A 10 hour train ride welcomed us to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) from Zagreb on a bloody chilly Friday. We'd organised another AirBnB at the Capital of BiH - Sarajevo, only the night before leaving Zagreb which is later then we usually plan to book accommodation.
The train was the first public transport for the trip which we couldn't book online or find a timetable, so we had to suss it a couple of days earlier at the Zagreb train station. The morning of, we got to the station about 30min early, brought the tickets (hand written) and jumped on the train waiting at the platform. It was one of those trains with rooms of about 6 stained seats in each room smelling of cigarettes.
Around 12pm we reached the Croatian border where the train stopped and waited for police officials to come onboard for passport control. They flicked through our passports for a minute or so, and started to ask us questions about where we've been and when we arrived in Croatia etc. There was a little bit of a communication barrier but one of the blokes spoke pretty good English. They kept asking for more paperwork but we didn't have any. They spoke amongst themselves, stamped our passports then left. The English speaking bloke returned and said we were supposed to get some documentation from a hotel/police station when we arrived in Croatia to show we were in the country or something... usually the fine was 500kuna (100AUDea.) but we were wavered thankfully. I can't find anything on the net where it says this is required so I'm not sure what they were on about..
We rolled into Sarajevo around 7pm and our AirBnB host (legend) pick us up from the station! He took us on a quick lap of the city centre on the way to our apartment, giving us some pretty good history and insight. We hadn't eaten much on the train, and Amy was hangry so after the apartment tour we headed out to get some tucker and we were pleasantly surprised!
Brendan with a Meat Patty and , Amy with a Cevapi and a shared salad, two cokes = 18AUD. It was simple and surprisingly delicious!
Shrapnel from the civil war at our AirBnB apartment, they found this item when renovating.
Our first morning in Sarajevo we jumped onto a walking tour to get our facts and history. The tour went for 2.5hrs and discussed a lot about the civil war (specifically because he was a child at the time and lived through it), and the extensive history about the town. The tour was very factual and history based without many "legend" stories. All the same it was very informative. Basically Sarajevo is famous for three things: The assignation of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the 1984 Winter Olympics and the Sarajevo Siege (1425days long) during the civil war. The tour guide openly spoke about his personal experiences from the war, which was interesting because the majority of people we had spoken to didn't want a bar of it (which is fair enough!). During the Sarajevo Siege, the guide was 8 years old and forced to live in his family's apartment building basement with neighbours through the almost 4 years of war. His original apartment was located on the 8th floor, but was super unsafe due to constant shelling from the Serb Army.
An interesting diagram we found at the museum - showing the housing before and during the war and how the civilians adapted to war time..
During the war time they rarely left the basement, they used furniture and books to fuel a fire, both to keep warm and for cooking. A teacher from their school lived close by so she would come by and educate the children in the basement. During this time his father joined the local army to defend Sarajevo, and his mother continued to work as she did before it all started. Life within the city continued as normal as possible throughout the siege despite significant lose of life and the carnage which it faced.
Taken from Wikipedia - Sarajevo during the siege.
Basic food and staples were provided by the UN during the war time, however there was other food available through a black market system but it was super expensive. The tour guide told us about a special memory he had with regard to chocolate. The whole 4 years of the war he only ate the staples provided by the UN, nearing the end of the war his mother found a market stall that accepted gold as a trade in. She told the children that day they would get some chocolate, she took her gold earrings and traded them. The tour guide told us that it was the best chocolate he had ever had.
A Sarajevo Rose - there a over 50 of these throughout the city centre. They are a memorial to lives lost via a shell dropped into the city from the Serbs during the siege in the early 90's.
Some of the locals playing chess. A daily event in this park, our tour guide said he even saw men playing chess when it was minus 20 degrees.. The old fellas love it, two play and many give their suggestions..
Sarajevo river - its red because of the run off from a couple of days rain.
Known locally as the ugliest building in the city, this was build prior to the 84 winter olympics.
One of the most famous structures of Sarajevo - The Latin Bridge. Famous for taking part (sort of) in the assignation of Archduke Frantz Ferdinand in 1914 which was apparently the trigger to starting WW1.
Local brewery - built on top of a well. The brewery played a significant roll in the civil war as it supplied all the fresh water to the city during the siege!
This is the original road to Istanbul during Ottoman Rule - Amy is tired thinking about the trip which would have taken a couple of months surely.... Either side of the road are muslim graves.
Lunch - Burek. A pastry pie, filo pastry with either meat or cheese and spinach filling... Yummy = 6AUD.
Photo of remains of an old traders hotel/stables used during the Ottoman period - Sarajevo was a significant trade centre during that time.
Sarajevo Rose in front of the cathedral.
Cathedral in the old town centre.
The actual spot of the Franz Ferdinand assignation - across the road from the Latin Bridge.
Sarajevo has a long history with religious culture and has been referred to as the Jerusalem of Europe. It has a Mosque (200 of them around the city), Catholic church, Orthodox church and a Synagogue in the same neighbourhood. Despite all these different beliefs there has never been unrest in the town which is pretty fascinating. Why can't we all just get along like Sarajevo?
1984 Olympic Bobsled Track
Our highlight of Sarajevo!
Abandoned post olympics, and base for the Serbian army during the civil war, it was surprisingly intact. It was a reasonably steep couple of hour walk/hike from the centre of town up to the track through streets of urban Sarajevo, which was great to see after spending a couple of days in the old town city centre. It really gives you a better idea of how the locals live when you get among it a bit more.
There isn't any public transport up to the track, so in speaking with a couple of locals and looking at Tripadvisor reviews, our main options were to drive or get a taxi... But we wanted to walk - I found a couple of things on the net which described a walking path and directions but it wasn't clear cut. I decided to look up old faithful maps.me app and it bloody gave me the path directly from the old town to the track!!
maps.me directions - the hike in total took us about 2hrs including time for photos and a couple of short stops.
The walk is great just because if gives you a good overview of Sarajevo.
Amazing colours on the walk up!
These arrows/TRAIL were around near the top of the climb.
Abandoned houses about 400m south of the track.
Some of the first buildings you come across at the bottom of the track.
The artwork throughout the track is pretty sweet and well worth the trip in itself.
Jamaican Bobsled Team.. reminding us of Cool Runnings, great movie!
VIDEO PLEASE CLICK ABOVE TO WATCH
There were a lot of reviews on Tripadvisor about the safety etc. of visiting the track. We were there late morning on a Sunday. When we first arrived there was one other couple wandering around and us. Over the couple of hours we spent there we ran into many people and a couple of young families wandering around on and off the track.
There was mention of landmines and the odd explosive still hidden around the track which might be possible - we did not stray far from concrete incase this maybe true, but overall the area was relatively clean and we felt safe. We didn't see anyone whom looked like a trouble maker or the like.
No doubt this track will defiantly become seriously popular in the years to come as will Sarajevo!
Overall what we loved about Sarajevo:
More affordable than Croatia & the Czech Republic
Peaceful, and safe considering the diverse culture here!
Great local organic food - Turkish feel (not that we know Turkish)
Not many tourists
A lot of untouched nature/buildings to explore!
Has the option of modern shopping and western food to remind us of Melbourne!
We also visited the History Museum and the City Town Hall which both only cost only a couple of dollars to enter and had great displays depicting peoples experiences of the civil war. The City Town Hall was spectacular, the building itself had high ceilings and very detailed decor, it had an exhibition which summed up the last 100 years in Sarajevo and BiH history - very interesting and helped us to put everything we learnt from walking tours in order.
Town Hall
Inside the Town Hall
Enroute to the History Museum along the river - plenty of locals out and about on a Sunday!
The Festina Lente Bridge is a beauty, at night its well worth a look!
Lunch, wine and dessert made from fresh local ingredients at Apetit was 60AUD and on par/closest thing we've had to typical Australian restaurant food in a while. It was bloody nice for a change. Would cost 120AUD at least back home. A good note to leave Sarajevo on!
We had booked three nights at an AirBnB in the centre of the capital Zagreb a couple of weeks ago and organised with Jakeo to get dropped off there mid-arvo Monday the 17th after finishing up with him at Eko Selo Strung. It was starting to get chilly so our first intentions when visiting was to do some shopping and stock up on warm clothes. We were also hanging for some western food, veggies and modern culture as well as some time to ourselves.
Our apartment ft. parquetry floors.
Our AirBnB host was a beauty and she set us up in a ripper apartment, gave us some good tips on Zagreb, tours and things to see. First things first we headed to a place called Mundoaka Street Food where we had a pulled pork burger with chips, and crispy pork-loin fillet with coleslaw to tame our cravings!
After dinner we went for a little walk around the city centre before hitting the sack for an early night. Some things we noticed was how well dressed everyone was - this wasn't too unusual because even in the rural areas the women especially put a lot of effort into their appearance but it went up a level in Zagreb.
The central square - Zagreb is a mini Vienna in terms of architecture and feel (since it was mainly established during the Austro-hungrian empire)
The love lock bridge, with the mosque and cathedral in the background.
pretty cool graffiti..
The newest building in the upper old town area of Zagreb, I think our guide said it was built really quick before the Sarajevo Winter Olympics in 1984 for administrative purposes... Weeks after the construction was completed the building started to fall apart and since has been left empty and unused. Painted by French artist Etien.
Lunch at the Submarine BBQ - IT. WAS. AMAZING. I love these pint cups!
We did a walking tour on our third day here to get the grit and lowdown on the city. Our guide took us around for a solid two hours, she spoke openly about some of the corruption in the city/country, and gave us some great history. During our time in Croatia we'd heard a lot about the corruption and on the tour we were able to get an example of it. The mayor of Zagreb has been in position for 16 years and recently went to prison for bribing and corruption charges. His bail was set to 15 Million Kuna (3million AUD) and after a month it was paid by some of his powerful mates. He is still the Mayor, and with up coming elections they believe he will remain the Mayor. He is known locally as Tony Fontino (tony for mafia, fountino because he has a plan/dream for Zagreb to have 2000 fountains installed throughout the city!).
The city map sculpture. Seems to be fashionable in Croatia because Split had the same setup. The two blocks closest to Brendan are the 'old town'.
It's Autumn in Europe!
Entrance to the WW2 tunnels beneath the old town.
Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary - there is quite a bit of controversy locally about how well off the people associated with this cathedral are. Nuns are getting around with the latest smart phones and the Priests drive nice cars. A lot of the residential area surrounding the cathedral is owned by this church and is all rented out, they don't pay tax's and get handouts from the state etc. In a country which isn't overly well off, I can see why some people aren't overly happy with them.
Renovations have been going for a few decades apparently - as long as our tour host could remember.
Fair dinkum - the cathedral's light chandeliers were donated by a Las Vegas casino! A Croatian man whom was working at the casino at the time salvaged them from being thrown out, convinced the casino owner to donate them to the cathedral. Look the part eh.
The Dolac market - affordable and fresh fruit and veggies.
This used to be the largest door/gate to inside the old fortified city. Notice the dongle on top of the building - that was what people used to put on top of their houses to keep demons/witches away.
The Mary painting behind all that metalwork which some how survived a major city fire back in the day. A miracle...
A tribute to Nicola Tesla - born in Croatia. Supposably was to sort Zagreb out with electricity but I'm not sure if that eventuated.
There are 200 of these street lights dotted around the old town - they are still gas fired and every night two blokes run around with a lighter on a big stick and light them all! Each morning they run around and turn them off. Tesla must of forgot to wire these into the system...
One of the original 4 towers of a Zagreb wall (specifically the south east wall) built in the 13th century which protected the city a long time ago - the Lotrscak Tower has a cannon called a Gric Cannon, and every day at 12pm for the last 100 years the cannon has been fired. We've heard two legends about the cannon, one says that during a Turkish siege where the Turks were camped across from The River Sava, the cannon was fired randomly and hit a Rooster/Army Leader and killed them. The Turks couldn't believe the accuracy and power of their counterparts weapons so retreated.
The grey apartment buildings built in "New Zagreb" - built during Yugoslavia from the view point of Lotrscak Tower.
Church of Saint Mark. Popular for its tiled roof. This used to be the main centre square of the town when it was fortified.
Statue of popular prime minister Ban Josip Jelacic of who the main town square is named after. The statue was a gift to Zagreb from the Austro-Hungrian empire. During Yugoslavia times it was cut into four pieces and removed from the square as it was showing nationalism - which was against the communist way. We learn't something about horse statues here - if the horse is rearing on both hind legs the rider was killed in battle, one raised leg means the rider was killed as a consequence of battle. If all horse legs are on the ground, the rider died of old age or a cause completely unrelated to battle. This statue was slightly controversial as Ban Josip Jelacic died from Syphilis (unsure if that is classed as a consequence of war or not)
We enjoyed Zagreb, the streets weren't crowded and 90% of the population seemed local. It's becoming very popular for its gastronomy and according to our walking tour guide, the last 5 years Zagreb has really grown culturally and is becoming an exciting town to live in. We defiantly got this vibe and felt very comfortable here.
Nom nom nom. Most meals out here cost around 30AUD for the both of us including drinks. Very affordable.
In terms of pure sites to see, there isn't a great deal and mostly the old town can be visited in one afternoon. In terms of similarities, our workaway host Jakeo said it was very similar to Vienna since it was mostly build during the Austro-Hungarian period at the end of the 19th century and we tend to agree. A very small version of Vienna.
Unfortunately I don't think many people come here to tick it off their bucket list because it doesn't have a wow factor like the coast of Croatia for example - apparently they do Christmas well though. When researching Zagreb it was very popular for its Christmas markets and festivities. I think Zagreb is mostly a stop over town for travellers in-between visiting the coast, Hungary or Slovenia.
Overall our stay in Croatia was successful. We saved some cash at a workaway, learnt some language and Croatian customs and visited some of the most beautiful national parks we've ever experienced.
The Dalmatian coast was also amazing and we have some awesome memories from Sail Croatia.
For a country which was ruled under communism for 47years, suffered so much from civil war in the 90's, was hurt by the global financial crisis, they have done it harder than we can imagine coming from Australia. Our experience has been a safe, friendly and nothing but positive. We just hope that the growth Croatia experiences in the future is spread throughout its country and not kept to the people running the show.
We are Amy and Brendan from Australia currently travelling throughout Europe. The intention for this blog is to document our adventure for family and friends. We hope you enjoy it!
