Yes, THAT Sarajevo, and no, don't worry!

I left Belgrade ready for something new. As I have already mentioned, I was in a bit of a rut--looking at building after building was just not doing it for me anymore really, and I had started to get to the point where a late bus or a surly checkout lady at the supermarket really got to me. This is never a good sign because these kinds of things are life on the road, and if I couldn't deal with that, I was in trouble...so I headed off on a long bus ride to Sarajevo. Driving through Bosnia was really interesting. It was amazingly beautiful countryside; so serene and lovely with rolling hills and tons of green...so beautiful, in fact, that you at first don't notice that there's something strange about it. In all these cute little villages along the way, lots of the buildings are either only half there, or have a roof or wall missing, but this still wouldn't be much to notice--lots of buildings in Eastern Europe are falling in and abandoned. Then, you notice that all the houses around these have little holes all over them, and then you realize. These people were the lucky ones--their houses just got shot at. Their neighbors were bombed.

Quite a realization! It was very interesting to see this, and to see how beautiful everything was otherwise. Sarajevo itself, once we finally arrived, is this cute city all surrounded by beautiful hills, and the people turned out to be some of the nicest people I'd come across yet! I got off the bus very confused and disoriented, because the directions I'd gotten to my hostel were from the OTHER bus station, and I was out in the middle of nowhere. People helped me though, although no one spoke much english, and through gestures and a few words, pointed me in the direction of the correct city bus. On there though, I had no idea what I was doing, and I must have looked pretty lost, because a lady across the aisle came and sat with me and actually spoke english (she had lived in Australia it turns out) and informed me that she was going to take care of me. And she did! She told me where to get off the bus, and, despite me telling her it was ok, she didn't have to, she got off with me, and walked me to her sister's house to get directions to my hostel, then all the way to my hostel, not wanting anything in return! It was incredibly nice and I appreciated it so much after a long day.

So people there turned out to be very nice, and the food was very cheap, so even if for those two reasons alone, I was pretty happy with the town. I was getting full meals for like $2! It was still the eastern european food that is not my favorite--heavy and buttery and good for a couple bites but then makes you feel pretty sick--that kind of food. :) I met some guys from England and the US who were nice and pretty fun, and I hung out with them a bit, but mostly just wandered around on my own seeing the city. I stayed for a couple days in Sarajevo and then took off to Mostar, which is another town in Bosnia, but which I'll include in this journal entry to make it easier...

Mostar was beautiful. It was, as I gathered (quick note: I had no guidebook from when I left Romania all the way through to this point, so I didn't know as much about the tourist stuff and it was a little more difficult to get around and figure things out...maybe another reason I was a little overwhelmed by this point. That and the fact that these places were much more off the beaten track and so less tourist friendly etc.)...anyway, so it was hit pretty hard in the war, around 1993 or so, and lots of it was still pretty damaged. They had, however, rebuilt a bridge across this (very beautiful, almost fake-colored-looking) river, and it was very symbolic of trying to fix relations between the Muslims and the Christians in Mostar. So it was a very nice, small town, but actually more touristed than I had thought it would be. I stayed for only one night, because that's really all it took to wander around the town a bit, eat some good cheap meals, and take pictures. I was also looking forward to getting in a little time on the beach, so it was off to Croatia!