29/6 Belgrade to Sarajevo

We were spared the public bus with a very early start and instead had time to have an earlyish breakfast before boarding our own bus to Sarajevo.

We passed through many small landholdings where hay was being cut with a scythe, or was laying to dry on the ground, or was being raked up with old fashioned hay rakes on the back of tiny tractors.

We saw crops of sunflowers, wheat and corn over and over.

Quaint villages flowed one into another as we hurtled along  doing over 100km/hr (the limit was 130) in quiet village areas which would need a 50 or 60km/hr limit in SA.

We saw tiny tractors and harvesters filling up at petrol stations more than once.

A short way before the border our bus driver went to check his paperwork and found that he was unable to locate his papers showing his insurance in Bosnia.  This meant that we could not cross the border until he had something so we ended up travelling to the next border crossing from the original one planned and for the driver to buy some more insurance before we could cross.

Crossing the Drina river just after the border, we then turned to follow the Jadar river, and it was here that we took our lunch stop at a lovely hotel where we had a beautiful balcony position looking out over the river while we ate our lunch.   We also took out first group photos here.

our lunch balcony to far right of shot

left to right - Harry, Sydney, Erica, Cathy, Ivan (leader) , Trevor, Melody, Tracey, Kristen, Michael

As we drove onward the piles of hay (now haystacks,rather than stooks of hay) became more plentiful, but never seemed to be at a time when I could take a photo successfully.  Many of them wore coats or hats  of plastic to save them from the weather. 



There were many deserted and damaged buildings as we came closer to Sarajevo  and we passed through lots of tunnels as we wound around the hilly area and glimpsed many beautiful views with steep drops down from the winding roads. .

Sarajevo is situated at 1600 m above sea level, so you can imagine the climb.  There are lots of older golfs around in Sarajevo - the Volkswagen factory used to be here (up to the 2nd generation) and they are still a very popular car in this area (especially if they were made here)

Once there we booked into our guest house for the next few nights.  This place is run by a Muslim lady, so there is a rule of "shoes off" as you come in the door and we were asked to respect that.   She took her time issuing us all with slip on shoes to wear while inside.

We had a short break and then met our local guide (Muhamed) for an orientation walk into town.  One of the claims to fame of Sarajevo is that they hosted the 1984 Winter Olympics.  The old ice skating arena (Think Torvill and Dean)  is now in disrepair, but was at the end of our road.  As we walked into town we also passed the basketball stadium and the area where medal ceremonies were performed.

Muhamed spots a tattoo which reflects his love for his home city - He calls it "heartbeat of Sarajevo" and it mimics the skyline. 

Of course all this lovely memory of the Olympics is overshadowed by the memory of the terrible siege in 1991 - 1994 where so many were lost.  We heard about the  "Sarajevo red line"  which commemorated the anniversary of 20 years after beginning of the siege.  For this 11541 red chairs ( the number of Bosnian people who died) were placed in rows in the main street (as if in an audience). 643 of these were smaller chairs symbolising the lost children  - people came and left toys etc on these chairs.  It was a moving reminder of the loss as the  chairs stretched down the street.

Muhamed told us a lot of tales of when he was a kid in Sarajevo in the siege.
There was too much stress in that young life to think about.
Having him tell us about it put a whole new perspective on the history of the area.
I want a local guide like that in every place that I visit.


They also remember the war in a more daily way with the Sarajevo roses.  Where mortars fell and made a mark by digging out some of the road or footpath, the area has been painted red with a special long lasting resin paint.  This is called a Sarajevo rose.  Those who pass remember - and sometimes there is a white plaque on a nearby wall to record the names of those lost in this mortar attack, and the date.

Sarajevo rose

There is a central garden-like square in Sarajevo , where there is a giant chess set.  Every day there is a constant chess game with spectators which goes on into the night.  The winner of one game plays the next challenger.  If you win the last game for the night you have the responsibility to lock up the chess set and to be there to unlock it the next morning.  It was interesting watching the people watching the people.

We went briefly through the old bazaar area and finished up at the corner where Franz Ferdinand was shot (to start the 1st world war) .



Then we shared a Bosnian banquet (continuing the theme of large serves and lots of meat) . The onions and vine leaves stuffed with a mince and rice mixture were very tasty, but I got distracted by the food and company and forgot to keep taking photos of the food.

more of the ripped underpants were eaten at tea time (still yummy)