I have a week and a half and want to see as much as i can and also learn about the war. I definitely want to visit Mostar, Sarajevo and then head to the East and visit Gorazde.
Anyone have any tips or suggestions for a first timer?
I truly hope to get hooked up with some locals talk with and travel with to aid me in my research.
Thanks.
-Scott
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Learn about the war???
Muslim have one version
Croat have one version
Serb have one version
Ofcourse, i recomend Banjaluka, beutiful city, many many pretty girls :)
What you want to know?
Sorry for bad english
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Hi Scott,
You should definitely visit Sarajevo, check out the tunel (I think it is still open), it is scary to see it and it gives you an idea how bad things were during the war. You can check out Srebrenica memorial in Potocari, if learning about war is your main objective to the visit.
There is unfortunately only one version to the war, regardless of the comment in the above post.
Mostar is also great, but I think you should visit the countryside as well, not only the cities and war related things. One cool/funny palce is a %26quot;pyramide%26quot; close to Visoko, just short ride from Sarajevo. Nobody knows if it really is a pyramide, but definitely worth a visit, in case it turns out to be one :)
Rafting in Neretva is another fun thing to do, Neretva is the river that flows through Mostar. The rafting is a bit upstream, near Konjic where the stream is stronger.
Not sure when you plan to visit, but summer is best.
Have fun!
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Thanks for the great info. Getting outside of the big cities is definitely an objective of mine.
I%26#39;m basically traveling and on the way doing research on the genocide in Bosnia for a course that i teach here in NYC.
I%26#39;m looking to hook up with the adventure company Green Visions -- has anyone used them before? any suggestions?
Thanks again.
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This above is yust one side
Example, if you want rafing
In Banjaluka,river Vrbas
2009 Worl cup in Rafting
Here,s some picture
…blogspot.com/2007/07/rafting-na-vrbasu.html
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I have always thought it would be neat to see some of the places that I have read about- places such as Srebrenica, Tuzla, Sarajevo,Bihac, Banja Luka, etc. Also Croatian places such as Vukovar.
Mostar is a neat place to visit and a couple of summers ago there were still visible signs of the war that happened there. Not sure what kind of information you will find and who will be willing to talk to you, but it sounds like a great plan. Hope it all works out for you.
I started a post a couple of years ago on Srebrenica, so you might search it on here to see what was said.
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Hi Scott
I am not sure how much you can understand related to the agression and genocide in one week. It is all to sensitive, and complex. people usually do not want to talk about that, but once they start talking, they will not stop. I recommend a book edited by Janja Bec Neumann, Darkness at noon, but maybe it would even be better to read this book after you visit Bosnia. I would recommend to do the tour with sarajevo discovery, they have times of misfortune tour, definitely you need to visit the tunnel and if you can, visit Srebrenica. also, there is a tour guide who works independent, zijad jusufovic. But above all is Green visions. You can ask them for a help and they can arrange the entire trip for you.
good luck, Sen
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I spent the year 2000 with the US Army in Bosnia. It was the best deployment of my life. I sure miss it. I was fortunate enough to be a part of a team that went all over the region north of Serajevo talking with townspeople and villagers about their infrastructure needs. The people I met were very friendly. We would go into a village and the people would invite us inside their half destroyed homes and give us Bosnian coffee, fresh picked cherries and homemade cheese while we talked and played with their kids. I can not believe I was paid for such a broad cultural enrichment. I highly encourage you to go into the beautiful Bosnian countryside and talk with the people. Here are a couple of tips:
When you go to Mostar, you might as well go across the border and visit Dubrovnik in Croatia. It is a jewel of the Adriatic.
If you don%26#39;t know Serbo-Croatian, then you may need an interpreter. I don%26#39;t think you will find a lot English speakers in Sarejevo and this is especially true in Mostar and the villages surrounding both those towns. This area was part of the French administered sector during SFOR, so you may find some French speakers. You should find some laid off English interpreters from the former American military bases around Tuzla and the former British bases around Banja Luka.
Since this was a battleground between Turkey and the rest of Europe for hundreds of years, there are a lot of old castles in Bosnia. Since you are going east of Sarajevo, there is a castle on top of Zvornik. If you go north and west of Tuzla, there are castles in Srebrenik, Doboj and Tesanj.
Be careful of land mines, especially in the countryside and in the ZOS (Zone of Separation). I have heard many land mines have been cleared around Serajevo, but beyond that I wouldn%26#39;t take chances going hiking down some trail.
If you are looking for some war stories from the east of Serejevo: go to Srebrenica, Bratunac and Zvnornik. There were a lot of mass graves around there. There is also a restarant/ small hotel just south of Zvornik on the way to Bratunac. You can%26#39;t miss it. You can see the balcony overhanging the Drina River from the road. I heard a story that so many women were raped, murdered and thrown over the balcony into the Drina, that their bodies clogged up the dam below the hotel. We had a reconstruction conference there and no Bosniaks (Muslims) showed up. This is the story they told us later. I don%26#39;t know if it is true. Maybe you can find out.
If you decide to go off the beaten path, I recommend going to a real cute Croatian village of Vares. I remember an old water powered mill in that area. They were still using it to grind down grain when I was there. It is just north of Sarejevo. Those mountains and hills between Tuzla and Sarajevo are just beautiful. There is a road tunnel that gets covered in ice sickles when it gets cold.
By-the-way, I ate at a small restaurant one time in a basement in Serajevo. I remember it had some photos and memorabilia of American actors. Does anyone know its name, if it is still open or its location? If I ever go back to Sarajevo, I sure would like to visit that cozy place again.
If you ever think about making a second trip to Bosnia and would like a traveling companion, look me up at dpaulholding at yahoo. I would love to go back sometime in the future.
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Thanks for the interesting post Paul!
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yes. thanks for the great info, Paul. also, thanks barrymanilow for your input.
i will be in touch when i figure out my trip and run it by the thread.
i have already contacted green visions and look forward to working with them.
-scott
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Hi, Scott,
JUST today (4/22) I read this article online from the New York Times:
…nytimes.com/2008/04/20/travel/20bosnia.html…
It talks about hiking in Bosnia and mentions Green Visions specifically. Sounds like a really cool way to see the countryside.
I just got back from Mostar and Sarajevo and wanted to let you know that just about everyone we met in both towns spoke English, but I cannot attest to the surrounding villages nearly as well as I am sure Paul (from the above post) can. We were mostly in touristy areas (Old Town, etc), and Paul would be more of an authority on that.
The war is a very sensitive topic in the region (as you can well imagine), and the locals we spoke to about it indicated tensions still run high and probably will for several more generations. Although there are many %26quot;facts%26quot; about the war, the bottom line is there were so many different factions fighting one another that the truth is very complex (think Iraq). If I may be so bold to suggest, keep an objective mind and talk to as many different groups as you can in order to try to piece it all together.
It%26#39;s an amazing part of the world - hope your travels are rewarding.
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