Jo Herrings Adventures

We arrived in Mostar in stiffling heat. Instead of pushing onto Dubrovnik that night we chose instead to stay in Hostel Miran which had been recommended by our Sarajevo hostel. I can also highly recommend this spot. If just to spend an evening with Miran the host to get some perspective. Mostar is another of Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) devestated cities. This time destroyed by their southern neighbours Croatia. The city bares the marks of a bloody 18 month siege in the 1990's.  We called in for some more tasty pie on our way to the old town. Taking in a national monument on the way - following some road signs to uninspiring Model Mostar house from the 1900's. We enjoyed going into the kitchen at this Pie shop to see how they made the pies...this was 40'c day and the kitchen was probably the hottest place I have ever been...and yet they worked happily baking their pies over open fires. We reached the "best spot" to see the famous Old Bridge found in...

After a pleasant bus journey through the southern Serbian states and leafy (almost American like picket fence areas) northern Bosnia and Herzegovnia (B&H) I returned to Sarajevo at 11.30pm and despite knowingly getting ripped off on a taxi made for the central city and the Travellers Home Hostel where we had an entire floor to ourselves. After dropping our bags we headed straight to the Turkish quarter to have a refreshment bumping into my Montenegro-Sarajevo bus crew which made for a fun night. The following morning after a slow start we made our way to the National Museum which set to close at 1pm, we negotiated 1/2 price entry (at 12.45pm!) and whipped around the exhibits in record time. I had mistakenly thought this was the home of the siege exhibition so had a sad feeling that we had missed the one museum I wanted to see. Alas we rounded the corner and in an overgrown modernist bullet riddled cube we found the Bosnian Historical Museum. This museum offers a fas...

I arrived in Sarajevo's East or Christian quarter at around 4pm after a 8 hour bus ride. The road from Montenegro was like nothing I had ever experienced and crossing into Bosnia (like all Balkans crossings was very easy handing your passport to your bus assistant and them getting it stamped for you) saw us on the narrowest and poorest maintained road in Europe...A Bosnian welcome road...what an impression. About 10 minutes out of the checkpoints gorge we hit palatial highways. Prayers during Ramadan  at Bey's Mosque Taking a cab from the East Station is my best advice it is about 7km into town and in 35'c heat not really what you want to welcome you to the city...despite thinking of all my hard core backpacking friends who would have done it, I figured the Israeli I had befriended on the bus would get me the best price! €9 each later and we were deposited in the central backpacking district also the posh old town! Bey's Mosque  I was helped to a new hostel...