2019
We caught a bus from Belgrade to Sarajevo to meet up with friends for a long weekend. Steeped in history, we took a couple of free tours to get a feeling for the city. Highlights included visiting the spot where Archduke Ferdinand got shot which precipitated the first world war to seeing the damage in the more recent war that broke Yugoslavia apart. Plenty of food and drink was consumed also.
The site of Archduke Ferninand’s assassination (above) and massive damage caused by artillery in the recent war (below)
From Sarajevo we headed by train to Mostar. Its a superb train journey largely following a wide river with dams and nice scenery. A short walk after arriving saw us locate our accommodation before we headed off to explore. Mostar was the frontline for a lot of fighting (and Bosnia in general) and the destruction of the pretty bridge was probably the most press-worthy event. It has been rebuilt and certainly attracts the crowds but the simmering undercurrents from the war are easily seen. We took a free tour to get some of the history, but this turned out to be the wrong history(!) when we took a later tour from someone in a different ethnic group. Complex.
Our longer tour took in much more of the coutryside so we were able to visit many old ruins that must have been very majestic in the past.
