Bosnia is marked
While mystery surrounded Bosnia from the beginning of planning my journey (which may have something to do with the fact that my guidebook covers Western, not Central Europe), as I rode the bus from Croatia into my first stop, Mostar, I could see immediately that Bosnia would be a fascinating part of my trip. Everywhere, evidence of the recent Bosnian war (1992-1995) took the form of scarred walls of buildings, empty ruins filled with blossoming trees, and a certain unnameable “shook” feeling that struck me immediately. To my relief, Bosnians are friendly! Not surly, not pushy, but good ol’ fashioned friendly! Such a nice surprise.
My time in Bosnia looked like this:
- 1 day in Mostar
- 1 day in Medjugorje
- 5 days in Sarajevo
I haven’t had many one day stints, and I really don’t like travelling that way. I am a fan of slow travel, which involves at least 2 or 3 days per city. Mostar needed more, Medjugorje could have been skipped altogether, and Sarajevo time could have been shortened a bit. But that is the kind of learning you do while travelling!
Also: Bosnia is probably the least veg friendly place I have been to so far in my trip. At one point another vegetarian tried to order a pastry without meat and just kept ordering the wrong thing, at one point biting into an innocent looking croissant to get a piece of hot dog in his mouth! When I did eat out I stuck to Pizzerias where I could get cheeseless pizza or spaghetti milanese with tomato sauce. I was not even remotely tempted by their local specialties, which from what I could gather were generally pastries filled with pureed meat. Um, yeah. In Sarajevo I had one veg restaurant on my list, but after haunting the street a few times just could not seem to track it down. Luckily, while in Sarajevo I had the luxury of preparing some much needed healthy dishes for myself (brown rice with vegetable and tofu stir fry, spaghetti sauce with zucchini, swiss chard and kidney beans, etc etc). So at this point, Spain ranks at the top of the veg friendly list, while Bosnia is at the bottom.
Mostar
The most remarkable thing about Mostar for me, was the hostel I stayed in. Madja’s Rooms is essentially a family business. After I booked the hostel on Hostelworld.com, Madja herself emailed me almost immediately to offer to pick me up from the bus station if I email or call her to let her know when I will be arriving. Then after it slipped my mind, she emailed me the day before (I happened to be on the internet at the time) to ask me when I would arrive. As soon as I got off the bus she was there with her sign with my name and a few others on it. While staying there for one day I met her brother and mother, in the cozy hostel that really felt like a home. It was a completely different feeling than any other hostel I have stayed in, and I relished that little pocket of warmth.
I walked around Mostar on the first day I was there, stopping into the museum and an intriguing photo exhibition. Some sights:
Souvenir stands:
My favourite picture of the infamous bridge (and reconstructed after the war) Stari Most:
The next morning I got a ride to Medjugorje as part of a really fun tour that Madja’s brother runs. I got to see the first part of the tour, at the top of a tall hill overlooking Mostar, where a monument to the war (don’t forget) is in the shape of a large cross.
The tour guide and group overlooking the fantastic view:
The monument (and terrifying rickety van we drove up the narrow roads to get there):
MedjugorjeMedjugorje is the site of some controversial sightings of the virgin Mary. I chose to go here after speaking with Martine at the first farm in France, who was converted to Catholicism (from BUDDHISM, you heard me right) after a meaningful visit to this small town. Well, my time here was uneventful, except for hunting forever to find my hostel, which was frustrating. While the town seemed to teem with religious kitsch (plastic rosaries in every colour, among other things), I did find myself in my small, white featureless hostel room thinking about a lot of the serious religious questions that have come up. So maybe the place did have an effect on me, after all.
Sarajevo
After a chaotic settling in to Sarajevo (I was staying with the family member of a coworker. She gave me the wrong address, so I ended up on a 3-taxi adventure but finally ended up with a really sweet family for the week I was there), I settled into this interesting city with surprises at every turn, taking some time to really learn more about the Bosnian war that led to the extreme siege on the city of Sarajevo. I also took a great bus tour for only about 2.50 Euros. I found Sarajevo at times: strikingly beautiful, disorganized and chaotic, full of car fumes and honking horns, lots of cigarette smoking, and full of feeling.
It is hard to describe… but some shots to give you an idea:
At the covered market where (during the siege), a large group of people where bombed while they waited in line to get bread:
Outside the city there are lovely large canyons:
Latin bridge which marked the beginning of World War I, where Franz Ferdinand was assassinated:
There was art in public spaces to discover, my favourite part about the city. As I was walking along the river, I came across this death mask in plaster attached to a cement wall.
The approach:
Looking closer:
And in a bridge, a really fantastic and haunting sculpture… could not find an inscription anywhere naming the artist. The sculpture was interactive since it seemed to be created with the idea that children would clamber onto it:
And some details:
Oh yes, and a man getting a shoe shine:
And now, joy of joys, I am heading on a 12 hour train ride to get to Budapest, which I am very excited about (not the train ride part… I mean, what does one do in a 12 hour ride without going insane?). The final month of my trip will be filled with lots of couch surfing, veg friendly cities (yay Austria!), and a triumphant return home which I am looking forward to. I really miss home, but am still enjoying all of the discoveries of travel and continue to march forward.
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