Hotel Europe Sarajevo

... Monastery and the Church of San Antonio de Padua (located across the street from the Sarajevo Brewery) which was embellished with wood carvings and mosaics and made for an interesting comparison to many of the catholic churches we saw in Italy.<br><br>By now we were starving, and just happened to be in the neighborhood of the famous Inat Kuca restaurant. Set right on the river, it was a very pleasant place for lunch/dinner. We had Bey&#8217;s Soup ...

... bikes occupying the road...<br><br> <br>Montenegro was a beautiful country, so much nature and mountains! and the most clearest blue water I have ever seen... (would they use colorant to atract tourists?). It was great to swim in the icecold water! By now I feel as a real homeless person... not having showers, but rivers and lakes to wash myself and my clothes... We cook on fires in open air, its simple food here as there is almost no ...

... of tongue in cheek humour, and contempt for the more fortunate nations who chose to look the other way during the Siege. The building of the history museum was also party destroyed by shelling and gunfire, and parts of it have been kept unrestored to add to the effect. Tanks, artillery, guns, vehicles from the war are litteres as exhibits around the lawn of the museum. Its breathtaking to see such visible remnants of the darkest hours of the city of Sarajevo, you ...

... in addition to the heat island effect, the warmth of anonymity in crowds. My room has a heater in it also, though it's probably not sufficient for the large room. Still a large room is nice, especially with Cable TV and a double bed with breakfast for $20. Unfortunately the Internet's down, 'local only', whatever that means. It means no 'w's, no e-mail, no half-dressed web-cam girls in the Philippines staring vacantly at ...

Getting to Sarajevo was an interesting experience with lots of delays, especially at boarder crossings.  We bused through the Bulgarian and Serbian countryside before we headed into Bosnia.  It was gorgeous.  It actually reminded us of fall at home.  This was the first area where we saw the colours that compared to those in Canada at this time of year.  It made the journey rather enjoyable considering we were dreading the long trip.  It gave us lots of time to think about ...

... mnie na tyle, &#380;e zdo&#322;a&#322;am zasn&#261;&#263;. Ju&#380; dawno nie czu&#322;am si&#281; i nie spa&#322;am tak dobrze. Wstali&#347;my przed 11t&#261;, po&#380;egnali&#347;my si&#281; z uroczymi ch&#322;opakami z Francji, którzy tyle dla nas zrobili, i poszli&#347;my zwiedza&#263; miasto. Dosy&#263; &#322;adne kamienice, targ i uliczki wij&#261;ce si&#281; w gór&#281; i w dó&#322;. Zahaczyli&#347;my o kafejk&#281 ...

... and a memorial etched into the stone wall on the corner. After a long day's travelling and hurling in the Bosnian countryside, it was definately time for tea. A bit concerned about the vegetarian offerings in Bosnia, I was ...

... of the sky as our group of travelers walked back from dinner. Seeing mosques in snow appeared a little odd (though I realize it snows quite a bit in Muslim countries) but a Chicago girl and I made the most of the weather, pelting the hapless Kiwi of our group with endless volleys of snow balls. What fun. Addendum: The hapless Kiwi is now reading this entry and objects to said description of him. He is sulking and has asked to be considered unfortunate instead ...

... HSC year when Sarajevo was first surrounded and by the time 12,000 Bosnians were slaughtered I was deliberating over my second year university subjects. That is, 12,000 of their total population of only 500,000. In Sarajevo lives a city so freshly ravaged by war that it sits licking its wounds openly while the visiting tourists watch in horror. It is an astounding thought that this siege happened only 12 years ago. So many of the people we met or spoke to ...

... a very late lunch before touring the Dervish house and some of our tour mates took a tiny boat trip into the mouth of the cave that sits beside the house along the river for the photographic opportunity of looking back out along the river. We headed back to the hostel, more than 10 hours since we had left, and relaxed at the hostel for the evening. With an early train tomorrow to Sarajevo we will need our sleep. All our best from Bosnia Dan and Gabrielle