BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA 
Sarajevo
(2016)
Bosnia & Herzegovina is probably the most complex country with the darkest history I've visited so far.
I visited this country with my friend William and we were completely surprised by this place.
Bosnia & Herzegovina is home to three main ethnic groups, the Bosniaks who are mostly Muslim, the Serbs who are mostly Orthodox Christian and the Croats who are mostly Catholic.
Bosnia & Herzegovina has 3 different leaders at the same time, a Bosnian, a Serbian and a Croatian, that alternate their authority every 8 months...
As you can see below, this country is a complete mess that it's divided into Bosnian, Serbian and Croatian regions...
Siege of Sarajevo 1992-1996
sarajevo, bosnia & Herzegovina
Sarajevo is the capital city of Bosnia & Herzegovina... and it's a magical place... This city has a very dark recent story. In 1992, after declaring independence from Yugoslavia, the war in Bosnia began and continued until 1996.
For 4 years Sarajevo was surrounded by Serbian/Yugoslavian Troops that were positioned in the mountains armed with tanks and snipers that fired at random civilians and troops they saw walking on the streets.
As you can see in the image below, there was just one portion of the mountains that didn't have Serbian troops because it was an Olympic city (from the 1984 Winter Olympics), an free Bosnian Territory.
If you zoom in you can see that Serbian troops also didn't occupy the International Airport (because it's an UN building) and this was the secret for Bosnian troops and civilians to survive...
Bosnian Troops and civilians began to build a tunnel that connected a random house and the Airport. This tunnel was completed in mid-1993 and was used to bring supplies and weapons inside the city, and enabled some inhabitants to leave.
William and I were guided by a guy, I will call him Donnie, that we met at the hostel and he brought us to the house where the entrance to that tunnel is.
Right next to the house and even in the middle of the city it's possible to see holes on the ground from grenades... Rather than cover them though, the survivors had memorialized them. Painted red, or sometimes filled with a red resin, in time these concrete scars became known as the "Sarajevo Roses".
While our guide took us back to the hostel he commented:
"It's surreal how people live here knowing that a few years ago they tried to kill each other".
Some images from the Siege
sarajevo, bosnia & Herzegovina
The scars of war still remain intact; most of the buildings in the city center still have bullet holes... This is exactly what you see when visiting Sarajevo.
But don't get me wrong... this kind of "landscape" and the story behind it turns the city into a very special place... I know that most people that travel don't look for this kind of place but I'm really gratful to have visited this city. This is a little piece of the world, full of stories, some even macabre, where you can still see and feel the story nowadays... there are no filters and this is what makes it so special.
history, Stories, red wine and cigarettes
sarajevo, bosnia & Herzegovina
The night before Donnie took us to the tunnel, he started to give us an introduction to the history of Sarajevo and the country in general while we were drinking red wine and smoking cigarettes in the hostel kitchen.
He took some paper and began to explain everything while writing and drawing on the paper.
A couple of hours later, this was the result:
Random Box
two girls, one beer 🔞
This is a random story about our guide Donnie... and it's definitely a story that made me laugh... a lot. Let's begin:
Some years ago he was on vacation with friends in Montenegro. They went to a disco where he met a Russian girl with whom he went to the beach. There she gave him a BJ in the showers there.
Then he realized that he lost his phone at the beach so he approached a random guy and he offered him a joint in exchange for the other guy's phone to call his phone... but he didn't find it.
Donnie and the Russian girl went to her apartment. When they arrived, she went to the bathroom and he went to her room and... he found another Russian girl masturbating on the bed while drinking a beer.
So they started to have sex and then the other Russian girl came in and sat on the bed looking at them.
The second girl pukes while having sex with Donnie, so he stops and starts having sex with the girl from the disco.
Meanwhile, she tells him that she doesn't want to continue and falls asleep.
While they are sleeping he starts masturbating between both beds and now I cannot finish this part..
After that he puked and realized that he didn't have enough money to take the bus back to his apartment, so he woke the girls up and asked for money.
They gave him 2,5€.
The end.
Sebilj Brunnen (Fountain)
sarajevo, bosnia & Herzegovina
Sunsets in Sarajevo are definitely in my Top 5... and here is why:
sarajevo, bosnia & Herzegovina
Sarajevo is known for its multiculturalism, in which there are 100 mosques for prayer, as well as several Catholic and Orthodox churches, cathedrals and synagogues.
Muslims pray up to 5 times a day and "The Maghrib" prayer begins when the sun sets, and lasts until the red light has left the sky in the west.
Now imagine being in a spot with the view in the image below surrounded by 100 mosques making the sound of the prayer call and a huge smog from the houses' fireplaces coming towards you...
Believe me... it's magical... especially when you add this to the fact that you are in a place with the history described above.
Right below this spot where we were watching the sunset there is a Muslim cemetery.
Most of the people killed during the siege are probably buried here.
we had dinner at The restaurant visited by Bill Clinton
sarajevo, bosnia & Herzegovina
🚂 Train from Sarajevo to Zagreb, Croatia
sarajevo, bosnia & Herzegovina | zagreb, croatia
sarajevo, bosnia & Herzegovina |
zagreb, croatia
Trains in Eastern Europe are very old and that's what makes the journey so different and so special.
I'm addicted to train travel... From a train in Bulgaria fuckin cold because doors constantly open and snow gets on the train, to a train that changes wheels every time it crosses the Moldova/Romania border... These are the "little" factors that make a trip so special...
And this train from Sarajevo to Zagreb was no different... why? Because it was possible to smoke inside the train 
