I think I might actually be getting close to being totally caught up on blogging about our crazy travels! Exciting! In the meantime, Jack's going to write about our Spring Break destinations, as he knows way more about the countries we visited. I will of course add snarky comments when they are required. Let me just say we covered some ground! All of the countries in the Balkans have now been visited by the Rowe Family! Mission Accomplished! Well, Trum's never been to Romania, but come
on! Then he would just be spoiled.
First up: Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH)!
If, like me, you came of age in the early '90s and ever paid attention to the news (I was a headline-reading paperboy), the names "Bosnia" and "Sarajevo" probably conjure up a lot of negative images. Inter-ethnic violence, including ethnic cleansing, massacres, rapine...sadly these are the kind of things that usually accompany discussions about this part of the world. But, all its cultural diversity, which played such an important role in the upheavals of the '90s, is part of what makes its history so interesting, from Ottoman times, to the founding of Yugoslavia, to its collapse. It does have a disconcerting and turbulent history, but people in the western Balkans are incredibly friendly and hospitable, they almost all speak some English(?!), and, without reservation, I can say that the countries of the former Yugoslavia contain the most beautiful scenery I've seen anywhere in the world (and I'm not just talking about Croatia and Slovenia).
A quick definition: the major ethnic groups of the former Yugoslavia are the Bosniaks, Serbs, Croats, and Albanians. The first three speak dialects of the same Slavic language (Serbo-Croatian), but are, respectively, Muslims, Serbian Orthodox, and Catholics. The Albanians speak Albanian, and are both Muslims and Christians (like Mother Theresa). Because of my education in Russkiy (to which it is related), I can at least understand the numbers and some basic words in Serbo-Croatian. Albanian is a whole different ball of wax, I couldn't understand a syllable of it, and it basically sounded like Orcish to me (no offense Albanians). We all savvy?
Sarajevo
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| "Good Morning Sarajevo!!!!" |
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| Trum with a bust of Josip Broz Tito, the communist dictator who held Yugoslavia together from the end of WWII until he died in 1980. |
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| A home-made rocket-launcher used during the 1992-1995 siege of Bosniak-majority Sarajevo by Bosnian Serb forces and the Yugoslav Army. |
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| The old Holiday Inn, on "Sniper's Alley," which famously housed foreign news correspondents during the war. |
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| Cool, old trolley...with a Turkish add on it. We just can't escape! |
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| Trum in the aptly named "Pigeon Square," in Bascarsija, the old Turkish quarter. |
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| The Latin Bridge, where Gavrilo Princip, a Yugoslav nationalist, assassinated the Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand, kicking off WWI. |
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| This love lock, which is almost as tragic as WWI, better be a joke, or I need to have a talk with Sister Lee and Elder Cox. |
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| Old Ottoman Cemetery |
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| Catholic Cathedral of the Sacred Heart |
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| A "Sarajevo Rose," marking a spot where an artillery shell hit during the siege. You can see the damage it did to the building as well. |
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| The Markale Market. NATO finally began airstrikes against the Bosnian Serb siege forces after their mortars killed 43 and wounded 75 here in 1995. |
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| The Bosnian Serbs deliberately set this library on fire in 1992, destroying irreplaceable documents from the Ottoman era. When I was studying the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans in grad school, the library was requesting that anyone who had made a photocopy of a document send them one, so they could replace those destroyed. |
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| Another beautiful bridge over the Miljacka River. |
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| Trum, Merry, and the Li-bary |
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| A field or park that was converted into a Muslim graveyard during the war |
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| The Dayton Accords ended the fighting in 1995, but there's still mines afoot. |
Beautiful Countryside
So, maybe you're getting depressed with all this doom, gloom, and war? Get ready for some gratuitous, pastoral photo-graphy!
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| Look at those sheep! Look at that pasture! |
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| The Dayton Accords split BiH into constituent entities, including the Republika Srpska (for the Bosnian Serbs), which is the flag you see here. It's interesting how the architecture, alphabet, clothes, etc. can change when you go to an area dominated by a different ethnicity. They still have an American stop sign, though. |
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| This road was lousy with tunnels! |
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| Mountain flowers! |
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| Beautiful river! In the guide book we were using they say this valley is reminiscent of a Japanese painting. With it's mist covered, rocky mountains and beautiful greenery. I totally agree! Gorgeous! |
Mehmed Pasha Sokolovic Bridge
Built over the famous Drina River in the town of Visegrad, this UNESCO World Heritage Site was completed by Mimar Sinan in 1577. "Who the heck was Mimar Sinan?" you ask? Well, he was the famous-est architect in the Ottoman Empire (I mean, 'Mimar' means 'architect')! He built the Suleyman Mosque in Istanbul, and, Merry's favorite, the Selimiye Mosque in Edrine (c'mon people! Look at our previous blog posts!)
Mostar
After a couple days in BiH, we made a big loop through Serbia, Kosovo, Albania, Montenegro, and Croatia, before ending up back in Mostar (are you already getting excited for the next blog post(s)?). First, we stopped in the town of Medjugorje, which, if you are either a good Catholic or a friend of Christopher J. Doersam, you know is a pilgrimage site, due to the Virgin Mary appearing to local children in 1981.
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| Mary Statue in Medjugorje |
Like most of BiH, Mostar has a long history of ethnic and religious diversity. It's just down the hill from Medjugorje, and has a mixed population of Muslims, Catholics, Serbian Orthodox, and a small Jewish community. It's famous Stari Most ('Old Bridge') was built by the Ottomans over the Neretva River in the 16th century, and came to symbolize the unity between the western/eastern, Croat/Bosniak sides of town. In November 1993, the Croats deliberately destroyed it
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5K9f5YEULc), though it was rebuilt and opened in 2004.
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| All that's left of a synagogue. Site of future synagogue! |
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| Merry on the Old Bridge |
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| Koski Mehmed-Pasha Mosque |
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| The Old Bridge |
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| Trum climbed the minaret at the Koski Mehmed Pasha Mosque, and was rewarded with a heck of a view! |
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| This was a park, but during the war they couldn't get to cemeteries to bury their dead so they used parks like this. Now this is a new Muslim cemetery. Almost every grave is from the year 1993. |
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| One of many damaged buildings purposely left as reminders of the war. |
After Mostar we drove back to Sarajevo through some more photogenic countryside.
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| Look at that river! |
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| Look at that little mountainside village! |
Back in Sarajevo, we stopped at the Tunnel Museum. During the siege, Sarajevo was surrounded by Bosnian Serb and Yugoslav Army forces. The only way the city could access food, weapons, and other supplies, was through a 840-meter tunnel that ran out under the airport. Today, the museum preserves a little bit of the tunnel for visitors to walk through.
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| Trum in the Tunnel Entrance |
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| A Mortar Shell Stuck in the Concrete |
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| It was not for the claustrophobic. |
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| How the Siege looked |
On our final night in Sarajevo, Merry booked us in a cool, little hotel overlooking the river. Unfortunately, there were some very obnoxious, 20-something male idiots (I won't say from where) staying next door to us, who did NOT shut up the WHOLE FRIGGIN' NIGHT! There were moments when I was close to bloodshed...I am dangerous when sleepy.
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| Anyway, the view was nice. |
