Bosnia Bound: Experiencing life in the Balkans

Bosnia Bound
"She took a wrong flight. She went to Bosnia." This quip came from season nine of the show Frasier.  Such a joke relies on you naturally filling in the letters "Bos" with "-ton" (for the city) not "-nia" (for the country). Of course, I went to "Bos-nia" myself.

 

Bosnia and Herzegovina, also known as Bosna i Hercegovina, is a land I meant to see years ago. It is known for great beauty, and also something else. In 2015, I wrote a paper about the war in Bosnia that led to the current bizarre political situation (of three concurrent presidents). Truly, something that had to be seen to be believed.

In June 2022, just a few weeks ago, I hesitantly made my way to Bosnia to meet with family. This was my first major trip of the pandemic. Going there required *three* flights, including a ten-hour one. COVID still worried me. So, I reminded myself that 1) I had received the original vaccine and the booster shot and that 2) wearing a mask would help keep me safe. That is not to say this was easy, especially across many hours.

Many, many frustrating delays happened. For example, the first flight left a solid hour late -- it did not even have a plug in for me to use my laptop. Upon arrival, there was no wheelchair assistance within sight, no matter how much we asked. The rest of the journey was not as eventful but still modestly inconvenient.

There was a powerful force compelling me to continue. At midnight, we arrived in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia, and were greeted by my sister. After several months apart, I was overwhelmed by the sight of her. A van picked us up and transported us to my sister's place, giving us a chance to catch up. There we finally rested well.

Early Days
I woke up in the morning feeling groggy, withstanding the full weight of jetlag. We acclimated to our surroundings by walking throughout the Old Town of Sarajevo. Though the river flowing through Sarajevo is small, it provided a mighty backdrop for the old architecture all around us. Some of it Ottoman, some of it Astro-Hungarian.

 

We used The Cathedral as a reference point. This is that cathedral. Though Sarajevo is predominantly Muslim, there are many influences from the Astro-Hungarian times as well. Below was a beautiful reminder of the multicultural nature of the city.

There was rather easy access to places to eat. Numerous bakeries in particular. Of note is a Balkan bread called Burek (shown below is a potato-stuffed example) that proved quite heavy and satisfying. There were more ordinary breaded dishes but even these tended to have some kind of regional twist. I remember this chocolate-containing almond croissant that was an explosion of sweetness beyond the usual.

 

Sarajevo is surrounded by mountains and riddled with historical sights. Such a unique flair had to mean a uniquely stored pigeon square; the birds congregated around an Ottoman-era fountain in the heart of Old Town. For the incredulous, here is a nearby perch (pigeons in the shadows).

Sarajevo is fascinating for its mix of gourmet and street food. Though the emphasis on beef was rather heavy, we found many places to enjoy ourselves. Below is 4 Houses of Safia, a fancy restaurant. The environment influenced me in having European style salmon, which proved tasty.

The hill overlooking us held another well-regarded restaurant -- one named Kibe Mahala promising a grand view over the entire city. I ate a chicken dish there and had an apple-pie slice disguised as baklava. The pie-baklava was the biggest surprise, even more than the sights present.  Interestingly enough -- this was the last cool night of our adventure where the weather dropped down to around 38F (3C). Truly a memorable day.

 

After getting our bearings straight, we decided to travel to the town of Kotor, which would take us through much of Bosnia. I figured that this travel would let us leave the country while allowing us access to the fabled Adriatic coast. If you're curious about this trip, I detailed it in a previous blog post. 

 

On the way back, we passed through Trebinje (seeing the beautiful Ottoman bridge there) and the famous Mostar briefly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Some of you may think Bosnia is free of beautiful sky vistas. This is far from the case, as you can see below. This photo was taken between Mostar and Sarajevo or so. The Herzegovina area of Bosnia is in fact flatter and known for significantly warmer temperatures, giving a great scene for this sight.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Settling In
The lack of thunderstorms gave us our cue to try out hiking in the mountains. We drove towards the Skakavac Waterfall and caught a glimpse into the Dinaric Alps. Unfortunately, it was too steep for our car, let alone us, so we call our journey there.

   

Over filling hot cocoa, I learned about Bosnian culture and geography. For example, the city of Sarajevo was under siege for over three years (1992-1995), a fact which I kept in mind throughout my stay.

Afterwards, we ate at a cosmopolitan style restaurant called Dos Hermanos -- there I had steak with wasabi called "Im on Fire." The dish was far removed from spicy, but the beef was quite flavorful.

Of course, the Old Town restaurants were closer still. We got food from there again -- a familiar dish called Cebappi (pronounced chevappi). This was my first proper meal on the first day, actually. The cebappi itself is beef with onions in a flatbread; the concept is simple but it's quite tasty.  In fact, there is a Key & Peele sketch on this very dish. After this satisfying meal, we headed to Trebevic mountain. The roads were almost treacherous at one point, with roads wide enough only for one car and at infamous inclines. What was supposed to be a 30 minute drive turned into an entire hour of navigating this area. (We later learned that we had taken the hard route.)

Just at the parking space, there was a charming lodge with a cute wooden interior. In fact, we saw a full herd of horses standing right outside. They were summarily herded towards the trees, up the slopes and away from the hotel. After 15 minutes of walking or so, we found oddly haunting abandoned tracks. Impressive graffiti coated the old tracks reclaimed by a great forest.

Outside of day trips like Trebevic, we walked around in the city. One remarkable sight was the Latin Bridge where Astro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand was shot, setting off World War I. (Unsurprisingly, I decided to revisit the music of the band Franz Ferdinand.) The structure itself is a humble white  pedestrian bridge but carries a grand legacy. I would in fact encounter a reference to this bridge just later in this trip.

This bridge in fact was right by the Emperor's Mosque, recalling for me the poignant beauty of visiting Turkey.

The Yellow Bastion provided another epic reminder of Turkish influence over the area. Nowadays it is used as a vantage point for picnics with great sights of the city all around. On a sadder note, this means that the many cemeteries also came into relief.
 

 

Of course, we continued to seek out food. Hilariously, I ate McDonalds --  giving me a brief reminder of fast food. We later ate at another cosmopolitan restaurant known as Manolo. This place was only a ten minute walk, right in the heart of the modern area of Sarajevo. There I enjoyed a Thai yellow curry; though the curry was a touch soupy, it was excellent as my only Asian meal during the entire trip (outside of one other place).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last Days
By this point in the adventure, I knew about the best treats, like the baguette from Impasto. Now was the time for a deeper dive. We retreaded our steps and finally stopped by the University of Sarajevo, which had always intrigued me. Situated along the river, it was a grand highlight of most of our walks. Afterwards, we ate again at Dos Hermanos, where I consumed a messy burger.

Later on, we went on a quest to get some stamps for the memories. The nearby Post Office told us we had to keep going. It took probably 15-20 minutes of searching to find the right place. We were shocked to find the National Post Office inside a very Austro-Hungarian looking building. The door opening was our only real hint. To Bosnia's credit, this post office was entirely impressive and enough to earn that lofty title.

 

This gave an excitement to return to Yellow Bastion and even stop by the nearby White Fortress. Sadly, the White Fortress was closed, only allowing the sight of beautiful rubble. To build back the spirit, we had hot drinks at Kawa, which also provided me a surprisingly good hot chocolate. This coffeeshop is hidden by the crisscrossing inclines but provides a great lookout over an exhausting set of steps.

All hope was not lost as we had an exciting engagement in the Old Town: at a restaurant named Dveri. Before going there, we walked around, absorbing sights, like this mosque we had somehow missed. (There were quite a few in the Old Town alone, let alone ones like the Emperor's Mosque.) Dveri was nestled in deep within a little passageway. Once inside, we were led essentially underground, creating a very quaint atmosphere. Dveri was clearly the best culinary experience in Sarajevo, despite falling into that same meat-heavy trap. 

You may think that Turkish food can be found anywhere in Bosnia. While not true, this restaurant called Turkuazz provided us a mouth watering tray of great kebabs. Some were a bit strange, like chicken liver, but many of the rest were sheerly excellent. Though we were still in the city proper, this was a new sight of the river, where many of the birds would flock.

There was another reason to head 20 minutes away by car. The beautiful Vrelo Bosne featured pristinely clear water surrounded by incredible forestation. By far the greatest shock had to be: seeing swans for the first time. I of course had seen many ducks and geese in my time. But never a swan. Even rarer was the opportunity to see young swans. Great day, honestly.

By contrast, the National Museum of Bosnia was not as impressive to me. I am not as interested in Roman-era history, which seemed to be a major focus. That said, a couple great sights stuck out to me -- like the swords and the hanging ship.

Next up was the Singing Nettle, which serves traditional Bosnian food. This of course included the herb itself (nettle) -- which people ate for sustenance during the grueling Bosnian War. A nettle doughnut, free of excessive sugar, was quite satisfying. There was also a ravioli dish with nettle pesto. As someone allergic to pine nuts, the term 'pesto' is enough to cause mayhem. After franctic searching, I decided that the dish would likely not kill me. In fact, rather the opposite: it was quite tasty!

There was a looming trip on the horizon: weeks ago we had booked a multi-day stay in Dubrovnik. After Kotor, I began pouring over guidebooks for Croatia  generally. This allowed me to devise a list of things to see in Dubrovnik. My time in Croatia is illustrated here. We were set to leave Bosnia just the day after returning from Croatia, forcing us to stay in a partially packed state.  

 

The drive to and from Croatia gave us a chance to reflect on Bosnia. Most of our trip was entirely within the national borders, outside of the 15 minutes actually in Croatia before Dubrovnik. Along the way, we stopped by a famous furniture shop in the town of Konjic by the Neretva River. This shop features a blend of modern and traditional Ottoman styles, which was simply excellent. I reflected on these styles actually appearing among my grandparents' old items.

Driving farther out, I got another chance to appreciate the beautiful Neretva, that green river. Impressive mountains along the way.

Did I mention mountains? There were many to see right outside the car window. The route to Kotor was actually quite similar but still there were surprises along the way.

 
Earlier in the trip, we had very shortly stopped by the famous town of Mostar and gazed upon its illustrious Stari Most bridge from below. However, that was far too brief to appreciate the 16th-century bridge famous across the world. Standing on it now allowed for breath-taking views of the town, overlooking a mighty river surging forth. This vantage even gave way to an appreciation for the bridge's immense scale.

After Mostar, the long-awaited Kravice Waterfalls. The waterfalls were simply alright, but it felt incredibly satisfying to check off. We took a tram back up to the parking lot, allowing us to gaze upon the waterfalls from a new angle.

Bosnia was a great experience for me regardless of any lingering doubts. For the Kravice Waterfalls to be simply alright -- truly the mark of a great country laden with many wonders. Sadly, I had to say goodbye to my sister just the day after returning. We had already made plans to travel to Vienna a few days before our flight from there back to the US. Prior to leaving, I had the chance to eat much cebappi, cementing my experience in Bosnia as a deeply positive one.

Before describing my return towards the US, I wanted to share life while there. It was quite different, even for European standards.

Daily Life
A new daily life was available after many months straight of being in the US. This chance to challenge my routine and notions proved to be incredibly reinvigorating. Eating Balkans chocolate and cheese, drinking Balkans milk, experiencing Balkans daily life. For example, Kras chocolate from Croatia. Sometimes we would make chicken tikka, pasta, or some other dish more similar to what we would eat in the US. That helped us through the period of finding new treats to enjoy in the Balkans.

Many sights were available to us without even using the rental car. We would walk to the bakery and/or the produce market 5 minutes away by foot. Sometimes it would be Maison Coco, sometimes Impasto, and sometimes this one bakery that made chocolate cake slices that we kept purchasing. The baguette offered by Impasto proved to be quite excellent as well. However, croissants by and large turned out much too sweet unless they were butter croissants. Truly, the bakery played a massive role in our time in Bosnia.

My sister graciously arranged massages for us at two separate places. Both gave an excellent chance to rest our tired feet and weary bodies. I felt a little closer to the sensation of home with these massages.

We saved the car for more exciting ventures. ...This did include going to the supermarket and some restaurants beyond walking distance. Accessibility, as you might imagine, was also quite different as I illustrate in this blog post. Essentially, shorter walking distances offset by the presence of numerous hills, steps, and mountains.

Going through these motions made it much harder to keep track of my usual list of group activities such as Toastmasters. During my first week, I tried to attend Toastmasters but waking up at 2 am proved far too difficult. Attending was completely in opposition to the basics of sunlight -- a break became required. Sometimes I would get extra sleep....but only by losing consciousness during the day. No matter what happened, though, I was pretty much on the way to sleep by 10 or 11 pm every night. After a week or so, my sleep schedule stabilized rather well.

Unsurprisingly, being in Bosnia gave me the chance to study languages from a new vantage. While there, I borrowed a book on the Urdu script, which is the language of my parents, from my sister, giving me an excuse to continue learning. At the same time, living in Bosnia pushed me to learn various phrases in Bosnian -- like the perennial phrases Dobar Dan (hello) and Hvala (thank you). 

You may know about my studying Japanese. While in Bosnia, I worked to better understand Japanese by studying vocabulary and kanji using online tools like Wanikani. One revitalizing experience was watching a Japanese drama film with Bosnian subs. Sometimes the subs would help me fill in the spoken word I missed. Sometimes no words made sense to me and I had to use just context clues. I spent over an hour watching and never learned the film title. Despite the difficulty, I greatly enjoyed my time. Despite Bosnia's reputation for isolation, I sure found a way to bolster my cross-cultural spirit. (Funnily enough, Bosnia does have a Japanese embassy.)

Needless to say, my time in Bosnia gave me a great chance to revitalize my routine. Soon enough, it was time to head back.

Heading back (and Vienna)
Vienna is naturally an incredible blend of modern and new, including a very versatile public transportation system. It is one of the most acclaimed cities in the world for good reason. That said, I found myself preferring the charm of Sarajevo, despite Vienna's eminence.

Of course, Vienna is also a bustling place of many cultures. On the first day, we met a family friend for Moroccan food at this restaurant called Orient. After poring over the menu, I realized that the chicken curry, topped with pomegranate, would make an excellent addition to my stomach. And it was! We were treated to magnificent lights, throw pillows, and Arabic songs, adding to the cultural experience. The server is in fact not Moroccan but treated us to an excellent time nonetheless. This meal left a fantastic impression of Vienna as a city.

I held my usual role of researching place to see. This time, there were not as many full guidebooks to help me. But I inquired on locations to see from the family friend and some of my other friends. We had to make some cuts: a train to Budapest (in Hungary) or Salzburg would take us too far. There was, as I will demonstrate, plenty to see in Vienna proper.

Naturally, Vienna is better known for ingrained cafe culture and not as much 'foreign food.' In fact, one could say European (mainstream) tastes dominate here. We went to a magnificent place called Cafe Sacher best known for the dry sachertorte cake. To even step inside the fancy red room with a chandelier, we had to wait twenty minutes. I ordered the cake alongside a hot chocolate. The sachertorte was quite nice to dig into, though it strayed just a touch from my usual ideal. My hot chocolate was certainly divine, though. During our stay, we stopped by the bakeries, offering pastries for relatively cheap. This was not unlike in Bosnia -- there we had less variety, but fewer frills to worry about too.

 

Unsurprisingly, there were no shortage of cathedrals and palaces and elegant buildings. To name a few, we saw Albertina, Parlament, Kunsthistoriches, Schronbrunn, St. Stephen's Cathedral, Hofburg, and Belvedere. Many of these sights were nice, so I decided to just focus on a select few. 

 

However, I must add that Schonbrunn Palace was keenly disappointing. We went to attend a free concert there but were faced with them unexpectedly blocking more people from attending. A whopping 60,000 people saw the Philharmonic play, but we were closed off due to inflexible rules. This historical building did not match up entirely to the grandure of the other ones.

Take this sight: St. Stephen's Cathedral stood beautifully and grandly not far from the Hofburg Palace.

Strangely, one of the most exciting views was the Karlskirche church. It stood beautifully across a lake, pulling me through a hot day in the sun.

Our grand finale was the Belvedere Palace, which stood impressively just from the entrance. Of the many palaces we saw, this had to be my favorite. Visually sure. But they also reduced my ticket to only 4 euros because of my wheelchair assistance. This gave me a sign that this surely would be a great museum to explore.

The inside of this palace was set up more akin to a modern museum. The Kunsthistoriches museum provided more tremendous beauty inside -- but not as unique of exhibits. By contrast, Belvedere was more plain. That was not necessarily a disadvantage. These two palace-museums complement each other tremendously. 

Two paintings at the Belvedere in particular caught my eye. The first one I do not share here as it is a rather famous painting by Jacques Louis David entitled "Napoleon Crossing the Alps". This painter is best known for his beautifully grim Death of Marat (which I saw in the Louvre years prior). I certainly remember learning about this fascinating painter in AP European History back in high school.

Another painting caught my eye. This one is not as famous but moved my entire travel full circle. This painting by Friedrich Alois Schonn depicts the Latin Bridge in Sarajevo, which I visited. Clearly a different era. But I felt absorbed by this strangely familiar sight. Perhaps the single most exciting painting I saw in Vienna, giving me a great sense of satisfaction. Coming to this palace last had been an excellent decision.

 

Unfortunately, access was a struggle in this particular palace. They had to bring a metal ramp just to get me a few meters forward across some poorly placed steps. Despite the presence of elevators, one would descend to a part of the floor walled off by steps. There was only one true ramp on the first floor, limiting convenient access to just one elevator and part of the floor. These struggles were not unique to this museum either.

Vienna is certainly beautiful, though I still preferred Bosnia. With Belvedere behind us, I closed off my time in Austria by grabbing bergkase cheese. This cheese helped accompany me back across the Atlantic. Admittedly, the return trip had much of the fatigue of the first trip. Some nice cheese certainly helped me keep things together. Before I knew it, I was before my own bed, able to rest in peace once more.

Missed sights and overall impressions
Mapping out the trip was a balancing act. We each had our own demands about what to see. Ultimately, nature and history had to be blended together to offer the greatest opportunity. To address this, I established tactics of becoming very familiar with certain sights -- for example, the parts of Bosnia between Sarajevo and Kotor or Dubrovnik. We also did not have the stamina or will to drive hours upon hours every day (like we did for Kotor or Dubronvik). That means that some places were difficult to slot in, despite their obvious merit.

There were sights I entirely missed out on: Banja Luka, Blagaj, and Una National Park.  

1.  Banja Luka, the largest city in Republika Srpska, is the second largest city of Bosnia and seems impressively historical. Because I saw Mostar, the famous city, this seems like a logical next pick. Sadly, Banja Luka -- much like Una National Park -- would require 5+ hours of driving, which was difficult to fit in.

2. Blagaj, on the other hand, was on the way. However, the rocks along the hiking path would be especially hard for me and my muscle condition. The most notable features of Blagaj are a Dervish building and a fortress first built by the original settlers of Bosnia, modified by the Romans, and finalized by the Ottomans. In fact, the appeals of this location are well summarized by a Wikipedia article.

3. Lastly, Una National Park looked absolutely stunning in every photograph. Unfortunately, Northern Bosnia is quite far from Sarajevo, so we were completely unable to go in our limited time. I am quite confident it must be one of the most beautiful places on Earth, though. 

 This list is far for exhaustive; we even missed going to a bird habitat. These exclusions were sad but reflected a nation well travelled.

Soon enough, it was time to leave. In my mind, we had just gotten used to Central European Standard Time and the many features common to Bosnia. Before going on this trip, I was swamped by anxiety about leaving the country. What if there is nothing I can handle while there? I realized that it would be fine -- we had adjusted thoroughly well. We also made our way back fine. Just a day after returning to the US, I picked up my new glasses, giving me a victory this side of the trip.

I still think about the beautiful places we could have possibly seen but did not. This kind of regret, however, is beneficial. Especially as I am confident that we saw as much as was reasonable. Taken together, that makes for an excellent travel, the one that makes life worth living.