day 426 – we slept in and then walked to town for breakfast. we found a nice little outdoor cafe and bought some food. the guy at the next table, who already seemed drunk, bought us some raki (local ouzo) and beer … at 10.30am. after a few of those, we were tired and a little ‘pissy’ so we walked back to the hotel and had a lunchtime sleep.
afterwards, christina and i walked through the park, then spent the evening working out which route we were going to take north.
day 427 – pristina and kosovo, while nice, are a little dull. there wasn’t a lot to do. we went to the bus station to buy tickets to podgorica, had breakfast and returned to the hotel to pack and check out.
we walked into town to see ‘the sights’, which consisted of a small museum (which was shut), an abandoned church, an ugly university building and a few parks (which were nice). we had some ice cream and sat in the big park near our hotel. the park was full of people and kids playing. it seemed to be amongst the most popular places in pristina.
we went to the bus station early, bought some food and read our books while waiting for the bus to montenegro. when we got on the bus, a guy who spoke english (and seemed a little weird) sat near us and talked to us the entire time. i was getting really annoyed but held my calm (surprisingly). then, an hour into the trip, a guy checked our tickets and realised the crazy guy didn’t have a ticket. they booted him off the bus and we finally had some peace and quiet.
day 428 – we crossed the border early and arrived in podgorica at about 3am. tired, i went to sleep on the bus station floor for 4 hours. christina slept a little and then got up to buy tickets to sarajevo. i woke up and we had some breakfast which we had to carry on the bus because they’d been so slow to make the food.
we entered bosnia and the bus traveled through a stretch of the most beautiful mountain road i’ve ever seen. the whole trip i just gazed out the window and dreamed of riding through those roads on a motorbike.
the bus arrived in sarajevo and the terminal was out of town, so we caught the tram into the city to our hotel. i was tired as hell, so after lunch (burek) i had a shower and went to sleep at 4pm … i didn’t wake up until the next morning.
day 429 – after breakfast and coffee i felt much better … the 19 hours sleep also helped! we went to the train station and bought tickets to zagreb. we got the tram back to the centre of town and walked up to the martyr’s cemetary.
the siege of sarajevo is the longest city siege in history. the cemetary is devoted to those who gave their lives fighting for sarajevo. all around the city there are still bullet holes and shell marks from the bombing over 15 years ago. the martyr’s cemetary still has a full-time guard of honour and it was nice to walk around.
up the hill from the cemetary is a great viewing point of the city. christina and i sat up there for a while and talked while we looked across sarajevo. we could see all the way to the airport. it was a great view. after that we walked through the old city, to the mosques, bascarsija, pigeon square and up to the catholic cathedral. near the cathedral some old men were playing chess on an enormous chess set. i stood and watched them for a while. they were enthralled by the game and it would have been fun to play. i got some photos, though, and we kept going.
after lunch we took a long walk along the river. on the way back we stopped for a beer and then dinner. after dark, we went for another walk down to the latin bridge to take photos.
day 430 – we had breakfast and checked out. we left our luggage at the hotel (which we had to pay for). we got the tram out to the famous sarajevo tunnel, which ran underneath the airport during the siege and was a literal lifeline for bosnians living in the city.
on the way back to town we stopped at the museum, which was quite expensive, so we gave it a miss. instead we walked around the old city some more and looked at the jewelry stores. we had lunch, walked along the river and looked in the apple store.
in the afternoon we collected our bags and went to the train station to wait. i complained to the ticket office woman about the ticket and exchange rate we’d paid and she gave us a discount on the fare, which was nice. we had some coffee, changed the last of our bosnian money, and got the train to zagreb. on the train another tourist told us that we could sit in the 1st class section, so we moved up and found a compartment all to ourselves and slept on the seats. nifty!
