interesting...
I visited Sarajevo before the war - the population was Serbs, Croats and Muslims ( a very small number of Jews).
Only after the war the Muslim population has been referred to as Bosniak.

Enjoying your posting and your trip

Oh, I've been waiting for your trip report to begin!

Thank you.

You are so lucky to have had a friend there on the spot to introduce you to Sarajevo.

Looking forward to more - much more...

I will try to get another chunk written this afternoon. I put together notes when we got back but filling in the details always takes longer than I think it will. I really enjoyed reading your trip report before we left.

VT: Nice to see someone post about BiH and especally Sarajevo. The last time I visited was pre-war in 1983, just a few months before the Winter Olympcs ('84). We were on a a six-week research odyssey driving throughout Central and Eastern Europe and could likely have been one of very few (if any) Americans there at the time.A few months later, of course, there was the usual sizeable American Olympic contingent. We stayed at the classic venerable 19th century Hotel Europa and were amazed how the pre-Olympic preparations had everyone literally scrubbing the streets, the shops, etc. (The Holiday Inn was getting an ugly paint job of mustard yellow and maroon!)I had heard it was a victim of the incessant bombings during the 90's war. Naturally, when the war brought so much tragedy to the city and the country, we were deeply saddened (one Conde Nast 1993 picture I saw in particular, the senseless bombing of the old Mostar bridge, since rebuilt).

In '83, a Tito-less Yugoslavia was trying to show that it favored the west, even though the minor Soviet influence was in evidence...our visit was a pleasant one...we drove though a large chunk of the Old Yugoslava at that time, even the Kosovo region.
I interviewed Rivka Pardo the "greeter" of the resurrected Sephardic sinagoga who had herself survived a Nazi work camp and was rescued by a partisan force. She eventually returned to Sarajevo when it was safe, only to find that her husband had been murdered at the infamous Croatian-run Jasenovac Death Camp. Of the 10,000 pre-WWII Jewish popuation of 10,000, only 1,000 had survived.
My wife and I were treated royally by everyone we met throughout the Old Yugoslavia, and relished the chance to return in '04 (which I did). She was an ardent Balkan folk dancer and had a grand time participating wherever we went. At a wedding in Veliko Turnovo, Bulgaria, she was even asked to lead the ubiquitous folk-dancing...a litle Ameican lady in a sweat shirt, jeans and sneakers..what a sight! It was one of those on-the-spot invitations that resulted in our being feted and fawned over by the guests..everyone had to have their picture taken with these Americans (no English spoken and my Bulgarian was laughable at best).
I'll stop there...but thanks again, VT, for jogging my memory of adventurous times in the Old Yugoslavia. I await further posts..pics? (I have scanned some of my old pics of Yugolavia).

stu

Vtt -Thank you for those book recommendations. I'm going to look out for a couple of them that I've not come across.

Also suggested reading is Bridge Over the Drina by Ivo Andric, and this one, of which I bought a copy in the Bascarsija and found incredibly moving...

http://www.blacksoul.us/

stu, I remember your posts were most helpful to me when I was planning my road-trip through Bosnia last May. Unfortunately I never came across any folk dancing myself, but I did think of you and your stories of your wife. I posted a TR and links to pics here. What an absolutely gorgeous country Bosnia and Herzegovina is. I am totally out of money at the moment, but am nevertheless planning my return - next time I want to explore the north west area of Bosnia, as well as spending more time in Sarajevo.

Thank you. Fascinating. Eagerly awaiting the continuing instalments.

Cheers, Alan
http://loraltravel.blogspot.com/

"In '83, a Tito-less Yugoslavia was trying to show that it favored the west, even though the minor Soviet influence was in evidence...'

What was the "Soviet influence"?
Although Tito's government was communist, the country was never a member of the Warsaw Pact. As a matter of fact, Tito 's break up with Stalin in 1948 lead to a purge of Yugoslavian Communist ( many party pro- Soviet members were arrested and put in jail for years). In the early 60s
Yugoslavia joined "non-aligned" countries cultivating relationships with Africa and Asia.

Danon...I'm well aware of that...the minor influence came in many guises, as natives would tell me. There still was a pesky communist presence that reawkened throughout those post Tito years, urging for an alliance with the Warsaw Pact nations. It never came close to a foothold, but was nevertheless something to recognize. Akin possibly to the communist party in America during the 30's. Remember, I'm talking about the period of early visits in late 70's to the breakup years.

Julia..thank you for your kind words...happy that the trip was an adventurous one and turned out so well for you,. Great pix. I'm sorry that there was a minor hijacking of your excellent TR herein.
stu

What went on in the inner circles of the communist leadership will remain unknown . There was never an obvious influence of USSR in Yugoslavia as in Poland , Bulgaria, Hungary etc..
Russian was not spoken or thought is schools, in the 70s the population traveled without restrictions and the West granted millions in loans to the country.
My ex-husband was from that part of the world. I visited a number of times before the war and speak the language reasonably well.

I've enjoyed every sentence of your trip report so far vttraveler and look forward to reading more!

Best wishes, Daniel

Danon...stop hijacking here. It's not becoming. You've made your point, I've made mine. What else do you possibly want?. A private discussion? Then write me at rozstu1@aol.com
stuart tower

Mr. Tower,
This is a public forum, don't tell me what to do.
What is not becoming is to make incorrect statements and get all huffy when you are called on it.

a public forum discourages hijacking...who's getting huffy now? I made not one incorrect statement..and I gave my oopnion in a gentlmanly way until you insisted on continuing to get off topic and yes, hijack...and that's all I will say on this thread. Again, I welcome a sensible discussion and let's keep it off board. Otherwise, take a nice long walk in Toronto..a beautiful city at that. My wife is a Montrealer.
But we let her stay in California.

Sorry for typos..these old eyes do make such errors and I don't like spellcheck.

Vttraveler, ignore the static and noise. There are still some of us eager to read the next instalment.

Possibly a couple of others might like to start a new thread on "Balkan Ideologies of the late 20th Century" for those few interested in in such matters. Personally, I'm more interested right now in independent Balkan travel in the 21st century.

Second Trav_Eller's idea!

Trav and Irish: I certainly agree....if you re-read, you can see I tried to stop the hijacking, to no avail. It was not my intent to get into that discussion in the first place; only to record my own observations and opinons of life in the Old Yugoslavia during several of my earlier lengthy visits, as an adjunct to my first post on VT's visit to Sarajevo.

As I wrote, it really jogged my octegenarian memory because so few travelers have experienced the once much battered city. I was fortunate enough to see it at its best before the '84 winter olympics. Hope VT will forgive and get on with more of her visit, including pix.
stu

"Possibly a couple of others might like to start a new thread "on "Balkan Ideologies of the late 20th Century" for those few interested in in such matters. Personally, I'm more interested right now in independent Balkan travel in the 21st century."

Such irrelevant events were triggered by "Balkan ideologies of the 20th century 'for example: that small disturbance ,sometimes referred to as The First World War .
Or the break up of a country of 25 million people, over 100.000 dead
over 100.000 wounded and more than a million refugees - all in Europe.....looong 15 years ago.
Must be wonderful to fly like a butterfly ( or was it a bee? bird?) from country to country and never be interested in anything more than where to have a good meal and how to find find a cheap hotel.

vttraveler, please continue. We are very interested!

Danon, I made a decision years ago to try to visit without judging.

That does not mean I visit without caring. Nor is it always possible not to judge. Many times I have wandered through places where unspeakable atrocities occurred, meeting lovely, friendly people and wondering how on earth they, or their parents or earlier ancestors allowed such obscenities to occur. Have you been to Cambodia, or Peru, or the Deep South, or, closer to your home, Verdun or Auschwitz? Just a few of far too many blood-soaked plots of land with terrible stories to tell.

I try not to judge the cultures I visit; don't let your passion cause you to mis-judge those who post on forums about their travels.

Passion can be a good thing. But passion about sins of the past has a habit of re-creating that past with the next war or the next dictator.

I'll not answer your further responses, I am already guilty of adding to the hijack of the thread. My apologies to other readers.

Cheers, Alan
http://loraltravel.blogspot.com/

very well said, Trav.

I'm back. I wasn't scared away by the controversy, just busy.

Day 2–more Sarajevo

We set out in the morning around 8:45 to make final arrangements for the car rental for our Croatia trip. The rental company is located in a big hotel/office building complex called the Radon Plaza a few miles west of the old city. I think this is a 5 star hotel but it and the neighborhood lack any charm/character and it is far from tourist sights. I certainly would not recommend staying there. There is a revolving restaurant at the top so we went up for some coffee and to see the view before heading out for a tour of the city.

A slight digression about coffee: drinking coffee is an important part of the local culture. There are many, many cafes throughout the city. "Bosnian" coffee is what most of us would call Turkish coffee. The coffee is boiled with water in a special pot called a dzezva and served in small espresso size cups with cubes of sugar. As you reach the end of the cup you are left with some sludgy grounds. At least in Sarajevo other types of coffee like espresso and even cappuccino are also served, and I have to admit I preferred the espresso to the Bosnian style coffee.

After our coffee break we left the Radon Plaza for our next destination, the "Romeo and Juliet" Vrbanja bridge, near the university. In 1993, a Muslim woman and her Serbian boyfriend/fiance were killed on the bridge while they were trying to leave the city. The bridge is also known as the Suada and Olga bridge in memory of the first two people killed in the war, two young women shot by a sniper during a demonstration in April 1992. The memorial tablet to them reads “A drop of my blood flowed, and Bosnia did not drain”.

From the river we walked up to the History museum. Most of the exhibits are about the 1992-95 war and the siege of Sarajevo. It is hard to imagine how only 15 years ago people lived through these terrible conditions in a modern European city.

We walked through the surrounding area including the infamous Sniper's alley and the Holiday Inn where journalists stayed during the war, It is still the ugly mustard yellow color described in another post. Nearby, there are some beautiful old trees along the river and new park benches had recently been installed. Ironically, the trees are still there because this area was so dangerous during the war that no one was able to use them for firewood; trees in other more protected areas were cut down.

By this point it was lunch time and we caught a cab downtown. With three people, the cab was no more expensive than the tram for a short distance. Our friend took us for Cevapi, a very popular dish in BiH, Small grilled lamb sausages, five for a half portion and ten for a full portion, are stuffed in a thin pita-like pocket bread. Our friend ordered ours with chopped onions, and kajmak, a delicious soft cheese. It looked like a lot of food when it arrived, but I managed to polish it off.

After lunch we wandered some more through the old town. We walked through the old covered market (Gazi Husrefbegov bezistan), a massive basilica-like stone building with many shops. We walked through the famous pigeon square with its Sebilj (fountain), then crossed the river to the south side.

We had a good view of the National Library (former City Hall), a beautiful building built in 1896 in “psuedo Moorish” style. It was heavily shelled in 1992 and 90% of the collection was destroyed. There is an extensive renovation project going on, and the building is covered in scaffolding.

We then walked along the river and back across the Latin Bridge, site of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie in 1914. Rebecca West has a LONG description of their visit and the assassination attempts (there was an earlier unsuccessful one the day of their death) in Black Lamb and Grey Falcon . There is a small museum at the corner NW of the bridge with several good historic plaques on the outside. In general, Sarajevo has some useful historic markers with English translations at many tourist sites. Most of the information inside the museums is also translated into English.

Back in the main part of the old Ottoman section of the city, We visited an art gallery, a clothing store owned by a woman who is also a pianist and was practicing for a concert and a book store along one of the side streets. We also visited another carpet shop in a small courtyard and watched some workmen doing repair work on the minaret of one of the mosques.

On the way “home” we passed the Old Synagogue, and decided to go in. Our friend was quite excited because she had never gone inside before (many of the opening hours are during her work hours). The synagogue/museum is very interesting. The ground floor still has services on special occasions. The rest of the building has a well-done historical exhibit. Sarajevo had a Jewish population of about 12,000 before WW II. They were descended from Sephardic Jews who left Spain in the early 16th century and a later group of Ashkenazi Jews who arrived in the 17th century. Most died during the war, and some of the survivors emigrated to Israel. The city still has a small Jewish community of about 700 people.

We spent a few hours back at the apartment before returning to the old town for dinner. We had made a reservation for 8:30 at
Dveri, a nice restaurant near the tourist office. Dinners out start fairly late and tend to be long affairs, and tables are not expected to turn over during the evening. Prices are very reasonable by U.S. standards. Local house wines are good and most meals end (and/or begin) with liqueurs.

Before going to bed, my friend and I turned on the TV to check the weather forecast. To her horror, she found that her selection of cable channels had suddenly changed. She could no longer get CNN and there was a new channel featuring VERY explicit lesbian sex. The only positive note was a good forecast for the coming weekend.

vt...you are having an unforgettable travel experience. By the way, is that Holiday Inn I described still there? Just curious to know if it has been rebuilt. I did hear that the old Europa Hotel is back in business. Will you be posting pix? Hope so.
stu

Your report is wonderful. My daughter, who is getting her Master's in Int'l Human Rights, spent the summer interning in Sarajevo. She fell in love it with and I'm going to let her know about your report so she, too can enjoy it. She lived with a woman whose apartment, I believe, in the general area of your friend.

Stu, I'm sure I remember my daughter referring to the Holiday Inn. Is it near the American Embassy?

The Balkans have a rich culture, warm and wonderful people and you obviously got the most out of your experience. I'm looking forward to the next installment.

Ellen

Vttraveler,

I'm ellen75005's daughter. I loved reading your report and know every place you went. One tiny clarification though - the National Library was set on fire, not heavily shelled (it may have been but that didn't lead to its complete destruction). The devastation occurred not just of the building, but centuries of archives/ancestral records/books, etc were destroyed. That, to me, is what is truly sad about its destruction.

The Vrbanja bridge was right next to my office. If you're walking across it, away from the Parliament building so the plaque on the bridge is on your right, you'll see an orange gas station. If you cross that busy street and walk up the hill next to the gas station you'd reach my office.

We went to the History Museum towards the end of the summer and as simple as the siege's display was, it was one of the best experiences of the summer. You realize your new found appreciation for everyone living and traveling around Sniper Alley after seeing the exhibit.

I lived on Alipisena Street (sp?) next to the old American Embassy. I think the new Embassy which is next to the Holiday Inn is now open. I walked past the park dedicated to the fallen children every day on my way to the BBI center (the big mall on the opposite side of the street)- it was about a 10 minute walk from my apartment.

Anyways, I loved reading everything and imagining you walking down Ferhadija into Bascarsija, stopping at what I imagine was Zjelo for your cevapi(the best in Sarajevo)and stopping at a "pekara" or two on your way back to the apartment. It's truly and amazing city and since I drank the water, as they say, I'm destined to return.

Thank you Ellen and Ellen's daughter Katie...for information on the Holiday Inn. I don't exactly remember where it was...trying to go back to 1983 is too trying for my aging memory. Katie, this remarkable Sarajevo experience will be with you for your entire long life. I have some poignant scenes of Sarajevo c.1890 in one of my novels, when it was an outpost of The Austro-Hungarian Empire. My leading character is a 17-year old recruit for the Emperor's army at the time.
Katie is the Europa still there? I had heard there was a name change of some sort.

stu tower

It is still there, I think it's officially Hotel Europe but I'm not sure. We had a conference there this summer and it is a very nice hotel. We took advantage of their free wireless in the lobby and the nice outdoor seating area several times.

We hiked up to the old Austro-Hungarian forts on the hillsides a few times. It's sad they are completely abandoned but the young Sarajevans enjoy them. I especially love how the sidewalk changes from Austro-Hungarian to Ottoman and the entire feel of the city changes with it in that neighborhood. It truly is an amazing city and I can't wait to go back. The entire country is amazing, really, but there's something about Sarajevo that makes it special.

<< It truly is an amazing city and I can't wait to go back. The entire country is amazing, really, but there's something about Sarajevo that makes it special. >>

My feelings exactly Katie. I was there for barely 2 days in May, but loved what I saw and felt. I had found myself 'drawn' to Sarajevo for some years, and am now feeling the pull to return and spend more time there.

Interesting sentiments from julia and katie.
I visited Sarjevo several times before the war.
Since the 'partition' , I have been invited to visit but just cannot bring myself to see the place where I used to run ( the former Stadium) looking like this:

http://www.guiltandpleasure.com/admfiles/upload/124.pdf

Thanks for sharing your experiences with us, Vttraveler. You are bringing back some wonderful memories of my visit there last year.

Danon,

I didn't live far from that Stadium. It's true that Sarajevo's landscape is much different now than before the war in that Sarajevo is covered in cemeteries. Even though I never visited before the war, the cemeteries that dot the city now give Sarajevo a new "aura" and its own beauty. The cemeteries are primarily on the west side of Sarajevo and can be seen if you are on the hills above Sarajevo. Sarajevo will, for better or worse, be remembered as a war-torn city. However, the changed landscape adds a different beauty that a lot of citizens now appreciate (as much as possible). The former president of BiH is buried in one of the cemeteries just past Pigeon Square up the hill.

Since I was never there before the war I can't say what it was like to see the city before the mortar scars, shelled buildings and cemeteries, but if you ever get a chance to visit Sarajevo again you should - there's a new beauty that deserves a chance.

katie, thank for your thoughts.

katie--I am glad you have enjoyed reading about our visit to Sarajevo. You were fortunate to be able to spend time there and really get to know the city. Your apartment was definitely near our friend's. We frequently walked back past the old U.S. Embassy--a beautiful building.

I read that just after our visit this fall Hilary Clinton dedicated the new Embassy to Robert Frasure who was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Balkans. He died 15 years ago on his way to peace talks trying to end the war.

You are also right that most of the damage to the National Library collection was the result of fire caused by "incendiary grenades." I have read that many people from the city went to the library to try to save the collection as it was burning even though snipers were targeting the library. At least one of the librarians was killed by a sniper.

Re the Holiday Inn: My husband and I actually went inside on Day 9 of our trip after visiting the nearby National Museum. It has a huge open atrium with rooms built around this center. The design is definitely more 1980's than 21st century.

I'm glad Katie chimed in - you can see what an effect Sarajevo had on her. I think back to those years, reading newspapers and listening to news reports about "the war in Bosnia" and how far away it seemed, never in a million years thinking we or our daughter would ever travel to the Balkans, let alone fall in love with that part of the world.

Vt, thank you again for your wonderful report. I hope to visit in the next couple of years, hopefully with my daughter as my guide

Ellen

Great diary,great journey, this country has a lotv to offer, only one little completion: Bosnia-Hezegovina trully has two entities, the Serb and the Muslim-Croatian, but the latter one is also consist of 10 cantons. Every unit has its own parliament, government, police etc. So BiH is probably the most confusing and complicated state in the world.

It is incredibly confusing and I'm still trying to understand the government. However, the United States created the government so the war would end. It probably would've been better if the present Republika Srpska was created as either a separate or autonomous region than the rest of Bosnia. Three presidents, 14 (or however many) cantons and two different regions just don't work in one country.

The country has so much to offer but with recent reports that it is lagging behind other European nations that are also applying for EU accession, high unemployment and corruption rates, and major lag in development, BiH has to do something to work towards unification from within and with also the rest of the Europe, EU or not. It is almost completely surrounded by nations that have already begun their bid for EU membership and BiH will fall behind even more in comparison to Croatia, Montenegro, Macedonia and eventually Serbia and Albania.

I find it a little confusing that our country will accept Kosovo's independence but doesn't support a separate Republika Srpska.

Day 3 -- Sarajevo to Croatia

Our friend had arranged to take Monday and Tuesday off, so we set out for our long weekend road trip to the Dalmatian coast on our Day 3, Saturday. The car rental company delivered the car to the apartment at 9 and we packed up. We were much better stocked for the road trip than we would usually be on a vacation abroad, thanks to the contents of our friend's cupboards, including wine.

There are several possible routes from Sarajevo to the coast, depending on how quickly you want to get there and what you want to see on the way. We decided to take one that would allow us stop in Mostar in the morning, then Blagaj to see the basic sights and have trout for lunch, then Stolac to see the large
necropolis of stećcci (medieval tombstones) then on toward the coast via Ljubinje and Trebinje. Our friend explained that the section Stolac- Ljubinje -Trebinje was more scenic and had much less traffic than the usual route south but that the road was still heavily mined so we would not be able to pull off at all for a long stretch. This made me nervous but we decided to try that route.

As we started off on the main road west out of Sarajevo at about 9:30, our friend remarked happily that her husband would never believe we had left so early. (He has stayed in the states during her time in Sarajevo, and they visit back and forth regularly. They often go to the coast when he is visiting her in BiH.) A few minutes later, the early start was completely erased by a minor traffic accident. The car in front of us slowed unexpectedly at a green light. My husband could not go around it because of traffic in the other lane. He slowed down and the car behind him also slowed down, but the car behind that one was going too fast. It hit the middle car which in turn hit the rear of our rental car. The slow driver in front drove off, apparently oblivious, and the rest of us were left to deal with the accident.

We drove forward and pulled off to the side but the other two cars stopped right where they were in the middle of this major route. We learned that this was what we should have done, but fortunately were able to plead that we were tourists who didn't understand the local rules. The driver in the middle came up and our friend and my husband went back with him to the scene of the impact.

I stayed with the car with a very pleasant older Bosnian man who spoke a little German and even less English. I thought he was telling me that he was waiting for a bus, but apparently he was just passing by on foot, because he eventually left after making sure that we didn't need anything and assuring me that he was my "Bosnian friend." The police and a worker from the rental agency came and finally we were cleared to leave the accident scene. The rental car was drivable and didn't have much damage, but the rear left light panel was loose and the brake light wasn't working, so we changed cars at the rental agency before setting off.

At this point it was about 12:30, and our schedule needed revision. We decided to drive as far as Jablanica, about an hour away, for lunch and to regroup over food. The trip to Jablanica goes into progressively higher mountains. The road is winding and has quite a few tunnels, some without lights. The drivers are rather aggressive with a disturbing habit of passing on blind curves.

The mountain scenery is very beautiful, As we came to Jablanica we drove along the Nervetva River which is an unusual turquoise color. The town is known for a series of restaurants specializing in jagnjetinja, delicious lamb grilled on spits over large open fires. The biggest of these restaurants is Restaurant “Zdrava voda” (Healthy water). It has a car park large enough for tourist buses and a menu featuring items like trout as well as the lamb. We stopped at another smaller place a little farther down the road where we feasted on lamb, potatoes and cabbage salad.

Over our substantial lunch, we revised our touring schedule. We decided it made sense to skip Mostar and Blagaj on our way to the coast since we could see them later on a day trip from Sarajevo and we wanted to reach the Adriadic by sunset. We decided to stick to part of the original pre-accident schedule and stop at Stolac because Radimlja, the necropolis site, is right off the highway and easy to see and we would be returning from Croatia by a different route.

The route through Herzegovina was also very scenic with a different, much warmer, more Mediterranean climate than Bosnia. There are vineyards and roadside fruit stands. We bought some fresh figs to supplement our generous road food supplies.

Our friend had warned us that the Radimlja necropolis site, despite its major historic importance, was not at all well developed and maintained, but I was still surprised at how neglected it was. No one else was there. There were indications that a visitor center is being developed but the only information was a board at the entrance. The Stećcci(singular: Stećcak), are impressive. This is the one of the largest concentrations of stećcci in BiH. with 122 tombs. The stones
date from the 15th and 16th centuries (or possibly earlier according to some sources). Others were destroyed when the Čapljina-Stolac road was built straight through the necropolis during the Austro-Hungarian period. Unfortunately due to the limited information, we had to develop our own hypotheses as to why certain motifs appeared on numerous stones.

From Stolac we basically kept going until we reached Croatia. There were many possible stops along the way (as long as you stick to areas without mines). Both Stolac and Trebinje sound like charming cities but we did not stop to explore them. Beyond Trebinje the road turns south toward the coast. The first glimpse of the Adriatic is very impressive as you approach it suddenly from the hills above and the road gradually winds down to meet the coastal highway.

We had reservations at a small hotel in Plat, a town south of Dubrovnik along an area of the coast known as the Dubrovnik Riviera. Our friend has stayed at this hotel, the Apartmanti Ana, many times with family and friends. She discovered it by accident as she was trying to find another hotel also with the name Ana on a reservation web site. The rooms are simple and the main attraction are the balconies with a stunning view of the Adriatic. The owners greeted our friend warmly and had left us a huge plate of fruits from their garden. The weather was very warm, and we quickly moved out to the balcony area with wine and snacks to enjoy the beautiful sunset.

We planned to take the bus (on the coastal road right behind the hotel) south to the next major town, Cavtat (not wanting to drive after drinking, and planning to drink more at dinner), but when we got to the stop we had just missed the bus. After a few minutes we agreed to try the Restaurant King in Plat which the hotel owner (Ana) had recommended. This turned out to be a great choice. We had excellent mixed seafood and sea bass, potatoes and zucchini, all grilled over a fire at the end of the restaurant. There were not too many people in the restaurant (this was October 2nd, past the main tourist season) and the owner, who spoke good English, was very friendly.

We walked back to the hotel, full and relaxed and looking forward to a day of sightseeing in Dubrovnik.

Not part of the trip reported but possibly of interest to those interested in BiH: this weekend my husband and I watched Shot Through the Heart, a 1998 BBC TV film. It is based on a true story about the Sarajevo siege originally told in an article called Anti-Sniper by John Falk. It is an intense and depressing movie about the war and the way it divided people of different religious/ethnic backgrounds.

I was intrigued enough to put an autobiography by Falk in my amazon book cart.

I watched that film a couple of years ago. It is a very thought-provoking film.

Another very powerful film is the Bosnian 'Pretty Village Pretty Flame' which follows the paths of two childhood friends who end up on different sides fighting each other. This film is bloody and brutal.

There's the Oscar-winning 'No Man's Land', about two enemy soldiers who are trapped together in a trench in no man's land. The UN are trying to rescue them but the only people who speak the same language are the men in the trench.

There was also a British TV drama series called Warriors, about the army’s role in Bosnia as UN peacekeepers based near Vitez, who were constrained by strict rules of engagement which made them powerless to stop ethnic cleansing and left many traumatised. Starring Ioan Gruffith and Matthew McFaddyen, it's worth watching if you can get hold of it.

Thank you for continuing your report, I am sure I am not alone in avidly awaiting the next installment!

Julia, you're definitely not alone in avidly awaiting the next installment! Vt, can't wait to read your impressions of Dubrovnik!

Ellen

This trip report seems to be taking forever. Sorry!
Day 4 Dubrovnik

We had ordered breakfast at 8 a.m. and it was delivered to the rooms on trays so that we could sit out on the balcony. The day was absolutely beautiful, clear and warm. It was a wonderful treat to have this final shot of summer in early
October--it helped to make up for our missing foliage season at home in Vermont.

As we were enjoying our substantial breakfast (soft boiled eggs, bread, fruit, yogurt, meats, cheese) we noticed a beautiful windjammer ship sailing north along the coast.

Rather than dealing with driving to and parking in the city, we took a water taxi from Plat to Dubrovnik. This is more expensive than the bus but well worth the extra money for the views of the beautiful coast. There are quite a few ruins of old Tito-era hotels as well as the currently used hotels and holiday apartments. The water approach to the walled city of Dubrovnik is also very impressive.

We entered the city gates from the harbor area and walked the length of Stradun, the main street, stopping at an ATM (which still did not work for us). We were surprised at how crowded the walled city was. Despite the relatively late date, there were some big cruise ships in the harbor. Dubrovnik is a favorite port of call on Mediterranean cruises. Our friend had not been terribly enthusiastic about visiting the city again since she finds it so touristy and less interesting than other parts of the coast, but she understood why we wanted to see it, and we promised to go to some places she had not seen before.

We climbed up to the massive city walls with many other people and began a circuit, going about 3/4 of the way around (the total distance is 3 km). Dubrovnik is a stunningly beautiful city and has been restored from the damage caused during the seven month siege in 1991-2 when the Serb navy shelled the coastal areas. The views out to sea are spectacular, and we also enjoyed looking down into the residential areas. Most people with homes near the wall seem to have set up
arbors to shield themselves from prying eyes. We saw the beautiful rigged windjammer sailing past again, too.

We exited the walls at the Maritime Museum. I had hoped this would be more informative than it was but it did give some insight into the city history. Dubrovnik was an independent republic from 1358 to 1808, with an economy based on shipping and trading goods between Europe and the Middle East.

We stopped for a good late lunch at the Oliva Pizzeria with outside tables in a small alley near the church of St.Blaise. Blaise is the patron saint of the city and our friend assured us that he also helps to protect the throat. This seemed odd to us but we subsequently confirmed her story by consulting with a friend who is a former Catholic priest and used to participate in the blessing of the throats on Blaise's feast day in February.

After lunch we headed to our second museum, the rector's palace.
This was the center of government for the Dubrovnik Republic. The building was built in the 15th century with later additions. In addition to exhibits about the history of the city and building there was a photography exhibit about the 1991-2 siege.

Our next destination was the island of Lokrum near the city harbor. The island had a large Benedictine abbey and monastery in the 11th century. According to legend, Richard the Lion-heart was shipwrecked in 1192 as he was returning home from the crusades and was cast ashore on Lokrum. In 1859, Maximilian Ferdinand of the Hapsburg dynasty (later Emperor of Mexico for a brief period--before he was executed!) built a mansion with elaborate gardens on Lokrum. These gardens are no longer there but in 1959 a Botanical Garden with many exotic plants was planted on the island. There are also several beaches and a star-shaped fort built by the French in 1806 with a beautiful view of the surrounding area. We took the last boat of the day back to Dubrovnik harbor along with many people who had spent the day there at the beach.

We had missed the last water taxi back to Plat and were planning to take the bus when we realized that there was a water taxi to Cavtat where we were planning to eat dinner. As we left the harbor we realized that the windjammer we had been watching all day was moored there, so we got a close look. The ride back along the coast at sunset was beautiful.

Cavtat has a long history starting with its founding by the ancient Greeks as Epidauros and subsequent Roman incarnation as Epidaurum. Today the city is a fishing port and resort. Many tourists with yachts stay there. A charming palm-lined seaside promenade with open-air cafés and restaurants curves around the harbor. We ate some good seafood at the restaurant Cavtat. My husband tried to hurry the waiter at the end, asking for our check so that we could catch a bus to Plat. the waiter was clearly horrified that we would go off without having our complimentary liqueurs, so we settled back to enjoy those and took the next bus.

Dubrovnik is one of our favorite places in the world. We've been there in March and April. Both times the weather was good and the Stari Grad wasn't packed with tourists. I can imagine how bad it is when several ships and tour buses disgorge at the same time. Walking the wall is truly amazing. We've never made it to Cavtat, but it's on our list for the next visit.

I was there on business and both times we stayed at the Lero, one of those Yugoslav-style hotels you mentioned (very nice, however). It's about a 15-minute walk "up" from Stari Grad, along the coast. It was the most beautiful commute to and from work that I can imagine!

Thanks for your report, Vt; you have a nice writing style and I've enjoyed all your reports.

Vttraveler, I finally had a chance to read this and I read from the beginning to end of Day 4. I am enjoying every word; keep it coming!

I am glad people are finding the report interesting. I am working on Day 5 (Peljesac Peninsula and overnight in Neum) off line since it is hard to get a long block of time to write these days.

I know it was hard for us to get information about BiH before we left and I really appreciated people's trip reports.

We had an amusing small world experience last week. My husband was speaking at a nearby state college class. One of the students asked him what he had done recently that was especially interesting. Rather than talk about his job he answered that our trip to Sarajevo, including watching a part of one of the war crime trials (to be described on Day 7) had been fascinating. Another student raised her hand and asked "Do you know [Vttraveler]?" She is an intern in our office, had heard me talking about our trip and correctly figured very few people in Central Vt would have gone to BiH this fall.

Day 5

We had another good breakfast on the hotel balcony and set out from Plat with our local fruit and a few bottles of the hotel owners' homemade rakija. One of our main tasks on the road trip to Herzegovina and Croatia was to replenish our friend's supply of rakija for the coming year. Rakija is an alcoholic beverage that is produced by distillation of fermented fruit and it is a popular beverage throughout the Balkans. It seems to be almost as important as coffee, and our friend said that she needed to be able to offer visitors several different varieties. (Many of the Muslims in BiH will drink alcohol and certainly the other ethnic groups do.)

Rakija's alcohol content is normally 40%, but home-produced rakia can be stronger. The homemade drinks are usually considered better quality than the commercial brands. Common flavors are slivovica, produced from plums, kruska, produced from pear, kajsijevaca, produced from apricots and lozovaca, produced from grapes. The first two especially slivovica are common in Bosnia while lozovaca is found more in Herzegovina and Dalmatia with their milder climate. Other fruits that are used less often are peaches, apples, pears, cherry, figs, and quinces. Orahova is made with walnuts.

There were many options for sightseeing--Croatia's coast is beautiful and we were also interested in the islands. We finally decided to take a relatively short drive north to explore the Peljesac Penninsula. On the way we stopped for several views of Dubrovnik looking down from the coastal road.

The first stop on the peninsula was the town of Ston. There are two separate settlements, the main town of Ston and the smaller town of Mali Ston, founded in 1333 by the Republic of Dubrovnik. The two towns were individually fortified and a system of defensive walls was then built to connect them, effectively controlling land access onto the peninsula.
Dubrovnik was interested in Ston as a source of salt, and there are still salt works there.

Of the original 5½ km of walls, 3 km are still standing. I was interested in seeing the walls but had not realized how spectacular they are. From the village of Ston they rise up a steep hill and look like a mini-version of the Great Wall of China. There are spectacular views from the wall. After climbing the wall we wandered briefly through the town and bought another bottle of rakija from a woman at a small local market before heading to Mali Ston for lunch.

Mali Ston is known for its excellent mussels and oysters. We thoroughly enjoyed our lunch at the Bota restaurant which is in a 14th century salt warehouse. As we were eating there was a heavy downpour, but it stopped by the time we were ready to hit the road again. We wandered for a while in Mali Ston to see the other end of the long wall.

We drove all the way along the peninsula to Orebic, a small resort town on the coast, facing across a narrow sea channel to the island of Korcula. On the way we saw lots of people harvesting grapes and eventually we stopped for a tasting at the Matusko Winery in the Dingac wine region. We arrived just as a busload of tourists had left so there were different wines and cheese plates set out in the cellar--very convenient for us. We bought some of the wine and also some local olive oil.

We investigated ferries from the peninsula to the coast to save a little driving time, but the last one of the day had left, so we retraced our route to the main coastal road from Orebic. We had called to try to reserve rooms at hotels in Gradac and Neum that our friend had visited before, but both were full. Since it was almost dark, we decided to stop in Neum at another bigger hotel, but as we reached the border of BiH, the Hotel Posejdon in Neum called back to say we could stay there after all.

The coastal strip of BiH is a very short 24.5 km and Neum is the only town. Most tourists simply pass through along the coastal highway, grumbling about the border crossings. Croatia is currently building the Pelješac Bridge which will connect mainland Croatia in the north with the Pelješac peninsula, thus re-routing the Adriatic Highway away from coastal Bosnia and Herzegovina

It is my impression that most of the tourists who stay in Neum are from BiH.

We reached the Hotel Posejdon shortly after dark. It turned out that the hotel was hosting a conference and there was only one room available in the main hotel. My husband and I were lodged in a small rather odd holiday apartment across the street. This wasn't as nice as the hotel rooms but fine for our purposes. We settled in quickly and headed for dinner.

We spent some time trying to decide whether to try black (cuttlefish), red or green risotto, and the cook offered to make some of each for us to share family style. It was all very good and very reasonably priced.

Vt, I loved reading about Ston. We've driven through it several times and have never stopped; we certainly will next time.

In Kosovo rakija is called simply raki. I'm actually not sure what it's made of, but I can only drink it in tiny sips since it's so strong. I don't think I've ever had different flavors, but I remember my daughter talking about different flavored rakija in Sarajevo.

I think the views of and from the Dalmatian coast are some of the most spectacular I've ever seen. Thanks for another chapter!

ellen-- I agree that a little rakija/raki goes a long way. I was also careful to drink slowly. I was surprised that several restaurants offered free drinks at the end of the meal. The waiter in Cavtat even brought different varieties to my husband (slivovica) and my friend and me (something he told us was "rose"--we think it was maybe made from rose hips?)

I also agree that the scenery along the Dalmatian coast is absolutely amazing. Hard to describe if you haven't seen it. we would definitely like to go back.

My husband is just working on a holiday letter. He likes to do cards with pictures from our trips and this year he has a shot of two men sitting on the steps of the mosque in Sarajevo. Not very Christmas-y but a good ecumenical message. Interestingly enough, these two men look a lot like my husband. He has a beard and wears a beret (purchased years ago in Spain) and many of the Muslim men in Sarajevo looked very much like him. Several people we met mentioned that he blended right in, looked like their father, etc. and a few times men came up to him and started talking, apparently mistaking him for someone else.

rakija is plum brandy.... raki in Kosovo - is in Albanian.
another strong drink is loza ( same as grappa}

My friend in Sarajevo just sent me this link to information about a project to try to restore some of the National Library collection destroyed in 1992

http://www.books4vijecnica.com/

Rakija is the base of many of our local drinks, I do believe it will remove varnish from a boat deck. Rakija is usually made from fermented white grapes.
Slivovitz is a rakija base with the addition of fermented plums. Slivo is the Croatian word for plums.
Travaroca is rakija made by adding some type of fermented greens.
There are still a few families who do make rosa, by adding specific rose petals to a rakija base, it's very tasty but ever so strong.
Often one will get the chance to taste some original homemade, it is much better than the bottles sold in the markets. Visit any of the farmers markets in town and you can buy the real stuff...only if you have a boat!

My husband will be glad to hear they drink Raki in Croatia. It burned a hole all of the way down the first time I drank it. I agree it would work better than paint remover. We got it free after dinner in Greece and even though I love "free" after the first sip, I passed on it.

If you want to taste a very nice after dinner drink, ask for "Orahovica." I made my own batch this summer, it is delicious and is not as strong as the other drinks. Made from a base of rakija, walnuts and sugar. The walnuts are added while they are still in the green shell, with several holes made with a fork, lots of sugar and then it sits in the sun for a minimum of 45 days. As the sun heats the walnuts, the rakija begins to become the color of chocolate. Has the appearance of Amaretto, but tastes of walnuts.
Next time you're in Dubrovnik stop by my home for a glass.

I didn't realize the process for making orahovica was so complicated. I think it was my favorite of the after-dinner drinks we tried--it tasted smoother than many of the others. I wish I could go back to Dubrovnik to sample some of yours.

I will try to finish another day or two of the trip report this weekend and report on our other adventures in pursuit of good rakija.

I never had orahovica, but many years ago sljivovica or rakija of any kind ( except home made) was something only alcoholics , unsophisticated or peasants would drink.
Perhaps, the times have changed.

Times certainly have changed, especially in Dubrovnik.

Day 6--back from Croatia to Sarajevo

We had an o.k. breakfast buffet with the conference attendees at the Hotel Posejdon. During the breakfast, our friend realized that she knew/had met several people at the conference--an example of "small world" in BiH circles. We arranged to meet one of them later in the week so that we could take his ballot back to the U.S. and mail it for him.

When we settled the bill, it was higher than we had expected. Our friend had visited the hotel with a co-worker and had been urged to return and quoted a much lower price. When we saw the co-worker contact back in Sarajevo, he laughed and said that the next time she should ask him to make reservations. She had invoked his name several times but apparently this was not enough.

We continued north along the coast to Makarsala, a pleasant resort town, where we would pick up the road back to BiH. We parked near the harbor and strolled around for awhile, enjoying this last experience of summer-y weather. We got a
quick lunch of burek (light filo pastry wrapped around a meat filling) at a bakery after promising our friend we would not tell anyone in Sarajevo that we had eaten our first burek in Croatia rather than BiH.

We walked to the far side of the harbor for coffee and a better view of the town's geography. The hills rise very steeply from the coastal strip here, and it is a dramatic sight. As we looked at the imposing hills, we wondered how the road we were planning to take would get around/over them. We had decided to take a route that our friend had not tried before, via Vrgorac and Ljubuski. One of the attractions, apart from trying something new, was a recommendation for a restaurant where our friend could buy excellent rakija. I had consulted our two maps and determined this route did not show many squiggly lines, and we naively decided that the road must go through a pass somewhere.

Soon after starting out from Makarsala, the road began to climb very steeply and, looking ahead, we saw that it was was basically carved into the side of the hills with many hairpin turns. The drive was really terrifying for quite a stretch. We kept thinking the bad curves would end soon but then we would see more ahead. The views down (way down!) to the coast and the coastal road were spectacular although no one could really enjoy them except when we stopped at one of the pull-off areas. Then my husband remarked that he wondered how much was holding up these pull-outs at the edge of cliffs, and we didn't enjoy the stops so much.

Eventually we got through this part of the drive and into an area with more normal, though not exactly easy, mountain driving. We were able to see the sections of the highway which is being built from Zagreb to the coast--quite an engineering feat.

We passed back into BiH and soon reached Ljubuski and the Restaurant Most where we stopped to buy the recommended rakija. This was a beautiful spot along the river with bicycles and kayaks for rent. The restaurant looked charming, and there is an inn/motel connected to it.

The road from Ljubuski went past the pilgrimage site of Medjugorje. I had only vaguely heard of this site, but it is well known in BiH and the Catholic world and has been visited by millions of pilgrims. On June 24, 1981, six teenagers reported that they had been visited by the Virgin Mary, and she supposedly appears to them still. The area around the town/church has been built up with many facilities to accommodate these visitors.

Beyond Medjugorje we drove past an area with many vineyards, then entered Mostar and rejoined the main road to Sarajevo. We wanted to complete most of the trip in daylight so did not stop along the way. We did pick up some lamb dinners to go in Jablanica, and took these back to eat at our friend's apartment along with some of the Croatian wine.

Day 7 Sarajevo

I am not making good progress with this report due to the holidays, work and other distractions. I did want to describe Day 7 so that people who visit Sarajevo may consider attending a trial as we did.

The court hearing we saw was part of a war crimes trial at the
War Crimes Chamber
Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Kraljice Jelene 88
71000 Sarajevo , Bosnia and Herzegovina

We went with our friend who knew many of the judges, interpreters and attorneys involved, but it is possible for any visitor to see this war crimes tribunal in action. The proceedings currently have simultaneous translation in English (and perhaps other languages), although this may change when the international judges leave next year and the court is staffed with local judges only. This would be unfortunate because the trials are important and widely studied and should be accessible to the international community.

There is an interesting digest about the work of the court at
http://www.bim.ba/en/251/

After our morning in court, we had an excellent lunch at a nearby Italian restaurant, San Marino. This was what turned out to be the last warm day of the trip and we were able to eat outside in the courtyard.

My husband and I decided to go to the old town for more sightseeing while our friend went to work. We walked down to the main road and visited a big fruit and vegetable market before getting on the tram into town. In addition to the fruit and vegetable vendors, there were many stalls selling honey.

The tram system is quite easy to use although as I noted in an earlier entry, cabs are also inexpensive especially if there are more than two people riding. The trams can get very full and we were warned to watch for pick pockets.

In the old town, we got off to visit the small museum of 1914 with exhibits about the Austro-Hungarian era in Sarajevo history and especially about the assassination of Arch-Duke Ferdinand. We also visited the Old Orthodox church, built in the mid 16th century. It has an impressive iconostasis, a wall of icons.

That evening we ate at a wine bar, Noovi, right near the apartment then headed down through the park to see a movie our friend had recommended, The film, Jasmina, is the story of a woman who takes her young granddaughter to the Croatian coast during the siege of Sarajevo, then is forced to rely on an alcoholic neighbor to care for the child when she is hospitalized. A good movie--look for it on Netflix.

vt: keep it going..you are painting a clear and detailed picture of a region not many on this fourm have experienced. Brings back a ton of memories to this old (very old) Yugoslavia traveler. I thank you for this outstanding
effort! (I recently filled two chapters on the same regions, c.1890's, albeit fiction)

stu

Thanks for the encouragement, Stu. I will keep plugging away to finish the report.

My husband and I agree that this trip to BiH and Croatia was one of the most interesting trips we have ever taken. He is currently reading Roger Cohen's Hearts Grown Brutal: Sagas of Sarajevo, an excellent book I mentioned earlier in the thread. He keeps trying to tell me about different parts of the book, even though I have read it myself. It has several powerful stories of families from BiH and how they were affected by both WW II and the recent war.

Day 8

Our friend left for work quite early and we lounged around the apartment for several hours before heading to the airport to greet two of our friend's cousins. They had been traveling in Germany and Austria and were planning to see Sarajevo and the Dalmatian coast before returning to the U.S.

We had arranged with our friend's regular taxi driver to go to the airport and from there to the Tunnel museum which is in a nearby suburban neighborhood and relatively far from other tourist sites. The museum includes about 20 meters of the tunnel which was constructed beginning in 1993 to link the city of Sarajevo with the Bosniak-held territory beyond the airport. The Sarajevo Airport itself was a neutral area controlled by the United Nations. The tunnel allowed food and humanitarian aid to come into the city, and people to get out. The tunnel was also a source of weapons for the forces in the city. It is estimated that 20 million tons of food were brought into Sarajevo and 1 million people passed in and out of the city via this route. Our driver explained that most of the people who went out for supplies were men who had wives and children in Sarajevo. He himself made several trips. The museum includes powerful video footage of the siege and of people using the tunnel.

After leaving the Tunnel museum, we stopped briefly at a spa area in the suburb of Ilidza. This area's thermal springs were known to the Romans and there is a lovely park called Vrelo where we wandered for about half an hour. In the summer there are many outdoor restaurants and carriage rides in the park.

On the way back to town, we stopped at our friend's office and picked her up for a late lunch at the Avlija restaurant near her apartment. While her cousins (who had planned their trip before we did and had "dibs" on the apartment guest room) settled in, my husband and I moved our suitcases to the Hotel Michele where we stayed for the last three nights of our visit. This hotel (on Ivana Cankara 27) is an interesting older building in suburban neighborhood close to our friend's apartment and within easy walking distance to the old town. It has a lot of charm but some inconvenient features, notably a small hot water tank that made it difficult for us to take consecutive showers in the morning.

Our friend told us that Morgan Freeman had stayed in the hotel during the film festival last summer. Angelina Jolie was scheduled to stay there later in the fall during the filming of a movie she was directing. I believe that Jolie's stay never happened. She ran into a lot of criticism of her film, a story about a Bosniak woman who falls in love with a Serbian man who is the commander of a war camp. The Women Victims of War opposed the movie because they believed it was not sensitive to the issue of widespread rape during the war. Jolie claimed it was an apolitical love story. In November the time for shooting in BiH was cut back and Jolie herself was not scheduled to be present.

After settling in at the Hotel Michele, my husband and I walked over to the train and bus stations to check out schedules for Mostar. We had planned to go to Mostar and Blagaj on Day 9 before returning to Sarajevo for dinner, but when we looked at the public transit options, we found this would involve getting up very early in the morning to catch the train and lots of time spent in transit. We finally agreed to skip the side trip and spend more time in Sarajevo. (I think the excursion to Mostar is do-able as a day trip especially if you don't need to return to the city by early evening; it just didn't work well for us.)

We hopped a tram from the station to the old town and wandered around. Our friend and her cousins had dinner at a burek restaurant, but we were still full from lunch so we waited for a later meal at the Bambus restaurant. We all spent some time at the lively Zlatna Ribica (Goldfish) bar near the Eternal Flame.

Goldfish! Of the 8 weeks I spent in Sarajevo we probably went to Goldfish at least 4-5 times a week. Niro and Nikolai (Niro is the older bartender and Nikolai is the kid) were amazing and made great Sangrias every time!

It's too bad you didn't get to Blagaj - it is absolutely gorgeous and well worth the trip from Mostar. But a day trip to Mostar via train or bus is definitely doable and worth it for anyone who is in Sarajevo for a week or so.

Your reports are great VT, thanks!

The Goldfish bar is hard to describe--very funky decor and a wide range of beverages, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic.

Re the missed trip to Blagaj: I was certainly disappointed we never made it there as most people describe it as a magical place. We had originally planned to stop there en route to Croatia but were delayed by our accident in Sarajevo. When we were setting out the morning of our Day 9, we ran into a young man who was looking for the tekija in Sarajevo and he explained that the one at Blagaj was the most wonderful spiritual place in BiH.

I was in Sarajevo in '98 for 4 months while on active duty. The people are fascinating. Also, the best pizza I ever ate was in a "little hole in the wall" restaurant in the old portion of the city. Bruce

Vttraveler...

I am still enjoying your report immensely. Please continue!

I have now booked my flights to return to Sarajevo the first week of April 2011 for 5 days. My ex-mother-in-law is coming with me(!). We will be staying in an apartment on Strossmajerova, just off Ferhadija by the Cathedral on the street lined with cafes that runs down to to Zeleni Beretki and then on to the river.

We plan on a day trip to Mostar - I'll probably rent a car to avoid that 7am train. Also, if there is still snow on the mountains at that time, I'm going to take a day out to ski at Jahorina or Beljasnica. I'm already watching the snow forecasts!

In addition I have Kraljeva Sujetska and Lukomir on my 'to see if possible' list. MIL mentioned Lukomir to me after reading my guidebook, but we'll need a car to get there.

I am envious on your introduction to the city via your friend. You are so lucky to have had that opportunity.

katie1884...

I will make a point of visiting Goldfish this time round, it's just round the corner from where we will be staying.

Julia--I think a trip to Lukomir would be fascinating. Our friend and her family have gone several times. There are some guided tours you can take as an alternative to car rental.

Unfortunately, I somehow managed to lose a more detailed version of Day 9, but here is a re-done abbreviated account:

After a large breakfast buffet at the hotel, my husband and I started out for a day of sightseeing. Our first stop was the nearby Svrzo House, a well-preserved Ottoman House from the 18th century, part of the Museum of Sarajevo.

Next we walked into the old part of the city to explore the 16th century Gazi Husrev-Bey's mosque. Visitors can enter the impressive domed interior at the side between prayer times. As a woman, I felt uncomfortable/conspicuous at other mosques, but this one has quite a few tourists and tour groups. The exterior structures include a fountain, tombs, the large enclosed area for cleansing before prayer and the house where the sun's position was calculated to determine the correct time for prayer (before the age of digital timekeeping), and the clock tower.

We crossed the river to see the emperor's mosque and the
Franciscan monastery then walked along the river to the National Museum. This has an impressive collection including the famous Sarajevo Haggadah (the subject of Geraldine Brooks' People of the Book) and some stecci (tombstones) in the charming courtyard/botanical garden.

In the evening we went to the Sarajevska Pivara brewery restaurant with our friend, her cousins, and a young Bosnian judge. The restaurant has a huge timbered hall and serves specialties like veal shanks and grill plates and some special beers. The brewery has a natural spring which was used for water by many Sarajevo residents during the siege, and drinking the local beer is pretty much required as thanks for this service to the city. We ended the night at a cafe specializing in flavored tobacco smoked with a nagila (hookah).

Day 10

We had another big breakfast in the morning then started out to look for the Sarajevo Dervish House (Tekija) which we knew was not far from the hotel. Unfortunately the woman at the hotel desk did not have any detailed information about its location and it was not on our tourist maps. We explored the neighborhood for a while without success. It was interesting to wander a little in the residential section near the hotel. This area of the city was not heavily damaged by shells during the war, so there are more older wooden structures still standing than there are in other neighborhoods.

We arrived at our friend's apartment at 10 for an outing to the local market. This was a huge array of food stalls and a flea market. We bought dried mushrooms, dried cherries, smoked meats and other assorted foods and had some Bosnian coffee. We stopped on the way back to the apartment for some good kebab sandwiches at McDöner, part of a fast food chain with pictures of yellow scimitars mimicking the McDonald golden arches.

Our next destination was the white garrison, the ruins of an old fort at the eastern end of the city overlooking Sarajevo on one side and the river valley beyond on the other side. We took cabs up to the fort then worked our way downhill toward the old city center. We stopped on the way at the Yellow Garrison to listen to the call for prayer as it rose from many of the mosques around the city and suburbs.

As we reached the old town, we saw the actor who had starred in the film we saw earlier in the week. Our friend said both he and the woman star are often out and about in the city on Saturdays.

We took one last walk through the old section of the town and bought a few souvenirs (some beer glasses at the brewery and a hand-hammered copper coffee grinder and coffee pot) before heading back to the hotel. Our last dinner of the trip was a great meal served family style at a restaurant in the hills high above Sarajevo.

Keep going - fascinating and helping me prepare. I'm copying and pasting to an open office file - you're now over 9000 words

My plans for late May are now two nights in Zagreb, three nights in Dubrovnik, one night in Mostar and two nights in Sarajevo. Flying Zagreb-Dubrovnik and bus/train Dubrovnik-Mostar-Sarajevo.

Thanks.

Cheers, Alan
http://loraltravel.blogspot.com/

Alan--I am glad you have found the trip report useful in planning your time in Croatia and BiH. Your itinerary sounds good to me. We have never been to Zagreb so I can't provide any insight on that part of the trip.

Unfortunately our trip ended after Day 10 above.

Day 11 was a travel day back to Vermont via Munich and Boston. The trip was pretty uneventful which is always good, and we managed to get some Weisswurst and beer in the Munich airport between flights.

We had better weather from Sarajevo to Munich than we had in the other direction, so we had some great views of the Alps. Then, as we left Munich, we flew over the area in Bavaria where we lived for several years in the 1980's and enjoyed picking out the familiar landmarks.

If you have any specific questions I would be glad to try to answer them.

julia_t: I was looking at our guide book again and it says Lukomir is not accessible until late April because of the snow.
For others who don't recognize the name, this is a small very isolated village high (1500 meters) in the mountains of Bosnia. It offers a glimpse of the traditional life style in this area that has disappeared in other villages and cities. Our friend told us that the villagers never even knew that WW II had happened until it was over; this may be apocryphal.

Yes, I've got the same guidebook as you! I read that, but it says the same about the ski resorts - snow until late April. However several people have told me that there has been little or no snow or skiing in April in recent years. So I shall have to wait and see.

Thank you so much for taking the time to write a most enjoyable and informative trip report.

julia--I will look forward to reading your report when you get back from your trip in April. I hope you make it inside the Gazi Husrev Bey's mosque and Old Orthodox church this time. As I mentioned in my report, the old Jewish synagogue is also well worth a stop and will be near where you are staying.

The Washington Post travel section has an article about the Olympic museum in Sarajevo
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/14/AR2011011404095.html?sid=ST2011011405106

Another place we missed on our trip. I already have a longish list of things I would like to do on another trip if we make it back.

That's really interesting, I'd not heard anything about that before though I knew one could visit the old ice skating arena. And it wasn't just Scott Hamilton who won gold there - the British pair Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean won gold with their memorable Bolero routine and a perfect score!

Also, having been to an exhibition of Edin Numankadic's work at the Medressa I should like to see more. On display were some of his paintings and an installation of his 'Boxes' cycle – being boxes of varying size each containing a seemingly randomassortment of objects. the idea being, to quote "..by carefully confronting found objects he registers his reality in times of war and peace.."

So that's another place to visit when I'm back there in April - I'll make sure to post back about it.

Julia and VT...have either of you come across the work of the artist Jovan Obican...(obi-chan)...we bought some of his whimsical pieces on one of our pre-war visits. While in Croatia in 2004 I heard that both father and son (Lazar) had passed on. I had met with his son in Dubrovnik in the 80's when we did our purchasing. The son had been visiting Florida regularly year showing works of his father and his own, and established a museum in Boca Raton...Don't know if it's still there.

stu

I have not seen any work by Jovan Obican. We did stop at the gallery of work by paintings of Mersad Berber which is located at the Holiday Inn in Sarajevo.

http://www.artgallerylavon.com/?mainp~http://www.artgallerylavon.com/artists/OBi72/artistBio.htm&sidep~http://www.artgallerylavon.com/artists/OBi72/artistThumb1.htm

bookmarking..

I wanted to add some recommendations on background information about BiH. I have seen a movie and two TV documentaries about the country in the past week.

The movie was Cirkus Columbia. I saw it at a film festival but it is scheduled to come out in DVD soon. It can be saved on Netflix at this point. Very good, set in Herzegovina at the outbreak of the war.

The documentaries are I Came to Testify about Bosnian women who testified about war crimes at the Hague
http://video.pbs.org/video/2152159955

and The Love of Books: A Sarajevo Story about the staff of the Gazi Husrav-Beg Library and their efforts to save its priceless collection
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aKiyF47yQk

I am just back from another trip to sarajevo and the Croatian coast. I will write a trip report on this but thought I would also add to this thread since it includes a lot of background reading/watching suggestions. On our latest trip I read Besieged by Barbara Dimick, a U.S. journalist who followed the lives of several families on a street in Sarajevo during the war. It is very readable and gives a personal look at what it was like to endure a 3 1/2 year siege.