Sarajevo Scenery

Ever since the 1984 winter Olympics, I have been interested in Sarajevo. Indeed, it is a city rich with beauty and (often sad) history. To learn more about this first historical incident, click here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_in_Sarajevo

In 1914, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife were assasinated while crossing a bridge in Sarajevo. This was the catalyst that sparked World War I. In this picture at right, just behind the people you can see a bit of that bridge.

The start of the Bosnian war between the Orthodox Serbs and the Muslims also started in Sarajevo, when in 1992 shots were fired from the Holiday Inn which had been built for the Olympics. And in another sad bridge event, an almost Romeo & Juliet story happened on this bridge (at right) when a couple were on opposite sides (one was Muslim the other Orthodox) and in their attempt to escape and be married, they were both shot and killed in the middle of the bridge.

And I needed at least one Olympic shot, so the snowflake pattern on the sidewalk here is my tribute to Olympic design. Laura is standing with our friend Srđan who is from Sarajevo.

Kotor

After our failed attempt to conquer Lovćen, we decided to wind up the day in Kotor. It has a beautiful "Old Town" which sits nestled under a mountain. On the mountain itself there is a long fortress road that winds its way up to a castle about midway up the mountain. Sorry that we didn't get any pictures of the castle, but from this gate, you go through the narrow path and then there are steep stairs that I presume lead to the road towards the castle.

We stopped at a restaurant in Kotor for pizza and sodas/coffees. Our waitress wore an Orthodox cross necklace in a rather "questionable" spot.

Here is our group on the bridge that leads into the old city. One of the girls in our group, who is only in high school, is actually the #1 high jumper in the entire country. She went to Olympic camp in 2008, and plans on jumping in the 2012 games in London! We just met her. She lives in Cetinje.

One bit of trivia about Kotor, it has the narrowest street in the world. It's called "Let me pass" and two grown men cannot walk side-by-side on it. I don't think we saw this street, but we did see some narrow streets.

Not a Winter Destination

A group of our friends invited us along for a visit to Lovćen, where, high atop a mountain (the second highest one in the range) there is a mausoleum to honor Petar Petrović Njegoš, former poet and prince-bishop of Montenegro. The road leading to said building is very long and twisty, and wends its way around several of the mountains in the chain. You can read more about him here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petar_II_Petrovi%C4%87-Njego%C5%A1

Originally there was a chapel there, but during communist occupation, that was replaced by the building at right.

There was much snow on the roads, and our mini bus, refused to go, so we put chains on it (the vehicle chains here are very colorful, by the way). While some members of our group took advantage of the stop to have a snowball fight, I made a snowman :). The got us a bit farther, but then we skidded a bit, and got pretty close to going over the edge. So, at this point, we decided to turn around (not very easy) and go down to an area where children were sledding to have lunch, and then go to Kotor. I'll post some pictures of there later. We've decided that Lovćen is really more of a summer destination.

An Interesting Christmas Tradition

When we left our apartment on January 7th (Christmas Eve for the Orthodox), our neighbors had these branches with dead oak leaves on them propped up against the wall beside their door. As we walked through the city, we saw similar branches against other homes, fastened to vehicle grills and tucked under windshield wipers. We were told that the Orthodox tradition is to display these on Christmas Eve, and then to take them to a specific location (such as one of the Orthodox churches) and burn them. This rids one of evil spirits.

So, at about 6:00 pm we made our way to one of the tree burning areas to see for ourselves. We followed a man carrying a tree, and came to the same small chapel we had seen people entering for a wedding several months ago (when we visited the art museum. Sure enough, there were trees being burned. Also, some children were lighting sparklers. And for the more spiritually minded, there was a place for them to take communion and a place they could light a candle.

Some people still have their branches outside their doors or on their cars, I'm not sure why.

Beautiful Budva

On January 1st, we went to Budva. This is probably the most touristy area of Montenegro, and according to one of our friends here, most of it belongs to Russians. Unlike Podgorica (which was entirely rebuilt after WWII), there are many ancient buildings and narrow stone paths. This beautiful old church is one example.

Just off of Budva there are several islands. This one to the right is rather pretty, we don't know if there are any inhabitants, or hotels or anything.

However, the isthmus of Sveti Stefan which is mentioned in my last hurried blog is just exclusive hotels. I don't know if they would qualify as luxury, since I've heard that Budva still has issues in providing a constant source of running water. We heard of one group that stayed in a hotel in Budva (not on Sveti Stefan) and out of the two weeks they were there, only had running water two days! This seems rather ridiculous since they are surrounded by the Adriatic sea.

Srećna Nova Godina!

Happy New Year! Sorry that it's been a week since the last post. We've been pretty busy since 2009 rang in.
We met some new friends from America. Since they were only here a few days, on one day we decided to visit some touristy areas. We went to Budva, and Bar. It was dark by the time we got to Bar, so not really any pictures from there, but in a later post, I'll include some pictures from Budva, and maybe a shot of Svet Stefan, an island (or ismus?) that has only an exclusive hotel on it. Sylvester Stalone apparently stayed there once.
Tomorrow night we're going with a friend to Sarajevo, he's Bosnian and needs to renew his passport. We will arrive in the morning, spend most of the day there and head home in the afternoon.
Saturday we plan on going with a group of friends to another touristy area in Montenegro, Lovćen. Tell you about it when we get back.

Christmas Italian Style

After an all night ferry ride, we arrived in Italy on Christmas Eve. After our friends picked us up, our first stop was the fish market where we got some mussels for a special meal that night. I believe the whole city of Bari was out shopping, probably because all the stores would be closed for the next two days. They really like fish in Italy. Even the potato salad looks fishy :)

Besides the mussel dish, we got to try many new types of food, including multicolored carrots. They are unique to the region around Bari, and are sweeter and crispier than other carrots. I think that maroon carrots would do quite well in the states. They also come in yellow. Another new veg for me was the fennel which tasted like licorice. And the fresh mozzarella was amazing!

On Christmas morning, we each received a nice fleece shirt for presents, and we gave a book on Montenegro to our friends. When the stores opened again on the 27th, we went shopping and once again, I think the whole city was out. At the end of the day, we boarded our ferry and headed back across the Adriatic, from Bari to Bar. A good Christmas, and since Montenegro follows the Orthodox calendar, we get another Christmas on January 7th!