Harmony Sarajevo

... we had to miss Mostar. We grumpily purchased onward tickets to split, and jumped on another cramped minibus, wishing we were back in Sarajevo, or at least Split.
you can read another entry on my time in Sarajevo at www.sanchezjalapeno.com

Milli says:
I was excited to visit Sarajevo and while the bus was cramped it was interesting to see how the landscape became more mountainous and with green forest after leaving coastal Split. There are so many ...

... wasn't surprised. As he is a hotel owner he has encountered this problem before. "A short while ago one of my guests, American tourist, bought a ticket, and stamped it. An officer came in, asked for the ticket and swapped it for a invalid one. Result, a fine!" He said he even called the newspaper for this, cause it gives a bad picture to Sarajevo and Bosnia. No ****, it definitely does... A Dutch friend of mine who regularly goes to Bosnia because of company visits told ...

... where people trying to leave Sarajevo got shot at from the Serbs in the hills. Next, we did a tunnel tour, and were suprised to see Tarik as our guide. Sarajevo was surrounded by the enemy on all sides except for one little stretch. They built a tunnel under this section to smuggle goods (food, military equipment...etc.) into the city, which didnt even have electricity for the four years. We got to walk through a ...

... making you feel as if you have just left Europe behind, when we were suddenly drench from head to toe as it started to rain buckets.
Feeling we had had a big enough adventure for one day we retired to our hostel with the rest of the travelers to whittle away the day planning what to do in our next city. It didn't take long for others to arrive from Mostar and we were soon around old friend exchanging travel stories and drinking beer until the wee hours of the morning.

... adriatic, according to Lord Byron. I originally didnt want to go because it was pretty much winter and i thought that i wouldnt be able to enjoy a beach resort at this time, but i was in for a suprise. After that, I looked around at some marks in the concrete, called Sarajevo roses. They are huge indentations with finger like holes around them, the scars of artillery shelling on the serbs behalf. They are kept intact to remind passerbyers of the ...

... Posselipo. Haris is way too crowded atm. People keep walking in and out, at night... so sometimes i can hardly sleep. He has stacked the place with beds.. sleeping with 9 people in 16m2 is no fun. And there is three rooms like this! More later.. and i still plan to upload some nice pictures. :) Good to know: The weather is very hot at day, but cold (10 degrees) at night. Be sure to have some long trousers with you and a jacket. I am glad i did not forget them. :)

... vaatisi muutaman paivan koulutuksen. Illemmalla lahdettiin hostellin toisen suomalaisen, Ollin, kanssa tsekkaamaan kaupungin uusi osa. Kuin olisi maata vaihtanut. Joka paikka oli taynna Kroatian lippuja ja siina missa vanhassa osassa moni rakennus on aika huonossa kunnossa, taalla kaikki on laitettu Kroatian valtion rahoilla kuntoon. Eihan siella mitaan mielenkiintoista sinansa ollut, mutta ihan kontrastin takia vierailun arvoinen paikka. Illalla juotiin olutta, katseltiin futista ja ...

... the buildings around us. Five minutes from Halvat Guest House and we were in 'Pigeon Square', the focal point of Sarajevo's renowned Bascarsija district. Pigeon Square was living up to its reputation with thousands of them milling around. Some musicians were in the middle of making a film clip and we watched for a while as they mimed in various poses to music coming from a tape player around the neck of the ...

... what is here just through a guidebook or a webpage. The city itself is part classical Europe, part Turkey - unsurprising after 400 years of the Turkish Ottoman empire being here, but astounding given its just a couple of hours lazy train ride from the traditional European feel of Croatia. Its a city like nothing I have ever seen - a big call given how similar much of the world comes to seem after a while. Sarajevo was once one of the most truly multicultural ...

... some pictures. It is famous for a bridge which connects two sides of the city. The bridge was also really nice, though it had been destroyed during the war, its rebuilt now. The town also has Muslim mosques and Christian churches intermixed. It is quite interesting.