Early in the morning we checked out from our hotel in Belgrade and set off on our estimated 7 hour journey on the private bus towards Sarajevo. The journey encompassed a few stops and mandatory driver rest breaks justifying the journey time.
Prior to the border crossing we had a quick rest stop at a petrol station and then joined the queue into Bosnia & Herzegovina via a river border patrol post.
Once cleared our driver insisted on his first mandatory 40 min break so we stopped at the riverside restaurant Hotel Laguna. Sights were spectacular as we sat on the balcony overlooking the River Drina. We saw a guy on a rubber dinghy playing on his phone and floating down the river, without a care in the world.
A further hour into our journey we stopped at the Restaurant Pogled for a beans and sausage soup called Pasulj Sa Kobasicom, similar to a goulash. It was perfect, with a splendid mountainous backdrop and the occasional sheep herder walking past. It reminded me of one the many mountain top restaurants I used to go to when I lived in Switzerland three decades ago.
Towards 5pm we arrived in Sarajevo and checked into the Hayat Hotel. Not sure if that’s a play on words, but this one is just a 3 star hotel. We got the top floor room, fairly large but far from perfect. The 3 star rating seemed reasonable, and we did get a spectacular view once we tiptoed out of the skylight.
Our tour guide summoned all the travellers for a meeting and a short orientation walk around the Sarajevo city centre with concluded at the Steak House were I mistakenly ordered one of the most expensive dishes. A beef stroganoff for EUR18. It was pretty good, and the first time I’ve had stroganoff with gherkins mixed in. Honestly though, my mother still cooks a better one.
Notably on our orientation walk, Zoran guided us to the Latin Bridge, famously known for being the location at which the Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in 1914, an act which would be the catalyst for starting World War I.
Zoran guided a smaller group to a nearby shisha bar, where we enjoyed some blueberry tobacco. Having not consumed any alcohol, we welcomed the opportunity to head back to the Hotel for an early night.
The next day we went out with our guide Sham-so by bus to the Tunnel of Life, Tunnel of Hope or Tunnel Of Rescue. Irrespective of the name it was a humbling experience learning about the hardships of the then citizens of Bosnia during the war in the mid 90s. This tunnel, which was present under the UN controlled airport, was their only lifeline to the free Bosnian Territory, whilst surrounded by Serbian forces between 1992-1995.
At the conclusion of that tour we returned back to the bus and endured a further, much more bumpy trip to the southern elevated positions used by the Serbian army to siege Sarajevo. The positions happen to also be the location for the 1984 Winter Olympic Games. First we walked to an elevated position used to siege the city, where during clear days it was easy to see the effectiveness of the raised position. It was pretty foggy when we went up there, and after a brief shower it did start to clear up.
Our guide provided us with more humbling conflict information and then led us back down the mountain to our bus, via the now defunct bobsleigh track.
The bus returned us to the hotel for some free time. We walked up the hill to the Yellow Fortress, but on our last morning we ventured the 30 min up to the White Fortress. It’s well worth the effort and views and photo ops are far superior to Yellow Fortress. Feast on the many panoramas, in order of elevation…
White Fortress enabled some excellent photo opportunities.
We had a further chance to walk the city centre and visit some churches, during our second afternoon.
