A Place to Rest My Head, Part III

Our visit to the tourist office the next morning started off a bit shaky as the morning shift employee was hesitant to provide any information on accommodations, whatsoever.  When she finally realized that our persistence in finding a room was not just a facade, she made a quick phone call and informed us that someone would be coming to pick us up in a few minutes.  Our only instruction was to "just wait outside," with no information about the person for whom we were waiting or what type of sleeping situation that person may be leading us toward.  At this point, Will was empathetic of my lack of thorough information the evening before.  :)  

Within a couple of minutes, a spunky older lady with BRIGHT clown-red hair swooped in and led us to her fantastic apartment in the heart of the Old City.  She sincerely told us to make ourselves at home, provided some keys and towels, and gave her blessing to come and go as we please ("You're on holiday!").  We would still be sharing the space with her, but the apartment's layout allowed for a much more secluded feel to our bedroom & bathroom.  She was wonderful, the room was perfect, and we were just around the corner from restaurants/sights and a 10 minute walk from the beach.  We decided to stay two nights, and from that point on, thoroughly enjoyed Kotor and our final days in the Balkans.  

Montenegro may have been my favorite of the three countries that we visited (although they were all wonderful).  Kotor is a beautiful medieval walled city sitting on the crystal-blue Bay of Kotor, surrounded by green mountains and once guarded by a mountaintop fortress.  Yes, the tourists were there in full force, but that did not disrupt the beauty and serenity of this fairy-tale-esque town.  I did NOT want to leave, and have been daydreaming about returning since the moment we got into the car & steered out of town!  

Our vacation is quickly drawing to a close.  After driving from Kotor to Dubrovnik & returning our rental car with three minutes to spare, we caught our late-night flight from Dubrovnik to Stuttgart.  With an eight-hour overnight window between our connecting flights, we decided to just camp out in the Stuttgart airport.  I was hesitant, but quickly relaxed when I found that 1) all of the hotels in the immediate area were insanely expensive, and 2) TONS of normal people had already claimed airport sleeping spots for the evening.  It was totally the norm!  In fact, we had to search through three terminals before finally finding an unoccupied row of benches on which to perch our sleeping bags!  During the search process, Will made friends with some European college boys who were awaiting their 5am flight to Majorca with the help of a cooler of beer and a boom box.  :)  

Observing that we were totally killing time by visiting the various funny airport shops the next morning (since we woke up when the airport's morning hustle and bustle began), a sweet American couple offered us a few minutes of remaining internet time that they had purchased and were unable to use...so here we are, awaiting our flight to Munich, where we will catch our final flight back to DC.  

This has been such an amazing trip on so many levels--history, natural beauty, comfy adventures.  I am utterly exhausted but completely refreshed.    

A Place to Rest My Head, Part II

Upon arrival at the designated random bus stop in Kotor, the Montenegrin grandmother (aka our last hope for a bed that night) was nowhere to be found.  After sleeping in the car the night before, facing several more hours of the beautiful but terribly sickening mountainous drive, and being sketchily forced to pay a rural traffic ticket in cash, our cranky pants were ON!  Desperate for a bed and eager to conclude our first-ever fight (over me not acquiring the grandmother's phone number because we neither had phones nor calling cards), I marched into the small neighborhood market behind the bus stop and took the only action that I found appropriate at that moment...I showed the non-English-speaking clerk the post-it note with the woman's name on it and shrugged my shoulders in an over-exaggerated fashion.  :)  She called excitedly to another employee, who then turned to me and said, "Room?" before ushering me on a hurried hunt through neighboring apartment buildings, in search of the elusive Mrs. Begovic.  We quickly found Mrs. Begovic and the employee beamed with pride in his accomplishment as he introduced me as her evening's house guest.   Unfortunately, it was the wrong Mrs. Begovic.  :)  After a quick and excited conversation passed between them, she furiously shook her head "no", gave me a good luck pat on the back, and closed her door.  

We continued our frantic trek into another building, and Will set his fuming aside long enough to catch up with us.  This time, the employee DID find the correct Mrs. Begovic, and we both beamed with pride.  They conversed for a bit, then he fled as I quickly but wholeheartedly thanked him for his kindness.  We had found our home for the night...and also quickly found that we had zero common language with the woman.  Will began busting out pictograms while I chose the charades method of communication for negotiating the terms of our stay.  She was SO kind to let us stay there, but of course it was an awkward evening.   After much-needed showers (and Will accidentally soaking the whole bathroom), she gave us a key and we headed out to the beach to quietly unwind for a couple of hours.  

After packing up and saying our charade-filled goodbyes the next morning (complete with a gracious hug & kiss from the grandmother, reminiscent of the German "family" visit scene in European Vacation), we went directly to the tourist office in an attempt to find another bed...

TO BE CONTINUED...

A Place to Rest My Head, Part I

Part of the charm of traveling is not knowing where you may be sleeping on any given night...so our last few evenings have been overflowing with charm. :)

After leaving Sarajevo, we opted to explore eastern Bosnia, primarily to check out a national park that sounded mildly intriguing (& stock up on a little nature time, after spending four nights in the heart of the city). However, we were SO not prepared for the drive that was ahead of us! Although marked as a "major highway" on the national map (note that the roads aren't even necessarily named b/c there is typically only one connecting each city pair), the road between Sarajevo and our park destination was the most winding, elevation-changing, stomach-dropping road that either of us had encountered in our 30-something years in this world. In fact, I have never in my life gotten car sick until this drive, but there were moments when I desperately wanted Will to stop the car, let me out & leave me for dead. :) Whoo. Between the extra time required to travel these crazy roads, the lack of lighting on the roads, and our lack of inner (read: stomach) strength to continue past a certain point, we opted to stop for the night at the one respectably sized town in-between our two end points. 

Unfortunately, that town appeared to only have one accommodation choice...which was SO disgusting that Will (who is much less prissy than I am), actually demanded that we leave upon first glance of our potential room! So, we opted to get our money's worth out of our rental car that day, find a deserted parking lot, and cozy up in the little hatchback! Outside of fearing that we would be arrested for squatting in Bosnia, we actually had a pretty restful night's sleep! We awoke with the sunrise (which was several hours before we had risen any other morning of the trip), and decided that our unshowered bodies were tough enough to brave the treacherous roads once again.

The roads were no more kind to us the next day, and I believe that I actually did vocalize my desire to be left roadside for the wolves at one point (thankfully that request wasn't taken seriously). We dashed through the park and enjoyed an early morning view of some mountaintop waterfalls...but mostly we just wanted to get out of that region of the country. Did I mention that the alphabet also changed once we entered this Serbian-influenced region, east of Sarajevo? Every sign was in Cyrillic, rather than the Roman alphabet that we take for granted...so not only were we contending with another language, but also another alphabet spelling the words in that language. :)

After a traffic ticket that we had to pay in cash on the spot (for not having our headlights on in the middle of the day) by some non-English speaking Bosnian police, we decided to push forward all the way into Montenegro, our third country of the trip. We had read that the Montenegrin coast would "burst our beauty meters," but that it was also super crowded and expensive in July; after weighing the main pro and con, we decided that we couldn't resist the opportunity to burst our beauty meters. We arrived in our destination town of Kotor just a few minutes before the tourist information office (which reportedly arranged accommodations) closed...only to be told that all accommodations in the city & surrounding area were completely booked for the night! I must have had a REALLY pitiful look on my face as the representative shared this news with me because she then offered that we could sleep in the spare bedroom of her grandmother's house, 2 km outside of town! Although Will was less than thrilled about this possibility, I was not going to give up the opportunity to have a bed that night. I said "OK" and we set up a plan to meet the kind elderly lady at a bus stop near her apartment. We got a little turned around, and were late enough that we completely missed her; the only information that we had about her was her name (no addy or phone number)...

TO BE CONTINUED... :)

On a MUCH Lighter Note...

We have faced some interesting plumbing situations since coming to BiH...namely a squat toilet in a local pub (which neither of us maneuvered with finesse); a "shower" that was barely waist-high (some contortion required to shampoo my hair); and now a relatively normal shower...but with a giant window (with no covering) that looks directly onto a patio cafe (tables maybe 6 feet away). Despite these challenges, I am happy to report that the hot water is unfailing. :)

On a More Serious Note...

I have to admit that I began this trip with an almost complete ignorance of Balkan history. I vaguely remember the breakup of Yugoslavia and I knew that "bad things" had happened in Sarajevo & Kosovo...but that, embarrassingly, was the extent of my knowledge of this region. While I still have a LOT to learn, we have been slowly piecing some of the recent history together...and it is heartbreaking. Today we visited an especially poignant museum with a permanent exhibit on Sarajevo under siege--a siege which lasted 3.5 years. The exhibit was primarily comprised of photographs and personal effects, but also included examples of the many makeshift weapons and basic survival tools created by the common people while the country basically had no functional infrastructure and virtually no contact with the world outside of the city limits. I was incredibly moved by the strength and fortitude of the people of Sarajevo during this time (with the understanding, of course, that there are two sides to every story). My whining about the lack of air conditioning in the museum on this 95 degree day was quickly silenced as I humbly viewed the documentation of their struggle.

There were a few things that I found particularly moving...a child's pencil pouch and a teacher's grade book that were covered in blood after an attack on an elementary school; sickening photographs from a produce market where a massacre occurred, killing nearly 70 people (the same vibrant market where I purchased fresh fruit yesterday, ignorant of its history); photos of people running across streets to avoid sniper fire (as well as those not fortunate enough to make it across); and descriptions of how the medical community coped during this period (e.g. performing surgery by candle light). After all of this, the thing that brought me to tears was a simple photo of a wounded two-year old, smiling and extending a wilting flower to the photographer.

As I said, I certainly don't know all of the details about that period of history, but it is so hard for me to fathom that this was all real, and that it happened such a short time ago. Although the scars of the war are still very apparent throughout Sarajevo and the rest of the country, I am amazed at how far the country has come in its recovery efforts--both physically and emotionally. Tonight I stood in the old Turkish quarter of the city, marveling at the beauty and vibrancy around me...five brilliantly lit mosques; cobblestone streets and Spanish-tiled roofs; rolling green hills in every direction; seemingly endless outdoor cafes and gelato vendors; and a sea of people enjoying life to the fullest on this warm summer evening...and amazed at the stark contrast of this scene to the Sarajevo of 1992.

Quite an amazing place...

Who Knew?

Just a few things that I have found especially interesting or surprising or impressive about Bosnia & Hercegovina (no particular order!):

1. Everyone walks on the streets, all of the time. Perhaps because everyone also parks on the sidewalks. :)

2. The landscape is a stunning and seemingly endless series of lush, green mountains with occasional jagged, rocky peaks.

3. The people are unfailingly warm & friendly...and never fail to smile back.

4. Periodically throughout the day, Mosques broadcast musical calls to prayer over loudspeakers (which are heard all over the city).

5. Fresh fruit and vegetable stands are absolutely everywhere. I bought a whole bag of nectarines & cherries today for about $1!

6. The local beer is fantastic.

7. The Sarajevo of today is totally vibrant and cosmopolitan (I love it--very invigorating vibe!!).
I am soooooo glad that we came to BiH...even though I completely resisted the idea, initially (thanks, Will). :)

Mr. Good Fortune

After quite a logistically-challenging morning, we arrived to the Dubrovnik Airport's Hertz counter (i.e. a mobile home in the middle of the parking lot, shared by 3 agencies) a few hours later than we had planned. "Nothing to worry about," we thought, because we reserved the car online days ago! Uh...wrong. When we arrived, we were told that they just didn't (and wouldn't) have a car for us. Period. (Anyone else remember that Seinfeld episode? Just picture Will and I having that same basic conversation with an expressionless Croatian man in a 6' x 6' office within a mobile home.) After losing every argument of logic & also losing th

e "maybe if I curse at you, you will give me what I want" game (I was the only one playing that one), we ducked out & quickly tried to formulate a Plan B. My attempts to secure a comparable price from another agency failed miserably, at which time I just sat down in the airport parking lot, leaning up against my backpack in utter defeat. Meanwhile, Will sauntered over, randomly picked an agency, and immediately found an even better deal than my early and extensive online research had uncovered. Within minutes, we had the perfect little car for the next ten days of our trip!

We enjoyed an amazing drive along the main coastal road, getting stuck only once when we took a wrong turn then couldn't figure out how to get the car into reverse (there was a secret code that a nice passerby explained to us). :) A couple of hours later, we crossed the border into Bosnia & Herzegovina, heading north; the scenery instantly changed from beautiful coast to beautiful rolling hills & endless orchards and vineyards.

We arrived in our destination

 town of Mostar much later than we had hoped (i.e. after sundown), and were disappointed at the complete lack of street signs and our very limited guidebook map. I started getting nervous about finding a place to sleep as we meandered through the narrow one-way streets...but of course Will's endless supply of good luck soon landed us in the perfect little guesthouse, with our own double room and an incredibly gracious English-speaking host.

Time to snuggle in to my Bosnian bed...