Bosnia and Herzegovina

Home territory advantage prevented the usual questions like “Where exactly are we now?”, “Which way to get to…?”. We made quick progress to Nives’ parents’ home town of usually boiling hot Mostar. Well it wasn’t hot yet, but it was getting there. And needless to say, we enjoyed it a lot – exactly what we have been looking for. Still getting strange looks from the locals after insisting to sit in the sun… Guess they thought psychological damage from the war, stranger things have happened in the past…

Mostar is known for it it’s Old Bridge (Stari most) built by Ottomans in the 16th century. It was unfortunately demolished during the war, but later rebuild in the same manner as it was built originally (by the stonemasons) and mainly from the stones that were recovered from the river Neretva below. The locals joke that this one is now even older than the original. That is a bit over the top, but looks good in any case (new and clean thou). Local tradition is for local guys to jump from the bridge for tourists for a fee, but seems they have been hit by the recession as well as we didn’t see any during our stay. As we were really keen to get a few pictures for this blog we took our tasks seriously and suffered for you with cold beer and local delicacies in the restaurants with good view of the bridge. After long and hard wait we had to give in – we did have to walk back home after all.

Next stop is Sarajevo – capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Nives’ birth place. Always good to go back, but this time it was just great. Feels like old pre-war town – absolutely buzzing with people and life. Sarajevo is a special place – meeting point of three big religions in Europe: Catholics, Orthodox and Islam. And to add to the mix Judaism also thrived in Sarajevo from 15^th century on, especially from the 17^th century when Jews were fleeing persecution from Europe. Fifty odd years of socialism topped it all. Different cultures, customs, architecture, way of living… but all in one place and still in a way the same. After the war town felt cold, haggard and devoid of spirit; but that is all changed now. Sarajevo is on a speed train to catch up with the rest of the Europe. Five years ago it was hard to get alcoholic drinks anywhere but now seems very traditional Muslim section has relaxed (or given in to tourist pressure anyway) and beer is advertised in the heart of the Muslim old town - Bascarsija! We did have to try it out to make sure it was not a scam and report back to you. All in order. And we heard one of best jokes in a while: Slovenian (known to be German like – orderly and diligent), Montenegrin (not really known to be hard working) and Bosnian (well… slow and stupid in short) are competing at 100 meters race. Slovenian is progressing well at 80 meters, Montenegrin is taking a well-deserved rest at 20 meters and Bosnian got lost. Yep, Sarajlije are back!



We visit Bosnia and Herzegovina very rarely, so by the time we get there we are so eager to try the local specialities, only thing we do is eat, eat, eat and then eat some more. Fact is that there are too many things to try, so there is never enough time or capacity to do it all. Well not in a reasonable way anyway. But there is always Jugs way… The gourmet route is usually done like this: “cevapi” (bbq-ed meat-balls) in Mostar just to get started and washed down with some ice cold beer, then a trip to Sarajevo for best Bosnian “cevapi” (see picture). Add on some “pita” as well (filo pastry filled with meat, cheese, spinach or potatoes). Feeling hungry again…

Then on the way to Mostar there is a sleepy town of Jablanica (we are trying to be nice here!), which is famous for two things: one - back is socialism days they built a proper, real bridge for the sole purpose of blowing it up for the movie to celebrate big win of local partisans against Germans (at the time we did believe that Yugoslavia was epicentre of WWII and just couldn’t understand all the fuss with the Eastern and Western fronts…) and second (and more important to us) – one of the best bbq’s in the world. We are not talking about your sausage or perhaps some ribs on the grill. This place takes the task seriously – the whole lamb (spring lamb) is bbqed on the spit! And not just one, there are up to 10 in every one of the road side restaurants. Head is eaten as well as delicacy (don’t look at the pictures if you are easily disturbed!). Add some really good vino – In short,  heaven…

After all that meet (Balcans is really not a place for vegetarians!) we needed some wine to get going. So, we visited one of the best producers in the region (Andrija). Wine was just excellent – so much so, we had to buy a small bottle to take away (look at the pictures, but please don’t show to minors!!!)… And that was after almost full bottle we had at tasting! Well, they were actually closed, but still opened a shop. Hope we did not look that desperate…

After testing our digestive system to the limits it was time head north to Slovenia, but not before we did some packing practice.

Reality of living out of the backpacks is starting to sink in. And not to mention that the conditions are still good (no funny crawlies around to be aware of for now…). Can’t find anything anymore. Every time we look for something, somehow it is at the bottom of the one backpack or another and we have to take it all out. And put it all back in again. Our well versed routine from last trip (we could find things singlehandedly in the dark!) has been fully forgotten. Long way to go it seems at the moment…. Not to mention that we have more stuff than we can fit into the 4 backpacks we carry with us. Some “minor” adjustments will have to be made, which will surely result in a fight about whose stuff is left behind.

Its bus time again...

Some more pictures here.