Sarajevo

The ride in to Sarajevo was HELL. Rain, snow and strong wind whilst we cycled along what was essentially a 6-lane motorway without a hard-shoulder. Needless to say, we cycled on the footpath whenever there was one, despite the annoyance of really high kerbs and huge puddles. We stopped for a very late much needed lunch in a burger restaurant called "big ben". Cold and sopping wet again. The lunch was so late that it was dark by the time we finished. We struggled shivering through the streets of Sarajevo looking for a room. Streets always look much more seedy and crime-ridden in the dark. We checked out a few hotels and hostels but could not find a room with a washing machine and some space for the bikes. We ended up settling for the cheapest we could find (30 Euro) with space for the bikes and a handy internet cafe downstairs. It was quite a grotty room and we used our sleeping bag liners just in case there were bed bugs.

It was really handy staying in a room above an internet cafe, but it reeked from the amount of people smoking! During the day the cafe seemed to be a hangout for twenty-somethings playing shoot'em-up computer games and smoking. During the evening it was a louge for old men playing chess, watching football on TV and of course, smoking. Ais hated the smoke, Pugz bought a pack of fags.

Oh how we miss washing machines! Hand-washing 4 days worth of stinky cycling clothes in a bath (or a shower tray) really is no fun. The hardest thing is wringing out the clothes and finding somewhere to dry them. Our room in Sarajevo was quite small but we managed to string up all our clothes in the room using bungees and tent poles and spread out the tent over the beds to dry (sorry about the mud all over the floor)!

Our 4 days in Sarajevo were spent with a mixture of sight-seeing, culture and job-hunting on the internet. Cultural activities included:

• Cinema to watch District 9 (in English). We couldn't understand what the prawns were saying because the serb-croat subtitles covered over the english subtitles (this will mean nothing to you unless you have seen the film).


• Theatre festival to watch a Croatian play at the national theatre. Tickets were only 10 KM each (5 Euro) and we got very good seats, but we couldn't understand the play! It was something about 2 brothers, 2 sisters, their parents, sex, marriage, and a priest. Very colourful costumes, lots of diaglogue, shouting, wailing, sex, arguing and a wedding dress maker who winched up and down above the stage on wires.


• Eating many Bureks, Kebabs (Daddy Pugsley asked what Burek was, he would definitely like one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burek


• Eating cakes (usually creamy sponge things that look better than they taste, but also nice baklava) and drinking Bosanski coffee (which is a bit like turkish coffee).


• National museum and history museum. Of particular interest:
  - exhibit showing how the borders of Bosnia had been defined over the century.
  - ancient archiological findings from around bosnia, including amazing Byzantine mosaics.
  - Titos batons http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relay_of_Youth
  - Sarajevo during the Siege of 1992-95.

Yes, Sarajevo was under siege for 3 years during the 1990's, surrounded by Serbian snipers and artillery which was hidden in the forested hills overlooking Sarajevo river valley. This is utterly amazing when you think that the city is so close to home (we cycled there!). How is it possible that the world powers allowed this to happen for 3 years? They supplied humanitarian aid, but waited 2 and a half years before ending the siege by using airstrikes on the serbs.

A siege is something you hear about from medeaval times, not at the end of the 20th century! The museum exibit painted a really good picture of how life must have been for the Sarajevans during the siege. One display proudly shows how, despite many deaths, injuries, and having no water/electricity/phone for weeks, and factories being bombed, the Sarajevo cigarette factory managed to keep running throughout the whole siege (this was probably crucial for morale but is perhaps one reason why people here seem to smoke so much).

It is now 15 years after the war and many of the buildings are new or being rebuilt but the older buildings all still show the scars of mortar attacks, as do some of the roads and pavements. From the people you meet, there is little or no trace of the war though. Sarajevo is a vibrant and friendly city, full of life and activity. It feels very safe (except perhaps for the traffic).

The ride out of Sarajevo was much better than the ride in. There was no rain and we managed to find a path along the river which greatly shortened the amount of time we had to spend on the scary main road.