Bosnia - Mostar

Mostar comes as probably the most highly recommended place by other travellers I've met on my trip, or at least the most enthusiastically-so. More than once, upon mentioning I was going to Bosnia, I was met with an excited, "You have to go to Mostar!", and I decided to follow that advice!

The old front line runs right through the town and is still very visible

I didn't make the 7am train from Sarajevo, having managed to oversleep several hours and instead took the bus. It was a shame as the train journey is supposedly one of the nicest in Europe, but the road follows the tracks for much of the way anyway, and the scenery I did see was great.

The world's largest coffee pot, apparently!

Not only did Mostar come highly recommended, but so did the only hostel in the village. Having just opened this year, several people had told me it was their favourite hostel, which sounded like quite an achievement. And indeed, I had a very good first impression with the owner of the hostel, Bata, picking me up at the bus station in his car and giving me a quick drive around the town, pointing out the important sights.

The Koski Mehmed pasa Mosque

The hostel itself did not quite live up to what I had pictured in my mind. Located on the first floor of a dull grey apartment block, surrounded by other apartment blocks and alarmingly with bullet holes on the side, the interior was crampt with a lot of beds squeezed into one apartment. However I was given a great welcome, fed with home made cake and drink by Bata's wife and given a lengthy introduction to the town and recommendations of things to see.

The famous Stari Most (Old Bridge)

Bata very apologetically told me that the main hostel was full and I would instead be put in his brother's old apartment with a couple of other people. I was a bit annoyed but once there realised just how lucky I was - for the rest of the day I had an entire apartment, with bathroom, kitchen and TV all to myself and it was even located right next to the river!

There is still a lot of leftover war damage and deserted buildings

On the journey into Mostar I did notice quite a few forest fires and this was all the more dramatic once in the town. The sky was an amazing shade of yellow and it was gently raining ashes - not good for the environment I know, but a surreal and incredible sight.

Mostar at sunset

Eventually the other two people staying in the flat turned up - Adam, whom I had met in Sarajevo and recommended the hostel to and Jonathan, a Canadian tour guide on vacation. Indeed, I had expected Adam much earlier and he explained that he was on the train from Sarajevo, as I had intended to catch, which got caught up in the forest fires and was several hours delayed. Looks like taking the bus paid off!

The old town and bridge

It was already evening and together we headed into the old town, noticing quite a lot of excitement on the shore of the river under the old bridge. We went down and watched a free concert of contemporary Bosnian music, surrounded by seemingly the entire young population of Mostar. It looks like my timing here couldn't have been better - this concert marked the eve before the annual diving contest, which I hadn't heard about but could tell was something quite important from the excitement in the air.

Relaxing in a cave. In Bosnia. Doesn't get much better than this!

The great thing about Mostar is just how relaxing it is. The old town, while small, is fantastically atmospheric, with narrow lanes filled with market traders, a charming old mosque with a minaret that can be climbed and even a nightclub located in a cave. All kinds of things can be found at the market - I bought an old 50,000,000 dinar note from a charismatic white-haired trader who was alarmingly fit - he must have been about eighty years old but had bigger muscles than me! The next day I spotted him doing handstands on the very edge of the old bridge, with nothing but jagged rocks below. What a legend!

The diving contest

The diving contest was great to watch. As you can see from the photo above, it's a very long drop indeed, yet apparently the water below is only about 4m deep. A special technique is required to dive head first, although the majority of participants preferred to go in feet first. The bridge really is the heart of Mostar and a symbol of the divided town. One side of the river belongs to Bosnians, the other to Croatians, and they still don't seem to like one another. The historic 400 year-old bridge was destroyed in the violence of the 1990s and only rebuilt as recently as 2004. Reconstructed to the original designs, it is now on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Overlooking the historic village from the watch tower

Having been persuaded to stay much longer than I intended, I was able to make one of the day trips organised by Bata. Taking eight of us in his minibus, he drove us around several key sights in the surrounding area that most tourists would probably not even know existed. First up was a charming historic village, dramatically surrounded by a large hill on three sides. Its citizens chased away in the war, they have since returned and tried to rebuild the place as it once was.

This picture really does not capture the beauty of the falls

Next up were some fantastic waterfalls, the best I have ever seen, complete with hidden caves into which Bata led us. Much swimming and climbing was required to reach areas I would never have tried to get to on my own. Later we moved on to an old Dervish House and took a boat ride into a large cave where the water was clean enough to drink. After a mad dash back to Mostar, I had to grab my things and run to the bus station, making the last departure of the day onwards to Dubrovnik, and even met a couple of people I knew from Belgrade on the bus!

The old Dervish House

Mostar was without doubt my favourite detonation on this trip so far, perhaps ever, and the same goes for the hostel, thanks to the wonderfully helpful and selfless Bata. After rushing hectically from country to country for nearly two months now, it was great to just relax and soak in the atmosphere of this tiny place off the usual tourist trail. I came for just 1 night, ended up staying 3 days and could have been here a week if I had the time. From trying (for free) famous Turkish coffee from the world's largest coffee pot, to smoking a water pipe in a cave, watching 50 suicidal people jump of a bridge and even spotting the winner of Bosnian Idol, so many nice little things happened during my time in Mostar. Definitely somewhere to come back to!

Bosnia - Sarajevo

Many random things happen while travelling, and just one of those things happened on the long bus journey to Bosnia. I was reading the novel Trainspotting, which I would normally not exactly wave about on a bus in England, but thought I was safe here, when a guy across the aisle lent over and asked in surprisingly good English what the title of the book meant. He had recently seen the film but could not understand what it had to do with trains! After explaining the title, we got talking and he explained he was a Bosnian Muslim on his way back home to Sarajevo.

A billboard promoting the EU peacekeeping force still present here

We chatted about all aspects of Bosnian life, and he insisted I tried his mother's home-made apple pie. Repeatedly. It was really quite nice! Once we arrived in Sarajevo, on the outskirts in the 'Serbian' area, which is nowhere near the centre and more importantly, my hostel, he even offered to pay for a cab for the two of us. This involved walking across the unmarked and unofficial border to the muslim side of the city, where he said the cab drivers were better. This really highlights the divisions in Bosnian culture - the country is a federal state split into Bosnia & Herzegovina, run by muslims and the Republic Srpska, run by Serbs and from my experience the two peoples really want nothing to do with each other.

Minarets are a common sight in Bosnia

Thanks to the help of the kind stranger, and a further tram ride, I made it to my hostel which was located on top of a hill with a spectacular view overlooking the city. I walked back down into town and wandered the streets of the small, but fascinating Turkish quarter, packed with market stalls and traders selling all kinds of things. It felt very eastern and unlike anywhere I have been before.

On the streets of the Turkish bazaar

The new town was not quite as nice, but still retains some former Austro-Hungarian charm. The one thing that did catch my eye was the main street, nicknamed 'sniper alley' due to the likelihood of being shot there during the war. Nearly every building sustained damage, with many destroyed. Still today, most of the buildings on the street are covered in bullet holes and shell holes can be seen in the pavement, known as 'Sarajevo Roses' thanks to the red cement used to fill them in. Often nearby a plaque or memorial can be found, listing the people killed by the shell.

An all-too-regular sight

It's amazing to walk around the city and still see all the damage. Being here just a decade ago would have been unthinkable. Over 12,000 people were killed in a ghastly four-year siege, almost all of them civilians, with the entire city surrounded. A small tunnel under the airport was the only link to the outside world and has now been turned into a museum.

Many new graveyards had to be made - some from city parks

Aside from the bloody 1990s, the city is also famous from another dark chapter of history, being the place where WWI was triggered. In 1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated by a Bosnian radical just next to the Latin Bridge. It is is quite something to be able to see the exact spot where one of the most destructive wars in history began.

The Latin Bridge

Aside from the legacy of conflict, Sarajevo is a thriving and flourishing city, with a real energy visible as it emerges from the darkness of the last century. It's a great place to go out at night - after a meal in a traditional restaurant, a group of us from the hostel went to the highly recommended City Pub, which despite its dull name is the place to be in Sarajevo.

Inside my first ever mosque

The pub itself and the whole area in the streets around it were rammed with people drinking and dancing away well into the night. Making it all the way back up the steep hill to the hostel was a different thing, however, but eventually I made it back to bed.

Sunset on the hill

I had wanted to get the train onwards to Mostar in the morning, but it left at 7am and I wasn't so sure if I was going to make it after a hard night partying. Stay tuned to see if that happened...

Serbia - Belgrade

This is the point where it's supposed to get interesting! I have been interested in the former Yugoslavia for a long time, but unsure about visiting. Having heard so many nice things on my trip though, I decided to plough ahead and will hopefully make it right through the region to the other side.

Outside the military museum

Upon arriving at the hostel I met two english girls and an Aussie, called Travis, who I later found had worked on the classic Austrlian children's TV show Round the Twist, which I had grown up watching. What a legend! We all went out for dinner together at a traditional Serbian restaurant. On the menu were such enticing things as 'fried brains' and 'bull's sex organs'. I went with the sausages.

Everybody against us!

The next day a visit to the castle was in order, with the main attraction being the military museum. It was fascinating to see the view of the 'other side', pro-Serbian and anti-Nato. Throughout the exhibition, Nato was always described as 'the aggressors', although those with a knowledge of history will know that was not the case.

The owner of this uniform was held as a P.O.W.

Pride of place in the museum were captured U.S. uniforms and weaponry, as well as those belonging to the KLA (Kosovo Liberation Army), or as the museum put it, the 'Illegal terrorist organisation'. Definitely the most impressive exhibit was a fragment of the American F111 stealth-fighter plane shot down in the conflict.

On the castle walls

Elsewhere the city was quite nice, but aside from a few churches there was really not much to see. I ventured out of town to the burial place of Marshal Tito, the leader and unifier of Yugoslavia, which included a museum showing the wide range of gifts given to him by other world leaders. On the bus journey back into town I passed the bombed-out Serbian military headquarters, destroyed by Nato airstrikes in 1999.

It's strange seeing such a building in the city centre

The nightlife of which I had heard so many good things did prove to live up to its reputation. Lined down the main river are many clubs and bars, all located on barges. The club we visited featured one of the most ridiculously loud sound systems I've heard, and was a lot of fun, but not as cheap as I hoped!

Bye bye Serbia!

Very early the next morning, I walked through the near-deserted city and took a bus to Sarajevo, which apparently only went to the 'Serbian side' of the city. I had no idea what this meant, but would find out soon...

Croatia - Zagreb

The journey through the mountains into Croatia was one of the most dramatic so far. This is why I'm refusing to use planes anywhere on this trip (except the end, of course). You get to see so much more and get a real sense of distance.

The sign says don't lean out the window but it's just so nice!

After arriving in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, I waited absolutely ages for a tram, then 3 came at once. Typical. The right stop for my hostel was also hard to find, being in the outskirts with no real variation in the landscape of dull, grey apartment blocks.

Creepy!

To be honest I really was not very much impressed with Zagreb. With the exception of one short but very lively street full of a great variety of bars, there wasn't too much that caught my attention.

The city at dusk

There's a funicular railway up to another section of the town, although it's the shortest I've ever seen and walking up the adjoining steps is cheaper and probably quicker too. The rather grey weather did nothing to improve my view of the city.

In the old town

I think to really appreciate Croatia, one must visit the coast, of which I've heard many great things. Later I will do just that, heading to Dubrovnik, and hope it's somewhat more enthralling!

Slovenia - Ljubljana & the Julian Alps

After a 7 hour wait on the steps of Venice station, which was actually a lot more fun than it sounds, the strike finally lifted and we were able to get an overnight train to Ljubljana. There was a party atmosphere on the train, with everyone onboard in the same situation. Despite it being packed and with many standing in the corridor (all night long!), there were bottles of wine and whiskey being passed about and even a few sing-alongs complete with guitar accompaniment.

On top of the world

I arrived in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, at about three in the morning and grabbed one of the few cabs still running to my hostel and collapsed into bed. In the morning, after a brief walk through the rather pleasant but tiny old town, I caught a bus into the countryside, stopping off next to a lake. On the bus I met five English people travelling together, all from very close to where I study in London, which was quite a coincidence. Together we decided against waiting for the boat and instead walked around the lake to the cable car at the other end.

Hiking in the Julian Alps

We took the cable car up to the summit, which was quite a dramatic journey, climbing over 1km vertically. At the top we hiked around for a while and climbed up to another peak, before being forced to return for the last cable car in the evening.

A novel method of recycling

Later, back in Ljubljana, we met up again and went on a bit of bar crawl, more to find anywhere still open than for variation. With the students away for the summer, the city seemed to be quite dead at night, but we still managed to find a couple of places, although disappointingly (or not) the Horse Burger takeaway was closed, which would have made quite a novel post-pub snack.

A typical wall decoration in Metelkova

At the end of the night we went to one of the most interesting places I've seen - Metelkova. A former military prison, it has since been converted into a hybrid hippy squat and hostel. In fact, it was rated the best hostel in the world last year by Lonely Planet. The entire area is decorated by modern, somewhat anti-establishment artists in quite an unconventional manner and there are even the remains of military vehicles and what looks like part of a helicopter lying around. The disco was quite an experience - seemingly everyone was on LSD and kept dancing even when the music stopped. Shame I didn't get to stay in the hostel!

Italy - Venice

I took a super-fast and comfortable Eurostar Italia train (oh how I love my Interrail pass) to Venice Mestre station, and catching a glimpse of the amazing landscape I then had to trundle back out on a lowly local train to a small town I was staying in outside the city. The centre itself has very few hostels and little budget accommodation to speak of.

A Gondola on the Grand Canal. I love being original.

After an exhausting walk in 40C temperatures across the 'small' town to find my B&B, I recovered in the air conditioning of my room and headed back into Venice. It really is like in the postcards - walk straight out of the rather grotty train station and you are greeted with a movie-like view of the Grand Canal stretching out in front, packed with canal boats and gondolas and lined with historic renaissance buildings.

Torre dell'Orologio (Clock Tower)

I took a waterbus, the best method of travel in the city (there are no roads or subways at all), along the length of the Grand Canal to St Mark's Square, the hub of Venice. The famous Basilica was nice, although there is little to see thanks to the darkness of the interior and is perhaps best viewed from outside. The square itself and the surrounding area is a wonderful place, and made all the more nicer with the total lack of traffic jams (or in fact, any cars) that somewhat spoiled Rome.

Entering St Mark's Square

Venice is one of those cities with not so many specific 'sights' to see, and is best experienced just wandering around and getting lost. And getting lost is quite easy actually, and happened to me a great many times, but every time it happened I would just discover another amazing area around the next corner. The maze-like array of narrow alleys and passages means it's never difficult to find somewhere away from all the tourists.

A typical 'street' in Venice

Once again the weather was against me, with temperatures climbing well above 40C and rapidly becoming unbearable, even with the shade afforded by the narrow streets. I was forced to head back to my hotel room and relax in the comfort of my own air conditioner (which really I came to appreciate), until the evening.

I love exploring all the narrow alleys. Even the creepy ones...

The city is beautiful at night, although even easier to get lost in, with little street lighting available to read maps. More than once I would think I was nearly back to the train station and then come across a complete dead end, requiring much back-tracking. Still, it was a lot of fun!

The grand canal. Again.

However, leaving Venice was not a pleasant experience. The Italian railway system, in all its wisdom, decided to go on strike the day I needed to leave Italy. I was assured by two separate ticket offices that the strike would not affect international trains, and so happily boarded the departure to Slovenia. About half way to the border, it simply stopped and everyone was told to get off - the driver was now on strike and it would go no further. Typical! Stuck in a random town in the middle of nowhere, that didn't even have any bus services, I luckily managed to meet up with two fellow Brits in the same position as me and together we managed to get the last operating train back to Venice and spent the day trying to get some useful information out of any railway staff, which was not forthcoming. Find out in the next post if I made it to Slovenia...

Italy - Milan & Rome

I wasn't exactly sure where to go after Munich, other than to head 'South' and maybe pass through Italy. I jumped on the next train to Milan, which arrived after dark at the main station. Not a good idea. The area around the station was probably the dodgiest I've been in on my travels so far, with large groups of homeless and illegal immigrants acting very aggressively to passers by. I did not feel comfortable there. To make matters worse, I had not booked ahead any accommodation, hoping that my luck in Munich would be repeated here.

The centre itself wasn't too bad

Unfortunately, it wasn't, and I had to wander around the city at night with my bags looking for a place to stay. Everywhere was either far too expensive, or creepy, so after a bit of sightseeing I went back to the station and booked a place on an overnight train to Rome. I would have to sleep on the train instead!

Milan in a nutshell

The city centre itself was quite nice, although there was little to see, with the exception of the nicest shopping mall I've ever been in and the glorious Gothic church, the largest in the world. Obviously there were the ubiquitous designer shops all over the place, what with Milan being the capital of fashion, but that didn't particularly interest me and they were all closed anyway!

Even in a posh mall such as this, there is still a McDonalds!

The overnight train to Rome was not the relief I was hoping for. Despite being past 11pm, the digital display board outside the station read the temperature as 35C(!) and there was no air conditioning on the train. Or rather, there was, but it wasn't switched on until after several hours. Rather than fall asleep I think I may have passed out!

The enormous statues outside are wonderfully imposing

I made sure to call ahead to Rome and book a place in what seemed to be the only available hostel in the city. Arriving at about 9am at Roma Termini station, I set out into the bustling streets and caught a bus to the edge of the centre, past the Vatican, to the hostel. Surprisingly my bed was ready for me, but I resisted the temptation to sleep and went back out into the heat to begin sightseeing.

There's history all over the place

I braved the long queue for the Colosseum, which was definitely worth it in the end. It really is an almost magical place to be in, dripping with history and an amazing engineering achievement that has to be seen to be believed. The surrounding areas are also full of Roman ruins, perhaps not quite as impressive but equally interesting, although the sun really was wearing me down by that point.

St Peters Square and Basilica at night

After a good night's sleep, I devoted the entire next day to the Vatican. I started with the Basilica, which was until recently the largest place of worship in the world. It can hold a staggering 60,000 worshippers and the cavernous yet intricately detailed interior is absolutely stunning. Probably my favourite building I've ever visited, it really did take a long time to take it all in.

At the top of the Basilica

I climbed to the top of Cupola, which was exhausting but completely worth it, giving perhaps the best available view over Rome, looking out across St. Peters Square. The stairs to the top, especially the final few, would however cause a lot of problems for those with claustrophobia. I saw more than one person having a panic attack, which is not a nice thing to see!

Looking out across St Peters Square from the Basilica Cupola

Later, after visiting the tombs of the Popes, I went to arguably the main attraction - the Vatican Museums. Widely heralded as one of the best collections of art in the world, if not the best, I spent the entire afternoon gazing at some of the finest objects, engravings, paintings and sculptures created by man. The Last Judgement, the incredible fresco by Michelangelo covering an entire wall of the Sistine Chapel, is the star attraction. Luckily I managed to avoid most of the queues that form earlier in the day and walked straight in.

The Roman Colosseum

Of course, I spent much time simply wandering the streets of Rome, and also looking at the other famous sights such as the mythical Pantheon and the collection of beautiful fountains, notably the magnificent Fontana di Trevi. I could have spent an age in Rome (if not for the heat) but once again it was time to move on, this time to another famous Italian city.

Germany - Munich

I arrived in Munich with nowhere to stay, having for the first time failed to book any accommodation ahead. This was because I had a friend in the city, but was unable to get in contact with him in time, and so wandered out of the station to find a hostel. Luckily, I stumbled across one of the best hostels I've been to yet, which had just one bed left. Result!

The governmental building is still covered in bullet holes from WWII

The hostel, unusually, provided a free walking tour of the city which I of course took advantage of. Led by quite a character indeed, it ended up taking over 4 hours, leading us all over the city. He gave a great deal of background to the history of the place and pointed out some of the stranger things, such as a statue built to celebrate a victory over Napoleon that never happened as, strangely, Napoleon was their ally at the time. How does that work!?

The beer halls even have lockers to keep your own beer steins

Most exciting of all the sights were the famous beer halls, which are a bit like pubs except enormously bigger, sometimes with seating for thousands. We stopped in a few on the tour, for the requisite, ridiculously-sized 1 litre beer, which is a bit like weight-lifting to drink thanks to the forearm strength required to raise the glass to your lips.

Monumental 1930s architecture

The beer hall I found most interesting is the one where the first meeting of the Nazi party arguably took place. Munich is (in)famously considered the birth place of Nazism, although you'd be hard-pressed to know it by walking around. There are no plaques, tourist information or even memorials noting this, although perhaps this is for the best. The city seems to be torn between wanting to forget its evil past, and trying to remember so that it is never repeated. While almost all the war damage has been carefully cleaned up and erased from view, bullet holes are still left on some government buildings and the university gates, as a reminder to future generations of what began here.

It's hard to gauge the scale in this pic, but that glass is bigger than my head

Eventually my friend, Marcus, called me and we met up. He had only just moved to Munich, which was quite a surprise to me as the last time I heard from him, he was living in north-western Germany. We went to one of the beer halls and had more deliciously oversized beers. Munich really is the beer capital - it has the most breweries of anywhere in the world, and the highest consumption - 1.5 litres a day! That's 0.5l for each meal, and yes, they really do drink beer with breakfast!

Surfers in the English Garden

I really liked Munich, it's a very vibrant city full of young people with lots going on. In just one day I was able to see a festival of European cultures spread all down the main street, some of the best free musical performances I've seen, and even watch people surfing in the main city park! Definitely a place to return to, perhaps in Oktober time, as I heard there's some kind of...Fest....held here I might be slightly interested in.