Disclaimer- this post is extra long (and full of some history). If you don't want to read it all, the TL;DR version is that we loved Bosnia and Herzegovina. It really surprised us (in a good way), and has become Carson's answer to "what was you favorite country in Europe?" (Mel loved it too, but it's really hard to top Greece for her). We think you should visit. Alright, let's get into it!
Our journey to Bosnia and Herzegovina started off pretty rough when we tried to catch our bus from Split, Croatia to Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. We booked a bus leaving at 1:30pm that was going to take about 7 hours to get to Sarajevo (one of our longer bus rides in Europe, but cheaper than flying!). For once, our bus was actually on time (let's just say the Balkans are VERY loose with timetables), which we took as a good sign. That sentiment immediately changed when we boarded the bus, though. We noticed that our driver was soaked in sweat when he scanned our tickets (fair enough, it was probably 95 degrees in Split that day), but then when we boarded the bus and it felt like an oven we had a real "oh, shit" moment. At first, we tried to write it off- maybe the bus had been sitting at the terminal for a while and they hadn't turned the AC on? There's no way they can let people board a 7 hour bus ride without AC...right? We could tell some of the people around us were also confused/concerned, but we saw our fair share of older locals boarding the bus and looking unphased. We even saw an older woman rip a piece of cardboard off of a box she had to use it as a makeshift fan. This was enough for us to start to panic, and Mel started to feel sick imagining being stuck on this moving oven with no way to open windows or stop for hours. So, Melissa ran up front a few minutes before departure and used Google Translate to ask the driver if the bus had AC. The driver moved his hands like an incomplete pass in football and just said "No," which was clear enough, and we decided to abandon ship (bus). Five other people followed this interaction and also jumped off the bus. Three of them were other backpackers who spoke English, and after figuring out our backup bus which fortunately left later the same day, we ended up getting a drink with them and becoming friends. Luckily, our next bus had AC, but while we were supposed to get in around 10:30pm, we ended up getting into Sarajevo at 1am. We had been pretty stubborn about not taking taxis to this point, but we caved and took our first; it was overpriced, but we were too tired to care. Part of the delayed arrival was the border crossing (our first non-EU crossing!), which took a while. Remaining on the bus and just passing our passport up to a random guy in a very dark border zone felt a little sketchy, but we got them back eventually (courtesy of the helpful woman on the bus who spoke Croatian and Bosnian and passed them out like a teacher handing back papers. She didn't want to try to pronounce our names, so we just responded to "United States.)" The other reason for the delay was that our bus driver made a lot of stops....a stop or two for a bathroom break is nice, but he also stopped for coffee and to order dinner at one point. Luckily we were surrounded by our oven-bus friends, and a couple additional friends we met on the new bus, which made it all more comical and enjoyable. It was an adventure, but we definitely made the right call to switch buses and got some new friendships out of it. We're still trying to get a refund for our original bus, and we still find ourselves wondering how that journey went for those who stayed....
Sarajevo: Our first day in Sarajevo we slept in and took it easy. Eventually, we ventured out for lunch and groceries. We were staying in an apartment located in a more residential neighborhood of the city, but only about a 15 min tram ride to the city center. For lunch we got our first (but nowhere near our last) taste of burek - a flaky pastry with either spinach, cheese, or meat inside. We ordered all three, and the nice woman working served them up on a large plate for 6 marks which is about 3 U.S. dollars. In the afternoon, we headed downtown for a free walking tour of the city along with two of our bus friends. The tour was focused on the war in Bosnia and the siege of Sarajevo, specifically, which we really wanted to learn more about, since it happened when we were babies and neither of us learned much about it in school. The tour was very powerful with the detailed description of the war in the 90's by our guide Neno, who was a kid living in Sarajevo when it was under siege by Serbia. The siege of the city lasted for almost 4 years, from 1992-1996, and remains the longest siege of a capital city in the history of modern warfare. Walking around Sarajevo, it's hard to miss remnants of the war, from bullet holes and shell craters still in buildings, monuments to the children and families that were killed, and a really moving statue of a man calling out with his hands cupped around his mouth- this statue, "Nermine, dođi" ("Nermine, come here") shows the moment in Srebenica that a father called out to his son to surrender to the Serb forces who said they would do them no harm. This moment is even captured on video, which our guide showed us. Even though Srebenica was designated a safe zone by the UN, the Serb forces rounded up and killed more than 8,000 Bosniak Muslim men and boys within a week. The UN recognizes what happened in Srebenica as a genocide, but Neno explained that there are still a lot of people that deny what happened there, which is difficult to accept.
There are also many more subtle tributes to the war across the city that we were happy to have a guide to point out for us; for example, the Sarajevo roses are scattered across the city, and are represented by red paint filling in small craters in the pavement and sidewalks. They're almost easy to miss, but they call attention to locations where three or more people died from war shells. There were also art installations along the river that were created and hung up during the war and remain to this day. Neno also shared a lot of personal stories with us that really added a human element to some of this history. As he put it, a lot of people in Bosnia have a lot of dark humor about things as a way for them to cope, and we experienced a good amount of this with the Bosnian people we met. For example, Neno shared that during the siege, his mother used to have to cross "sniper alley" behind shields to get to work during the war, but instead of wearing sensible shoes, she insisted on wearing heels so that she would at least look beautiful if she died. He also shared a story about how after the war, when he could finally have cake again, he ate so much that he made himself sick. Neno said that sharing these stories with people is also therapeutic for him, and a way to keep the history fresh so that people don't forget what happened.
In addition to the history, we also started to learn about how the country's government is run today (or not run, if you ask some of our tour guides). We learned more about this on our tour in Mostar as well that we'll get to later. After the war, the Serbs were given about 48% of Bosnia's territory (hard to comprehend the justice of this, considering everything that happened), and this still exists as the "Republika Srpska:' the other half is the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Now the country has three presidents that represent three ethnic groups (one Bosniak, one Serb, and one Croat); the Bosniak and Croat members are elected from a joint constituency in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, while the Serb member is elected from voters in Republika Srpska. It's very confusing, and according to our guides, completely impractical. Very little changes because all presidents must agree on things, and it never happens.
We won't pretend to understand all of the history and intricacies of what happened and what is still happening in Bosnia, but we found learning about it to be very eye-opening and provided us context for a history that we knew very little about. If you're ever in Sarajevo, we highly recommend the "War scars & new times free Sarajevo walking tour" with Neno & Friends. It was also interesting to be in a country like Bosnia, with it's large Muslim population and recent war history, given the events unfolding today in Palestine. Perhaps unsurprisingly, we saw a lot of art around the city expressing solidarity with and support for Palestine.
After taking some time to reflect on the heavy topics of the tour, we went out that evening with our bus friends to check out the city's Old Town. Old Town was very lively because the Sarajevo 30th Anniversary Film Festival was happening while we were in town (and yes, you did your math right, the film festival started during the siege of Sarajevo). There was a red carpet, crowded bars, and music venues all over the area. Walking around made us all hungry and we stopped at a restaurant to have cevapi, a grilled minced meat dish served with bread and onions, and an optional yogurt drink on the side (Mel liked the yogurt, Carson very much did not) that was recommended from a Bosnian on our bus ride. After dinner we checked out one of the Film Festival music venues, and discovered that Bosnian music is awesome (plus cheap beers help). We said goodbye to our new friends and hoped to see them again on our travels.
The next day, we ventured out and walked around Old Town during the day. The Old Town is really cute, with a lot of small cafes and local stores selling handmade items. Melissa stopped and tried Bosnian coffee which she fell in love with. She thought it was better than Turkish coffee (less silt in the bottom) and was served in a beautiful coffee set with the coffee itself, sugar, and Turkish delight. She had to ask someone to show her how to properly prepare and drink it all, but once she got it down, she really enjoyed the ritual of it. We would later walk around and find a small alley where we heard tapping of metal on metal. Here we saw and found Bosnian coffee sets that were being made from copper. Melissa found a family-run shop that she liked and bought herself a set along with some coffee grounds to make when we get back to the states. Carson was more of a fan of the antique shops where places were selling 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics memorabilia. He was able to find a shop that had two pins he liked, one with the Olympic Mascot "Vucko" and the other with the Sarajevo Olympic Symbol.
We then walked to the eastern side of the city to see where WWI was set off. Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was shot along with his wife, Sophie. We saw the Latin Bridge, where the driver took a wrong turn and stopped the car the Archduke was in, and where the assassin was standing where he pulled the trigger. So many history lessons in this city!
We also wanted to go see other relics of the 1984 Winter Olympics- as a side note, it really is crazy to think that Sarajevo was under siege just a mere 8 years after hosting the Olympic games, welcoming visitors from all over the globe....We took a cable car up to one of the mountain peaks that surround the city where the old bobsled course remains with forest growth and graffiti now taking over. We hiked down the bobsled course and viewed the graffiti. It was really cool, but in obvious disrepair, so it was hard to believe that this was at one point an Olympic and world renowned bobsled course. It had a beautiful and grungy look to it. We hiked back down to the city, and on our way stopped to climb up some old Ottoman empire watchtowers, visited a bakery where we had a fruit cake, and chilled at the local Sarajevo brewery for a rewarding lager. We then hiked up to the Yellow Fortress for a view of the city, but the Fortress was being used for a film festival event so we had to walk further down the road for a nice view of the city. On the way back, we purchased film tickets for two different showings that we thought looked interesting for the next day.
Our final day in Sarajevo revolved around the film festival. It was clearly a huge event, and seeing as we didn't even know it was going on before we showed up, we wanted to get in on the fun. Our first film was showing in the Sarajevo Cinema which was the main movie theater of the city. The film was "The Editorial Office" which was a Ukrainian film that was about ethical news reporting. The film had subtitles in Bosnian and English. It was a bit depressing, but very thought-provoking. After the movie, we walked to Old Town to relax and wait for our second film in the evening. Melissa got a Bosnian coffee and Carson got a mint juice, and discussed the film. Afterwards, we walked down to have some more cevapi for dinner since it was cheap and one of the few things on the menu at every restaurant. We then walked to our second film which was showing at one of the large outdoor cinemas that was set up. This cinema was in the middle of apartments, and we thought about how fun it would be for those neighbors to be able to watch films from their balconies. The second film was "The Second Act" which was a French comedy. It was an interesting but strange film about a movie being made but characters breaking character. Melissa later realized she had previously seen a crazy movie by this same director called "Rubber" (about a car tire on a murder rampage!!!). This was a hilarious and core memory with some of her college friends, so finding that our after the fact really tickled her.
Overall, we really loved Sarajevo. The city is a little rough around the edges, but it has so much character, art, and resilience that makes it easy to fall in love with.
Mostar: The next city we visited was Mostar. To get to Mostar, we took a train from Sarajevo. The ride was beautiful with all the mountains and rivers. Luckily, we got a tip from a friend to sit on the left of the train for the best views! Once we got to Mostar, we walked to our hostel, Madja's Hostel, which was a recommendation from Melissa's friend Logan, who visited a couple of years ago on his own round-the world journey. The hostel is run by a brother and sister (Madja and Bata) who had to flee Mostar during the war. They were both lovely and welcoming, and really interesting to talk to. They've also been running the hostel for more than 20 years. The hostel lived up to the high expectations and more! It was beautiful, with lovely courtyards full of flowers and plants, and each morning we paid 4 euros each for a Bosnian breakfast that was a cafeteria tray fully of delicious food. Nearly everyone in the hostel participated in breakfast, so it was a great way to meet others and talk over a communal meal. One of favorite things we ate each day was a red pepper spread on toast.
On our first day, we explored Mostar and visited the famous Stari Most (Old Mostar Bridge). The original bridge was built by the Ottomans in the 16th century, but was destroyed by the Croats in the 90's during the war. The bridge was rebuilt after the war and it stands almost 79 ft above the river. We saw locals jumping off the bridge into the river when they gathered enough money from bystanders. Watching them jump was insane- they were in the air for SO long. They also have to land in a very specific way when they jump from that height, we later learned, so they don't paralyze themselves. Incredibly, tourists do this jump sometimes, too. You're supposed to practice the technique from a few smaller training platforms before attempting the real jump. We weren't interested in doing this in the slightest, but we did enjoy seeing the pictures and journal entries from people who had stayed in our hostel and done the jump in the past (not very surprising, almost all of them seemed to be Aussies).
The next day, also at Logan's recommendation, we signed up for a day tour which was run through the hostel and led by Madja's brother Bata. Bata was a really funny and outgoing guy. He was full of energy, opinions, dark humor, and a lot of lived experience to share with us. We started the tour in our hostel where we got a brief history lesson of Bosnia and Herzegovina, from the Slavs, to the Ottomans, to the Austrian-Hungarians, to Yugoslavia, to the recent war, to present day, including some background on the ethnic and religious backgrounds of the people. As we mentioned in our Slovenia and Croatia posts, the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s and the declaration of independence by the former republics was what kicked off the wars in these countries, and Bosnia and Herzegovina experienced the worst part of these wars for independence. As we've said before, it's really complicated, and we still don't understand everything (and probably never will). There are a lot of factors and history at play- ethnic groups, religion, geography, and more. Even trying to understand the differences between ethnic, religious, and geographic groups in the region is confusing, but Bata was patient with us and answered all our questions. We'd encourage you to read up on it if you're interested, since we won't attempt to discuss our basic understanding of most of what we learned here. That said, we will discuss some of our observations, including the difference in how the war impacted Mostar vs Sarajevo. While Sarajevo obviously had some warfare on the ground, it was mostly impacted by the siege; Mostar, on the other hand, was on the front lines of the war, and you can see this difference walking around parts of the city- there are still damaged and abandoned buildings that have never been restored. To summarize very simplistically, when the war started, the Croats and the Bosniaks in the south were allied against the Serbs. However, once the Serbs were expelled, the Croats wanted the Bosniaks to be a part of a larger state, which the Bosniaks didn't want. So the former allies turned against each other. In Mostar, where both Bosniaks and Croats lived, this literally meant neighbors killing neighbors (even neighbors who were former friends). Bata himself was in danger of being killed for being a Muslim (even though he himself didn't even identify as such, he had a Muslim-sounding name), and a former Croat friend of his helped arrange to smuggle him out of the city and to Sweden, where he lived out the remaining days of the war. To this day, there is a "Croatian" and a "Bosnian" side of Mostar (yet both within the geographic limits of Bosnia and Herzegovina). As a general rule, the east side of the river is majority Bosniak (Muslim) and the west side is majority Croats (Catholics). You wouldn't necessarily notice this walking around, but Bata took us around to both sides of the city and there are differences- mosques vs churches are one thing, but on the Croat side there are also a ton of Croatian flags flying (including Croatian war flags). The Croat side is also much more developed and nicer looking than the Bosniak side, partly because the Croatian government helps to fund the restoration of this side of the city, while the Bosnian government doesn't (remember how to do anything, all three presidents have to agree; one of those presidents being a Croat? You see the problem). Bata even told us that kids from the different ethnic groups go to different schools, and essentially learn two different histories. It's still a very divided city, and there is still a lot of animosity on both sides.
Bata taught us a lot, and as a group we had some really interesting and eye-opening discussions. But mixed in with this, we also visited some incredible places and got to see some more of the beauty of Bosnia. This included visiting and swimming at Kravica waterfalls, walking through and climbing the historic settlement of Počitelj, and visiting Blagaj Tekija, a Dervish monastery that's nearly 600 years old and sits at the base of a cliff next to the source of the Buna River. We also made great friends on this tour. It was by far one of the best tours we've ever been on, and we'd highly recommend it if you're ever in Mostar.
If you've made it to the end of this post, phew, thanks! We obviously talked a lot about history, but Bosnia is much more than that, and hopefully our love of the country's beauty, people, food, and coffee also came through. We think you should visit, and learn about it for yourself! One last note- any inaccuracies in this post are purely from us. We're obviously writing from our memories and takeaways, and it's possible we made a mistake :).
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