Transit to Serbia

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On the way from Sarajevo to Belgrade, our shared van stopped off at a little cafe in a little non-descript town in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

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Oddly enough, it was named Cafe Bar Brazil.

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The road to Serbia is a two-lane affair that winds up and through the mountains.

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Beautiful views along the way hiding the fact that a large percentage of the woods are mined.

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Getting out of the mountains and toward Croatia, and the freeway that links Zagreb with Belgrade.

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Old-fashioned hay storage methods are still in use here.

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Road construction and a horse-drawn hay cart.

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A power plant in the countryside.

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Sunset at a rest stop.

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The van that took us to Serbia.

IMG_1968On the four lane freeway near the Serbian border.

Sarajevo

IMG_1824One of the first things we saw getting into Sarajevo was a Yugo in good condition.  It is a remnant of the old days when Yugoslavia was still a going concern.

IMG_1825The river running through Sarajevo.

IMG_1826Buildings in Sarajevo still have bullet holes.

IMG_1828Kristen walking along the river.

IMG_1829A cathedral.

IMG_1830In front of the cathedral there is a very interesting bridge.

IMG_1833An old cathedral in downtown.

IMG_1835Sarajevo has come a long way since the siege.

IMG_1836The shell of a building waiting for renovation.

IMG_1842 IMG_1846Interesting graffiti.

IMG_1847An old bridge across the river.  This is the Latin Bridge where Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated.  In effect, World War I started at the approach to this bridge.

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IMG_1855The latest fashions on display.

IMG_1856A minaret poking up in town.

IMG_1859In the tourist market.

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IMG_1870A special Iftar meal.

IMG_1877The old clock tower complete with Persian numerals.

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IMG_1881An interesting statue in downtown.

IMG_1883Old men playing chess in the park.

IMG_1892Shell crater in the side of a building.

IMG_1895A peacekeeping vehicle.

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Some areas of the city are still waiting to be rebuilt.

Back at our accommodations we listened to the afternoon call to prayer.

IMG_1911An interesting collection of artwork in a garden.  This was in front of a technical institute.

IMG_1915The infamous Holiday Inn where war correspondents stayed for three years during the Siege of Sarajevo.

IMG_1917This little convenience store stand is a familiar sight to me.  They were quite common in Kosovo.

IMG_1918In the garden of the archeology institute

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IMG_1930An interesting art installation.

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IMG_1941A dentist’s office.

IMG_1943Sarajevo has some amazing and creative food.  We were very happily surprised by what we found.

IMG_19441984 was the modern high water mark for Sarajevo.  Hopefully the city will surpass the acclaim from the Olympics in the future.

Mostar

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After leaving Dubrovnik, we found ourselves at the Croatia / Bosnia and Herzegovina border.  It was a low-key, dusty affair.  The border represents the divide between the European Union and the states to the east who have not reached the point where the EU will accept them.

IMG_1692The view from the window of our hotel.  We had an excellent view of some of the most historic places in Mostar.

IMG_1695The famous Stari Most.  This 16th century Ottoman bridge was destroyed by sustained shelling during the war.  The proprietor of our hotel videotaped the destruction from one of the rooms in the hotel.  The bridge has been reconstructed in the last few years and now is a major tourist attraction.  Hopefully it will stand for another several hundred years before it gets blown up again.

STA_1696-STF_1701A panorama of the bridge and surrounding area.

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IMG_1704Walking along the main tourist strip.  Back when Stari Most was the main bridge in Mostar, this was an important road.

IMG_1705The entrance to the bridge.

IMG_1706Looking upriver from Stari Most toward one one of the main mosques in Mostar.

IMG_1707The old buildings lining the road to Constantinople from Stari Most.

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IMG_1714Heading down the bridge toward the other side of town.

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IMG_1716A ruined building that hasn’t been rebuilt since the war.  There are many such buildings in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

IMG_1717Bullet hole pockmarks still line many of the buildings.

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IMG_1719One of the main mosques.

IMG_1720Another building awaiting renovation.  I wonder if some of the issues of derelict buildings in Bosnia and Herzegovina are similar to those in Tunisia where the owners have not been found or no longer have interest in the building.

IMG_1723Dramatic afternoon stormclouds began to roll into the valley.

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Stari Most from another view.

Suddenly the tourist road was hit by intense downdrafts.  Shopkeepers scrambled to reign in flying metal plates and other nicknacks.

IMG_1726We saw a wall of rain downriver and decided to find a place for a meal while the storm passed over us.

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A small bridge on a tributary to the river.

IMG_1734We found an interesting restaurant on the other side of the small bridge.  We also found that the bridge is named the Crooked Bridge because it is crooked.  They have a way of descriptively naming things in Mostar.

We settled into the restaurant for a meal as the call to prayer echoed softly through Mostar.

The rain hit with a vengeance.  There is a reason that this part of the world is so green.

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Kristen ordered muscles and a range of other items.

IMG_1743Dark clouds passing overhead.

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IMG_1747Kristen found an interesting stone circle.

IMG_1751On Stari Most once again looking upstream.  The dark stormclouds continued inland and left us to enjoy a little afternoon sun.

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IMG_1756Some of the tourist knick knacks for sale.  It seems that anywhere the Ottomans had influence sells similar tourist wares.

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IMG_1761The entrance to a mosque.

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IMG_1763A beautiful view of Stari Most in the afternoon sun.

IMG_1765A gigantic cross on the hill above town.  Were I to guess, I would wager that the cross was installed after the war.

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IMG_1769Bullet holes in buildings.

IMG_1771Wrecked buildings next to repaired buildings.

IMG_1772This building appears to have been a cultural institution.  It hasn’t been repaired.

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IMG_1774Another bombed-out building.

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IMG_1778Looking down at the river from one of the many bridges in town.

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IMG_1783Kristen on a bridge upstream from Stari Most.

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IMG_1789Graffiti proclaiming something.

IMG_1790Lots of bullet holes in this building.

IMG_1791Old sandbag fortifications still in place from the war.

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IMG_1795A derelict highrise.

IMG_1796More blown-out buildings.

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IMG_1798The wounds of war are still raw in this town.

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IMG_1801There are many minarets in Mostar.

IMG_1803And there are many churches.

IMG_1804More graffiti or art of some sort.

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IMG_1809Fancy sport touring bikes from Italy.

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IMG_1811Another view of Stari Most from outside our hotel.

IMG_1813Enjoying the afternoon with a beer and a World Heritage Site view.

IMG_1815Blue sky peeking through.

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IMG_1818There were plenty of signs like this around town in a variety of languages.

IMG_1819Lights turning on to illuminate the minarets at night.

IMG_1821The view from our hotel room at night.