Moldovan countryside

One day I went on a visit to Orheiul Vechi ('Old Orhei') to see one of Moldova's most interesting sites, a cave monsatery carved in the side of a cliff about 60 metres above the river Raut. On the way there I began to pick up clues about the way of life in rural Moldova. Religion is still a very strong part of the life here, in all the villages and often in between, I spotted shrines of various description along the roadsides, always with much of the sky blue colour that is always, it appears, obviously linked to the orthodox churches. Even more surprisingly I also noticed that many of the houses are painted this pastel blue color, as were sheds, out buildings, fences, gates and walls. This colour is everywhere in the Moldovan countryside ! I also saw many ladies walking along roadsides with buckets, I also spotted a large number of wells, which clearly adds up to the conclusion, there is no running water outside of the largest of cities here and locals still have to go to collect their water daily to be able to wash, cook, clean etc. Things that we take for granted like running water are still not common in all of Europe.

At the cave monastery, I entered a flight of dark stairs heading down towards the glimmer of a distant lamp. At the bottom was the 'Pestere' monastery, a small cave which is still used by monks today. I was shown were in the old days the resident monks used to sleep, each having their own small alcove in an unlit cave behind the main church. Outside of the church door, which stepped out onto a ledge in the rocks, were great views of the valley and river flowing below, there were also windows built for the monastery in the cave wall. The monk there who spoke a little English as well as good French and Russian, was able to in a mix of languages tell me a little about the history and how the monks were kicked out when Russia occupied the country in the 19th century. But now since the break of the Soviet Union, Monastic life there resumed. He also showed me where I could find a steep stony path down the hill side (not one for anyone scared of heights or walking along steep drops) to where more caves could be found. Many of the original 120 caves were now impossible to enter since an earthquake caused them to collapse, but around 40 are still passable. I reached some but they were all being guarded by mean looking cows or goats and so i did not venture inside any.



Left: The kind, friendly old monk who wanted to tell me everything about the caves and his life.
Right: Views from the outside door of the cave monastery

There was also a picturesque church just along the top of the hill side, not surprisingly this had also been adopted as a shading place of a few cows in the incredibly hot and humid Moldovan climate.



Left: Another church built close by to the Pestere monsatery.
Right: Moldovan flag flies above the government palace in Chisinau

First Impressions of Moldova

First experience of Moldova was getting off a bus at 5am outside the central market at Chisinau bus station. A couple of friendly locals pestered me to change money and take a taxi, but I was still half asleep, didn't know what the exchange rate should be (should always do your research first!!) and didn't have anywhere to goto anyway. Sat down for a while and ate my breakfast while watching the market vendors unloading huge carcasses from a van in front of me.. Urrgghhhh.

Got to my flat in a large communist style residential block, 20 minutes from the centre on one of the superb but often overcrowded minibusses that is the hub of the city's public transport system.

Back in town I tried to find what there was to visit there, nothing much to be honest so I tried some musems, something I haven't done on this trip so far. The National Archeology and Ethonography Museum was first, I got my student discount with my fake student card - which made it around 60 Euro cents instead of 1 Euro. She asked where i studied, so I answered Amsterdam (which is says on my fake student id card) and she then took great pleasure in telling all the other ladies there, i was a student from Amsterdam. I suspect they don't have that many foreigners there. Skeleton of a large mammoth like creature was quite impressive, much of the rest was just broken, pots, jugs, coins, spearheads, etc as seen in most history museums.

The Chisinau History Museum was next, I felt guilty using my student card now as they were so cheap anyway so didn't try it this time. The lady at the desk turned to her colleage and said "How much is it, 10 Lei ?", "No 15, her colleague answered". Either it was a very long long time since anybody else visited, or they had some special foreigner price, not sure which. Some nice woven rugs here in interesting colorful patterns that resembled incan design.

Final one for the day was the National History Museum, open from 0900 - 1800 according to the sign outside. I arrived around 16:50, but while purchasing my ticket from the cashier, another lady arrived and (insisting on speaking French for some reason, despite the first lady understanding my Russian attempts ok) explained that it closed at 16:30. Confused and hot from the steamy and humid 40 degrees outside I just asked when they opened tomorrow and went for a walk.

Next I came across parks, churches, statues of famous Moldovans and the Moldovan attempt at a "L'Arc de Triomphe". All around here it was very surprisingly pleasant, loads of cafes to sit out at and a good restaurant to eat at. A huge lamb saute with rice and a seperate plate of 'vegetables in foil' plus 2 large beers for about 7 Euros plus Brazil v Ghana on two TVs; can't argue with that !



Left: Central Park in Chisinau
Right: Orthodox church in Chisinau

Chisinau, despite the poor condition of many roads has plenty of nice places to see and wander around, big streets and building like many ex-Soviet cities, but also seems to be quite an arty city and overall better than expected. Also very, very busy at night, lots going on, which is what I'm about to do more research on., bye for now.

Roaming Round Romania

Romania confused me for a while..

First, I woke up in a station one morning, othe ther guy in compartment also asleep, checked my phone, it was 5:15am, train was due into Bucuresti Gari de Nord at 6:25am, so went back to sleep. Woken a few moments later by a grumpy old lady conductor shouting to get off as we were in Bucharest... Hmm, didn't realise we had changed time-zones berween Serbia and Romania and I lost an hours sleep ;-( Impressed we still arrived 10 minutes early, wouldn't happen in GB.

Secondly, I didn't know what anyone was saying. After about 3 weeks in Slavic speaking countries where I could at least identify some of what was going on from my bit of Russian knowledge, suddenly, it's all change... Romanian is a Latin based language, a bit Italian sounding at times but with some additional Slavic sounds you would not get in Italian in French. So I didn't know whether someone was saying 'hello', ' can i help you', 'do you know which bus goes to Piata Revolutii?', 'do you need a room' or 'get your hands off my daughter', it was a bit dis-orienting for a while.

Thirdly, they have 2 sets of banknotes, following a renumeration a year ago where they dropped four zeros of the value of everything and started printing new bank notes.. They also however continue printing the old bank notes, as you still get these out of cash machines a year later. Well I thought that wouldn't be so bad, my maths is ok and it's easy to divide by 10000... No, it seems many still like to talk in old values which is easy enough until you realise that some vendors, not all mind you, verbally drop one thousand from the cost of something when talking in old values, which I didn't realise at first. So for something costing 3 new Lei, which would still be priced at 30000 old Lei, I would get asked for 30. So I was thinking, 30 Lei, thats a bit much for a couple of bananas and a yoghurt, so thought it must be 30 bani (= 3000 old lei. 100 bani = 1 leu), which wasn't right either so they just generally grapped a few notes/coins out of my hand and all got resolved, amicably and correctly I must add. Then some of course did talk in new numbers, so at times you just had no idea, what anyone wanted. Even after a few days, I still had moments of madness.



Left: The main square in Brasov has a vibrant cafe, restaurant scene.
Right: Peles castle at Sinaia

Some observations on Romanian life:

Very faithful towards their christian orthodox religion, it was an odd site when the majority of passengers on a bus started crossing themslevs whenever the bus passed a church. On one road there were two churches and one side and another on the another in ashort distance that always caused some frantic crossing activity.

In Romania horse and carts are still used as a form of transport for many people, even through towns and not only for ferrying tourists around like in many other European cities these days.

Don't try sending a package abroad from Romania. I tried in one PO and was told I had to go to the main Post Office in town. At the main Post Office I was told I could not send international packages there and had to go to another P.O. for which I was given an adress. At this one after lengthy queueing and crowding, I got to the desk (which had signs saying international postage and post restante etc, so looked promising) and had a grumpy young lady who could not help in English, French or Russian and just scowled miserably at me. I didn't bother finding out if she knew any Welsh or Dutch ! So I used the most useful Romanian phrase I knew, Cit costa? (how much?) and she then disppeared for a good 6 or 7 minutes, in fact I never saw her again. Luckily another lady appeared who spoke English and kindly informed me I had to use counter next door to send internationally and that it was now closed (closes at 1400) and I would have to come back tomorrow. Unfortunately tomorrow (today I am no longer in Romania).

Although I had a couple of frustrating experiences, such as an attempted pickpocketing at Brasov station that I noticed and prevented - I had nothing in that pocket either so obviously had not done their observation work very well - and the P.O. story above and the howling young mothers begging on the metro, Romanians were very freindly and a number of times went to great lengths to help out. The girls at the hostel in Brasov (Hostel Kismet Dao) were superb and did everything to help anyone and also knew everything you could possibly want to know about places to visit, busses, trains etc... top marks to them.



Left: St Nicholae Church, Brasov
Right: The Council House in Brasov's main square

There are many interest places to visit in Romania and the more I read and heard from other travellers, the more I wanted to see. However this time I had to limit myself. Despite the occasional frustrations, this a country well worth visiting if you like nature, castles and monastries. There really is loads to see.

Visa Watch ! (Moldova)

Anyone who has ever visited a consulate to obtain a visa will know that it's a mission fraught with frustration and often despair. So I have decided to write a page that will keep a track of my visa experiences over the next few months, which being mainly ex-Soviet coutries are sure to hold a few surprises and stories.

Country: Moldova.
Location of Consulate: Bucharest.

20 June, 10:00 - Set off on my way to the Moldovan consulate in Bucharest. Get lost, so get a taxi, arrive to find this is the embassy only and consular section is at another address. Arrive there at 11:40. Security say they are closed and point at the opening times sign that says Open 08:30 - 12:30 & 15:00 - 16:00. I point out it is 11:40 and is therefore open, but he insists I come back after 15:00 as they are closed.

20 June, 15:15 - Security tell me, consulate is closed, but to wait. After about 15 minutes I am allowed in. My completed application form is apparently an old one and I have to fill in a new one (which has exactly the same data and boxes, just slightly different layout). Now, have to go to a bank to pay $60 and come back with a till receipt. Bank is back in centre of town, so not possible to get there and back by 16:00. I go and pay bill and get receipt.

21 June, 10:15 - Back at consulate, security tell me they are closed, come back in one hour.

21 June, 11:20 - Back at consulate, still closed. this time there is a queue of one other person so I wait. About 20 minutes later, there are four of us queueuing. I get in second and receive without too much fuss my Moldovan visa at around 11:45.

Total Duration * : 24 hours 05 minutes.
Actual Time Spent : 4 hours 15 minutes.

* Measured from time of first arrival at consulate, to receiving visa.

Summary: Not bad really, 24 hours, as it would have taken 7 days in the Netherlands. Frustrating they are often 'closed' when they are supposed to be open. It does look like the consulate in Bucharest has a bit of an easy life, 5 working hours a day and a lot of that they seem to be closed for coffe breaks or something or other.

Dracula's Castle

Visited Bran Castle, commonly known as 'Dracula's Castle', although there is no evidence to suggest that Vlad Tepes - the inspiration for the Dracula story - was ever here. It is probably the most atrocious tourist area I have ever seen, with stalls selling all sorts of vampire stuff, daggers, masks, capes, 'I am a vampire' t-shirts and loads of things which had no relation to the area or Romania whatsoever, for example, an inflatable mickey mouse with a heart and 'I love you' on it. Though I have to admit I did walk around the stalls more than once as they made me laugh so much !

The castle is not actually as impressive as I had hoped, partly due to the surrounding trees blocking most of the views from around the sides, and that only from one side is there a cool looking appearance to the castle, but still worth seeing. Inside is a series of rooms with various, not too interesting furniture and exhibits. The most impressive part is the peaked tower, that certainly gives a medieval feel to the castle.



Left: View from inside Bran Castle.
Centre: Vie from pathway below.
Right: Awful tourist stalls, the worse I have ever seen !

On the way back I hopped off the bus at Risnov and made a lengthy climb up to the Risnov citadel, which offers fabulous views of the surrounding countryside including the Carpathian Mountains.



Left: Inside the Risnov citadel.
Right: Views from the top of the mountain inside the citadel.

Bucharest

Bucharest is not as bad a place as many have made out. it is big, but quiet easy to get around with their Metro system. Some nice park areas and plenty of international cuisine and bars mean you can have a nice day or two here, though most seem to leave quite quickly I noticed !

Wasted most of my days here waiting at the Moldovan consulate as it was constantly closed when it should have been open and only allowed one in at a time, teh grumpy security guards didn't add to the enjoyment either. Though have to say both people I met inside the embassy were very friendly. Probably as they were planning what to do tonight with the 60 USD they have just got out of me.

Most interesting site is probably the enormous "Palace of Parliament" built during the reign of Ceauşescu. An enormous communist style building with a large park area in front. To the Eastern side is the Bulevardul dul Unirii, a Champs-Élysées style road, lined with trees and fountains all the way along and deliberately made 6m longer than the real one in Paris.



Left: Ceauşescu's Palace of Parliament.
Right: The tree and fountain lined 'Bulevardul dul Unirii'.

A few hours in Belgrade

After waking up sometime before 5am on a bumpy bus to Belgrade, I was greeted by the beautiful scenery of a river winding through hills just before sunrise, enough to keep me alert for a while. Anyone who was still asleep at that point soon woke up when a guy just in front of where I was sat, starting making some unusual noises in his sleep, a kind of deep growling 'oooorrrggghhhh' or something. I wondered if maybe it was a kind of 'gooooaaaaallllllll' and he was dreaming of Serbia scoring a goal in the world cup ? But I guess that is pretty unlikely on recent form ;-)

Not much to report from Belgrade, much the same as my last visit here. Stiflingly hot and humid and just had a few hours to waste until my train to Bucharest at 16:27. Took a walk to the citadel which gives views of the city and the river Danube flowing by. Wasted an hour trying to send a parcel from the Post Office before finally being told I cannot send, because electronic items are not allowed and dashed to the train station ! Chose the cheapest seat ticket, no couchette or anything, but luckily I seem to be on my own, so good chance to rest.



Left: Gateway to the citadel of Belgrade
Right: My train about to leave Beograd for Bucuresti

Kotor - Europe's southern most fjord

Kotor lies at the end of Europe's southern most fjord, Kotorski Zaliv. Its old town is yet another attractive walled town, Montenegro seems to be full of them!

The 'Stari Grad' is just by the waters edge and is overlooked by a large mountain with a fortress at the top. The old town again has its share of churches but this time, more small shops, cafes and homes rather than boutiques along the cobbled streets. It also feels a little more spacious than other old towns, with larger squares and wider cobbled paths as you wind your way around the triangular shaped town. Climbing up the mountain to the fortress is a long walk especially in a humid 35 degree lunchtime sun, but for the entire way you are rewarded with great views of the old town, the fjord and the mountains all around.



Left: The daunting looking, long, winding climb to the fortress overlooking Kotor
Right: views form around half way up (or down)

Following a referendum held in May, Montenegro declared independence on June 3, 2006. So it was only about 15 days old when I visited. I have the feeling they were pretty independent anyway and there will not be any immediate changes. The country ceratinly has plenty to offer in terms of tourism and speaking to a foreigner living there, the housing market has already expereinced a boom over the last year in the more attractive towns, with property prices rising almost 100% in a year !

Kotor, still had some banners flying in the streets declaring Da! Za Crnu Goru koju Volimo! which roughly translated means 'Independence for Montenegro, vote Yes' (I think ;-))



Left: The banners still hanging in the streets of Kotor
Right: The Montenegro flag flies about the fortress overlooking Kotor

New photos added

I have eventually managed to upload photos from my phone and have added new photos to the following:

Roland's Travelog: My Last Days in Amsterdam

Roland's Travelog: Euskadi 0 - 1 Cymru

Roland's Travelog: It's snowing in Andorra

take a look

World Cup Update

Well of course I have been following as much of the world cup as possible, planning travel in the mornings or overnight and where possible, watching matches in the afternoon and evenings, though I have had to start picking out games recently as there's just not enough time for everything.

Watched Croatia lose to Brazil in Dubrovnik, friendly fans in bar seemed quite pleased with the result as they were expecting a heavy loss.



Left: Ex Pompey start, Robert Prosinecki still has an important role in Croatia's world cup campaign.
Right: Croatian friends in a local bar in Dubrovnik for the evening

England qualify for the next round, though have not looked to impressive, congrats to my english friends, especially thoe who have made the effort to go to Germany, Len aand Jamie, hope you are having a good one.

Hup Holland ! Oranje also through to the next stages with two victories, as usual though they seem to go to sleep if they go 2 goals up and nearly got punished against Cote d'Ivoire.

Watched quietly in a Montenegron bar, as Serbia and Montenegro are humiliated by Argentina, not much, except that at times Argentina make footbal look very easy. But what happened to S&M's solid defensive record of the qualifying campaign, complete turnaround.

Ghana beat Czech Republic 2-0 !! Probably the first surprise result of the tournament and an excellent game it was too.Geir, if you are reading, pass on my congratulations to Michael Essien.

Finally, sad to se my favourite team Japan out of the competition already, damn those Aussies.

Montenegro

First stop in Montenegro was Herceg Novi, a quite pleasant little place with an old town 'Stari grad' that is walled, giving a nice feel to the place. There are a couple of nice churches, nice views of the sea and some nice places to eat/drink in the centre. Stayed just for a while and moved on the the popular tourist resort of Budva.

Beautiful views of mountains as you sit on he pebbled beach next to the water. A picturesque start to 3 days in and around Budva. It's rather touristy but not so packed so as to be annoying. The old town 'Stari Grad' is another impressive walled old town full of winding paths lined with boutiques run by the most sexiest women you can hope to see. Virtually every shop has some beautiful, modelesque lady running them, it's a long time since I did so much browsing around clothes shops ;-) There are also plenty of cafes and restaurants around to eat and drink and also the British style 'Old Fisherman's pub' which was a bit of a favourite for watching football.



Left: View of Budva 'Stari Grad' from the citadel walls.
Right: Taken from the harbour.

Dubrovnik & The Crazy Sisters

Dubrovnik, "Pearl of the Adriatic" they call it, well I'm not so sure. Yes, it's pretty, it's picturesque, it's in some ways special, but only the old walled town has that special feel and even that has competition from places in Montenegro. However, it's still a place worth seeing and probably best to see out of season so it is not overrun by tourist trips. The old town is in a lovely setting overlooking the sea and has some interesting streets to wander around and plenty of little shops full of items. Some curious, arty and some appallingly tacky and touristy. I wonder sometimes how some people can possibly stay in business selling the stuff they do.

I got to Dubrovnik though nearly didn't. At Mostar bus station the ticket desk said the bus was full. It arrived and apparently three seats were free and there were four in front of me. Two bought tickets, one of which was Jatta from Finland (now in Zurich) who I met briefly in Sarajevo and Melissa. The other two were travelling together so did not want the remaining one ticket and kindly let me buy it, how nice. Fortunately a few minutes later they got on the bus too as the man in the station persuaded the driver they could sit in the tour guide seat! Helen and Linzi originally from NE England have been working in Bratislava.

At Dubrovnik we got rooms from two ladies at the station who were sisters and as usual when we got there they tried to charge me more for being on my own. Lucky, I was offered a sofa instead, thanks Jatta and Melissa. Had a walk around Dubrovnik and later around the city walls giving views of the life going on around the old town. Visited the beach for a while with Helen and Linzi, who were really nice to spend time with and who also shared their vodka with me that night, before I went to watch Croatia lose gallantly to Brazil with a few locals who fed me with pizzas from the cafe next door. A fine night.



Left: Small harbour at Dubrovnik
Right: Linzi & Helen in the old town streets

Next morning, bit of panic over a mis-understanding with a bus timetable (if you're reading, you know who you are ;-)) and a few changes of plans caused a little chaos and conufsion which resulted in our sister hosts getting rather upset. First one then the other, screaming, shouting hysterically at us, telling us to get out, then going into the bathrooms, throwing our things out, packing bags for us and taking sheets of beds, and screaming for more money from us, they were really a bit crazy. I'm not sure I have seen anyone get quite so heated over something like this and result was we all got kicked out, quite entertaining really seeing them howling at us and as I left shouting Muzh! Muzh! whatever that means in Croat, 'go away' or something I assume.

Anyway ended up in remaining two of us finding another room for the night which was the first and only night in Croatia where I did not experience problems with my host trying to get extra money after a price had been agreed. It was also the first time in weeks that I had a shower with a shower head holder and a curtain, so you didn't have to hold the shower yourself continuously!



Left: Dubrovnik old town street from city walls.
Right: Sunset over Dubrovnik harbour.

The persisitent problems with hosts in private rooms was a bit disappointing and leaves a bitter taste, which will make me think twice about returning. The other point of interest is that beer is cheaper than fruit juice or water in cafes. 2 euros for 0.5l beer or 1.50 euro for 0.2l fruit juice, so beer is about half the price, same goes for Slovenia.

Mostar & The War

Mostar is a town full of mixed emotions, beautiful yet still scarred from the war. When Bosnian Serbs started trying to expand their territory and started their ethinc cleansing operation on parts of Bosnia, ethnic tensions eventually dragged Bosnian Croats into the war and the result was that the divided town of Mostar became a key focus in the war. The town divided by the lovely green Neretva river split Croats and Muslims into their on sectors. The historic and beautiful bridge built in the 16th century was a focal point of the town and gave the town its name. Mostar means 'keeper of the bridge'. Reopened in 2004, the bridge is a significant step in co-operation between both sides of the still divided town.

Along the former front line, many buildings still stand derelict, just shells of what was once there. At one corner, I stood and faced 3 completely gutted buildings, while one still standing, an imposing Austro Hungarian 'gymnasium' (school), still stands but is scarred all over with bullet and shell wounds. Meanwhile schooltrips bring their children to teh bridge and show them this emotional and historic place that has played such a major part in their families and their own lives.



The good and the bad.
Left: The beatiful 'Stari Most' (old bridge) at Mostar.
Right: Destroyed buildings still line many streets long the former front-line in Mostar

In total I stayed 3 days in Mostar, I came back after Sarajevo a I had to stay once more in this lovely town. It was nice sitting bwloe the bridge, having breakfast in the sunshine longside teh colorful river. One morning I was lucky enough to be there as some 'bridge divers' came along.
Sadly some, after much standing around, preparing, did not amke the jump off the 21m bridge (whimps), but one did and I caught it on video, for which I will add a link as soon as I can. One who pulled out after standing on the edge, preparing for some 15 minutes, disappointed the hoardes of waiting school children and received a torrent of boos and whistles as he walked away ;-)



Left: Bridge diver at Mostar (this guy never jumped.. boo)
Right: Boy amused himself throwing stones into the river.

An excellent place to visit was a small photo exhibition next to the bridge, showing the bridge from 1991 through to 1994. It was an incredibly emotional collection, first showing the and surrounding areas as they were pre-war, followed by the gradual deteriation of the bridge and streets until finally it disappeared following Croat bombing in November 1993. The streets around the bridge are now lined with tourist shops in beautiful colours and in excellent condition, most sad were the photos taking during 1993, showing these same buidlings completely wrecked and the streets round just huge piles of rubble. A really emotional sight, that makes me grateful that I have managed until now to have lived life without experiencing anything like what happend in Bosnia. As I saw teenagers and people up to my age walk around, I wonder what it must have been like for them to experience all this and how it must have affected their lives. Fortunately I have to say that everyone I met there seemed genuinely warm and friendly, so I feel that locals have come through it positively at least, which is a consolation, however small.

Sarajevo

Unexpectedly found a rep from the hostel I had booked in when I arrived in Sarajevo, lucky. also find Marina (D), Tina (OZ) & Celia (OZ) who are also going there. The driver keeps us waiting for 10 minutes as it's raining, I assume his car must be far away, when we eventually walk there it is about 30m away!! Hungry so go to lunch with Tina & Marina and try out a typical bosnian combi snack of ćevapčići & ražnjići with onions and a lovely thick soft bread. Great snack food, there are ćevapčići, burek or kebab shops everywhere around Sarajevo. Spend the afternoon shopping with Tina as we are both short of warm clothes and the weather has been bad for a week, not very summery and I really need a warmish top.
Later at hostel meet Owen and friends from Malaysia, nice guys and along with Tina we go out for dinner at Mash where due to teh fact most of the menu is off, we get our own custom made vegetable pasta dishes ! very nice too.

Next day I join a hostel tour to a tunnel built under Sarajevo airport during the war. It facilitated smuggling of arms, weapons, ammo, food and troops into the besieged city. The tunnel was 800m long, 1.6m high and 1m wide. and built in 44 days. Videos showed soldiers carrying heavy packs full of supplies through the tunnel. The tunnel began (or ended) at a farmhouse whose family still live there, the son of the family gave an account of their experiences in the war. The tunnel currently is only open for 25m as much of it has since collapsed. A touching moment was when the father of the family, a gentle smiling man, said to our guide that he hoped to re-open it all one day but sadly did not have the funding from the government. Later he put his hand on my shoulder and added, "When I am president of Serbia, I will make sure the whole tunnel is re-opened". I really hope one day his dream comes true.



Left: Entrance to the tunnel at Sarajevo
Right: The lovely Tina shows off a fantastic looking dinner

Also visited a Jewish cemetry, where the the Serb attacks on Sarajevo began. it was from here snipers fired at residents going about the daily lives, along what became known as "sniper alley".
I walked along there later from the infamous Holiday Inn hotel where the foreign journalists sought refuge, all the way along to the old town, that now is a bustling area of shops and cafes of Turkish origin, reflecting the roots of the mainly muslim population of the city. The Turkish quarter, 'Baščaršija' is an area full of character and life, cobbled streets lined with antique and craft shops and with most of the mosques located in this area is also the centre for many of the local community. The main square here has been nicknamed 'Pigeon Square' and is clear to see why. On the way you also pass the 'Latin Bridge' where on June 28, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand was shot by Gavrilo Princip, sparking a war between the Austro-Hungarians and Serbia, which in turn dveloped into WW1.



Left: A very serious game of chess, lots of shouting and disagreement going on during this game.
Right: One of the Sarajevo Mosques.

World cup started while in Sarajevo and the first day saw a jam-packed hostel common room filed with many nations, many large bottle of beer that could be purchased just a few metres away at a bargain Euro 1.60 for 2 litres and the occassional burek.
Final evening enjoyed a teriffic meal in a 'gezellig' little restaurant with Tina, which we stumbled across while out hunting for food in the pouring rain. Great restaurant, great food and great company (see earlier photo), a fine way to round off a great time in Sarajevo, a city which certainly appealed to me and many others I think. It was a fun 3 days in Sarajevo, good atmosphere in the hostel, great bunch of people, good nights out in the 'City Pub'. Was good to meet and go out with Tina, Dan, James (see also Bosnian pyramid story), Marina, Owen & friends as well as others there and sad when people moved on.




Left: Owen and friends from Sarawak, Malaysia at 'The Latin Bridge' where Franz Ferdinand was shot.
Right: Turkish origin coffee pots in the shops.

The Bosnian Pyramid

Was informed of this new and exciting discovery soon after arrival at the Hostel Lubljicica in Sarajevo. Sceptical, but a few of us decided to check it out anyway. Destination Visoko or 'Pyrmid City' as it has become known.

Apparently discovered about a year ago and under excavation for 1 month and 10 days it is being described as the most significant archeological monument in Europe. Initially identified from satellite images, further analysis suggests there are 3 pyramids in the area. As you approach Visoko on the bus, one of the mountains clearly looks pyramidical, that's for sure, but it's obvious, how did they only discover it a year ago ?

A climb up the 'pyramid', guided by some young Indian Jones like lad who tried to appear to be an official guide (he had some badges and everything), to where some excavation are taking place show some unconvincing uncovered areas of flat, sloping stones. One of the team working on the excavation tells us how the formations and structure of the rocks clearly show something man-made and not something created by nature. They believe them to be 12,500 years old and rise at an angle of 53 degrees (pyramids in Egypt are at a 52 degree incline). An expert from Egypt had been there in recent weeks and was astounded and convinced that this was something from an ancient civilistion also.

Currently funding is low and the team consists of only 12 men, but hope to increase future awareness and therefore generate more investement for research. As it stands now, they have no idea what the results of the research will be, but for now it's a potentially exciting time for tourism in Bosnia & Herzegovina.

Whether this will turn out to be a genuine case of pyramids from ancient times, who knows, but if it is, then in a few years this could be one of the biggest tourist attractions in Europe and we could have been one of the first few to see it !

Here are some photos so you can decide for yourself.




Left: View from Visoko town.
Right: uncovered area of stones.



The team for the day:
(Back left to right): James (US), Sam (Eire), 'Jimmy' (Eire)
(Front left to right): Me, our young guide for the day, Dan (UK /Norway)

Have to add too, the tourist wave has already hit Visoko full steam. Close to the bus station was the 'Pyramid Hotel" and restaurant. Stalls lined the streets to the hill, err sorry, pyramid, selling t-shirts and mini-pyramids, even though no-one really knows what it looks like yet, they have though already designed the mini-pyramids for tourists. And most surprisingly, a local cafe even had pyramid logo on their suger sachets !

Check out these websites for latest news

http://www.bosnian-pyramid.com/ or http://www.bosnianpyramids.org/

By Bus to Bosnia

Have never been to Bosnia before, so looking forward to this. Especially interested in seeing the bridge at Mostar which has intrigued me for years, since I read a story about someone in Mostar during the time it was blown up in 1993 during the war in Bosnia.

Bus along the Croatian coast has many beautiful views again and helps pass the time on this 4 hr journey. Bosnian customs are quite a breeze, only 10-15 minutes or so, not bad for a busload and you could get off and walk around. But the drivers then sitting down at a cafe 50m into Bosnia and having a feast of a lunch for the next 30-40 minutes was a bit frustrating, especially without any Bosnian marks in my pocket.



Left: View from the bus along Croatian coast.
Right: The wonderful Lena and Mother (If you need somewhere to stay in Mostar)

At Mostar, a lady called Lena has spotted me getting my bags on the bus and obviously identified me as a potential guest at her homestay. She stands at the bus steps and greets me with a smile and a 'Are you looking for a room?' She seems nice, it seems easy, hope she is better than my Croatian experiences ! And I don't have to carry my rucksack more than 100m to her home, which is a bonus.

Walk around Mostar towards the famous bridge and get my first sight of this structure that I have wanted so long to visit and which has such a story to tell. The bridge was rebuilt and re-opened in 2004, I only realised this was happening when I happend to see it on TV the night it re-opened. I would have been happy just to go along one day just to see the site. For a bridge it is something special, influenced of course by the history behind it.

Many buildings in Mostar are still completely gutted, some have been rebuilt, but it all takes time and money and things can only be done one step at a time. Wandering through the touristy shops that have sprouted up around the bridge there is an array of stalls selling objects of Muslim and Turkish origin reflecting the Muslim history of half this town. It is certainly a refreshing chnage from some of the tourist shops in other parts of the Balkans. Around here I try out another local speciality, čevapčiči, which is similar to a donar kebab but with a thicker type of bread and chunks/strips of meat rather than sliced, this one came just with onions and no extra salads.The meat and bread are both tasty, but I can't help feel it could do with something a little extra.



Left : Me at the Bridge at Mostar
Right: View from riverside below