Neighbourhood #1 (Tunnels)
Blog: Send The Bugger Back - 8 September 2009
By: Dan Bowen
I know I’ve mentioned this before, but I just can’t believe how many Aussies you see travelling. There were loads in America but it feels like 1 in 2 minimum in Europa. Impressive.
This morning I tried the traditional pastry snack burek for brekkie. It’s really just a large Greggs pastie filled with spinach, potato, cheese or meat. I had a tats one, yum.
Because of my bed mishap yesterday , I didn’t think it prudent to store my bag (for 2 Euros) at the hostel while I had another look round Sarajevo today before my train to Serbia this eve. So I went in search of somewhere else to put it and found the Pansion Lion who very kindly said I could leave it there for nothing, I gave them 5 Convertible Marks (a bit over 2 Euros) anyway though.
I’ve just signed up to the ‘Tunnel Museum Tour’ at the tourist information centre for €12. I’m not sure exactly what it entails but it’s centred around the tunnel near the airport that was a key factor in Sarajevo surving the siege by the Serbs as it brought supplies, both civil and military.
On the whole I’ve found the Sarajevo citizens to be a very warm and friendly people (apart from the ticket inspectors, but they’re one just one step down from traffic wardens all around the world).
I’ve had a ridiculously unhealthy day and am feeling it, there really is very little option here though. Hopefully the next hostel will have a kitchen and I can sort myself out then.
The tunnel museum tour has just ended after 2 hours and it was well worth the money. Mohammed the guide packed a huge amount of information into that time and although I’d done a decent bit of research on some of the different conflicts in the Yugoslavia war already, I now feel a lot more informed about this one. He also injected a lot of personal tales (and some truly awful jokes) in there and even showed us the the shrapnel scar he received when he was 10 years old after sedating his Gran so he could go out and play, the little scamp.
The strangest and erriest bit was seeing video clips and photographs of many recognisable buildings in the city on fire or heavily damaged from shelling. Like the Holiday Inn I was only in yesterday for instance.
I’ve spent most of the rest of the day just ambling around the city and taking in 0.33 cl of Sarajevsko (which I’ve discovered is still brewed here and is a highly respected pivo in the right circles) every now and again.
It’s nearly half 5 now and I’m a little bit bored with 4 hours still to kill. A solution that has stood me well for the past 5 months when in this situation came to mind, cinema. I’ve not had much joy in finding a free Wi-Fi connection all day so was reliant upon just coming across a picture-house by chance, something I’d not done since I’d been in Sarajevo. I headed well out of the old town into a district that looked more likely and what do you know, a few turns later and I’m in a flicks with Tarantino’s ‘Inglorious Basterds’ showing shortly. Belter.
By the time the movie finished I had about an hour left, just about enough time to grub up, grab my bag and get to the station.
Anyway, the film; well I can’t really rate it either way to be honest. I knew it wouldn’t be dubbed but what I didn’t know is that most of it would be in German, a fair bit of French and a touch of Italian. And obviously the subtitles were in Bosnian not English. Doh. The 20% that was in English was just Brad Pitt being a bit of a plonker.
Just my luck, I’d have been okay with ‘Valkyrie’, ‘Defiance’, ‘Enemy at the Gates’ or ‘The Eagle Has Landed’. It only cost me the equivalent of about 2 quid 50 though and it got me off the streets for a couple of hours.
Another burek (meat filled this time) was all I had time to have for tea on route to the station. Just as tasty.
On the train now, I think it’s going to be a long night.
The photo is of the building that housed the entrance to the tunnel in the Bosnian army controlled section of the city.
Posted in Bosnia and Hercegovina
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