Bosnia Herzegovina PART THREE

Hello blog.

As I promised here is part three of my Bosnian instalment! I mentioned a little about Sarajevo (Bosnia Herzegovina's capital city) in my last post PART TWO but there is still a little more to be said about the city.

The site of the tunnel that was used in the war to get through a difficult area surrounded by enemy troops. Notice the bullet holes in the building... So many buildings still have their scars from the war. 

First of all, Bosnia Herzegovina remains taboo in a lot of travellers minds. Bosnia spend no money what-so-ever on promoting tourism so I guess how are we supposed to know any different. The war in the early nineties is what most people know Bosnia, or Yugoslavia for. Which is a shame really, because it has come so far and is really such a beautiful and vibrant country.

Back to Sarajevo,
As I mentioned in my last post this city is literally awake 24hours.
We went on a walking tour with our guide and it was riveting. I may have mentioned this before, but he grew up during the war and lived through it as a 13-14 year old.
He told us stories of running from bombs and bullets to try and save his life.
One day walking home from school he said a bullet narrowly missed his leg. (Snipers surrounded the city and would take fire on the civilians frequently.) He said he didn't know whether the sniper was trying to warn him or if he had missed... either way he knew he had to get out of there fast, so he zig zagged down the street. War became a part of his life. He said that you could hide... but after a few hours you were really bored and had to get on with your life so you just had to try and avoid the shooting as best as you could.

Pictured above is the market place where fresh produce is sold. Our tour guide was telling us about when it was bombed. He said the market place used to be way busier than it is today... and that when the bomb went off there were bodies and body parts strewn across the whole area... even over railings. Horrific. I can't believe this happened in my lifetime... so many innocent people were killed and nothing was done to help them. It was all caught on film and despite the footage the enemy army still claim that it is fake and that the bodies filmed were dummies.... It is outrageous what humans can do to each other. 

Sarajevo Roses. Have you heard of them? They are basically a scar on the ground where a bomb exploded. As a memorial, the hole in the ground is then filled with a red resin to mark a bomb that killed over nine people. They usually come with a plaque on the wall, with the names of the victims. One night our group was drinking at the brewery... The Brewery was the place where civilians would come to collect water during the war... On our walk home we noticed a "Sarajevo Rose" I felt eery as here was a group of us walking down the same street where another group of a similar size had innocently been killed. At the risk of sounding completely lame, I think it was one of those moments that you will never forget.

We are learning about the Sarajevo Roses on our walking tour.

Sarajevo Rose.

This is actually in Mostar but it gives you an idea of the condition of some of the buildings still. The effects of the war are so visible still.

Just recently we met a real jackass who asked us where we had recently travelled. When we said Bosnia he said "ohhh, really (rolls eyes and laughs) last time I was there there was a war."

He continued to speak about what it was like there 20 years ago... he would not listen to a word I said. Some people are such idiots. He is what we call the ''ultimate traveller'' a type of traveller that think they are what I described... the ultimate traveller. Don't be that person and go to Bosnia. You will enjoy the whole experience.

ON A LIGHTER NOTE...

Just wait until my next post about the Bosnian mountain hotel we stayed in. So beautiful.

ALSO.... GUESS WHO IS GOING TO OCTOBERFEST IN MUNICH? ME ME ME ME ME! And Gonzo of course! We are going to get so fat from all the curry wurst and beer! oh em gee.

By the way... we are having a major computer glitch atm and I can't upload any of my new photos. So you will have to wait until I am home for new content. I do have one more to come before then though. 

Here we go.... Bosnia Herzegovina PART ONE.

OK... Bosnia Herzegovina...

How do you hear about a place that has NO formal advertising? The best way... facebook and word of mouth. Personally for me it was the Kravice waterfalls that first sparked my interest in Bosnia. I had seen the Waterfalls on facebook a few times and was literally taken away beauty. Recently my friend H went there and again I was so intrigued about Bosnia and what else it had to offer. I am 24 years old so my memories of the war around 1994 were vague, in fact I am ashamed to say I have no personal recollection. People remember Bosnia Herzegovina as a part of the former Yugoslavia which has an infamous quality to it and almost puts off a lot of us ignorant tourists. I beg you... GO TO BOSNIA HERZEGOVINA! You will thank me!!! GO! GO NOW!

Bosnia Herzegovina is one country... but it is very much two contrasting areas. The Herzegovina area is very Mediterranean with it's rocky looking mountains filled with small shrubs etc. You literally pass through a long tunnel and you arrive in the Bosnian area which has windy roads decorated with heavily green landscapes. It is amazing to see how different they are from one another yet still remain the same country.

I will give you a rough run down of the tour and the six days we spent there. Again, I strongly urge you... if you are travelling Europe... do this tour!!! We did a seven day trip and there is so much to say so I will have to do it in a few different parts.

As you know Croatia is a very beautiful country and a high priority on many of our travel "TO DO" lists... but did you know you can do this tour which starts and finishes in Dubrovnik... so without even trying you can see Bosnia Herzegovina as well!!!!
If you are interested... check here: Bosnia Adventure Balkan Road Trip. (This is the trip we did.)

DAY ONE:

We met our tour group outside of the Konzum supermarket in Dubrovnik. It seemed like we were paired with a pretty cool group of people ranging from ages 24- 32. Maybe we were just lucky but everyone seemed to get on really well and we all really liked our Bosnian tour guide Mustafar... although his sense of humour was EXTREMELY sarcastic so bewarre of falling for things which he is actually joking about!!!! He knows Bosnia Herzegovina very well, having lived and grown up there, even living through the war as a young teenager. To get first hand experience on what it was like to live through a war... a war that happened in my life time was shocking and truly eye opening.

I will not go into the war, why it happened, or who is to blame...  It's not for me to say. Let's just say on this tour you will get a feel for the country, its history, food and culture. You will also appreciate the lives they live today.

Anyway,
After meeting at around 11, we set off for the beautiful Kravice waterfalls. This was the main attraction for my original interest in Bosnia. We had lunch right here at the waterfalls and sampled one of Bosnia's famous Civapi (ground meat sausage... way better than it sounds). If you think my amateur photo's look amazing (which i do) then just google them to see how much better it gets! Because europe is SO hot and dry at the moment apparently these waterfalls were rather dried up... either way... despite the crowd on the day... they were beautiful and the water was cold which was a lovely way to escape the forty degree heat!

After the waterfalls we headed to Mostar, a city in the Herzegovina area. This city is small, very hot in the summer (temperatures got up to 47 degree celsius this summer) but definitly worthhile! The Old Bridge in Mostar is proabably the most iconic landmark you will see. I had never seen or heard much about it before entering Mostar and I was amazed by its beauty. The Old Bridge has been restored after it was bombed and destroyed during the war. It is 25 metres high and men actually jump/dive off it! You can actually die from jumping off a bridge this height! So it is amazing yet a little scary to see people doing it! Not just any man does it though. If you stay in Mostar you will most likely see at lease one local man jump the bridge, they usually stand at the top and wait until they have at least 50km (local currency) before they make the dive! Considering over 40% of Bosnians are unemployed you can appreciate the asking. Besides, at least they are doing something for their cash! Hamish and Andy (Australian radio duo) also made it well known in Aus when they jumped off it!

We had a really nice dinner at restaurant, then went to a bar to drink cocktails and smoke shishas. Afterwards we went to 'Ali Baba' a nightclub in a cave... interesting place. I have to say that I got used to smoking bans inside venues at home... I forgot what it was like to smell like smoke after a night out erghhh.

The VIP section.....??

sweating it up.