We caught a taxi to the part of town where we were staying. This was one of the better appartments, I have to say. Very roomy, comfortable and relatively cheap.
Leb was suffering again so I popped out to do some shopping. A couple of glasses of Macedonian wine and some nice local pastries and cheese ended the day nicely.
Day 149 ~ We spent our first full day in Sarajevo just walking from our apartment, along the river, into the town center and then exploring the touristy old town.
The days started with a nice breakfast of porridge and rye bread with salami and cheese in our very comfortable kitchen.
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| The View from our Bedroom Window |
Soon, we set off down the long flight of steps I'd discovered the night before into the relatively flat bottomed valley where Sarajevo is situated.
As this was a Sunday, it was surprising to hear Christian church (Saint Joseph's Church, no les) bells ringing in what, I had always throught was a muslim country. I guess the detail is always more nuanced than you think.
Soon we were walking along the river Miljacka into the city center. We passed the University and the National Theatre to the spot Gavrilo Princip assasinated Duke Ferdinand starting a chain of events that led to the First World War. The street was, sad to say, rather shabby looking but it's not difficult to remember why. There was a bloody civil war going on here until 1995 and upon closer examinatoin of the buildings you can still see many bullet holes.
Then we went to the splendid city hall with it's magnificent stained glass ceiling and good summary of Bosnia Herzegovina's history.
Next we went into touristville (aka Baščaršija) where we sat down and had some tasty Bosnian cuisine. I had čevapi. Sausage meat in lovely bread. Then after a walk back via a couple of museums and the fruit market we stopped for a pint at the People's Bar, the bar at the bottom of the steps leading back up to our appartment.
After climbing the 160 steps from there up to our apartment it was time for a kip before the first face-to-face chat with our birthday boy son Kes in almost 5 months.
Then, after finishing off most of the goodies I bought yesterday I left Leb to watch a film while I set off to find the Olympic Stadium, home of FK Sarajevo for their opening league fixture with Sloboda Tuzla (I'm sure the fixture had a different team down when I checked earlier.)
I arrived half an hour early which was just as well as it took 35 minutes to queue up for a ticket (10 BAM = $8.50). When I finally took my seat there were 14 minutes on the clock and nothing seemed to be happening. The players and ref were just standing around waiting for something... it was VAR. Then the ref went over to the side and watched a replay before predictability giving a penalty. 0-1 to Tuzla. The away team then went out of their way to waste as much time as possible until the tables were turned in the 9th minute of injury time. Another VAR decision: penalty to Sarajevo. So a pretty dire first half ended 1-1.
The second half was very different and Sarajevo put the away team to the sword. It ended 3-1 but it could easily have been 5. We even had a dog run on the pitch to help the home team steady their nerves for what seemed an age.
Then it was a half hour walk back to the apartment to see dear Leb again.
Zeljeznicar Sarajevo (Monday, 5th August.)
Day 150 ~ This was our last full day in Sarajevo. Having been to see a physiotherapist, we tried to find a stroee that sold SI (sacro-iliac) support belts. Coincidentally for me, it was quite close to a place we drove by in the taxi when we first arrived - a place I hoped to visit Visit - the Stadium Grbavica, home of Zeljeznicar Sarajevo.
We arrived there and watched a bit of their training session before having a coffe at the cafe next to the training ground. Working there was the loveliest waitress who has a brother in Blackpool and spoke perfect English. She told us some shocking things about the local Serbian and Croatian people. Why, for example, they insist that certain territories be labled "Republika Serpska", when they are, of course, still actually just a part of Bosnia and Herzegovina. And that they don't teach their children about the genocidal actions of people like general Mladic but rather blame the muslims for everything bad that happened.
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| Right at the Center of Bosnia, some locals insist on calling their bits of land "The Republic of Serbia" |
I left Leb for ten minutes to try (I succeeded!) to go inside the ground to take nerdy selfies. A very nice ground it is too - far more atmospheric than the huge bowl I went to the night before to see FK Sarajevo.
After that we caught the bus back to the city and walked past the Sarajevsko brewery to the cable car for a ride up the valley for the most fantastic views.
After this it was back down the valley for yummy Bosnian food. Burek, spinach and cheese pie and kûnefe (cheesy desert). Then after a strolling past yet more memorials to the war, we did a slow, short pub crawl back to the apartment up those 160 bleeding steps.
In the People's pub we finally tried some Rakija (Rocket fuel!) and I was amused to see that they were showing the football from two nights ago - a game I'd just missed, Zeljeznicar Sarajevo played at home the day we arrived.
Sarajevo is very lovely, but why do so many people of the former Yugoslavia smoke? We both found this very irritating as we did in 2018 when we watched the European Championship Final in Split..
Bus Ride to Mostar (Tuesday, 6th August.)
Day 151 After making my usual "Goodbye Video" of our 63rd accomodation...
... we set off, nice and early, to the bus station where we picked up our tickets and waited a while before borading our bus.
It was a long bus ride south from Sarajevo (population 275,000) to Mostar (104,000) but it was through some through some amazing scenery, especially as we neared Mostar.
There were massive rocky valleys, fast flowing rivers and lakes.
Arriving in Mostar I was thrilled to bits as we went past the famous old ground of Velež Mostar.
From the bus station it was just a ten minute walk to our 64th home, another nice apartment called Cozy Corner.
After settling in we walked to the old town which was a bit too packed with touristic stores. Still, the Old bridge was lovely, even better than expected and the town itself is very picturesque.
We had a delicious dinner by one of the streams flowing into the Neretva with a view of the so-called
Crooked Bridge. I had a fantastic Goulash and Leb had a cabbage salad and spinach (!)
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| Ay!... Kuliuk! |
Exploring the Neretva Riva (Wednesday, 7th August.)
Day 152 ~ We spent our last full day in Bosnia bimbling around (and in my case, bobbing about in) the Neretva River and the bridges over it in Mostar.
Fearing the overnight bus ride to our next destination Herceg Novi that I had to book (the afternoon one was not available on line) we decided to walk to the bus station to see if there was any chance of buying tickets for an earlier bus. Success! There was one at 9:30am. So that would be the plan for the next day.
So then... to spend the final day in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the picturesque town of Mostar. (Named after its famous bridge... so think Bridgetown.)
After a bit of shopping we skirted the high cliffs overlooking the fast flowing Neretva River. We walked past an impressive cemetry before having a nice (but quite expensive) lunch overlooking it and went to see the beaches down below. I did observe one brave man dive off the bridge into the river below but didn't manage to film another one.
Then it was time for the stirring up of some horrible memories of the 90s war in Bosnia. The Genocide Museum in Mostar is compact but powerfully done. So much sickening violence and bloodshed all in the name of stupid religion and nationalism. I posted a note to say that they designed the museum in the hope that such depravity should never happen again but here we are 30 years later and it's happening again in Ukraine. Of course the vast majority of other posts mentioned Palestine and only one (mine, also) Kurdistan.
After that somber time the mood was lifted as we crossed the old bridge again and I went down for a fun boat ride. Leb didn't want to risk jolting her hip again so I went solo.
Then, after walking by the Crooked Bridge and a couple of beers in a couple of cafes we slobbed back at the roomy apartment.
Exploring Sarajevo (Thursday, 8th August.)
Day 153 Accommodation 65 Bus ride from Mostar to Herceg Novi, Montenegro (population 33,000). Five months exactly now since we left Perth.
Early rise and walk to the bus station to wait for the 9:30 bus from Sarajevo to Ulcinj, stopping at our next destination, Herceg Novi.
We had five naughty urchins to entertain us as the bus was an hour late. Their mother, carrying a baby, begged for money before sending her kids off for more as she lit up a fag.
The bus was comfy and had decent WiFi considering how remote we were. Another spectacular journey through barren, rocky terrain interspersed with wide valleys. Soon, we were entering another new country for me, Montenegro.
Financial Summary
Bosnia was definitely one of the most economical stays on the trip. The accomodation was very good value for money and the food we had was relatively cheap. We hardly ever ate out fancy and even though Mostar was defvitely a little pricey as a tourist attraction we easily managed to stay well within our budget here. The bus fare from Sarajevo to Mostar and then from Mostar south into Montenegro was also very cheap.
Mood Summary
This was a happy couple of stays. I got Lesley upset on the first day in Sarajovo for some reason but appart from that the only slight bad mood induced was waiting for the bus to take us south to Mostar when a bunch of naughty kids were pestering everyone waiting.
Apart from that there were some wonderful days, giving Bosnia the third highest nett mood score so far. I should say that I only counted full days in Bosnia here.
Booze Summary
After knocking back the Vanna Tallin in our Istanbul hotel, it was good to have a bit of drinking moderation in Bosnia with just a few regular beers.
Holiday Update
With 56% of the holiday complete, and the 16th country ticked off, the summary table is starting to look pretty impresive, I think. Next stop - another new country for us - Montenegro.
