Hey there Budapest! You thought you'd seen the last of us, but you were wrong! We are back! You may think that I'm crazy, talking to a city, but after a 12-hour train ride, this is perfectly normal behavior. We had a very brief but amazing time in Bosnia and Hercegovina. After our crazy day in Mostar, we trained to Sarajevo for 2 nights. We spent our first day there exploring and getting our bearings, as well as hanging out with the really awesome people in our hostel. There was a group of 3 Vancouverites who we got on with especially well, along with some really kind Scottish guys who (rather stereotypically) took us out to find the best Sarajevsko (the local beer) while we watched the Euro. Yesterday we headed out to the National History Museum, which is right across the road from the Holiday Inn which sheltered foreign journalists during the siege of Sarajevo. The museum was really well put together, with a combination of exhibits, some of which focused on the 1990s war, and another which focused on BiH through the centuries and conquests. After a rest at the hostel, we wandered around the Turkish Quarter of the city, enjoying the sounds of the calls to prayer, along with the hustle and bustle of tourists and locals alike. In the afternoon we did a neat free walking tour with our friends from the hostel, learning some of the history of the city, and gaining a new appreciation of the multicultural and multiethnic nature of Sarajevo... we walked passed many Mosques, a Synagogue, Orthodox Churches and a Cathedral. According to our guide, each of these houses of worship was built with the support (generally financial) of the other religious groups in the city. Our guide was a funny fellow, very proud of his nation and his people, and vehement in his insistence that we spread the news of how tolerant of a city Sarajevo is. So I'm here fulfilling that request, though not without a grain of salt: women and homosexual people are definitely not as much a part of life in Sarajevo (or, I suspect, BiH) as they should be, and the psychological and physical scars left by the conflict are going to take longer to heal.
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At the corner of Bosnia and Hercegovina street, there is, in sight, a bullet riddled building,
a Muslim tomb, a Christian Church and a Jewish Temple. |
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| The corner where WWI began. |
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| This house has a fun story: the man who lived there loved his home, and despite offers from the government to buy his land in order to build a new Town Hall, he refused. Eventually, in a fit of contrariness, he promised to sell them his land on the river if they moved his house, stone by stone, across the river. The government really wanted his land, so they agreed, and thus, his rebuilt house now sits across the river from its original home, and is now a cafe. |
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| Trinkets in the market. |
Sarajevo is a very interesting city. The war, which is so recent, has left its mark on the capital. The signs of the siege are everywhere, if a bit more subtle than in
Mostar. Local graffiti says things like "Remember Srebrenica", and
people go about their daily lives minus a limb, evidently lost to a
landmine or war injury. Everyone our age or older lived through the war, and you can see in peoples eyes how they suffered. The Sarajevo Roses are much different from the roses we saw in Austria... they are craters left by falling Serb shells, which landed in the streets and killed civilians. The craters have been filled in with red painted cement, which we were told means that you can forgive, but never forget.
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| Sarajevo Roses |
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| A statue about rebuilding peace. |
Today we trained back to Budapest, a 12-hour epic crossing many borders (so many stamps in the passport!!) and we're here reflecting back on our amazing journey together! We are parting ways tomorrow, Kel for Manchester and London to visit family, and me to Herstmonceux to see Hanna, then London and Paris to do some sightseeing. It's been really great to travel together, and I'm sure we'll do it again!
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These ads only materialized when we were eating treats.
Never when we were eating carrot sticks or anything healthy.
Thanks for the confidence boost, Budapest. |
Today I left early for the Tower of London, which I have been hoping to visit since first reading about Henry VIII's ill-fated Queens. I rented an audio guide to take it in at my own pace, and I really enjoyed it. Parts of the fortress are almost 1000 years old, built by William the Conqueror, and has been much used throughout that century. I wandered around, learning about the Tower through the ages, and kept reflecting how much I love being surrounded by history! I took in the Crown Jewels, which I quite enjoyed, especially having studied rocks and gems (indeed, many of the gems present in the Crown Jewels!). Also, they're shiny and pretty. I saw torture instruments and graffiti left behind by former prisoners, and walked the same ground that prisoners like Anne Boleyn walked before going to the chopping block. The arms and armor display was also interesting. Leaving the Tower, I walked along the Thames to the Monument: a giant pinnacle dating from the 1660s which commemorates the loses sustained during the Great Fire. I climbed the 311 steps up it to catch a view back towards Tower Bridge. Afterwards I took the tube (and minded the gap!) to Trafalgar Square, which was really neat and super busy. I went into the National Portrait Gallery, which contains paintings, busts, etchings and drawings of the people who have shaped the history of the UK. Each piece has an explanation that starts with the person and their historical significance, then talks about the painting itself. This made it a neat historical, as well as artistic, museum, and I really enjoyed it. So engrossed in the exhibit was I, that I ran out of time after only seeing the Tudors through to the 1800s. This evening, Julie and Steve took me, Elizabeth and Michael out for dinner at the original Hard Rock Cafe. I'd never been to a HR Cafe before, and it was great to find myself enjoying every song they played. The memorabilia on the walls is unreal: signed records, drum kits from Zeppelin and the Ramones, costumes worn by Stevie Nicks, and many, many guitars. What a day!
