Sarajevo turned into a tale of two days and one night…….
The night bus from Dubrovnik arrived at 430am, it was still dark, spent an hour in the bus station waiting for the sun to come up and then found the train station. Upon using the ATM outside my transaction was declined ( curses ). The HSBC call centre didn’t open for another 2 hours so basically had to wait to try find out what was happening before I could buy a train ticket for the following day and get a hotel room. During this time I had to practically beg the woman manning the train station toilet to let me use Croatian currency to pay to get in. Eventually she conceded, just in the nick of time too. The decision to have a jalapeño pizza the night before in Dubrovnik had almost backfired in the most horrible way….(turned out my stomach wasn’t quite back to normal after all, but I think everyone has heard enough about my digestive problems now so ill omit any future occurrences of “S.S.” going forward)
Around seven I decided to see if a hotel nearby would take Euros as I was in real need of a bed to crash out on. The first hotel I checked quoted a price of 65 euros per night (oouch ) and advised I should go into Sarajevo’s old town to find a cheap room . I had wanted to avoid staying too far from the station as the train to Budapest left at 655am the following morning. Passed a bank machine on the way and tried again this time it let me have money ( hazaar) ended up walking back to the train station to by the ticket to Budapest and then all the way back into town to get a hostel.( staying in a cheep hostel in town would prove to be costly in other ways…..)
After walking about 4km in total with pack killing my shoulders, the hostel I found in the middle of town turned out to be on the 4th floor of a shared apartment building.( lugged my stuff up Sherpa style exhausted). Luckily they had a bed available but I would have to come back 2 hours later ( the time was now 9am).
I dumped my stuff then headed into town….Sarajevo was different than I expected. Mosques and Churches and Synegogs sat together amongst the modern high street shops and an Ottoman Bazaar. The surrounding hills provided an impressive backdrop. The overall vibe was very chilled making the place seem the perfect example of religious tolerance and well being towards your fellow man. Only on closer inspection did the shadows of the violent past reveal themselves in the shape of bullet holes on building walls and filled shell craters on the streets. Unbelievable being there today that the longest siege since WW2 had taken place in the last 2 decades.
Also visited the Latin bridge scene of the assassination of Franz Ferdinand ( the prince, not terrible band unfortunately ) and the catalyst for WW1. Later after checking into the hostel, showering and sleeping for a couple of hours, headed out again and visited a few of the cemeteries on the surrounding hills. The view down into the valley was picturesque was feeling good about my time in Sarajevo and one day seemed like the right amount of time to spend before heading north . Things would soon take a turn for the worse though, as I decided to have a few beers in the evening to use up my local currency…..
Basically drank too much cheaply priced beer that night, firstly with some Dutch guys then ran into some English fellow ex public school attendees and ended up in the local rock bar until around 4am……( “what, with my reputation?”)
The next morning I was woken up by my alarm at 840am,it had been on snooze since 5.30am making me an instant enemy of my room mates. Had missed the train and lost a travel day , my head felt like sludge and to make matters worse the hostel was full that night, so I had to check out at 10am.……( ohh chrissy-bado when will you ever learn?)
With lost money in mind found a 20 bed hostel room up the road that cost 9 euros……Upon entering the dorm room my heart sank…..there were basically seven , 3 birth bunk beds arranged concentration camp style around the sides of a small sized dorm room. There was no room for luggage so every ones stuff was in a pile in the middle of the room and the bathroom looked like something I had seen on the border of India and Nepal…
Doing my best to block out my surroundings I went straight back to sleep until around 2pm and then hazily walked back to the train station ( again ) to see if my train ticket would be valid for the following day. …Luckily it was ( hazaar) ….Spent the rest of the afternoon trying to cure another hangover from hell and looking for a wi-fi connection to alter my hostel booking in Budapest. ( the bad lieutenant felling was back in abundance….)
That evening crashed out in the hostel around 8pm and lay in bed feeling like a battery hen and trying to sleep through the sound of other travellers getting drunk in the room next door. At 530 my alarm woke me up and I checked out of the hostel. Ended up walking back to the station again and made the train in plenty of time. It was hard enough getting up on 8 hours sleep with no hangover…don’t know what the hell I was thinking going drinking the other night ( although must admit it’s the first time I’ve ever slept through my alarm like that, even after a big night out , looks like my days of being a “Hangover Ninja” are over ).
All and all despite set back in plans Sarajevo was one of the coolest places ive been to on the trip. History aside the town is beautiful, and the friendliness of the local residents after recent troubles was inspiring…..As the train pulled out through town and the local villages more war damage was apparent….crossed over into Serbia again in the midday heat and felt more at ease about loosing a travel day (doing the train trip hung-over the day before may have broken me)…next destination the Austro-Hungarian Empire…..
Former Yugoslav Summary
The time spent in Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina was memorable for many reasons. The first time I had travelled in eastern Europe ( not including a 2 day stag in Krakow) was interesting. The relics of communism were apparent in the amount of bureaucratic red tape around, for example the countless passport checks on the borders. However the overall vibe was very relaxed and I found the people to be very hospitable and helpful ( apart from when you asked them to make change). The Balkan area itself is on the cross roads of 3 major religious cultures ( Catholic, Orthodox and Islamic ) so there is an interesting historical mix. The shadows of recent violent events seem surreal when you view them along side the modern capitals and tourist areas. In terms of the natural environment saw some of the best views of the trip, and also met a lot of cool people along the way. In comparison with Turkey was a vast difference in the experience and overall the Balkans
No comments:
Post a Comment