Sarajevo

Sarajevo is a bustling, busy city, a bit grimy like the rest of Bosnia but full of people getting on with business. It is hard to imagine the city being under siege for three whole years but the buildings soon remind you how terrible it must have been.







Bit hard to see the bullet and rocket holes but they are still there in this apartment block and many others. The Serbians had prime position in the closely surrounding hills and the town people basically lived out of shelters for long periods of time.

But despite this recent history they are moving on with life - but apparently racial tensions still remain. Shopping is apparently above all these problems and a thriving market place was just the thing for us on our almost last day.





Then it was a long 7 hours in the bus, punctuated by toilet stops, border crossing and apparent mine clearance works before we made it to Zagreb in the twilight and a lovely soft bed.


See you soon, Singapore tomorrow.

Love Wendy and Graeme

Goodbye to the Sea

Croatia was happy to say goodbye to us this morning but Bosnia Herznegovina not too pleased to let us in so we sat in no-mans-land for an hour with the other buses while the passports and drivers were put through the ringer. Eventually we were allowed to pass with no real problems actually and travelled along the river valley to Mostar. Plenty more obvious damage here from the war as budgets don't stretch to repairs and many folks have moved on - more obvious cemeteries too.





The bridge was still there, last destroyed in 1998 by Croatia and despite the touristy shops and difficult cobblestones the town has a certain charm. We visited a small mosque and authentic Ottoman style house - climbing the minaret was a highlight and I managed a couple of photos whilst gripping hold of the wall as it was a bit too high and narrow for me.





If you look close you can see the jumper - we didn't ask how much he was asking per jump but it was impressive and he looked pretty cold when he climbed out.





Had some real Turkish coffee ( basically undrinkable ) in a shower of rain and of course more gelato and trinket shopping to round off the day.

The journey to Sarajevo was again along the river valley which became spectacularly narrow, with high, high rocky hills on both sides and many tunnels and bridges between little villages both inhabited and not.






Love Wendy and Graeme

Into Montenegro - Kotor and Budva

We had the picture postcard view of Dubrovnik as we drove up and out the city toward the border this morning. Windy road over the mountain and road works then a very slow border crossing out of Croatia - but straight into Montenegro no stopping.






It was fascinating in Kotor, a bit poorer here with a population of only 680,000 for the entire country, so not much renovation of the historic sites and not much war damage either ( much too complicated to even try to understand !!! ). The city has a intact wall around the port side which then extends up the very steep mountain to high up forts and towers which we wished to climb up to but no time to get further than the first level - perhaps for the best at it was a mighty climb and my legs are still sore from yesterdays stairs !!





The old town was small but pretty with good pizza and many little streets and although it tried to rain we managed to stay dry.




This town is deep in a sheltered twisted bay with a narrow fiord like section in the middle so was a pirate haven and not so much captured and recaptured like other towns down this coast. Also has Orthodox churches from Serbian times, which are very pretty inside.

Next stop was another port town of Budva, which also had an intact city wall to walk, but was on the trashy side with big motor cruisers pulled up outside and tanned, middle aged women in too skimpy outfits and flashy jewellery and thick set husbands. The walls were good, although in places you could see through the stones (laid like thick planks ) to the ground below, a bit disconcerting so high up !!!





We came back the quicker way via car/bus/ truck ferry across the water instead of around the bay and then waited again at the border into Croatia as once again our passports were taken away for closer scrutiny - other buses went by with the guards stamping on board - but we must have had to pass muster with the Interpol database before they would let us pass !!!

Any way last dinner at the Rixos and our last on the coast as tomorrow we head back to the continental side and Bosnia Herznegovina.

See you soon

Love Wendy and Graeme

Dubrovnik

If you only do one town on this coast you must do Dubrovnik - it is pretty near perfect. And although rebuilt many times after earthquake and war there are still 13th century buildings and 18th century jostling for prime positions.





And a moat with drawbridge, and a few km of intact ( rebuilt in places ) city wall which you can walk around imagining sieges and all kinds of happenings on the ramparts.










The second series of Game of Thrones was apparently filmed here and it makes a fitting Kings Landing, full of many dark deeds indeed.

But today we visited the Fransician Monastery with its pharmacy dating from the 13th century, one of the first in the world with continuous operation till today. And also one of the churches complete with Saintly relics - a few legs and various arms and hands requiring special prayers !!!

We had a lovely if hot day sampling the gelato and coffee and shops and watching the crowds pass by in the tiny steep alleys and broad main street. And also outside the walls there were many different boats and other sights to see.





See you soon

Love Wendy and Graeme