In the former Yugoslavian/Balkan
region, it is very common for private households to let out spare
rooms in their house, or even renovate part of them homes purely for
this purpose – an eastern european bed & breakfast if you will,
generally a more no-frills version, however. We had opted to stay in
one of these rooms (often advertised by signs on the building/street
as either 'sobe', 'zimmer' or simply 'free room'). Our stay in
Plitvice was extremely pleasant, though given our proximity to one of
Croatia's most visited tourist attractions, we paid comparatively
more (20 euro per person for what was made up like hotel room) than
what we would pay elsewhere
As previously mentioned, we were yet to
have any real sort of direction as to how to get to Sarajevo in
Bosnia, for that evening. We knew it was a six or so hour journey, so
we left fairly early, and after being unable to find a turnoff that
Google Maps had advised us of the previous night, we purchased a
paper map and were on our way. Generally, the journey was fine,
direction wise through the long stretches, but trying to navigate
through smaller villages with many unmarked roads provided moments of
confusion. Perhaps more worrying were the condition of the roads
themselves – potholes, hairpin turns and unsealed roads are reason
enough to be careful when you don't have speeding roadtrains
overtaking you with complete disregard for the wellbeing of other
drivers. It was an experience to say the least, taking me back to the
days of driving in Los Angeles months earlier – only that time we
had a GPS.
While the roads were an eyesore, the
landscapes either side were a sight for sore eyes, eons away from the
preconcieved images I had of Bosnia. We could easily have been in
Switzerland or Austria, such was the natural beauty. We passed
through the picturesque cities of Kluj and Jajce - having a
lunch of cevapcici at the former (Small spicy skinless sausages –
what I assume the Australian brand 'chevups' are based on), before
continuing on towards Sarajevo.
It was when we reached Travnik that
scenes of war ravaged Bosnia came to the fore. Abandoned and
destroyed buildings, apartment blocks with mortar shell damage
halfway up the buildings and bullet shell riddled homes. As the sun
started to set, and the weather turned for the worse it was quite a
sombre and depressing experience, with the grey sky matching the
damaged grey buildings of the city centre.
Not long after we had left the vicinity
of Travnik and we were back driving through picturesque Bosnia, which
seemed like a completely different world. Farm animals grazed freely
as the massive winding roads curved through the mountains as the sun
set with a more golden glow. It was if it were a movie-style set up
juxtaposition, the landscape and sun providing some sort of symbolic
backdrop.
As we approached Sarajevo, probably
about eight hours after leaving Plitvice (so we were a bit behind
schedule), we encountered the first real stretch of highway. The
130km/h speed limit was obeyed by little to no-one, despite the
slight drizzle (which could provide an interesting point in the
constant reduction of speed limits in Australia, but I digress...).
The foothills surrounding Sarajevo providing dazzling views over the
city, and it was hard fathom that a couple of decades ago it was
these same views that allowed sniper fire to rain down upon the city.
Once we made our way into the city, we ventured into the Old Town, which with its strong Eastern and Muslim influences reminded me slightly of my arrival in Marrakech four years ago. Only this time I was in a rental car. Cobbled, unmarked and uneven streets, open squares and plazas that were equally shared by cars, motorbikes and pedestrians and a maze of one way side streets made for an extremely intense journey to our accomodation, and never before have I let out such a sigh of relief as I parked the car for the night.
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