A short stop in Belgrade

From what we had read, the eight-hour train journey from Sarajevo to Belgrade is beautiful, so we were looking forward to the trip.

Having not quite figured out how the whole Balkan train thing works yet (it is a bit late in our time there to have finally grasped it, still we'll know for next time!), we arrived on the platform about 15 minutes before the train was due to depart only to find the train waiting and most compartments almost full. Fortunately, a lovely Bosnian family of four and another Bosnian woman travelling on her own managed to squeeze us in with them. All apart from Adrian, who had to stand in the corridor. 

Squished in

The family were incredibly good with Eleanor and Leo, helping then with their stickers, sharing food and generally helping to keep them amused. The son must be in his early 20's and spoke some English, so we had a bit of a conversation, which was great. They got off the train about and hour and a half later, and the woman about half an hour after that, so from then on we had the compartment to ourselves. We spread out and spent the afternoon eating, playing charades, I spy and memory. The scenery is definitely beautiful and we very much enjoyed the trip, but it wasn't quite as striking as the trip from Mostar to Sarajevo.

We were pleased that we'd brought a good stock of food and water as there was nothing on the train and it didn't stop long enough anywhere to jump out and buy snacks. Towards the end a man came around offering coffee. It was Turkish, so very strong and sludgy. Great with a spoon of sugar though and gave us the energy we needed to walk the couple of kilometres from the train station to our hotel.

Old city walls

In the morning we went for a walk through the city, well a small part of it, to see the citadel. Belgrade has a population of over 1.5 million, so is a big city compared with our recent stops. There is a mix of architecture, from solid socialist blocks to modern buildings to older Ottoman constructions. We saw one building that had been bombed by NATO in 1999 and had a massive hole in it.

A walk in the park

The citadel is the old walls and inside is a fantastic park for wandering in the sunshine. The edge of the park overlooks the point at which the Sava River meets the Danube. They are both huge rivers, so it is an impressive view.

Despite it being 26 or 27 degrees, autumn is clearly on the way; the leaves on the trees are turning and there are lots of piles of dry leaves on the ground. The early autumn light is beautiful, especially with all the colours. Eleanor and Leo had a great time collecting conkers and sticks and spotting local wildlife (a squirrel and a lizard).

Where is the airport?

We had no trouble finding an early lunch as there are restaurants and cafes everywhere. We tried some yummy pastries and the best coffee we've had in ages. A real latte!!!

After lunch we raced back to the hotel to grab our bags and head to the airport to catch a flight to Istanbul.

2012 09 Sarajevo, Bosnia

2012 09 Sarajevo, Bosnia, a set on Flickr.

Photos from our time in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Hercegovina. Click on the link to see all 46.

Sarajevo

On the train

The nearly three-hour train journey from Mostar to Sarajevo took us through some truly beautiful countryside. The train was a comfortable old-style one with several six-seat compartments in each carriage. Seats are not reserved, so you fit in where you can; we sat with three local people who were very patient with the Parker family whirlwind. There doesn't seem to be much in the way of anti-smoking legislation here, so people can smoke on trains (and in restaurants etc.) Although, as they stand in the corridor and open a window, with the door to your compartment closed, you can hardly smell it.

View from the train

We were checked into our Sarajevo accommodation by the early afternoon, so went into the old Turkish part of the city to find a late lunch and food to cook for dinner. The old city is lively and cosmopolitan, filled with cafes, restaurants, bars, mosques, churches, souvenir shops and stylish people. the local market is filled with delicious organic produce.

We spent much of our time in Sarajevo taking it easy, doing a little shopping and running a few errands.

Although, we did manage to squeeze in a couple of sights. We visited the spot where the Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated, sparking World War 1, and the little museum next to the site. It is interesting how our perspective on history can change; in the Yugoslav days the assassin, Gavrilo Princip, was celebrated with a bridge named after him and a memorial in his honour, but later opinions changed, so the bridge was renamed and the memorial removed.

Emerging from the tunnel

We also caught a local tram and bus a few kilometres out of town to see a tunnel dug under the airport runway during the war that was used to bring supplies into Sarajevo, which was almost completely surrounded by the Serb army. About 25 metres of the original 800 is now open for the public to walk through and there is a small museum dedicated to the building of the tunnel and the lives of the people at that time. It was well worth the visit, although very sobering.

Adrian popped into the National Museum and found it a blast from the past (boom, boom!). No doubt there hasn't been a lot of spare money for its upkeep in the past few years. While he did that, Eleanor, Leo and I played with a 16-month old Argentinian boy and his parents who were also staying at the hostel. They both enjoyed the contact with another child and were very disappointed when the family left later that evening for Split.

At the playground

We went on a bit of a wild goose chase looking for playgrounds suggested by one of the guys working at the hostel, eventually finding one that was run down to the point it was unusable and unsafe; the steps up to the side were ropey to say the least, half of the platform at the top had disappeared entirely and one of the slides had a big hole in it. A real shame for Eleanor and Leo particularly, but for us too as a playground handy to our hotel is always good! However, Adrian did manage to find a mostly-functioning one the next day, so there was some playing and two happy children.

Adrian and I each took the opportunity to sneak out for a couple of hours in the evening. A bit of a treat! We both did the same thing; stopped at a funky little bar where you get a bowl of fruit with your glass of wine, then went on to a bar near the hostel to watch a bit of football. The city is vibrant at night with lots of people out and about and some interesting looking cocktails (not sampled by us) drunk from carafes with straws.

Dinner at To Be or Not To Be

On our last evening we went out for a delicious dinner at tiny 'To be or not to be' in the Turkish quarter. Adrian had a yummy chilli-chocolate sauce for his steak, while I went for veal with a gorgonzola sauce and Eleanor and Leo enjoyed a large bowl of pasta. Highly recommended if you are in Sarajevo.

2012 09 Mostar, Bosnia

2012 09 Mostar, Bosnia, a set on Flickr.

Photos from our time in Mostar, Bosnia and Hercegovina