James visits Post War Yugoslavia

(Croatia) Dubrovnik - (Bosnia) Mostar - Sarajevo - (Serbia) Belgrade

Zdravo!

DUBROVNIK
Dubrovnik, called the "Jewel of the Adriatic", doesn't have the same crowds and carnival holiday atmosphere of Budvar, nor the long beaches, but it does have a really impressive walled old town overlooking the sea. Huge fortress walls enclose the spanking clean shiny marble pavemented town, where, sloping down from the walls to
the main street in the centre via a maze of narrow picturesque streets lie grand old buildings, arcades and basilicas of renaissance/neoclassical/Italian design, and numerous pizzerias that you tire of very quickly. The beaches were quite disappointingly small but pleasant. Oh, and a useless fact, did you know the Croatians invented the tie?


THE BEAUTY AND THE HORROR OF BOSNIA
Bosnia is a beautiful place, yet you are often confronted with the horrors of the past years of war and torment. Travelling through the countryside amongst huge mountains covered with mist reminiscent of Chinese mountains, with turquoise rivers meandering through the valleys dotted with old romantic cottages, now abandoned or a gutted
out version of it's former glorious self - the inhabitants long vanished, perhaps now living abroad, scattered about or killed in the wars. It really is quite tragic.

It is also the more terrible when you meet the locals, who are extremely warm and hospitable, and do not mind talking about the war. It is a shame that in so many countries, people are so friendly and nice, but at the same time detest and loathe other nations. Syrians/Lebanese hate each other, Jews and Palestinians also, Macedonians hate the Greeks, Albanians are hated by the Serbians and Macedonians, Bosnians hate Serbians, Polish hate Germans, the list goes on.


MOSTAR
Mostar is a beautiful and fascinating place. Here lies the famous Mostar bridge, a aesthetic bridge of white stone arching gracefully without supports over the beautiful turquoise rivers, the old town of stone houses with grey slate tiled roofs and cobbled ankle twisting streets clinging precariously on the steep rugged banks either side of the bridge. This bridge is a symbol of Croat-Muslim unity, and was actually destroyed by Croat shelling during the fighting between them, but is now rebuilt. Tensions between the Croat and Muslims have died down but things will never quite be the same again. In fact, walking along the front line between the Muslim/Croat areas, you could see the mosques on the Muslim side and churches being built on the Croat side - one church right on the front line with a absurdly tall steeple, probably sending a subtle message to the Muslims I reckon.

What was sad was walking down the front line, where on both sides of the street, especially the weaker Muslim side, bullet and shell holes cover the buildings, many buildings also blown up or on verge of collapse. All around are signs on buildings stating "Dangerous Ruin - do not enter or park here", dangerous not only because it could collapse, but also because of the possible unexploded mines and shells which could cause serious injury or death to those who inadvertently step on them. Landmines is a problem in Bosnia, and the rule of thumb is to keep to asphalt or concrete surfaces, avoiding soft ground or abandoned looking places and suburbs.


SAREJEVO
If there’s one place that people coming to Europe must see, it is Sarajevo, a place full of history, beauty and tragedy. A beautiful city with a Turkish influenced old town of wooden huts and cobbled streets, surrounded by cascading terracotta roofed houses up to the hills and mountains enclosing the city. Outside the old town it turns into a bleak communist style buildings of grey concrete, many still bearing the scars of the Serbian siege less than 10 years ago. Some buildings and schools are now just husks and burned out shells. On the pavement you would see what is called "Sarajevo Roses", that is, patterned concentric marks on the ground where a mortar shell had hit and exploded.

Walked along Sniper Alley, where Bosnian Serbs shot at innocent civilians all the way to the UN airport, where a secret tunnel had been dug by the locals, a tunnel which saved the city during the 3 year siege by being the only way to the outside world where they could get supplies, since the impotent UNPROFOR had been notoriously
incompetent, in fact they were supplying 50% of their aid to the Bosnian Serbs, the other to the Sarejevians, which meant that things just got drawn out longer than it should have.

The tunnel was difficult to find, at the end of a long muddy road outside of Sarajevo in the middle of nowhere, yet it is one of the most visited museums in the city. The Tunnel is a symbol of the human spirit during times of oppression and is truly an inspiring place to visit.

All around you would see on any patch of grass, numerous cemeteries, transforming fields of green into fields of white marble. It touches the heart seeing so many graves that only existed in the last 10years.

Also saw the bridge that Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated by a Bosnian Serb, which sparked WW1 and changed this area of the world forever.


BELGRADE' S SECRET
After a long dusty rickety bus ride through terrible roads (at one stage we drove through a corn field on a mud track!), I finally made it to Belgrade.

Belgrade! Not the most beautiful place to visit, in fact it's just a very typical looking city filled with Austrian-Hungarian architecture and occasional NATO bombed buildings, but the secret that is Belgrade is that it has one of the best nightlife in the world! Along the river there are several barges, all nightclubs pounding all kinds of music into the early morning. Also, bars, clubs and cafes in the city, some outside, some hidden in some old unmarked building, are fantastic places to go party. In fact, I haven't really done much in Belgrade, mainly sleeping in the day and going out partying at night. The locals are all extremely friendly and the girls are stunning and very approachable! In fact last night I went out with some staff working at the fast food restaurant near the hostel after they finished work. Belgrade is that kind of relaxed friendly place.

Of course, they also have a different view of what happened with the wars etc. They maintain that it was Bosnian Serbs, not Serbians that were fighting in Bosnia. Secondly, they state it was the Albanian Kosovians that started the conflict because Kosovo is holy ground for the Serbs, with many 11th Century churches and monasteries that were
destroyed by the rioting Kosovos which of course angered the Serbians. Not that the Serbians were justified with their bloody retributions to the thousands of murdered Muslim Albanians as a result. But it does make you always think about what you are being told on the news etc. There is always two sides to a story, and rarely is it not biased.

Anyway, tomorrow I may go to Romania, if I can actually get up and leave this city, which has a way of keeping you here...