Sarajevo: A world from home. (Part One)
As I said in my previous post, I did make a trip to Sarajevo last month. I went for 10 days and learnt a lot about the war, the country, its history and values. I learnt that Sarajevo is a sort of futuristic country where all the different cultures come together and just get on with life. Of course there are tensions associated with the war and between the Bosnians and Serbians, but that is understandable; after all only 15 years ago they were either side of no mans land shooting at each other.
So, what did I actually get up to? Let’s have a few photos, I think.
Day 0: Leaving Gloucester.
I left Gloucester to get to my hotel near Gatwick on the Sunday afternoon on a train.
After changing at Reading (which ended up being a struggle as nobody seemed to understand where and when the rail replacement buses would be leaving from) I did eventually head towards Gatwick. However, this was not to last and the track was broken so we all had to get off and continue our journey using some magical form of transport that First Great Western didn’t seem able to organise.
Lucky for us, the driver of the train which had to stop decided he would organise a coach to pick us up and take us straight to Gatwick. This one:
The coach journey was memorable. I saw a van with a trailer. Now, this was no ordinary trailer. It was a trailer with temporary traffic lights on. And they had been left switched on! So when it overtook us you could watch the lighes changing from green, to amber and then red. And red and amber, then green and back to amber then red, etc. You get the point, I feel. So next, I ended up getting a taxi to the hotel. This was a hotel with a view.
More specifically, this view.
The view from the window was just another side of the building, and a moss-covered roof. It had rubbish food, a poor bar, and the service was the worst I’ve ever experienced. It was like Fawlty Towers. Please, if you can, avoid the Gatwick White House Hotel. It may be cheap, but it’s not good value as it feels like you’ve rolled into some flea-infested student bedsit, not a hotel which has AA stars. Nasty.
Okay, rant over. What’s next? Let’s go to the plane.
Day 1: Travelling to Sarajevo
So I had loads of leg room on this plane, which was most welcome. I like legroom. I flew with Malev, an airline I’d never heard of, and I was most pleased with their service and everything. This was also the first time I had a glass of wine when they brought round the drinks trolley. Yummy. The food component of the flight was a salami sandwich in an Italian flatbread. Which was equally scrumptious.
Then, when I got to Budapest, I ran through the transfers where some Hungarian woman took my IRN-BRU as I wasn’t allowed to take it on to the plane. Thing is, I just came off a plane with 500-odd people on, with this drink, and I was about to go onto a plane which holds about 20 people. If I was a bad person, surely I would have made my move earlier? Angry Graham. Do you know how hard it is to find Irn Bru in Bosnia? I do. Which is why I wanted to take some with me. That really really got to me. A point I think you’re starting to understand. Let’s move on.
Tiny little plane this time.
After landing in Sarajevo, with no phone battery (played too much Angry Birds), I did feel a little bit lost. There I was, a British person looking suspiciously like a tourist, camera around neck with a massive suitcase and a coat in 37 degree heat, completely lost in a country 1200 miles from home. So what did I do? I went outside to sum up my options. I could see people coming and going in their typical airport manner, taxis looking for fares, mothers waiting for their children to come back and men and women waiting for their partners to get back from their business trips. Stuff like that, really. Anyway, there was a woman walking up to everyone asking the same question and I started worrying she would come up to me next. And she did. But the words she said are probably the most welcoming thing I’ve ever heard. “Hello, are you Graham? I’m here to take you to the hostel.” Epic win. Then two true-blooded Aussie lads with thick accents – who wouldn’t look out of place on a Foster’s advert, or a Aussie footy promo video – jumped up and were all asking about Hostel SA, where I was staying. Turns out, it’s quite a popular place. So we all bundled into this shiny German car and headed through the city to our new temporary home.
Obviously, travelling was a little tiring and the heat was pretty stifling, but I decided to go for a walk as soon as we got to the hostel. It was nice to stretch my legs. I saw this man taking photos of the birds:
After that I went for a bite to eat at the local favourite – a place called Zeljo. This is what they eat there:
Nom nom nom. That stuff was delicious – proper, fresh cooked pita bread filled with 10 lamb and beef sausages, served with kajmak – almost like clotted cream cheese (delicious) and freshly chopped onions. This cost 7 konvertibilna marka, which equates to 3.5EUR or just under £3. And it was huge!
In the evening, I tried to take apicture of the scenery at night, but I have done this better elsewhere. Here’s the view from my room.
I will cover more days as and when I have time. Thanks.
Until later…
Graham 
x
