1.8.15
So I thought I would quickly set up ready for my new blog when we go to Bosnia & Croatia in a few days time.
That was around 10am this morning.
Its now 3.15pm and I’ve given up on the iPad app which is slower than the slowest thing you could imagine.
So it’s back to the trusty android app and tapping away on a tiny keyboard.
I’ve tried lots of different themes, too many to choose from and despite asking to add widgets I don’t appear to have any sidebars.
All I want is a page that displays what I’ve written with a heading and some widgets to liven things up a bit.
Some of the themes aren’t free, some are really expensive.
Those who know me well, or even not so well, will know I wouldn’t pay for a theme. How do you know you would like it once you’ve bought it?
Anyway 6 hours on I’ve managed to crop and upload a map of the area we’re going to.
Pretty good going for a free theme 😉
Despite our flight being at 10.30am our pick up was 7.45am, so a long but uneventful wait at Dalaman, and of course being a Pegasus flight we were over half an hour late taking off. John with his school milk ayran
By the time we got to Sabiha Gockcen and found departures and queued for ages at passport control we didn’t have very long to wait for our Sarajevo flight. Thank goodness.
Had a bit of a strange encounter with the lady next to me on the plane. Many ladies were wearing full burkas on the flight, but this lady actually had like a thick black net curtain across the whole of her face. I didn’t realise she was speaking to me, I could hear her voice but took a while to work out that she wasn’t side ways on to me and was In fact speaking to me. Anyway, she wanted to change places because a Sheikh had just got on the plane and was across the aisle to her and she said she couldn’t sit near a man.
She showed her boarding pass slip and in fact John was in her window seat, so we all moved places. While waiting to leave a young girl kept trampling across our feet to speak to her. After the fourth time we said enough was enough and the lady then moved to a different area of the plane. This was after almost losing our feet to several women in Burkas at the boarding gate. We realised its because they couldn’t actually see our feet and not that our feet are abnormally large.
The Sheikh completely ignored all the rules about switching his phone off, despite John moaning at him, and was still texting til we were too high for him to get a signal. I was surprised how high we were before the signal was lost, especially as we struggle to get any sort of decent internet signal at ground level with Turkish Internet providers.
The flight time was 1.5 hours. 30 minutes into the flight a young man in front of us made his way past the drinks trolley we assumed to go to the loo.Then we heard those dreaded words ‘ if there’s a doctor on board the plane could they make themselves known to the cabin crew’. No one came forward and a few minutes later medical equipment in a big black box was being rushed down the front. Thankfully we saw the man as we left the flight and he seemed absolutely fine. Apart from that, and the worlds bumpiest landing, which still earned a round of applause, it was all fine.
Pegasus trashed Johns rucksack last year, he now has a complete waist strap missing. Today they managed to dent the side of my case and break the side handle. Thank goodness I had a new handle put on the top of my case to replace the one they snapped off a couple of years ago or I would have been completely handle less.
Sarajevo airport is a simple but efficient place, and when your luggage goes transit you’re actually just pleased to see it again, even if it has got parts missing and big dents in it.
Our pre arranged with the accommodation blonde lady turned up to meet us, with her Opel car as planned.
The blonde lady with the Opel spoke virtually no English, and we don’t speak Bosnian so it was a quiet journey, until her phone beeped and she was texting while driving. Up until then I was enjoying the journey, taking in the very run down impoverished Eastern Europeanness of it all. The texting continued and I was actually relieved when she said uh oh and steered slowly onto a heaven sent petrol forecourt. The Opel had lost all its acceleration. That was good as I wouldn’t have to worry any more about the oncoming traffic around the bends and be ready to tell her to be careful in my best Bosnian. She turned the engine off and on again, and all was well, or not really, and the texting and driving started again.
It was over 30 minutes from the airport and I was surprised at the size of the city and its one huge out of place ugly glass building towering over everything else.
We pulled up at The Guesthouse Kofrc and were shown to our room by a very pleasant lady, who also spoke no English, made friends with the Alsatian and the cats just at the same moment there was a big clap of thunder and a few rain spots. It was lovely to get away from the intense humidity and heat that we’ve been having in Fethiye, it’s hot, but not humid and nowhere near the same temperature.
Went inside to open my case and my dented suitcase was full of sugar, my sugar container took the brunt of whatever the baggage handlers crushed it with. Yes, I know, taking sugar on holiday is just weird anyway.
John carried the case outside to the patio where the lovely lady and the blonde lady were sitting having a chat. As he did so all my underwear which was in the lid of the case, but not zipped up fell across the patio, bras and pants everywhere, how to make an entrance. I might as well have said hi, My names Linda, and this is all my underwear. They were very polite and pretended not to notice, although I did catch nice lady trying not to laugh.
After emptying everything out and removing all the sugar we were given Bosnian coffee. Similar to Turkish coffee served in tiny cups with a decorative coffee pot, but not as thick and very drinkable. John drank 3 cups and he doesn’t even like coffee.
Time to explore, and we made our way down to the old town, past graves of hundreds and hundreds of people killed in the war 20 years ago. We stopped and looked and a man who was tending graves stopped to talk to us and was telling us some of what happened during those awful years.
The first part of the old town we found was the Turkish area. Seemed very strange but also made us feel very much at home. We found the tourist info office, and got maps, and know how to find the train station to book our ticket to Mostar, and where to find the best shops etc. We stopped for a well earned beer, a bit of wifi catchup and a phone call from Lauren telling me all about week 2 of her new job.
I had read about Cevap eateries and saw lots of them, so we picked one to try this local delicacy. They’re basically meat shish meatballs and also long sausages, so we asked for a mix. It came with Ramadan style flat bread, finely chopped onions and mustard and was absolutely wonderful, so tasty and very cheap, just under £7 for both of us with ayran and a can of Schweppes bitter lemon, a real treat, haven’t had that for years.
We walked around all of the little lanes of touristy shops, undercover bazaars, hans, cafes, bars, restaurants and many shisha pipe cafes. The atmosphere was so lovely, really buzzy and vibrant. Further on there were some larger sports shops, clothes and furnishings, more cafes, bars, shisha areas, it reminded me a lot of the areas around Istanbuls Istiklal area.
There are many amazing mosques and churches and interesting looking buildings, all on our list to explore.
We decided to walk back along the main road rather than back through the vibrant streets, it was hard to imagine all that was behind the very ordinary buildings. Great excitement then as we spotted Hose supermarket. We love a foreign supermarket, and had a good browse, comparing prices to Turkish stores and made some alcohol purchases. The strangest had to be the malt pineapple beer. Looking forward to trying that tomorrow. Oooooh even more exciting we found my favourite sponge cloths, 3 different brands to choose from. We can’t find them anywhere in Turkey so bought 2 packs of 5. Doesn’t get much better than that.
First impressions of Sarajevo
Tragic to see so many gravestones, and apparently many many more cemeteries like the one near where we’re staying
Very strong Turkish influence, lots of words very similar
Very few English tourists, menus all in Bosnian
Very multicultural, pizza, Turkish food, Spanish, Irish bars
Amazing old buildings
Bullet holes everywhere
It feels like a country that’s rebuiding itself and so many people are out socialising and making the most of life, they’re not all tourists.
Most of the busiest places weren’t serving alcohol, people don’t seem to need to be out drinking to be having a good time.
Home to shower, and type up blog. Boiler is making strange noises, and towels are the size of postage stamps, but otherwise life is great.
Its official, I’m going to be haunted by the sugar forever.
Last night I couldn’t open my inhaler and this morning my deodorant roll on was encrusted too.
We walked to the railway station following the tram tracks to the last stop.
It took around an hour and passed lots of places of interest and shopping malls.- on our list for another time. I got told off as I wanted to go down every alleyway and explore!
Buying the ticket was simple and we couldn’t resist having a little look to make sure we know how to find our platform.
Hmm….quite an eye opener given the posh malls and tall glass buildings surrounding it.
Really poor quality due to lack of light but you get the gist..
Found a museum on our way back from the train station 1995 to 2005 I think it was called.
We were starving and decided to eat before visiting the museum and eventually found a place to eat across the river that didn’t just sell ice cream and cake, called Milkman, and I tried a Bosnian speciality -sesame seed chicken nuggets ( a bit tasteless really ) and John had chicken in a curry sauce.
The restaurants were all beautiful, lovely furniture, water features and plants set in amongst really scruffy run down tower blocks.
It looked just like Somerstown in Portsmouth by my GP surgery.
We went into the museum, a very run down building with loads of bullet holes.
Inside were loads of harrowing photos and accounts on the Genocide, some real tear jerking moments.
I now understand all the shelling and holes in the buildings, it was to scare people into not leaving their homes, so they would basically starve and die.
So very sad, and so recent really. Hard to imagine how people lived like this for 3 years.
There was an excellent photographic display of buildings then and now.
There were lots of positive stories about community spirit, generosity and how people realised the importance of entertainment and people began to put on live performances, music, culture and art events to make their time more pleasurable.
We walked to a huge shopping mall afterwards and on the first floor found a bar where we had beer and my Martini was served neat, but was very good.
We watched life going on and pondered on what we had seen, a big legacy seems to be the continuation of the arts, there’s posters and flyers all over the place for various events.
John spotted Havaianas flip flops in the sale in Office shoe shop. I nearly bought some online before the trip. They really are so much more comfortable than normal ones.
Brilliant value, I got 2 pairs for less than the price of one normally.
Bargain!
We wandered in the 2 malls either side of the road and enjoyed familiar and not so familiar stores.
John bought shorts and I bought a belt.
We walked all the way back, but totally ran out of steam to visit all the buildings on our list, so that will be tomorrow. Settled for just taking photos of some outsides and discovered Kinder chocolate ice cream. (could be fatal, its divine)
Suddenly it got very windy and black clouds appeared. Up until then it was hot and sunny.
We sheltered in a side tunnel with a load of other people but decided getting wet outweighed the risk of passive smoking and found a doorway by the eternal flame.
It absolutely bucketed down
We ran to a little cafe that was doing a baklava and coffee deal so had to have that. Totally delicious and the tiny espresso coffees are wonderful.
John spotted a man dressing up as a beer bottle and giving away free cans so of course he had to go and get one!
The sun came back out so we wandered around the vibrant old town again until it was time for more beer and Martini.
The Martini was horrible, lemonade got lost in translation and it was basically lemon juice with a hint of lemon and a dash of Martini.
The bargain advertised beer wasn’t available because they were waiting for the boss to come and change the barrel. John was given a small Dutch tasteless bottled beer which he was less than impressed with.
The bar was aptly called Pirate bar and we were definitely robbed!
Almost double what we paid before and way over the top prices!
Oh well…our first bad experience and the only time we weren’t given a little slip of paper with our bill.
Despite wanting to eat the delicious cevap every day it seemed daft not to try something different so we had pizza and calzone. Absolutely perfect.
Exhausted and needing chill out time we went back towards our guesthouse.
Stopped at a supermarket on the corner for bottled water and chocolate and got tutted at by the most miserable guy at the till for putting the water by the items he had already rung up.
Made a few tutting sounds of our own, had the change thrust in my hand and think we will use the little shop further up the hill or just dehydrate in future.
We were only saying earlier that people aren’t generally very friendly.
The lady in the museum tutted at us too for picking up a leaflet, and small booklet – neither of which had any indication that there was a charge for them – and walking away. We went and paid when she called us over to ask for money but still got a loud tut!
Maybe the people are friendly but we’re used to living amongst Turks who are far more demonstrative and welcoming and want to interact.
So far its only been the cemetery man and the Tourist office girls who have made any effort to chat
more observations :
Almost everyone smokes, everywhere, inside or out.
Lots of people speak German
When you order a drinks or food you get a print out that you hand in when you pay ( except when being robbed by pirates)
We’ve never seen such a diverse range of people in a relatively small place
So much Turkish influence, adverts for Konya on trams, shops named after Turkish shops, baklava, Turkish delight, Turkish souvenirs
Bosnian ladies are very well dressed and take pride inn their appearance. Many look stunning and have beautiful make up and dresses even in the daytime.
There is very little obesity, maybe because of incredibly hard times when they got used to eating so little.
Really looking forward to day 3, so many places still to explore.
I have another person to add to the cemetery guy and the Tourist info list, -Amira, who looks after our apartment.
I bumped into her at 11pm last night in the garden when I went outside to upload yesterdays blog as WiFi in our room is non existent.
She came flying out of her apartment when she heard me in case I was scared of her dog, who she had just let out.
He’s a crazy Alsatian, completely daft and very playful.
She was so apologetic about not meeting us til now but she had been busy helping some street dogs.
She feeds 15 nearby and had been helping a little pup with a broken leg and generally in a really bad way.
She showed us a photo and it was so sad, she had brought him to the aparts in the morning, lucky we were out as we would have fallen in love with him.
We set off to join a walking tour today.
Really interesting and knowledgeable young guide Halip from Spirit Tours
We really enjoyed finding out more about the many buildings we’ve looked at around town.
the Latin Bridge where Franz Ferdinand was shot and killed by an assassinGazi Huzers Han Orthodox Christian church funded by Muslims and donation from Spain
Halip explained that the city is often described as Jerusalem as it has Muslims, Christians, Orthodox Church and Jews living happily together.
At some times in winter its possible to hear the call to prayer and church bells together at midday.
Afterwards we revisited a Han that was donated by a wealthy Ottoman called Gazi Huzrev which we were shown on the tour, fabulous setting for a delicious lunch of cevap and sausage.
Gazi Huzrev was responsible for building the most decorative mosque and some of the Hans, areas where people could stay free of charge in Ottoman times.
We wandered along to a nearby shopping mall, via one of many ice cream stalls.
We opted for creme caramel, lovely but not as good as the Kinder one yesterday
I have my eye on a Rocher one for later or tomorrow.
The shopping mall was disappointing with 5 floors of brands we can’t afford.
After 2 floors we gave up and went across the road where John had a beer and I had an espresso.
I am currently so addicted to espresso, ice cream and Bosnian sausages.
I wonder how long I could exist here without getting scurvy.
Currently in a beautiful little garden bar, more beer and espresso.
Johns dozing due to not being used to daytime drinking and my pulse rate is pounding as I type.
Before leaving the bar I went in to use the loo.
The inside was like a museum of antiquities, you couldn’t have found a space for one more thing and even the toilets were full of memorabilia.
On the way out I commented to the owner who proudly told me its all authentic from100 years before.
I asked about cleaning it all and he was even prouder to tell me his wife does it all.
She didn’t look so impressed. She had been running around taking orders and serving while he sat at a table with a beer.
Not sure she’s going to last as well as the antiques.
We strolled along the river, mooched around the shops, wandered round a clothes market, found a couple of second hand clothes shops but not sure if for charity, had another espresso, and called into the tourist info shop to see if there’s anywhere on the outskirts to visit as we’ve covered just about every inch of this area now.
Then looked for inspiration for dinner.
There isn’t a huge choice around, and we fancied something different.
So we walked in the other direction for a change but looked very derelict and nothing to be seen.
So we decided to walk up the road parallel to where were staying to see if anything different up there.
We found a bakers and bought ridiculously huge deserts.
Then as there were no restaurants ordered pizza from a shack on a corner where a young lad was chopping wood.
We watched him put it in a large stone oven and asked if it was open.
Next thing he was making our pizzas.
Walked back to our base and have just stuffed ourselves with pizza, a huge marshmallow sort of cake washed down with watermelon and strawberry alchopop.
Feeling slightly sick now and ending today’s blog due to extreme bloating.
Just time for a couple of quick observations though
The most incredible ice cream stalls, no 2 stalls seem to repeat the flavours.
The main museum is closed as they can’t afford to pay staff wages, yet the malls contain luxury brands.
People seem to thrive on coffee and fags which is exactly what I did years ago when I was equally skinny.
I look wistfully at the beautiful skinny ladies here. But I don’t see them eating sausages, pizza, ice cream and cakes til they feel sick.
Maybe I could try hard tomorrow ? Doubtful now I know about the existence of Fererro Rocher ice cream though!
We walked up to the fortress which is at the top of the hill close to our guesthouse.
Fabulous view over the city made it well worth the climb and jelly legs.
Had a morning espresso and hot chocolate and chilled for a while.
Walked to the old town to go inside the cathedral but could only look through as there was a service taking place.
Absolutely stunning and glad we saw it, sadly no photos allowed.
We were going to go to an exhibition about the war but after going up in the lift to 3rd floor felt the entrance fee was too much for looking at old photos and some of the photos in reception we had seen before in the museum. John finds these things too sad and depressing anyway, so we bought nuts and sweets and got on tram 3 to Ilidza. ( 1.8 km each, approx 50p.
Quite shocked at the amount of graffiti on the tram, but other than that it was a 40 minute journey through dismal tower blocks interspersed with shops, cafes and even a Porsche/ Audi showroom.
The extremes of rich and poor continue to baffle me.
Ilidza is the last stop and had the feel of a traditional small town with shops and multinational eateries including Arabic and of course Turkish.
We asked for directions to Vreli Bosne Spa and soon found the road we needed.
At first there was a huge park with small stately homes looking buildings which were hotels.
In the guide book it said it was a 30 minute walk to the water area but it was closer to an hour.
Beautiful shady walk along a tree lined path shared with cyclists and horses with carriages.
Once we arrived we paid the modest entry fee (about 75p each ) and it was time for beer and a snack.
I ordered breaded cheese thinking starter size but was a full scale meal.
Very tasty served with a relish made with gherkins which was delicious considering I hate gherkins. Think it was probably a garlic yoghurt base and still can’t believe I ate gherkins and enjoyed them.
The spa area was used by the Romans and there are thermal pools too apparently although we didn’t see those. The park area is a series of little wooden bridges, streams and small lakes with icy water from the surrounding mountains.
Really beautiful and lots of tourists and local families chilling and enjoying the lovely scenery.
Such a welcome escape from city life, so tranquil and relaxing.
Currently blogging while Johns having a post beer snooze.
Lovely long walk back to the town. Made the mistake of stroking a street dog who then thought she was ours but luckily another couple stroked her and we escaped.
Stopped in the town and had a coffee and killed time until we were hungry so we could eat something different.
The food is very samey in Sarajevo town and is mainly fast food and lunch food.
We found a really grotty looking place and had lasagne, it was pretty good.
Caught the tram back, and did the big hill back for the very last time. Pheww!
The texting and driving lady is picking us up at 6.30am tomorrow morning ready for our 7.15am train to Mostar.
Will definitely be hoping that the car doesn’t have any accelerator problem and assume no one will be messaging that early….
Night night from Sarajevo, we’ve enjoyed it but ready for a new city experience now.
Last observations
Lots of chocolate orange flavoured things
The currency has a very flat metal sound
Graffiti everywhere
They’re very quiet people in Sarajevo
They don’t greet each other with kisses like many other Europeans do
Last night we were waiting to go to bed but needed to pay Amira and her daughter said she was sleeping
We played with crazy dog for a while then decided we would have to knock and find her due to early train.
She appeared and we double checked still OK for texting driving lady to pick us up at 6.30am.
She rang her and said that she was going to the seaside but would call someone else in the morning and not to worry.
Being used to Turkish time we had already told a white lie and said our train was 15 mins earlier than it really is.
At 6.25 Amira knocked our door and our taxi was waiting.
Rocket man drove us and we were at the station just after 6.35am.
Plenty of time for espresso and now feeling hyper and ready to go!
Can’t go up to the platform because it’s freezing so current choice is continue dying from passive smoking or freeze.
Have made it onto the train and needless to say its not a smoke free zone.
Might as well start smoking again as currently on 40 a day without the buzz although the espresso comes close 🙂
Found a pair of comfy seats with a table cloth and assumed all carriages were the same.
Its pandemonium! Cases and bags everywhere, a no nonsense man made some people move their bags and has now come and asked what we would like to drink.
Maybe later I said.
Got told in no uncertain terms we drink or go as he waved at our table cloth
Oh OK then, another espresso.
Its 7.15…I’ve had one coffee in the room, one at the station and another on its way.
My metabolism will be so fast that I shall resemble a stick insect and no one will recognise me when I get home.
Bang on 7.15 and we’re on our way on what is supposed to be one of the most beautiful train journeys in Europe.
Last time we did a most beautiful journey was in Vietnam and didn’t see much through the torrential rain.
Today is sunny and am really excited.
(could be caffeine related )
Sadly the excitement was short lived.
I’m not being anti smoker and I know ex smokers are the worst but this was ridiculous.
A hardened 40 a dayer would have struggled I’m sure.
The couple across from us had 4 each in the first 15 minutes. A haze covered the whole carriage.
No one seemed to want windows open and window wars broke out between us and the chainees behind us.
We won window wars by default as they wanted it open once it got very hot. I said we should close it, John said no 😦
The journey was 3 hours, not 2 and a bit but not sure if that’s because we stopped randomly a few times.
There were lots of very long tunnels and one scary moment with lots of tooting, screeching to a very noisy halt and sitting in a tunnel for around 20 minutes.
The scenery got better and better as the journey went on.
On arrival we followed the booking.com map which are dreadful by Johns own admission.
The gentle stroll I imagined became 1 hour 20 minutes and about 5km along ugly main roads in 40 degrees asking for directions along the way
By the time we finally stopped at a little cafe for refreshments I was at the stage of saying this was the last holiday we were going on together as having organised everything except Johns job of maps I was very angry.
I sent him off to ask the cafe owner if he had any idea where we were and it turned out we were a few houses away.
He took John along to show him.The owner said check in was 12.30 so not long to wait.
We had drinks and went along and met the really friendly owner who was cleaning the pool.
The place was such an oasis behind a frontage of rough looking apartments.
We were welcomed with beer which went straight to my head and made me forget the drama of getting here.
The owner told us we shouldn’t go into town til after 5pm as too hot and said he would drive us to a beautiful place out of town tomorrow morning.
It is hot and sunny but not humid like it is back in Fethiye this year, everyone’s saying it’s the worst for many years.
We were shown to our apartment. Its beautiful.
Snuck out without being seen and are currently in a Turkish restaurant where we’ve had chicken wraps and ezogelin soup.
Now waiting for cay 🙂
Chatted to the couple running the restaurant, she is Bosnian, he is Turkish, she wants to live here, he wants to live in Turkey.
Opposite is an ice cream stall.
I’ve already checked out the flavours.
Never managed to re-find the Rocher stall yesterday so will have to make do with Tiramisu today…or Nutella…or peach….
So tiramisu it was. Very good but Kinder is still the winner for me.
Had a wander around part of the town.
Spotted Halip from our Sarajevo tour and stopped to chat.
Went to a mosque where we could walk up the minaret for a small fee.
Felt rather nauseous round the small stone spiral staircase, got jelly legs again but amazing views from the top and glad we did it.
Our minaret from outside
Stopped on a small terrace in the old town which boasts the best view of the Old Bridge. Just beautiful and the river is the most beautiful shade of green.
That one view made it worth coming, just stunning.
We walked along and over the bridge stopping to watch some crazy men jumping from the bridge.
Found myself at eye level too close for comfort with a man in speedos who was collecting money!
They collect until they feel they have enough and then launch themselves off, apparently its 21 metres.
In Lonely Planet it says you can be taught for a fee and have people in wet suits ready in case of problems.
Think I will give that a miss.
We stopped in a little stone walled bar overlooking the river and old buildings for a while.
I made the mistake of ordering homemade lemonade.
After a few teaspoons of sugar and a mountain of ice it was OK.
Ah….talking of sugar…we’ve been collecting sachets to replace what was lost all over my suitcase.
They give 2 sachets with every espresso so one spare sugar each time 🙂
(Have spotted an espresso machine on the landing by our room but haven’t tried it yet, but assume its for communal use.)
Walked back from the old town, its quite a long way.
Look what I spotted along the way, and easy to remember where it is for tomorrow!
Feeling exhausted after early start and walking almost the length of Herzegovina today.
Didn’t fancy walking back in to town to eat so took the bridge to the right of where were staying.
Had to go past some dodgy looking buildings and a load of people staring at us outside a grotty bar.
The wind got up and there was lightening so we went into the first eatery we saw, could possibly be the only one locally, and had pizza! Just for a change.
Not the nicest surrounds but was really delicious.
John was convinced 2 guys sitting outside were drug dealers.
We ate quickly and popped in the local shop and home by dark as it all felt very seedy.
Johns got a little drop of beer – 2 litres for £1 and I’ve got a Kinder bueno and now time to catch up on Corrie.
We sure know how to party.
More observations, from here and Sarajevo
80’s music playing everywhere
No backgammon or okey games, people just sit
As promised the owner from our apart drove us out to Blagaj.
Its a beautiful old stone village set by the start of the river.
Set beside the mountain and a cave is a 15th century Ottoman Dervish house.
We had a wander around the little house, appropriately dressed of course, it was lovely and what a location!
The river and scenery is just beautiful and lots of bars, cafes and restaurants.
We had drinks by the river, visited the old house, had a huge lunch. Mixed grill for John, steak with ham, cheese and mushrooms for me
Whilst wandering in the village we fell in love with a gorgeous puppy which was down some steps
and tied up outside a historic house.
It was so excited to see us and had lots of cuddles.
John untangled it from some sticks as it only had a few inches of rope to move around.
The owner appeared as we said goodbye and we said what a gorgeous puppy.
He asked us not to touch it (ooops) as they don’t want it to like people as its a hunting dog and someone could steal it the mountains.
Its just 8 weeks old and tied up behind a door by the river.
So heartbreaking hearing it barking as we walked away.
Needless to say we declined his offer to look around the house.
We could still hear it when we got back up the steps. Desperately wanting attention.
Goodness knows when the next time will be when it receives any affection.:(
So incredibly sad.
Spent a while chilling in this beautiful area and then went to wait for the 2.15pm bus back to Mostar.
Went to a very scary toilet way down some stairs belonging to a small cafe by the bus top.
Its never a good start when they send you off with a key in the pitch dark!
Lots of wooden doors circa 1950 and as I slowly turned the key and peeped in it was Turkish style but didn’t have the antique spiders I imagined.
The bus arrived bang on time and we worked out where to get off give or take a stop and home within 30 minutes.
I went for a refreshing dip in the pool ( lucky no one around as I did a sort of sitting launch and once in panicked about freezing to death as had no idea how I would be able to get out again – then caught my foot on the built in concrete steps the other end ) while John went for his first run since bruising his ribs a few weeks ago.
He was under threat of what might happen to him if he laid himself up and ruined the rest of our holiday!
He survived, all good and really pleased for him as I know he’s missed it.
Walked into Mostar town to see it at night and found a cute little place with absolute bargain Cevapis. And of course Bosnian sausages.
The bridge and town look lovely lit up and lots of tourists and nice atmosphere.
The day time 80s music seemed to be replaced with current tracks, they don’t make music like they used to that’s for sure.
Followed by….a trip to Konzum supermarket for bus journey snacks.
Spotted 8 different brands of Jaffa Cakes and 4 types of chocolate orange choc bars.
Followed by…..
Ferrero Rocher ice cream!!! Yayyyyy…well worth waiting for although Kinder Bueno flavour with its chunky chocolate swirls still in the lead.
Walked home, dirty stop outs back by nine.
Planned a tv catch up last night but VPN wouldn’t work.
Settings changed now as per Neils instructions and fingers crossed for a bit of tv time.
Nearly forgot….bought Lion bars in Konzum too. Haven’t seen them for years.
Swear they’ve shrunk. Unlike my waistline 🙂
Our apartment guy, Harris, took us to the bus station which was really kind. He didn’t want to take any money so we insisted he took it and used it for nappies for his 5 day old twin boys.
Stood for a while chatting about history and politics.
Most of Mostar was flattened during the war and the EU gave money for rebuilding which is why we hadn’t noticed much shell damage.
Such an interesting man and a shame we didn’t get the chance to chat more.
Our bus left Mostar East at 11.20 am, ticket was £12 each and 1 euro fee each for our luggage.
Lovely scenery, very green and mountains around us, very similar to Turkey with a mix of villages and commercial buildings along the way.
Almost all the houses have Intex large paddling pools and a few had normal swimming pools.
At 12.15 we pulled into another bus station and assumed most people were getting off for a ciggy.
Asked someone and we had to change buses for Split
Bit of a rush but all fine and they moved our cases for us, glad were getting our moneys worth!
At 12.30 we stopped again.
Have just handed over our passports and we’re currently sitting at the border.
It’s very hot and a bit claustrophobic as I’ve copped a very large lady in front of me who has put her seat right back and is almost sitting in my lap.
Could be worse, they could all be smoking a million fags 🙂
I’ve been watching the first episode (I downloaded on iPlayer) of the new Great British Bake Off series, its cake week and I’m drooling and glad I bought a bar of Milka Noisette flavour for the journey.
At 12.55 we were off again and passports given back by other passengers.
The scenery is beautiful, lovely lakes and by 1.30 we were going around bendy roads and saw the sea.
Have really missed being by the sea.
Its much like the Kas -Kalkan road, but 80km instead of 8km.
John is struggling and feeling sick.
The large lady later got off but can’t work out how to put her seat back up 😦
The bendy coast road went on for well over an hour with a couple of gorgeous little resorts in the distance.
A short stop in a town with tiny streets and then back onto the coast road.
John is still feeling really rough.
Arrived at Split bus station just after 4pm.
John literally looked green.
Stopped to get Kuna from the ATM and for drinks and then decided to walk to our apartment partly as had been sitting all day but mostly because taxi driver quoted more than we were told to pay.
He said it was because of the luggage!
Walk was less than half an hour but pretty hilly, and very hot, but good to get some air.
Our apartment, called An &Dy, is OK.
The outside space and furniture wasn’t shown on the website and is pretty poor!
There’s a supermarket really close by and we couldn’t face going into town as feeling exhausted.
There’s a very basic kitchen so decided to cook and bought pork chops and steaks, mushrooms and onion.
Very tasty and a welcome change from sausages and pizza.
There’s an airer so we did our laundry as first opportunity since we started our travels.
Looking forward to exploring Split tomorrow. What we saw briefly looked wonderful but for now its chill time and we have 2 full days to visit the town and maybe even the beach.
Observations so far :
John needs to put his travel sick pills in his backpack not in his suitcase
The supermarket has a lot more choice than the ones in Bosnia.
There’s a Lidl
No sign of any war damage as far as we’ve seen so far.
Everything is slightly dearer than Bosnia but feels more affluent.
13.8.15
Last night I emailed through to the aparts to ask where the kettle ( I was ready for bed) is as I have to have my morning coffee and a kettle is a booking deal breaker. (So is a patio, balcony or garden, hadn’t anticipated such crap garden furniture though)
A few minutes later a man appeared with the tiniest hairdryer I’ve ever seen.
I explained no…for coffee.
Ahhh ok…
A few minutes later he appeared again.
With a Bosnian ( or maybe Croatian ) metal coffee jug with a long handle.
Ok, don’t worry I said.
A few minutes later he reappeared with the biggest, mankiest kettle.
I rinsed and scrubbed it a few times and it still looked like it had milk in it.
Eventually it was clean
This morning I made coffee that tasted vile.
Psychological maybe? Too much red onion last night?
Boiled it a couple of times and tried again with bottled water and marginally better.
Currently in Split old town enjoying a proper espresso overlooking the ferry port.
Lovely although the waitress is probably in the wrong job.
Actually she just smiled at me so I take that back.
Wandered around the market and fell in love with a dress.
Didn’t have to haggle, the lady offered a big discount without me saying anything.
Quickly tried it on and sale done 🙂
Found a beautiful large square which backed on to a cake shop, Bobis, seems to be loads of them dotted around, the Croatian equivalent of Gregg’s.
Had calzone and sausage roll and beer.
Pleased to say the same ice creams are here and I had Kinder, yum.
We walked all around the beautiful old town then to the forest park at the end of the peninsular.
It looks beautiful on the map and there are cycle paths.
I’m definitely not a cyclist but if flat it would be lovely to cycle around it.
So we went to investigate.
After the huge hill to get there and another big hill by the entrance to the forest it was clear it wasn’t a good plan.
Strolled for a while and admired the views before going back down again.
It’s a hot day and not pleasant on the hills.
We strolled by the harbour for a while but decided to leave this for tomorrow when we go and find a beach.
Back into the old town and decided to visit the Cathedral.
We bought a ticket to visit the baptistery, crypt and bell tower too.
More jelly leg time, huge steps but at least not spiral like the Minaret in Mostar!
Amazing views from the top and so worth the effort.
On the way back down we saw a petrified lady and she told her friend to go on without her. Chatted to her and she came down in between us and was very grateful.
The crypt and other parts were OK, nothing over special but lovely and cool.
Found an antique and flea market which was great. Saw the same Joey money box that is a treasure within the family.
Was tempted to buy it but very heavy.
John fell in love with a bell with a cast metal goat on it and offered a third off the asking price and no quibble.
It is cute.
Stopped for a drink and had the most tasteless iced coffee but Johns hot chocolate was good.
Had enough of walking, have covered miles again! Caught the number 18 bus to a stop past where were staying as the map says shopping centre.
Found a small mall, nothing too great but the Piece de Resistance…Lidl.
People who don’t live in Turkey will not understand the excitement of a Lidl.
Our little fridge currently contains millions of calories, biscuits, deserts, chocolate and got a bottle of Vermouth for £3!
John even got some running shorts.
Our next stop is in one of the Islands so we figured it could be the last time we see such goodies.
Going to be interesting transporting it all.
Bought Bratwurst sausages, bread and Mayo and made chunky sandwiches and used up the mushrooms and will have onion breath again tomorrow.
Probably sounds bizarre on holiday but we have no idea when we will see Bratwurst again.
It went down well with Asti Spumante.
Absolutely love Split and looking forward to seeing the seaside part tomorrow.
Observations
Its very hilly
People are generally more cheerful here
Graffiti but nowhere near as much
Only get given one sachet of sugar with my espresso’s instead of 2 in Bosnia and no glass of water with it.
Tommy’s is the main supermarket chain. They’re everywhere!
The architecture is very similar to Rome
Doesn’t seem to be as much smoking
Quite a few older men around the town sitting around drinking beer
Haven’t seen any beggars apart from a guy asking for cigarettes today- so many beggars in Mostar and Sarajevo, women with babies and small children singing to try and get money there.
Balkanic Adventures 