Making the Most of Mostar

First of all, HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELISE!!

Been slacking on the blog a bit lately…wifi is a real luxury here in Montenegro. Here a few more tidbits about Bosnia that we never had the chance to post.

It was nice to finally see some cultural diversity in Eastern Europe once we got to Mostar, Hercegovina. Mostar was hit hard by the Yugoslavian civil war and there is still a great deal of infrastructure rehabilitation to be done. That means that there are all sorts of remnants from the front lines of battle like the skeletons of bombed-out/shelled-out buildings, which are eerily nestled between bright new apartments in otherwise perfectly normal residential neighbourhoods. From the looks of it, nature inevitably moves in to the condemned buildings, along with heaps of household trash, and it is quite a sight to behold. Between the remnants of the war, the many mosques with minarets calling Muslims to prayer, tall church steeples and a strong Turkish cultural presence, Mostar has been a major highlight of this trip

In contrast, when we drove to Sarajevo afterwards, we were surprised to see that it is much more rehabilitated than other parts of Bosnia, although the urban infrastructure is still seriously lacking. Which reminds me: rule number 1 for European transit is that, when in doubt, always validate your ticket. Elise and I mistakenly thought we had a day pass for the tram in Sarajevo but later learned that we had a non-validated two-way pass when we were the victims of a ticket checking blitz. We were riding the tram from downtown to our campground in the suburbs. The transit cops probably had us pegged for tourists and hence we would be easy prey for them to collect a fine towards their quota. Elise and I pleaded ignorance on account of the fact that we are tourists and we don’t speak Bosniak. The transit cops – three strongly-built, burly Bosniaks – were unwavering and they demanded to see our passports because we didn’t have the $40 CAD equivalent to pay for the fine. We didn’t have our passports either. So, we got kicked off at the next stop and there we were on the street with the three transit cops – who didn’t speak English – looming over us demanding our money and passports. They were relentless. We considered the fact that they might be ex-soldiers who were fighting in a war no more that 15 years ago. They solicited the help of a passer-by to translate their demands and we learned from this friendly girl that they had called the REAL cops to come settle things. Then, instead of translating what the guys were actualy saying, she told us to just jump in a cab and get the hell outta there! We heeded her advice and she jumped in the cab with us while the transit cops looked on helplessly. We dropped the girl off down the street and made it back to the safe haven of our campground. It was an ordeal to say the least, but on the bright side the tickets were still usable for the next day’s journey! Elise and Gully 1, Sarajevo 0.

We have since driven back to Dubrovnik, Croatia where we paid an outrageous $50 CAD to camp in a mediocre suburban campground. Not much more to say about that except that it is a stunning town despite being overrun with tourists. Now we are in Montenegro (Crna Gora to the locals) where driving is such that when you encounter oncoming traffic it feels as if you’re driving the wrong way on a one way street! More on the epic Montenegrin drives later.

-G

P.S. we will post links to our online photo albums as soon as we upload them!