During my trip that was originally planned only to Bosnia, i also travelled by car with my brother to Dubrovnik (Croatia) and Kotor (Montenegro).
Balkanic Roads
Roads in Bosnia are a must-to-experiment. Limited to 60km/h, sometimes up to 80km/h, you spend your time or going fast because you just overtook a truck, or behind a truck trying to see any opening on the opposite side of the road to overtake it. I have to admit, we got some scary moments but it was fun anyway. Much funnier than being on a motorway and bored, since we were passing by right in the canyons around Mostar, and then just next to the Adriatic Sea.
Dubrovnik
Be careful: it is DubrovniK with a K, not with a C. I made the mistake too many times already… 
Dubrovnik is a very beautiful and charming city lying on the Adriatic Sea, just at the very bottom of Croatia, less than 50km from Montenegro.
Dubrovnik, old city
If 20 years ago the war touched and/or destroyed more than two third of the constructions there, now it has become one of the most touristic place of the Adriatic Sea and of Croatia. And when you are there, you just understand why. Some walls have been built around the old city, and this old city kept his authentic side but i am probably saying this cause i went during winter, so there were really few tourists… and Georges Pernoud, the guy from Thalassa. The main street is full of shops and little bar/coffees, with an old rock color (a bit similar to Salamanca actually); whereas perpendicular streets are really narrow and go up the hill, with clothes drying on ropes hanging between the two sides on the street.
The Adriatic Sea, from the walls of Dubrovnic
Walk a bit from the entrance, and after the cathedral you end up… on the harbour. Yes. With some sailing boats. Some restaurants, a view on the hill on the other side of the « bay » and then, the horizon.
Walk a bit in the narrow streets, pass under the walls, and you end up, right on the shore. That one was pretty magic, we were not expecting this, and suddenly, only the sea is in front of us. Tables and chairs are mounted up, i suppose waiting for the summer and some more tourists… well… lucky tourists… that would have a drink right in that piece of heaven.
Because it was winter, the city had a certain charm that i guess would disappear with the crowd of tourists during summer… even though i was a tourist there, i generally don’t like being a tourist and surrounded by other tourists, so i felt a sort of peace in Dubronik.
The morning after, we went back to the old city for a last walk, and again, very beautiful, since the sky was mostly clear and still reddish.
In the narrow streets of Dubrovnic
Kotor
Now, Kotor. Kotor is a small city situated directly on the lake named after itself : Kotor’s lake. To get there, you pass the Croatia – Montenegro border (when someone tried to make us believe we had to pay 10 euros to enter the country) and you go straight on. Although from France it would be easy to imagine Montenegro as a very poor country, well once you get there you actually get the impression they don’t have so many problems to live. Obviously, i’m sure it’s just an impression, but houses are nice, villages are nice and look clean and not so poor.
Perast
Bordering the lake, one village in particular got our attention: it’s Perast. It looks like a very old yet authentic village just on the border of the lake, with his houses made of rock and his narrow street along the border. Typically something you would put on a postcard.
After a while, here comes Kotor. Kotor is a small city, whose old area is behind walls. There is also a castle up the hill, behind walls as well, from where you get a very nice view of the city and the lake. We ate very well (can’t remember the name of the restaurant) but had to leave early, since 6 hours of driving were awaiting us to go back to Sarajevo.
Kotor's walls
Other pics available on my flickr
As i said, i will be talking by themes about my trip to Bosnia (and more…).
So here we go…
I will start by giving you a bit of background about Sarajevo, Bosnia, and other terms and words…
Geography
Sarajevo is the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina. It is extended along a big river (Miljacka) from east to west. It is located in a valley, so surrounded by (very nice) mountains. Part of Sarajevo lies in the mountains, and roads can get very steep sometimes.
You can find in Sarajevo more than 400000 people.
I am about to say something that might look stupid to you… but Sarajevo looks a bit like the idea i have of Grenoble, in France (but i have never been there): a charming city, not too big, not too small, where you can see mountains from almost everywhere, with a very nice old town, lots of tramway lines as the principal mean of transportation… a city with character and something authentic.
Late history
In its late history, Bosnia and Sarajevo have known many influences. There was Ottoman influences for more than 400 years, then Austrian/Hungarian influences from 19th century til 1917 (you can still witness very nice buildings from that period), and then communism came after the WW II (you can also witness this influence, this time in all the ugly residential buildings in the suburbs), personnalized by Tito. In the 90s were the Yugoslavian Wars (yes, yes, Yugoslavian Wars : my brother just told me that wars were at a different time in Croatia, Serbia, … so it’s better to talk about them plural), and during the Bosnian War there was a big German influence (German army?) , and one of the consequence is that the currency they choosed after that war was directly related to the German Mark (i.e., with a fixed exchange rate). So, for example, now for 1 euro you can get very exactly 1,95 KM.
Mix of influences.
In France we tend to mix the terms Bosniak and Bosnian, and yet there is an important difference in that terminology.
In Bosnia-Herzegovina you can find three kinds of people: Bosniaks (mostly Muslim religion, 50% of inhabitants of Bosnia, they are speaking Bosnian), Serbs (Orthodox religion, 35% of people living in Bosnia – Serbian is the language spoken in Serbia and Montenegro) and Croats (Catholic religion, 15% of people – Croatian is the language used in Croatia). In Sarajevo, there are a lot of Bosniaques, around 80% of people. Talking about Bosnian actually refers to the language they speak in Bosnia Herzegovina and to all the people living there, without distinction of religion or cultures.
This mix of influences is one of the charm of Bosnia and Sarajevo. You can hear several times a day the muezzin singing – he is the man in the mosque that calls for prayer. And then, 5 minutes after, that would be the catholic church’s bell calling for prayer as well. And i have visited (for the first time in my life) a mosque from the inside (in Sarajevo) and a Orthodox church (in Montenegro)
You can find mosque all around the city, as well as Muslim cemeteries : from his flat located at the 10th floor, my brother can count 25 mosques, and see at least 5 or 6 cemeteries. You also find muslim graves in green parks… You have to remember that many Bosniaques were killed during the War in Bosnia : when you have a look at those cemeteries, most graves concern people deceased from 1992 to 1995, and people dead until 1997 consequently to the war.
About the Bosnian War
When i heard about my brother going to Sarajevo, the first images that came to me were of wars and destroyed buildings. For us foreigners, it is hard to think about Sarajevo without relating it to the war.
Most western countries haven’t been on a war for more than 60 years (at least on their own territory), so obviously it is really interesting to go to a country that was under siege and destruction just 15 years ago.
I have to say, it is sometimes impressive. And it makes you think a lot. About the luck we have in France, Belgium or Spain. About how people went on with their lives here, in spite of all the horrors they have seen and lived. Also makes me feel a bit uncomfortable to be there, witnessing as a tourist the destroyed buildings and the bullets.
I remember growing up with the images of Sarajevo destroyed…According to recent and official studies, at least 100.000 people found death in this conflict between 1992-1995.
Now, you can still find remainings of old destroyed buildings, bullets are everywhere on the walls… but people you meet in the street were actually there during the war. It is a weird feeling to be in those streets where history happened…
Its obviously hard to sum up the causes of the war and the war itself. You would need hundreds of years of history, to understand the tension of this part of the world, and some social information as well. Bosnia-Herzegovina was a really mixed country, as i said earlier. History is full of conflicts in the Balkans, and it would be too easy to conclude that one community was better than the other one.
After the fall of communism, things started to get bad in Yugoslavia. In the federation of Bosnia, power was dispatched between the three leading communities, but soon enough, even though Serbia and Croatia federation were trying to split Bosnia federation, Bosnia-Hercegovina declared itself as an independent country, leading to a war held by Serbs (who would later be joined by the Croats).
Everybody started fighting with each other, but this time, in this 1992-1995 conflict, Serbs attacked the most. Soon Serbs were circling Sarajevo, making a siege that would be the longest siege of a european city in the modern world : for more than 3 years, Sarajevo was surrounded by Serb force. History always tend to repeat… Serbs built some camp of concentration, raped Bosniak women, prevented the citizens to get any food or drink.
All this under the eyes of the United Nations, that just provided the country with some Peacekeeping Forces (Casques bleus), that dind’t have any right to use their weapons… and were just supposed to « keep the peace », in other words, not do anything, not try to make peace…
Anyway Bosniak organized and resisted, even without the help of UN forces. They built a tunnel under one of the hills, that they used for food and drink transit, a tunnel that Serbs never discovered. They built up a military force and won some important battles… Serbs replicated with some big massacres: Markale massacres, and Srebrenica massacre. Eventually, the International community did something and pressured Milosevic (the Serbian dictator) to stop the war.
The story in the Balkans is very interesting… I didn’t even mention Mostar here, who was another symbol during the war, symbol of the confrontation between Croats and Bosniaks… Croats and Bosniaks started the war as allied against Serbs, but then decided to join the latter ones. That went so far that Croats even destroyed the symbolic Stari Most bridge, to prevent Bosniaks to go to the other side of the city…
For more information, you should definitely go visit wikipedia, its full of information! The english Wikipedia page about the war is really big, and i was just trying to give you some introduction about the war…
Stay tuned for other articles about this trip…
I was about to go for a chronological diary of my trip but then, due to my limitations in english, i thought it might be more interesting to do it by « themes ».
But before, let me anyway have a small part about what i did each day.
Sarajevo from above
Friday 06th november – Arrival to Sarajevo, under the rain. Gather with my parents. Coffee with my brother. 1 hour walk in the old town, by night, and along the river. Restaurant with my parents and my brother, a bit out from the centre of the city.
Saturday 07th november – Walking in the old town, the city centre. Sarajevo Museum (Ottoman part). Restaurant « Kod Keme » right in the centre. Rest at my brother’s. Restaurant by night in the mountains, « Kibe », with a very nice view.
Sunday 08th november – Quick visit and tour in the center of Sarajevo. A coffee on a terrace of the BBI Centar, with a nice view.
Monday 09th november – Day trip to Mostar, 2h30 by train from Sarajevo. Amazing view during the journey. Stari Most. Visit of the Croat part as well. Nice restaurant along the river.
Tuesday 10th november – Rent a car with Budget. Journey to Dubrovnic (Croatia), 5h more or less from Sarajevo by car. Visit of the old city of Dubrovnic, inside and outside the walls. Stunning view of the Adriatic Sea. Dinner in a restaurant in the old town . Sleeping at the unique youth hostel of the city.
Wednesday 11th november – Quick tour and breakfast in Dubrovnic, and last view of the sea from there. Back in the car. Herceg Novi, Kotor’s lake, Perast and Kotor (Montenegro). Visit of Kotor. Lunch in Stari Grad. Quick 30mn walk up the old walls of Kotor. Journey back to Sarajevo, through Mostar. Amazing sunset in Perast. 6 hours drive back to Sarajevo, enjoying the roads of Montenegro, Croatia and Sarajevo, where it is so difficult to overpass cars.
Thursday 12th november – Visit of Sarajevo and the surroundings. National Gallery of BiH (exposition about how some Spanish diplomats during the WW II helped Jews refugees to get a visa and escape from Holocaust). Ate some variantes of bureks in one of those typical bar/coffee place that seels burek. Big walk up the mountains. City Bar in Sarajevo.
We have been a lot on the road
Friday 13th november – Journey back to Madrid!
Now, you can read my different articles (already or soon available, i’ll add the links when articles are available) about my trip to Bosnia/Croatia/Montenegro:
- Sarajevo and its surroundings
- Eating, drinking and going out in Sarajevo
- Mostar
- Dubrovnic
- Herceg Novi, Perast, Kotor and Kotor’s lake
- Interesting and funny stuff about Bosnia.
Go also check my brother’s blog (www.guillaume-daudin.info/blog) or wikipedia for more informations.
Most pictures are on my FlickR, but i will put a selection of pictures directly in my blog, and probably add a gallery to directly browse each FlickR related gallery.
Family trip in Bosnia and Sarajevo
Sarajevo. A weird city to visit, no?
Bosnia. A unusual country to visit, no?
Panorama of Sarajevo
Many people were really surprised (and afraid) when i told them i was going one week to Bosnia and more particularly to Sarajevo.
Well, i have a good reason. My brother’s there, doing an internship. So we decided to go for a big family trip there.
I just arrived to Sarajevo, and my parents are arriving in less than 30 minutes in the coffee place i am right now. They will stay til Tuesday whereas i stay til Friday morning. We don’t have a plan yet, i have to admit we relied a lot on my brother to organize everything… On my side, i didnt find the time to look a lot into it, between moving, trying to know people and Brussels; plus i was sure my brother will handle this great! …
Well actually, for the days after my parents leave, we have some ideas already, but nothing booked yet, so let’s not spread the word at the moment.
So i will try to relate you guys every day of this trip, its a quiet unusual city and country to visit, so im sure you will be interested in that.
Folks, stay tuned.
La Bosnie, par mon frère à moi
Hey les gens!
Mon frère est actuellement à Sarajevo, en Bosnie; et travaille pour l’ambassade de France pendant 5 mois. (Je vais d’ailleurs le visiter à Sarajevo dans moins de 20 jours).
Si vous voulez en savoir plus sur la Bosnie, que ce soit sportif ou politique, allez voir son blog: mon frère est au coeur de l’actualité puisqu’il rédige des revues de presse pour l’ambassade.
Il racontera aussi ses rencontres, ses expériences, ce qui l’a touché.
C’est vraiment très agréable à lire (et je dis pas çà parce que c’est mon frère). Et puis, mon frère, c’est une personne qui, de ses propres mots, a « soif de rencontrer des gens de là-bas », et « de se laisser bousculer par la civilisation locale ». Il s’est mis au bosnien dès qu’il a appris la bonne nouvelle, il avait déjà des contacts par là-bas, il a un bon background journalistique… Ca promet des articles intéressants. En fait y en a déjà des très intéressants.
Son blog est ici: http://guillaume-daudin.info/blog/
Deux articles très intéressants: Jeunesse et militantisme en Bosnie-Herzégovine et Mostar, perle de l’Herzégovine
Nicolas.
