Jumping from the bridge
Trip Start
Jul 07, 2008
1
22
34
Trip End
Aug 05, 2008
Mostar,
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Umowilismy sie z naszymi Francuzami, ze razem z nimi pojedziemy do Mostaru w Bosni i Herzegovinie, a nastepnie do Sarajewa. Ruszylismy o 9:30, a pol godziny pozniej przekroczylismy granice Bosni. Jechalismy nieco na okolo, ale dzieki temu nie musielismy przebijac sie i czekac na dwoch przejsciach granicznych - Bosnia wrzyna sie w wybrzeze Chorwacji malym paskiem, przez co sa dwie granice niemal obok siebie. Zatrzymalismy sie na obiad w jakims miasteczku po drodze. Najedlismy sie chyba na dwa dni, konwersujac calkiem inteligentnie z Francuzami. Naprawde uroczy chlopcy. Obaj niedlugo po studiach, jeden pracuje i mieszka w Budapeszcie, a drugi we Fracji. Mowia swietnie po angielsku i w gruncie rzeczy nie sa typowymi Francuzami. Dojechalismy do Mostaru okolo 15tej i od razu uderzyl nas widok ruin budynkow ze sladami od kul - pozostalosci wojny sprzed zaledwie dziesieciu lat. Naprawde, dosc szokujace przezycie. Idac w strone starowki, zeszlismy nad brzeg rzeki Neretwy. Tam okazalo sie, ze wlasnie odbywaja sie zawody "plywania na byle czym" oraz skokow do wody z najslynniejszego, 20-metrowego mostu
the mountains of B&H
. Przy Starym Moscie bylo tysiace ludzi - obserwatorow, dopingujacych zawodnikow. W tym tlumie nietrudno było zgubic naszych Francuzow. Chodzilismy sobie za to malowniczymi uliczkami ze straganami pelnymi staroci. A 300 metrow od centrum takie zniszczenia! Kontrast dajacy do myslenia. Czekalismy przy samochodzie na Francuzow przez 1,5 h. Okazalo sie, ze oni nie dostali naszego sms-a, a my ich. Wyjechalismy z Mostaru okolo 20tej, a o 21ej zatrzymalismy sie na kolacje w restauracji. Jednak ani ja, ani Marcin nie bylismy specjalnie glodni. Zoladki porzadnie nam sie skurczyly przez te 3 tygodnie podrozowania. Niedlugo po wyjechaniu z Mostaru, jechalismy wawozem nad rzeka. Widok zapieral dech w piersiach. Cala Bosnia i Herzegovina to gory, gory i jeszcze raz gory. Jest pieknie. Szkoda, ze w momencie, gdy bylismy w wawozie, zaczynalo sie sciemniac. Zasnelam, a gdy sie obudzilam, bylismy w Sarajewie.ENGLISH:
We made a deal with our French buddies that we`d travel to Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina with them, and afterwards - to Sarajevo. We left at 9:30, and already after half an hour we were already crossing the Bosnian boarder. We were going a little bit around, but this way we skipped 2 boarders not having to waste time waiting at them. Bosnia cuts by a short strap into Croatian shoulder, which makes 2 boarders almost next to each other. We stopped by for a lunch in a small town on the way. I think we ate enough of food for two days, having a pretty smart conversation with the Frenchies
1-the Frenchies we hitchhiked with
. They are really sweet guys. Both of them have finished studies just recently, one of them is working and living in Budapest, another one in France. They speak English really well and in fact they don`t really make typical French guys. We arrived to Mostar around 3pm and straight away we were hit by the view of the ruins of building with bullet prints on them - the evidence of the war that had happened just ten years before. Frankly saying, it was a pretty shocking experience. Walking towards the old town, we went down to Neretva river. There we found out that there were just happening competitions of "swimming in the most random thing/boat" as well us jumping from the oldest, 20 meters high bridge. There were thousands of people around the Old Bridge - the observers of the competitions, cheering on the participants. In such a crowd it wasn`t hard to lose our French pals. We were wandering in between picturesque streets full of stalls with antiques. Think about it, 300 m apart from the place, there was still such a scale of destruction! A contrast making you think about it actually. We`d been waiting by the Frenchies` car for about 1,5h. We found out they never got our text message neither we got theirs. We left Mostar around 8pm, and at 9pm we stopped by at a restaurant for a dinner. Though neither me or Marcin we not really hungry. Our stomachs must have shrunk within those 3 weeks of travelling. Not a long time after we left Mostar, we were driving through a canyon, by a river. The view was breathtaking. The whole country of Bosnia and Herzegovina is about mountains, mountains and again mountains. It`s beautiful. A shame that at the moment when we were passing the canyon, it started getting dark. I fell asleep and when I woke up, we already were in Sarajevo. 
