I'm Huge in Sarajevo

I was running through my photos and updating the section here on the site (check out the Sarajevo Gallery if you haven't) and I came across this gem of my hugeness while we were running around the town.

It's true that in general, my height wasn't as much of a problem as it was elsewhere, but still, there were a number of "no Michael zones" to be found. One such one was the Svrzo House (yeah, had to start my own Wiki page for that one.) It's full of low doorways and many a Hudintrap. Obviously, it was built in a time when people were a great deal smaller. And if you look at the pictures, by great deal, I mean, midgets.

The only person who had it worse was the blind fellow who was checking out the place (they gave him special permission to touch things in the rooms) and he was also my height.

23 10 2007      1 comment

Tags: bosnia herzegovina, im huge, sarajevo

Anatomy of a Mostar Bridge Jump

In Mostar, there is the Stari Most which was the old bridge that connected the two parts of the old town, thus the name, due to 'most' meaning 'bridge'. Yeah, I know, not very creative, but it works.

Anyways, a sport the kids do these days is to jump off the bridge and in to the Neretva River below, which is apparently freezing cold. They don't just do it for fun though and two of them will work the tourists to make a bit of money. One does the hustle and the other does the jump. I don't know how much they make, but I didn't have too much of a problem giving the kid two Konvertible Marks for the performance.

So, here you see it. He set up, then leans out and makes the plunge. It only takes a couple of seconds and as soon as he is in that water below, we gets out as fast as he can. A bit later, you'll see him back up on top, shivering, ready to do it again.

25 07 2007      0 comments

Tags: bosnia herzegovina, mostar, the europe

Sweet Mother Mary: Međugorje

Međugorje is terrifying. It's this town located in southern part of Bosnia Herzegovina and is the second most visited pilgrimage site in the world for Catholics. It's all based on the fact that a group of kids had a vision of the Mary, Queen of Peace over two decades ago.

The end result of all this is that it is freakin' flooded with the most tacky Jesus and Mary knick knacks that you have ever seen. Just endless shops of them. I have never seen religion cashed in, on to such a degree and it is ugly.

But the weird thing is that people are just going to a spot where the Church hasn't even confirmed a miracle having ever happened. Some bloody their knees to make the walk by crawling. Others pray the whole way. I suppose that it's something different for everyone, but it is really just a spot and a group of locals that are cashing in on this.

Oh, but why was I there, since I am only technically Catholic? Simple. It's a massive wine growing region and I needed to taste the vino :) The cool part is that even though the people living there are extremely Catholic, they are still easy to talk to and not these zealots that you find in the US. They are secure in their beliefs and don't feel a need to change you. Sure, they may think you're going to go to hell for not being a Christian, but that's your business and I appreciate that!

24 07 2007      0 comments

Tags: bosnia herzegovina, medugorje, the europe

Slapovi Kravice is Worth a Visit

These are a small set of waterfalls that are near Mostar. Much like visiting Počitelj, you'll probably need a car to see them, since there aren't any buses this way and they're really out of the way. But, if you do manage to find them, you can take a swim in some really fresh water as well as just relax. Despite being in the middle of nowhere, they do have a restaurant and a couple of cafes there, since the locals know this spot, as well as a great number of tourists.

We spent maybe just an hour there and enjoyed it a lot. While not nearly as expansive as Plitvice or Krka in Croatia, it's still cool and like most things in Bosnia Herzegovina, still free, unlike Croatia, where even city maps cost something from the tourist office these days...

23 07 2007      1 comment

Tags: bosnia herzegovina, mostar, the europe

Počitelj was a Surprise

It's a very small town somewhat near Mostar and while you need to drive to see it, a to visit Počitelj is a nice short trip. While ravished in the war, the town has been very well rebuilt and is apparently home to craftsmen, like stone carvers. You can see one of these guys in a promotional clip on the Bosnia Herzegovina tourism site.

There isn't a tremendous amount to do there besides climb the old fortress and wander through a town that is distinctly different with its white stone (as opposed to red tile) roofs, but it's really pretty. The Neretva River (which flows through Mostar as well) takes a delightful bend by the town and while really damned cold, if the day is hitting 40C like now, when I'm writing this, it would be a nice spot for a swim.

22 07 2007      0 comments

Tags: bosnia herzegovina, mostar, the europe

Mostar is Cool, but Unfinished

Mostar is a really neat spot to visit. It is full of daytrippers from all over, but I think you should easily spend one or two nights there so that you don't short shrift a visit to it. After all, they have great burek and čevapčići, so that warrants a visit to any place that supply those in great number and high quality. Don't get me wrong, they're not as good as Sarajevo, but they're still damned tasty, especially the burek and pita.

The old city is simply beautiful. The only downside is that it had to be heavily restored after the war when the Croats and Bosniaks were fighting their very deadly war down there which ultimately ended in no side winning, the old town in ruins, and the beautiful old bridge across the Neretva destroyed by assinine Croats.

So, this restoration effort has mainly focused on what I term, Tourist Alley that is the stretch that runs out from each side of the bridge. Beyond this, lovely old buildings still sit in ruin and some look like they're just going to crumble further to a point of obliteration.

The other sad point, which we learned from our pension owners while we were there was that before the war, 70% of the town was comprised of mixed marriages between Croats and Bosniaks. Now, while I assume those marriages must exist in some fashion somewhere, the town is divided. People have traded houses so that there is now a definitive Bosniak section and a definitive Croat section. It's all quite sad really and just stupid.

But for tourists, go to Mostar. It's ready for you and while the number one spot in the Balkans, in my mind right now, Mostar has a lot to offer as well.

21 07 2007      0 comments

Tags: bosnia herzegovina, mostar, the europe

Don't Panic, They're Just Islamic

Before visiting Sarajevo, I heard form many a friend in Serbia and Croatia the following line, "They have become such Islamic extremists in Sarajevo now. All the women are wearing head scarves. It's terrible what's happening there." You see, for those that don't know, Bosnia Herzegovina is one of the few European countries to have a very strong Muslim population, thus the term Bosniak, which actually means a Bosnian who is Muslim and for some reason, Firefox keeps thinking is a misspelling for some reason.

Most people estimate that the citizens of Sarajevo are around 90% Bosniak, meaning that 90% of Sarajevo is Muslim. Many people are probably thinking that it was all beards and head scarves. There were in fact, very few. Maybe one in every twenty women had a head scarf. With the guys it was even harder because guys in the Balkans don't like to shave often and thusly, many had some scraggly beards.

So what you might see in Sarajevo that seems to be so Muslim is in fact very rare. I think I'd see these sightings nearly as much in a big city in the US. All of the people who told me about the fact that "all the women are wearing head scarves now" had in fact not been to Sarajevo recently and were just generalizing about something they hadn't seen, which happens quite often.

The bigger shock for people in the Balkans with the Muslim issue is that before the war no one wore the scarves and now a few do, so to the close-minded, this is a huge change. But I think this is more a sign of national pride, just how the Croats and Serbs fly their freaking flags in every corner of every street they can. Or even more to the point, how Americans will wear the American flag on any and all pieces of clothing or fly it from the back of a pickup truck.

To summarize, get over it. The people of Sarajevo are wonderful, beautiful, and insanely hospitable. The idea that they are Muslim extremists is as ridiculous as thinking that there is really a such think as a Croatian Burek.

As a subtext on the title, it's not completely mine, just a re-writing of a t-shirt that I saw around the center quite a bit and found rather funny.

19 07 2007      3 comments

Tags: bosnia herzegovina, islam, sarajevo, the europe

Sarajevo Now

One day in Sarajevo, I was watching the old men play a large-scale chess game in Liberation Square. While tourists such as myself enjoyed watching the proceedings, I couldn't help but see something of a parallel to the problems that the countries of the former Yugoslavia still face.

As far as I know, these men weren't playing these games during the war. They couldn't. This block is one street up from "Sniper Alley" that ran along the river and was quite exposed to Serbian guns. But now, the war is a thing of the past and the siege is something that people only talk about while there is nearly an entire generation that has been born since the fall of Yugoslavia. So here these men were, playing their game and giving their opinion, trying to influence the move of the one who had the chess piece whether the advice had been asked for or not. And there the player with the piece sat, trying to discern which was the right move to make based upon either the loudest or the biggest consensus of old men.

So here we have the current role of the international community in Bosnia Herzegovina. A group of people that pretty much stood by and let this beautiful country with the lovely city of Sarajevo get shredded. For some reason these people are still handling a great deal of things in the country, although slowly their role is diminishing. For instance, the military base in Tuzla was handed over to country control while I was staying there.

It's this group that I liken to the guy with the chess piece and the reason that there are three presidents and two entities to the country. It is true that the separate regions of Bosnia Herzegovina and Republika Srpska were one of the few ways that the war could have been ended, but this is just one in a series of mistakes that the Western powers have made in dealing with the country. Of course, sometimes their just trying to cover their asses as seen in the fact that they haven't taken a census since 1991 because everyone is pretty much well-aware of the obvious fact that no Bosniaks have moved back in to the areas that the Bosnian-Serbs took, showing quite tragically that ethnic cleansing did in fact work.

But, I come back to the guy with the chess piece because he is able to reverse course, try different moves and see what he should have done. This of course incurs more discussion from the other old men until the player just gives up and they start a new game. Is this the ultimate fate of Bosnia Herzegovina once foreign powers have theoretically pulled out in the next two years? Do they just start up a new game? Would it end up using the same rules though, because inevitably, it would have the same players?

I haven't a clue as to the answers of these questions. The only think that seems unmistakably clear is that a true Bosnian identity needs to develop because right now, all the Croats in Herzegovina think they're in Croatia. All the Serbs in Republika Srpska think they're in Serbia. All the Bosniaks who are in Sarajevo think that everything is fine because they are surrounded by other Bosniaks. So, if you don't have people who ultimately say that they're a Bosnian even if they have Croatia or Serbian roots, you're always going to have a country that is yanking in opposite directions with a center that continues to grow and be this undefined morass, much like what is happening in the United States...

18 07 2007      0 comments

Tags: bosnia herzegovina, sarajevo, the europe

Burek is Also... The Bomb

Burek was an instance in my life of traveling where I was really excited to try a particular food once I got to the country I was going to, which in this case was Croatia. I arrived there in 2004, tried the Burek (in Split) and liked it. I found it to be really heavy and greasy, but that was part of the charm and I ate a great deal of them. Upon successive trips to Croatia, I always hunt these guys down for a quick meal in the morning, since later in the day, they get a bit soggy with the grease if they sit for awhile.

Now having been to Sarajevo and Belgrade, I can safely say that I have had the real Burek. The one in Croatia is an impostor and presenting itself under false pretenses. They are really what the Serbs call a 'gibanica'. In reality, in Sarajevo, the Burek is just a meat pastry, served in this rolled-up filo dough around the meat filling. It has been cooked under a sač, which is basically a pile of coals that sit on a tray above a large, round pan, where the Burek has been coiled up. Once cooked, you often will buy them by weight and they are a chunk of heaven.

In case you are rolling your eyes and thinking, "Yeah, great. More Balkan meat...", I need to assure you that there are more kinds than just the meat, but those are the real Burek. For reference there are:

Sirnica w/ cheese

Zeljanica w/ spinach and cheese

Tikvenjača w/ pumpkin

Krompiruša w/ potatoes

Jabukovača w/ apples and sweet

Višnjevača w/ sour cherries and sweet

While all collectively called 'pita' (yes, confusing to those in America, since pita is something different for us), I haven't tried all of these, but the Sirnica and the Zeljanica are both quite good as well. Admittedly, I keep coming back to the meat one. It must be the Croat in me, although ironically, the Croatian ones simply aren't as good and they also just call them all Burek with some kind of a 's' and then the filling at the end like 's krompirom' which means, 'with potatoes'. Cheeky, yes. When in Bosnia Herzegovina or Serbia, hit the Burek and hit it hard.

17 07 2007      5 comments

Tags: bosnia herzegovina, burek, serbia, the europe

Čevapčići is... The Bomb

Čevapčići is something that I had for the first time in 2006 on my last trip to Europe. Despite the fact that the mecca for these little guys is in Sarajevo, I experienced these in Ljubljana and I loved them. I've had parties at my place centered around the almighty Čevapčići.

So, when in Sarajevo, I ate these like there was no tomorrow because all the rumors are true; they are the best in Bosnia Herzegovina. We tried them at various restaurants and they are all pretty much at the level of really good. The one place that always makes it to the top of any Čevapćići list is Željo I (there is a Željo II across the street, thus the number). Honestly, I can't say that they're the absolute best there, but they are really damned good. You just have to make sure to get them with kajmak--'sa kajmakom' (a type of tasty, tasty cheese) if you want the full experience.

There is only thing that I can't get used to and that is the fact that locals will only use the pita bread that comes with the Čevapčići to kind of pick up a little bit with the meat. I know that people here really like their meat, but the bread is really good and why even get it if you just want the meat? I have to say that I go against the grain, pick up the whole thing and eat it like an inverted Bosnian taco and I love every bite of it.

My only regret is that heading in to Croatia will suck because Čevapčići are non-poisonous there at best and revolting at worst. Plus, there's no kajmak, just ajvar! I love my ajvar, but Čevapčići is not Čevapčići without the kajmak.

16 07 2007      2 comments

Tags: bosnia herzegovina, cevapi, sarajevo, the europe