Escaping Adriatic rooms and back to Sarajevo

24.8.15

Up early and had breakfast, checked out and got the bus to Dubrovnik Old Town and then the 1a to the bus station. We were way too early for our 1pm bus but anything was better than spending an extra minute in the Adriatic rooms.
Not a cloud in the sky, really hot and felt sorry for the tourists we saw beginning to walk the city walls.

At the bus station we were able to leave our cases for the equivalent of £1.60 for 3 hours. Great.
Wandered about, saw the Franjo Tudman bridge built just after Independence in 1991. and strolled looking in shops and supermarkets to kill time.

Then time for a stroll, looking in shops and supermarkets to kill time. Got excited and went into a euro store. Where actually nothing was a euro!

Two espressos and a last beer later we had exactly the equivalent of 2 Euros (15 kuna) to pay to store our luggage in the bus hold which is what we paid before and what we were told it would be.
The guy told us it was 20kn, but seeing my panic that we were 50p short said it was OK!
I’m sure he was fiddling it anyway as he confirmed its 2 Euros which is 15kn.

Anyway. We’re on the bus and just leaving now.
It’s going to be a long old day. I have a headache and a cold that’s been threatening to start for days so very happy not to be exerting any energy and hoping to finish my book.

Beautiful coastline scenery. Unfortunately we had the only 2 year old on the bus standing up behind our seats counting and singing in Spanish or maybe Italian.
A couple got off and we quickly nabbed their seats which are now on the other side of the aisle to the small boy.
Sadly there’s a really strong smell of BO but just can’t move back again.
John’s t shirt is slowly absorbing it. Glad its not me.

After an hour we reached the Bosnian border and a Policeman got on to check all our passports.

A much quicker procedure than from Mostar to Split, we were on our way again within 5 minutes.
A few metres along the road was a stop for 20 minutes, then another few metres was another passport control.
I assume the next man was from the Bosnian Police.

At 3.15 pm we stopped again.
Another passport check!

Unbelievably less than 5 minutes later, without the bus even moving another one!

After following the coastline for a while we changed direction and followed bendy mountain roads.

It was scarily high in many places and our driver wasn’t slowing down for anything.
The first town we saw we knew we were back in Bosnia, buildings covered in their battle scars, poor high rise flats, lots of mosques and massive graveyards full of bright white short marble pillars.
It just still seems unbelievable the number killed in those terrible 3 years.

We reached Mostar and most people got off.
We followed the beautiful green river we saw in Mostar for many miles.
Stopped at a roadside restaurant for a while at 5 pm and arrived at Sarajevo Bus Station at 7 pm.
Such a relief after been thrown around bends, a few near misses overtaking and an emergency stop not far from the bus station, although we’re not sure why.

Got a taxi as we knew it was a long way and not doable by public transport.
It was almost 25 mins with rocket man 2 dodging from lane to lane.

Alijc Guesthouse was tucked away in a back street of lovely detached houses in quite an Austrian style.

The owner was very welcoming and we dumped everything to go out for food while it was still light enough to get our bearings.

Had a nice meal at a restaurant nearby.Just had to have breaded cheese and ham as we can’t get these in Turkey.
A couple of beers, of course a trip to a nearby supermarket and back to the house.
Unbelievably tired even though we’ve only sat on a bus for 6 hours.

Observations

We had no ice cream today.

Bosnia is such a sad place compared to Croatia but I somehow feel warmer towards it.
I hope that when they join Europe money will be given to them to hide all the scars, help unemployment and help them to move on.