Omega Ambasador Hotel Sarajevo

... to the ‘Balkan café’ a funky bar/live music venue that later on that night would host a evening of jazz meets Sevda (local Bosnian music - a bit soviet, a bit middle eastern, very cool) and we talked some more. It was hard to understand a lot of what Kovacs was saying (he’s prone to a rant or two) but from what I could understand he considered his religion as ‘Heart’, he enjoyed drinking šljivovica (local brandy) which he keeps in a ...

... Srebrenica, Travnik, Jajce, Jablanica, Konjic and finally Sarajevo where we would split.

More stories and photo's about those cities later. First some of the bad things we experienced.
Unlike other years corruption and tourist rip offs were really a major issue this time.

It started with the usual things:
Asking two or three times the price once they noticed we were tourists. For food there was also another trick. For example: ordering a big ...

... One of them looked like
jay from jay and silent bob. Kyle and tom, along joined two Brits, a
Canadian who had a ****ed up accent and an Australian and we drank till
the English boys passed out because I taught ppl kelowna.....haha.

They weren't too happy with that one. It was actually kind of funny.



The next day saw me take a night bus to Belgrade, so I just ...

... br>The siege of Sarajevo is the longest siege of a capital city in the history of modern warfare. Serbian forces devastated the city. They bombed Hospitals, blew up ambulances, everything and anything that should have been protected by international law were free targets. In the parts of the city that they occupied they separated families and abused the women. During the long winters they froze and starved to death. The only ...

... building. that someone told me is the tallest in the former yugoslavia. There are other glass twin towers and beautiful residental highrises, but these are in areas away from the crumbling, destroyed buildings. It is possible to take a picture with beautiful glass buildings in the background with a wreak in the front. It really is an attestment to the potential of the Bosnia future, but also the the remembrance of the past. Especially with the snow fall ...

... of the war and what people went through on a different level. FOOD...now this place had GREAT food! We had two meals of the same thing and might have gone back for a third if we had a little more room in our stomach! This meal is called Cevapcici which is made of fresh pita bread, raw onions and WONDERFUL ground meat rolled in to links and then grilled. Haris told us we had to have it with the cream cheese too which Jana absolutely loved. This seriously has been one ...

... and of course all the people you randomly meet who are willing to share their stories. On my first day here, i went to go check out the tunnel that people used to bring food and supplies into the city during the seige. The entrance of the tunnel is at this small unassuming house in the suburbs. it´s hard to believe that this little hole in the ground could be a lifeline for this modern ...

... and ticket checks we got a corrupt conductor who stormed into our cabin and forced us to pay him money for feet on the chair or else we would be kicked off at the next stop in the middle of no where in the dark! Basically it was just that we were tourists as we had had no problems all day. The lady in the next cabin just advised us to pay as then he would leave us alone. 10 euro later he was gone. Very annoying but part of the parcel of travelling in this area of the ...

... ways with those of our fellow travellers. I'm glad I went to Sarajevo but, to be honest, I felt a slight repulsion to the place. I can't put my finger on why that is. It could have something to do with our accomodations, which were recommended to us through our lodging contact in Mostar. While Lena's place in Mostar was convenient and clean, Jasmina's "Hostel Enjoy" in Sarajevo was a depressing slum. I spent the first 20 minutes scrubbing what appeared to be gummy ...

... rice... and meat), along with a side of beautifully flavoured potatoes in a subtle sour cream. Like most of the Balkans, the food in Bosnia is definitely very hearty. One of the other local specialties is Bureck. In Turkey Bureck is a flakey pastry filled with cheese, but in Bosnia they have adapted it with... you guessed it... meat. Mostly they priced it by the kilo, $5 NZ dollars for a kilo pile of Burecky goodness! Most of our time lately has just ...