MOSTAR - BOSNIA

As a day trip from Sarajevo I travelled along the Una river to Mostar, the second largest city in Bosnia. Despite being almost 3 hours in duration the bus ride to Mostar was most enjoyable as the mountain scenery along the way was amongst the best I had seen whilst in eastern europe and I was quite dissapointed not to be able to stop and take photos along the way.

My time in Mostar consisted mostly of walking around and trying to capture the beauty of the city before the next passing shower meant it was time to get indoors. I spent a number of hours just wandering alongside the river, taking photos here and there and generally just taking in the beauty of the area. I also enjoyed poking around the old part of the city and exploring some of the city buildings which had been heavily damaged by artillery shells during the war. After talking with the girl in the tourist information office, I learned that the famous bridge in Mostar had been completely destroyed during the war and only rebuilt a few years ago. Still the bridge was far and away the most popular tourist attraction, partly because of its beauty and the history associated with it but also because of the famous divers whom jumped at regular intervals.... a descent of only 28 metres !!!

Apart from the bad weather, I absolutely loved my visit to the city and was in agreement with other travellers I had met in Cuba who had singled Mostar out as one of the most beautiful cities in Eastern Europe. I think there is a high possibility I will one day return to this area of Bosnia to spend more time exploring some more of the picturesque towns in the region.

Photos 1&2: Buildings destroyed during the Balkans war.
Photos 3-6: Views of the city, river and famous bridge.
Photo 7: One of the bridge jumpers preparing to make his decent.

SARAJEVO - BOSNIA

After a rather lengthy journey from Budva (due in part to extensive mountain range in the south of Bosnia and also because the bus driver decided to stop for 30 minute breaks about every hour), I finally arrived in Sarajevo where I was greeted by the first really dull weather of my time in Europe. This did not however serve to dampen my spirits over the duration of my stay as the city offered plenty of great scenery and interesting history for me to take in.

During my time in Sarajevo I wandered around various parts of the city and was amazed that the scars of battle from the Balkan wars were so apparent. Almost every building contained bullet holes, whilst in some parts of the city there were numerous burnt-out apartments, still abandoned, 7 years on. Furthermore, the famous ´Sarajevo roses´ (places in the footpath were shell damage had been repaired using red coloured cement) were littered around various parts of the city. It was incredible to see all this when I had not even visited a museum and thankfully the topic of the war was not still ´touchy´and I was able to learn a great deal from talking with the owner of the apartment in which I was staying.

My first day in the city was spent wandering around the various hills on the city outskirts and I managed to get some great shots, despite the inclement weather. Also located on these hillsides were literally dozens of cemetaries containing victims from the war. It was chiling to see hundreds of gravestones all displaying the same year of death and despite the morbid nature of the place, I was pleased that such an obvious reminder of the regions tumultuous past was on display for all to see.

KOTOR - MONTENEGRO

Without ever planning on visiting Montenegro (I only discovered it had separated from Serbia in June whilst I was on the bus !) I somehow ended up there on the advice of various travellers I had met in Dubrovnick. In hindsight the country proved to be one of my favourites in eastern europe, primarily because of the really friendly people there but also because of the great scenery and top weather which I enjoyed during my brief 4 day stay. Having decided on the bus that I was not going to get off in Herceg Novi (despite my having only bought a ticket that far) and instead stayed on the bus until we reached Budva. The bus ride in itself proved to be quite an adventure as the bus driver was running very late and hence we found ourselves zipping around the narrow coastal road at excessive speeds and tail-gating any car that wasn´t matching our velocity... In addition the driver deemed it fit to abuse anyone and everyone at his leisure and managed to get almost all the passengers offside by the end of the trip.

Having arrived in Budva I found somewhere to stay and then had a quick look around the city. Two things became immediately apparent during my wanderings; firstly that Budva itself didn´t have much to offer (in terms of scenery) apart from the beach and secondly that the rich and beautiful had descended on the city to enjoy basking in the sun. I was very impressed with just how good looking the girls in particular were (most of them were Serbian) and concluded that they would even give the Argentines a run for their money in the beauty stakes.

DUBROVNICK - CROATIA

SPLIT & HVAR (Island) - CROATIA

PIRAN - SLOVAKIA

As a day trip from Ljubljana, Rachael and I travelled to the seaside city of Piran. Despite being a 3 hour journey the bus trip there and back was most facinating (for myself anyway... Rach was asleep as per ususal) as we passed through some fantastic mountain scenery and then made our way along the adriatic coastline. The landscape gave me a real feeling of being in Italy, particularly with the rolling hillsides filled with olive trees and vineyards and the small towns tucked away in small bays all the way along the coastline.

After arriving in Piran, Rach and I just spent a few hours wandering around the city and it was great just walking around the labyrinth of narrow streets in the old town and not having any idea where we were. We also managed to get some great photos of the cityscape from a viewpoint next to the cathedral on a hill just outside the city. However, after a few hours of looking around and resting every 30 minutes or so because of the heat, we returned to Ljubljana.

Definately worth the visit, Piran was an extremely beautiful city and provided a nice change in scenery from the mountains and lakes in the north of Slovenia.

Photos 1&2: Harbour filled with yachts and boats.
Photos 3-5: Views of the city from different vantage points.

BLED & SKOFIA LOKA - SLOVENIA