Croatia and Bosnia & Herzegovina

Zagreb Train Station

 When I finally got around to leaving Budapest, I jumped on a train to Zagreb, Croatia. I had just moved my stuff into my own little compartment when two girls walked in, sat down, and introduced themselves in strangely familiar accents. Turns out, they were both from Vancouver and one of them went to Mcgill, although I didn’t know either of them. We go to Zagreb at around 8:00PM and they continued on to catch another train to Split. I had written out fairly detailed instructions from my hostel on how to get there and I thought I was doing pretty well when I got onto the correct tram outside the station. The problem was that I was instructed to get off at the 3rd stop, but it immediately became apparent that people just get off whenever the tram stops (for traffic lights or pedestrians), and I couldn’t figure out which were the official stops and which were just momentary pauses. In any event, I got off after what seemed like 3 stops but evidently wasn’t. Luckily, everyone I stopped on the street (about 4 people) spoke nearly perfect English and they all went out of their way to help me find the place, which I did about 40 minutes and another tram ride later.

The next day, unfortunately, was cold and rainy so I walked around for a couple hours but then decided to just come back to the hostel and relax. I met a nice Italian couple and we all watched a movie, then went grocery shopping, and made a big pasta dinner. I caught a train to Split the next morning, and while I’m disappointed I didn’t see more of Zagreb, I was looking forward to getting to the coast anyway.

Split Old Town

My train ride to Split was quite pleasant, although unnecessarily confusing as they made us all get off in the middle of nowhere, then get on a bus for 30 minutes, only to get back on the same train farther along the track. Of course I missed the announcement saying this (it was in Croatian), so everybody got off the train and I just stayed on. Eventually the conductor came and dragged me off to the bus, where everyone was staring at me like I had just ruined their entire day. I spent two nights in Split and, as the weather finally improved, it was wonderful. The city is quite touristy, so the fact that I was there in the off-season made it more tolerable. The city is located right on the waterfront, with a Miami Beach-esque boardwalk along the front, and the walled old city behind. The boardwalk part is a pleasant place to eat ice cream or just walk around, but the Old City is spectacular. Once you get inside the wall, you are in the middle of a cobblestone labyrinth of shops, restaurants, art galleries, museums, churches, and apartments. I walked around for hours and never really figured out where I was, exactly, but you don’t really need to.

Split Old Town

On my second day in Split I decided to take a boat to one of the nearby islands. Unfortunately, the majority of the boat routes are out of service until July so my only option was to go to the main town on the island of Brac.  Still not really having any luck with the weather, the boat ride there was quite cold and windy. I spent about 3 hours walking around the island, which is really beautiful and smells like salt and pine trees, then got some lunch and read a book at a little coffee shop on the waterfront.

Split Waterfront

The next morning I got on a bus to Dubrovnik, which is at the very southernmost point of the Croatian coastline. The ride there was stunning as we drove along cliffs overlooking the water the whole way. Apparently, as viewed from Space, the water in Croatia is the clearest of anywhere in the world. The drive took more or less the whole day and I arrived in Dubrovnik in time to watch the sun set and cook some dinner. The next day I went into the Old Town of Dubrovnik, which is very similar to Split but perhaps a but more authentic. I walked around the city walls, and went to the National History Museum, then got some pizza with a guy from my hostel and we sat outside in the sun for a couple of hours. That night, the manager of our hostel (who is about 28 years old) coerced into going out with him to a Croatian rock concert. In true Balkan style, that meant drinking a bottle of vile rakija before going. The most interesting part of the night (that I can remember) is that the club we went to was right inside the Old City and it felt like a giant cave once you got inside. The next day I had to check out by 11, but thankfully the manager let me sleep in until 1 and then he woke me up to get my bus to Mostar, in Herzegovina.

Dubrovnik Coastline

The ride to Mostar was quite beautiful as well, although I was hungover and slept most of the way. In any event, the nicest thing about traveling in this region is that they have so many buses that they are nearly always half-empty. I don’t think I’ve had to sit next to anyone on a single occassion.

A Man in a Boat, Dubrovnik

I got to Mostar at around 7:00PM and the owner of my hostel, Majda, was waiting for me at the bus station. She gave me a quick tour of the city, reproached me for only planning to stay one night, then eventually dropped me off at the hostel. I met an older Australian man there, and when I mentioned how tired I was (mostly as an excuse not to have to socialize), he insisted on cooking Spaghetti Bolognese and garlic bread and eventually talked me into sharing a bottle of wine with him. In the end, it wasn’t a bad deal for me but I still went to bed at about 10:00. 

Clear, Clear Water (also very cold)

The next day Majda made breakfast for everyone (fried zucchini on toast, quite delicious), and then I set out to walk around the town. Although beautiful, I think one day is enough to see Mostar as you can literally circumnavigate the center of town in under an hour. The most striking difference between Croatia and B&H is that the damage from the war is still readily apparent in the latter. Particularly in Mostar, which was held under siege for close to 18 months in 1991/2, nearly every third building is in ruins and the town just doesn’t have the money to rebuild them.

Stari Most, Mostar

The most famous attraction in Mostar is the central bridge, Stari Most, which was completely demolished in the war and rebuilt in 2004. It is now a UNESCO world heritage site. Mostar is the biggest town in the Herzegovina region of B&H, and the population is predominantly Croats and Bosniaks; there was a sizeable Serbian population there before the war, but they were more or less annihilated. As such, there is a really interesting mix of Muslim and Christian architecture, with the skyline dominated by the spire of a mosque in the foreground and a giant crucifix in the background.  Even the local football teams are divided along ethnic lines, although the rivalry is friendlier than most UK football rivalries.

Ruins, Mostar

Anyway,  I walked around the town for a while and was lucky enough to cross the bridge while a large crowd was gathering. I had heard of an unofficial diving school, and Majda told me that you can occasionally see men jumping off the bridge, although she said not to expect it in the off-season. Luckily there was a tour group in town from somewhere and they had commissioned someone to make the jump, so I got to see it after all. I can’t say exactly how high the bridge is, but if I didn’t know otherwise I would say that you would die jumping off it. On top of the height, the water is glacial and if the fall didn’t kill you I’m sure that would. Before jumping, the man took about 5 showers in what I presume to be ice-cold water in order to lower his initial body temperature. When he finally did make the jump, it was really more of a fall than anything. He just put his arms behind him and fell forwards off the edge. It was amazing, nonetheless.

Mostar

After the spectacle I went for Burek with a Korean girl I had met in Zagreb. Burek is the traditional fast food of the Balkans, well one of them anyway. It’s basically  meat, cheese, or spinach wrapped in Filo pastry and fried. It’s about a dollar for a sizeable portion, and depending on how freshly made it is, it’s quite delicious. Although neither one of us drinks coffee, it’s more of less a way of life in the Balkans so we decided to get a coffee along the riverfront and sit in the sun. I probably could have spent another day doing nothing in Mostar, but I saw enough in the day that I was there and I felt satisfied when I got the bus to Sarajevo at 5 that night.

On the Bridge

I arrived in Sarajevo at around 7:30 and got a cab to the apartment I was staying at. I was couchsurfing with an Italian lawyer, named Alfredo, who works in the prosecutor’s office of B&H, in the special department for war crimes. He was an amazingly interesting and intelligent guy, though understandably a little bit intense. On a positive note, his apartment was stunning and he was a great cook.

A Man Jumping Off the Bridge

 The first night I was there, his friends Mustafa and Asla came for dinner and we had delicious Italian pasta and wine. Mustafa and Asla were hilarious and light-hearted, and it was really interesting to get to know them. Mustafa is a Bosnian Muslim, while Asla is Serbian Orthodox. Both came from fairly well-off families so they were able to get out of Sarajevo during the war. Asla went to an all-girls Christian college in Southern California, and Mustafa went to a Muslim madrassa in Germany.  Despite all their differences, they are planning on getting married some time next year and both of their families couldn’t be happier. It’s amazing to think of the problems that some people have in North America in terms of inter-marriage of religion or race,  when these two are perfectly content in their relationship, desite the fact that their fathers or uncles could have been fighting to kill one another less than 20 years ago.

Bridge in Sarajevo

The next day I did the usual – walked aimlessly around the city for a few hours. Unfortunately it was a Monday and all the museums were closed, but it was a beautiful day so I eventually found a nice park to lie down and read a book. Alfredo gave me a book of short stories called “Sarajevo Marlboro,” which is basically just a series of short anecdotes about life from a young man who remained in Sarajevo during the war. There are definitely better books to read if you want to understand the dynamics of the war, but this one is interesting in that it shows you that, even when the city was under siege, people were still concerned with everyday things like shoolyard fights and clean underwear.

Muslim Cemetery, 90% of the graves are from 1993.

For my last night in Sarajevo, Mustafa came over for dinner again and we had a couple beers, smoked a joint, and talked about everything from politics to linguistics to interior design (I don’t remember why that came up). All in all, I had a great time in B&H, and I learned a lot about a war that I only really knew in statistical terms before. After leaving Sarajevo, I got on a bus to Podgorica (the capital of Montenegro), but I’ll write about that later!

Peace!