Herzegovina Hotel Sarajevo

... are staying at -- Guesthouse Halvat. Upon arriving and dropping off our bags, we made the short walk to Sarajevo's center square to grab a snack. More details tomorrow....<br><br>Sarajevo -- August 31<br>Although we spent a little bit of time exploring the Bascarsija (old city) last night, it wasn't until today we got the chance to really see the sights. Last night we grabbed some tasty doner for dinner and then basically went to bed. <br><br>We started ...

... murder since WW2.<br><br>Nina and I went for a walk around town, it was still pretty distressed. Plenty of bullet holes around and some buildings further out just shells.<br><br>We walked up to the hill that overlooks the town, there's the remains of a castle and a great view of the valley. The path leading up there started off ok but furhter up it was only just visible but pretty over grown with bushes, nettles and all sorts of ****... <br><br>I was hestitant in walking up but ...

... of walking, I had seen 80 percent of what my lonely planet told me to, and probably 40 percent of what it didn't. No guidebook can do justice to a town with so much history. One just has to explore. I am to visit the 'Tunnel of Life' today, an 800m secret tunnel built under the airport that was the ONLY way out of the city during the seige. Yes, thats how easy it was to seal off this town. Being in the valley made this small city very susceptible to be completely surrounded ...

... sorting myself out I went for a stroll around. On the hills around the city you can see all of the graveyards from the war with there white stone tomb stones it makes it look really pretty but also a reminder of the past as well. I took a stroll around the old town which reminded me of being back in the middle east again it was amazing with all the cobbled little alleyways and lanes really beatiful. There is alot of people around not so much tourists but ...

... International Olympic Committee) "the greatest, most organized olympic games ever." Everyone was pretty proud of themselves, especially Sarajevans. Then the U.S.S.R. collapsed, and some tensions arose in Yugoslavia as Serbia began to get a little too aggressive and power hungry. A couple crazy Serbs came to power (Slobodan Milosovic) and Serb nationalize began to rise to frighteningly high levels. So a couple of the Yugoslavian countries decided to break away. Serbia was ...

... hýs war story. He basýcally escaped Sarajevo durýng the war by wunnýng through an underground tunnel. Many people escaped thýs way. He was 15 at the týme. He ended up lývýng ýn Italy for 3 years and now speaks perfect Italýan. Thýs ýs how we communýcated. He was a really nýce guy and we both trusted hým. I saw hýs student ID on hýs desk and ýt showed that he was studyýng to be a veternarýan. If you cant trust a veternarýan, who could you ...

... diversity evidently hadn't reached Bos, but we love it anyway. Also, apart from in Sarajevo, the entire country was completely devoid of pavements - so we would often encounter people walking for miles in the middle of ...

Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina, lies in a valley surrounded on all sides by hills. It's place in Europe as the border between east and west became brutally evident during the war in the 90s. Serbian troops surrounded the city, occupying the hills and laid siege to its mainly Muslim inhabitants for nearly four years, bombarding buildings and civilians with artillery fire and killing 11,000 before the conflict was finished. In 1993, the United Nations ...

... weapons, and absolutely no permission to actually shoot back at the Serb army firing from their entrenched fortified hilltop positions encircling the city. But they warn the Serbs - one more shot, and by God, we will write that down in our notebook. In red pen maybe. Maybe even underline it and get someone to write you a very VERY stern letter. 12,000 Sarajevo civilians die over the following 47 months. Eventually the Serbs push it too far, firing into a ...

... to jump off of the bridge themselves. Who knew jumping off of a bridge could be so lucrative!?! The streets running two and from the bridge are lined with tourist shops and cafes. The most famous bar in town, called 'The Cave' (because it's in a cave...), sits just off the river and the local fruit and veggie market is just past the tourist district. The quick change from the tourist path to the local one was refreshing and we enjoyed walking around ...