How does one begin a blog? No idea. More importantly, how does one begin to explain how, four days after leaving the UK, we somehow found ourselves in a hilltop fortress in Bosnia watching woodsmoke rise to the snowy mountains above? Below us buildings still lay empty, shell blasted and bullet ridden from the 1993 war, the Muslim call to prayer was echoing around the valley. But, back to the beginning...
After leaving London, we skated across the flatlands of northern Europe in trains as quiet as the night, stopping only for sleep and sausages amongst the twinkling towers of Frankfurt. Southward we went, through a Lidl riddled Germany and watched as the church spires ballooned into onion domes and the chocolate box houses sprouted wooden balconies. The landscape soon crumpled into mountains and forced our train upwards into the clouds and valleys clogged with pines and snow. ´It´s literally Narnia!´ exclaimed Nic, though I rather think it may have been Austria.
Once Slovenia too had slipped by our windows we finally arrived in Zagreb, Croatia. It was a lovely city where we rattled around in trams and stuffed our faces with hot burek. It didn´t yet feel like we had left the familiarity of western Europe.
We then we jumped on a bus to Bosnia and Herzegovina (as you do), careered around a few mountain valleys and found ourselves in Jajce, a town that tumbled down a hillside towards a raging waterfall. It was here that we found ourselves in our fortress, questioning the feasibility of our current location. A further bus took us here to Sarajevo! We have only just arrived and the snow is falling rather beautiful outside so we had best go and enjoy it.
All in all, its all been a fine old start to the trip full of the inexplicable joy I feel when watching the world rush by my window. And to think, we were in the UK but five days ago...
How I wish I was back in Sarajevo. I stumbled on a few of these places last summer which made my time there very enjoyable indeed. You might stumble across them too, in which case, we can compare notes when you're back. Don't worry, I won't be making recommendations for your whole trip, but allow me the indulgence for the Bosnia & Montenegro bit, especially since I couldn't get to the pub to see you off....
ReplyDelete1. 'Bar Tito' - next to the National Museum and Revolution Museum. 2. 'Buybook' bookshop & café on Radičeva, plus the ramshackle bar/café opposite. 3. 'Vegehana' restaurant off Ferhadija, for the most amazing veggie organic Bosnian food. 4. The Bosnian coffee and burek in Baščaršija!
Lastly, at the end of Maršala Tita, opposite the Alipašina mosque, there is a yellow-ish Austro-Hungarian building which houses the Ministry of Finance. Go round the back, through the park, and there's a bar. Enter through the courtyard, and go downstairs into the cellar. We went there and spent an evening with the locals, absolutely no tourists apart from us, and a live Bosnian folk band. And lots of cigarette smoke. Under the Ministry of Finance.
I hope you're both having an amazing time. You certainly both deserve it.
Sounds brilliant! I am very jealous and look forward to the next installment. xx
ReplyDeleteA wonderful beginning, hooray! Look forward to many more tales of your adventures to come! Enjoy every moment of it!
ReplyDeleteAlexo xx