Post #14 - Bosnia

So far I've been relying pretty heavily on google maps to find my way from bus & train stations to hostels. Recently I realized that I should probably find a backup method, because in some parts of the world, google maps are next to useless, Bosnia being a prime example. I realized this the morning I left Dubrovnik for Sarajevo, and spent entirely too much time trying to find a basic route, but kept ending up with this:

Eventually I just shrugged, got on my bus, and hoped for the best. After all, there are sometimes tourism info centres near transportation hubs that provide free city maps, or at least basic directions. Luckily on the bus I met a super friendly Bosnian/Australian girl who knew the city very well and gave me some simple but effective directions once we arrived, and also some local food suggestions, at my request of course. One of them is called ćevapčići, which is very popular in all of the balkan countries I've visited so far. It's basically a bunch of sausage-like meatballs served inside of a soft grilled flatbread with raw onions and a type of cream cheese called kajmak. I had to actively stop myself from eating this for every single meal, it's unbelievably delicious. 

Despite my maplessness, the place was easy to find and in an excellent location on a lively pedestrian street in the centre of town. On top of that, this was one of the best hostel experiences I've ever had, mostly because of the people. The owner Sejo (sp?) distills his own Rakija, a traditional Balkan spirit made from fermented fruit, plums in this case, with which he was extremely generous. The rest of the staff were 3 lovely girls who were always happy to chat and offer suggestions of places to see and things to do. One of them, Hannah, even gave me a tour of the city (which is GORGEOUS) and included a break at the Sarajevsko brewery. 

I didn't know much about Bosnia & Herzegovina before I got there, only that they suffered a bloody war from 1992-1995 following their separation from Yugoslavia. Although the city has been excellently rebuilt into a exciting & modern cultural hub and some of the old historical buildings well restored, there are still plenty of reminders of the war throughout the city, which is fairly small and easily explored by foot (mostly).

A small river called the Miljacka runs through Sarajevo and there are several bridges that go across it. One is called the Latin Bridge, and right next to it is the site where the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were assassinated, which marked the start of the first World War, when Austria-Hungary declared war against Serbia.

On my second night, I met a few really friendly guys from the US, Mike, and Edin, who is originally from Bosnia and has family in the area. They invited me to join them the next day, so we met and drove up a big hill that has some spectacular views of the whole city. My camera doesn't do a great job of capturing the jaw-dropping allure, but it looked  a little something like this:

Then we went to see a traditional Turkish/Bosnian house from the 1800s (I think) that has been preserved into a museum,

and finally stopped for some traditional food, but I have no idea what it's called.

One day I took a day trip to a town called Mostar, which is in the Herzegovina region of the country. Apparently it was the city that was the most hard-hit from the war. Its most famous landmark is a bridge that connects the two sides of the town.

 Sejo was driving that way so I got a lift from him there, and took a train back that evening. The region is very mountainous and I tried to get a few photos of the scenery on the way back through the window, which didn't work too well but looked a little something like this:

There are tons of hostels in the old town so it was really easy to meet people and socialize. I haven't been rating any of the places I've seen so far, but if I had, Sarajevo would get an A+.