exhibition about life during the seige. It had a whole bunch of everyday inventions and ingenious makeshift stuff that people used to get by, as well as accounts by school kids, photos, protest posters etc.
This is the Markale, where one of the most well known and horrific bombings took place.
The mosque in Bascarija and a creepy black cat.We spent a lot of time on foot just wandering, the city is very safe so we walked a lot at night also. Salim told us you could pretty much sleep in the park or anywhere and you would be safe. We didnt test it, but definitely felt fine everywhere we went. Here are some shots at night.
We decided it would be cool to get out of the city and head up into the mountains for a day. We mentioned it to Salim, and said that we were going to walk up to a waterfall called Skacavac. He was mortified and insisted that he drive us instead and show us around. Alma, a young chick who also worked at the hostel came as well. It was one of the best things we did, as cool as the city was, it would've been awesome to spend some time out in the country as well. Unfortunately, some parts are a bit off limits because they are yet to be cleared of land mines.
We stopped on the way at one of Salims mates place first for coffee and so that he could have a smoke, (everyone in Bosnia smokes)
This was the view from his house.
The colours were out of this world.
Alma and Salim.
Salim.
Me hanging out over the drop, it was a pretty serious waterfall.
Look at the colours!!!!!!! You can see the path cutting across underneath the waterfall.
Salim took us up the back way, so that instead of walking under the waterfall where the tourist path goes, we ended up right on top of it. Brilliant.
Ange in Salims coat.We were both so glad we decided to visit Sarajevo. It was an amazing place that we could have easily missed out on. The people were inspiring, the history was interesting, sad and really pertinent for us, much more relevant and real than some other things we had seen. Probably because the evidence of it is still there in the streets, in the buildings, on the footpaths and in the people; pretty much everyone you see there my age or older was a soldier or a refugee. Anyway, beautiful country and amazing city, well worth a visit.
Was great to meet Salim too, he is a really good bloke and really helped us understand BiH and the Balkans a bit better.Thanks mate.
Next stop, Croatia...
OOPS!!!!
We totally forgot about Mostar!! It should've had its own post, but forgot about it all together, so I'll just tack it on to the end of Sarajevo.
So.... before we left BiH and headed to Croatia, we got a bus South from Sarajevo to Mostar.
Mostar comes from 'Stari Most' or old bridge and is the largest city in the Herzegovina region. The bridge is the center point of the town and most of the activity revolves around it.
We arrived really early (as usual) and got picked up by the hostel owner in her car. She drove us back to the hostel and it was not what we were expecting. We knew we were going to be really tired when we arrived, so we wanted a private room so we could have a sleep when we first got in. Salim had booked the room for us as he said he had a friend in Mostar, but he must have forgotten the private room part. We ended up in this place full of really annoying travelers, a local dude who wanted to know all about us and book us into some party bus tour or something and a room that was basically a living room with 8 beds in it. Angie was furious.
Anyway, the owner, sensing Pwee's rage, put us in this cool apartment by ourselves closer to the city for the same price, I think it was hers or her mothers or something, worked out really well in the end.
Stari Most. There were loads of shops along this cobblestone path selling paintings and trinkets and stuff mostly related to the bridge. We tossed up buying a really nice abstract of the bridge that we found, but thought better of it. A few nice restaurants and cafes along here as well.
The Neretva river that runs through Mostar.
Stari Most in the background.The bridge is the highlight of Mostar and is really important in the history of the place. The younger guys dive from it for money and they have a diving club and a club house and everything. The bridge was destroyed in 1993 in the Bosnian war and rebuilt with help from several UN nations. It was reopened in 2004.
A diver getting ready....
...and diving. The dive in a cross formation, knees first. It's tradition and they take it pretty seriously, good form is paramount. They walk around in their togs for about 30min before chatting up girls and telling jokes and raising money before they dive. They wont go unless they have got enough cash before hand. Here is another bloke taking the plunge.
The bridge
Ready
1...
2...
3!!!
Its a fair way down, and the water is pretty cold and moving fast. By the time they surface they are a good 20m down the river.We sat at a nice cafe and watched the boys dive for a couple of hours...
Best seats in the house.
The city is really beautiful, especially down on the river Neretva. Here are some more shots of the city.
There are still lots of damaged and destroyed buildings from the Bosnian war left unrestored.
Mosque overlooking the river
Mostar
Stari Most at night.
Us down on the banks.
Mostar is a beautiful town, very picturesque. Not a lot to do, but worth the visit for a few days just for the photos. Would be great fun in summer I think when everyone rides down the river on lilos or kick boards or whatever they can find. We loved Bosnia and Herzegovina, great people, beautiful place, can't wait to go back sometime.Ok NOW we're off to Croatia!
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