Bumming Around the Balkans: The Assassination in Sarajevo

As I mentioned in a previous post, I didn't really take plenty of photos in Sarajevo. The weather was bad, as it was cold to take my camera out, and additionally, the lighting was also not ideal. It was overcast for the whole time I was there, and so the pretty things were hidden from view. Even my hostel, which was located on top of a hill, was too high, as it was over the low-lying clouds which meant that we couldn't see anything from the otherwise very well-positioned balcony.

Bumming Around the Balkans: Experiencing Sarajevo

Note: I actually wrote this article back in late December, just when I returned from my trip, wanting to write this down while the memories are still fresh. So forgive the anachronisms with respect to the time references I make in the article, which results from me wanting to publish this together with the rest of the series.

I spent three nights in Sarajevo. I arrived by bus from Mostar around mid-afternoon, and after climbing the hill where my hostel was located, I set about exploring the city. The weather was bad, with thick smog covering the city for days, and during the three days I was there, I didn't see the sun at all. In fact, it caused my flight to be canceled, and the airline had to transport us by bus from Sarajevo to Zagreb so that we could catch an alternative flight from there.

Bumming Around the Balkans: Remnants of the Bosnian War in Mostar

One of the most powerful things that I have seen during this trip are the remains of the horrific events that happened in this country 20 years ago. Back then, the various ethnic groups of the former Yugoslavia were fighting against each other, destroying lives and infrastructure. It is a very far cry from the current situation, where things are relatively peaceful.

Bumming Around the Balkans: The Hammam Museum in Mostar

I've been to countries where hammams are operated. However, I never really had the urge to try going into a hammam, as for me, bathing is more a personal event, not a social event. Perhaps it is due to some subconscious trauma I have experienced, perhaps a residue of some culture shock I have experienced back when I was in Japan, which is a country with a social bathing culture, and there were a few times during the time I have lived there where I found myself pretty much forced to partake in social bathing, and I was perhaps mentally unprepared for that.

Anyway, I have to admit that I have something against public nudity. It's not that I mind seeing nude people, I really don't. But I just don't want to display my own flesh myself. So even though I have encountered hammams in the past - in Palestine, in Morocco, in Georgia - I didn't really go rushing with my swimsuit, soap, and loofa, just so that some random heavy-set hairy bath attendant scrub me until my dead cells peel off and my skin end up almost bleeding. So imagine how happy I was when I saw a Hammam Museum! I can enter a hammam without actually getting wet!

Bumming Around the Balkans: Karagöz Bey Mosque

Mostar is a very Ottoman city. The Old Town is filled of Ottoman-era structures, and I am referring to more than just the famous bridge. For example, there is also the Karagöz Bey Mosque, which was built in the 1550s. This mosque is the largest in the region, and sustained extensive damage during the Bosnian War. However, it was rebuilt and refurbished in 2002-2004, and it is again open to the public nowadays.

Bumming Around the Balkans: The Stari Most in Mostar

So, after spending three nights in Dubrovnik, it was time to move on. I headed to the bus station, and got on a bus to head to Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina. This is a short three-hour ride, which was rather interesting.

Bumming Around the Balkans

So, as I said before, I took another trip. This isn't a long trip, just a week, as well as the weekends that surrounded it. A total of 9 days (which got extended for another day due to fog). Last December, I went to Croatia as well as to Bosnia & Herzegovina, two countries of the former Yugoslavia. I visited three cities: Dubrovnik, Mostar, and Sarajevo.