Day 9

Depart Dubrovnik
6 Hour Drive to Sarajevo via Mostar
Hotel Latinski Most
Dinner
Wandering the Old City

     I am a little late posting this, we got into Sarajevo yesterday and by the evening I was too exhausted to do anything but fall into bed at 9:30 p.m. Anyway, we left Dubrovnik for Sarajevo in the morning. We had arranged for a driver to take us because it is supposed to be faster and we didn't want to be on a bus for 6 hours. The trip still ended up taking us 6 hours but we took a very interesting route and got to make some cool stops we wouldn't have made if we had taken a bus.

     Our driver was Muamer and he was Bosnian. His English was pretty good, we could communicate with him but we couldn't ask as many questions as I wanted because it took a lot of effort for him to grasp everything we were saying. Normally it would have been fine, we could have stumbled through, however, it was more important for him to focus on driving. When we got going he asked us if we wanted to go the normal way which would have involved 3 border crossings, or take a smaller road that was a little narrow and bumpy but didn't have the same crossings. We chose the adventurous route with fewer crossings and we are very glad we did. We ended up only going through one border, it was just like crossing into the U.S. for us, we had to wait in a fairly long line up, they looked at our passports and waved us through.

     The road we went on wasn't actually that bumpy but it was narrow and windy. It was so beautiful though. We passed many little villages and farming communities. The area reminded us very much of the Okanagan. It was hot and dry with scrubby vegetation. We saw olive groves, vineyards, and fruit and vegetable farms. The highest temperature we went through was 37 degrees. The landscape was quite rugged. We stopped at a small rest stop that had a restaurant, toilets, a mosque, and a fortress. There were also locals selling farm products and souvenirs. We stopped for about 20 minutes, Muamer had a coffee an a cigarette and we ate our packed lunch of bread, biscuits, and water.....sounds like rations but it was pretty good. It was here that we saw our first mosque, saw women completely covered with the niqab, and heard the call to prayer.

     I took many photos through the windows (which is why the quality is not great), the country of Bosnia is very beautiful. There were numerous places I would have liked to stop and explore. The landscape slowly changed and became more mountainous and green. We drove through Herzegovina first which was hotter and drier before crossing under a tunnel and going into Bosnia. Muamer said that officially they are one country but unofficially they are two separate areas. Bosnia reminded us very much of home with mountains and trees. It was a little different, the rocks and trees were different varieties. We also drove along a beautiful green river for much of the second part of the trip.

     Muamer stopped for another rest break at a restaurant that is well known among Bosnians for its roast lamb. They roast them on spits over coals. The spits are turned by these big wheels. When were there they had about 12 lambs roasting. It is right on a river in a town called Jablanica. The town is known for roast lamb. Muamer said when you travel to the Adriatic on holiday or you go visit relatives it is very customary to stop and get some lamb take out. The views were incredible. I hope to go back there to eat some day.

     We also stopped at a spot where Bosnian resistance fighters in WW2 blew up a bridge to stop the German advance. They have built a new bridge and you can stand on it to take pictures of the destroyed bridge which they left blown up and fallen down into the river below. There is also a memorial next to it.

     Muamer told us that football (soccer) is very popular in the country because the country is not rich and it is an accessible sport to play. They take great pride in their soccer team as it has gotten better. We saw a lot of evidence that the country is not as well off, there were partially finished houses all along our route. The houses were made out of terracotta coloured blocks...not really bricks but more like orange coloured concrete blocks. Some looked abandoned and some looked like people were living in parts of them but they often had no windows or some windows looked boarded up. We did see more complete homes, it seems they cover up the blocks with plaster which makes them look more finished. We also saw many unfinished or ruined larger buildings.

     We made the final push for Sarajevo and hit the city just in time for rush hour. We saw evidence of the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s with buildings that were partially destroyed. You could see evidence of shell holes and some buildings that had been patched up. We arrived at our hotel which was the Latinski Most which means Latin Bridge. It is where Franz Ferdinand was assassinated sparking WWI. We are in hotels now until the end of the trip. The room is nice though, it has a nice bathroom and breakfast is included.

     Once we got settled we hit the Old Town in search of dinner. We found a good, basic Bosnian restaurant and were able to eat outside. We had really good beer and grilled meat dinners. Mark and Joe shared a grilled meat platter they said was good for two people, really we could have all eaten it. It was amazing. I had chicken skewers. Delicious! Prices are much more reasonable than in Dubrovnik. The Old Town is very atmospheric. It feels the most culturally different place we have been to. Mosques and minarets everywhere. After dinner we did some wandering to get our bearings then headed back to the hotel to collapse into bed.