Hotel Merona Sarajevo

... we will go with the waiters, not Craig’s, recommendations. We also got to taste some of the local Sarajevesko beer. Given how tired we were, that 12% alcohol content went right to our heads!

We stumbled back to the hotel and rested for a few hours. Later in the evening we went back out for some coffee, souvenir shopping and of course another snack for Efren (Doner Veliki). We also enjoyed a coffee in the Morica Han and were able to soak up ...

... are lots of abandoned and demolished houses, lots of bullet holes and warning signs for mines (we were warned not to just wander of the roads to pee, because you can trap on them). We stayed in an abandoned and heavily damaged ex hotel, which also was a base for the France NATO during the war.There we met with local Bosnian youth (serbs) and they explained there vision and experiences of the war. It seems that most of the people who fled ...

... were willing to pay enough cigarettes. When unavailable, dried tea leaves were rolled in thin lining paper and smoked. Food was prepared depending on what ingredients were available at the time, and often under life threatening conditions when any bomb or bullet could fly in from any window or door. Relief efforts from the UN, the Islamic Relief Organisation, and some other countries were frequent but not nearly frequent enough. At the height of the sniper craziness, local ...

... in less than three weeks? I could of course if it were just Ethiopia, but not Somaliland, Djibouti, and Eritrea, too. Of course that's no more countries to check off the list than I would postpone if I were to exit Europe early anyway, and Ethiopia is not a country to rush. Logic says to be here now. Something else says to get warm now. My return date to the US is already set, unchanging inviolable, being a frequent flier freebie ...

... We are lucky enough to be staying in the heart of the old town with many of the sites within a few hundred metres of us. Sarajevo is situated in a valley surrounded by rolling hills now peppered with autumn colours that made it even more beautiful. It was pretty cool to see a mosque, cathedral, and synagogue all on the same block.  The Sarajevans seem very proud to be in a place that is such a melting pot of cultures.  Especially after everything they have gone through ...

... pobocza i fakt, że szliśmy po trawniku, i zabrał nas mały kawałek obwodnicą. ENGLISH: We`d been looking for a place to stay overnight in Sarajevo for over 2 hours. All the hostels and hotels were full. We even got help from a Canadian girl from Quebec, that in order to do so jumped into our car and we drove her to her house where she searched for an accommodation for us on the internet. We ...

... For mains I had grilled veg... NB, peppers here resemble onions - it was fantastic. Mum and Dad both had a sample of "Captain Cock", a fish platter seemingly lost in translation :) All in all, what a manic day... Bos, I love you...

The bus ride from Belgrade to Sarajevo started out really boring. The scenery on the Serbian side was lacking anything interesting - it was pretty much all flat and dead. Then the bus crossed the border and it seemed to immediately change to beautiful lakes surrounded by snow-capped mountains. I also had my first experience using a squat toilet, still quite common in highway rest-stops in this part of the world. I don't know that I'll ever be able to use ...

... throughout the streets. He regaled us with stories about how he lived in a bomb shelter underground for these 4 years along with 80 other families. They went to school every day in a hidden basement. I was asking how they could focus on school and get on with normal life when it was so dangerous on street level. He assured me that after a while it just became their normal life. Four years for a 12 year old is a significant amount of time and enough to forge a ...

... evening i had a very surreal experience. Me and the two English guys who I had just met were sitting at a bar when a girl walked by. One of them turn to the other and said hey that looks like Laura Peal! LAURA PEAL! The same Laura Peal I had one to school with for five years. Yes the one and only Laura Peal! What are the chances of that.Pretty slim!.