Bar to Sarajevo

Monday (12 June)

An early start for a 6:10 bus from Bar, Montenegro to Mostar, Bosnia & Herzegovina. A 6hr journey, with a few stops, and yes, some people ended up standing for some of the journey. It was a nice surprise to see a couple of people who were on our last bus ride, get on this bus too. It’s a small world! The border crossing was OK, not the fastest, but OK.

Our AirBnB host intended to meet us at the bus station, but we were a little delayed, so we arranged to make our own way to the flat.

On leaving the bus, we made plans to meet up with our fellow travellers from the bus, on Tuesday evening.

The AirBnB was great, the host’s granddaughter was waiting for us outside the house, and acted as a fabulous translator, aged 12!

We went for a wander around Mostar, the AirBnB is only 20mins walk from the old bridge.

Tuesday

We headed for a longer walk around Mostar, calling at the Partisan Memorial Cemetery, St Mary’s Cathedral, Lucki Bridge.

Met our fellow travellers for ice cream, drinks and dinner, a huge plate of grilled meat, bread, salad and sour cream to share.

Wednesday,

Nic had some insect bites on her feet, so did want to walk far today, so had a ‘lazy’ day, Rog went for another stroll around the old town.

Thursday

Despite the fact that it was predicted to rain all day, Our AirBnB host insisted we should go and see the Dervish Monastery, we kindly agreed and took up the offer. However by the time we got in the car and set off, with her granddaughter translating, she was going to take us to:

A bridge older than the old bridge in Mostar and the bird sanctuary

It did indeed rain all day, and after the 4 1/2 hr trip was over, we had also been to a mosque and another church.

All really interesting places, and we would not have managed to see any of them by ourselves. A truly remarkable host! The flat was £25 per night, and we did leave some extra cash, as she wouldn’t even let us pay for any entrance fees or the coffee and Fig cake we stopped for!

In the three days we had been there she had also provided fresh herb tea (she’d been collecting mountain herbs that day), home produced honey, a bottle of wine, and 1/2 litre of raki, for Rog to drink and Nic to put on her insect bites.

We then headed to the train station for the evening train to Sarajevo. Our fellow travellers were also on the train!

The conductors on the train did not like our Interrail Passes, and said that we should have been to the ticket office, after we told them we had been to the ticket office, where we were told we didn’t need a reservation, they shrugged their shoulders, and moved on.

A short walk in the rain to our accommodation, another well equipped flat, including a washing machine to be able to keep on top of the laundry!

Friday

Another rainy day, but went for a walk to Sarajevo old town, due to the weather it was relatively quiet. We passed the Eternal Flame, a World War II memorial. The cathedral, the old bazaar. Stopping at ‘Wine Not’ for a drink then ‘Eat Me’ for a burger. Found out that ‘eat’ in Bosnian is ‘Jedi’ !

Saturday

We had a later start today, walked south of the river, past the university, across the Latin Bridge to the site of the assassination of the Arch Duke Ferdinand. To the city hall, towards the Sarajevo brewery, St Anthony’s church, then back the old bazaar for traditional Bosnian coffee and baklava. Unexpectedly large pieces of baklava in this case!

We then met our fellow travellers again for drinks and dinner at ‘the Singing Nettle’ restaurant, which served traditional Bosnian food, lots of which did indeed include nettles. We ordered dishes to share between the four of us, as they were all so good.

Sunday

Nic’s insect bites still not completely healed, so rested up for the day. Rog went out for a walk to the Yellow and White fortresses, back along the river.

W/E 18 June

Only 1 train and 129 Kms

Total

49 trains

9,258 Kms