Made it to Mostar

We are safe and sound back from our skirmishes with Bosnian trains and the heat.  I would definitely recommend a visit to Sarajevo and Mostar but you should probably avoid getting to Bosnia by train and August is a little warm to enjoy it properly.

Starting at the beginning, we had to get the 7.30am train from Lesce Bled to Zagreb to give us a chance to see the capital of Croatia, and getting up was rather painful after a month of not having to set an alarm clock!  Dad told me when he and Mum went on their trip he threw the alarm clock into the Channel as they crossed on the ferry, unfortunately I didn't have the sense to do this (and it might have been tricky on the eurostar!), so we still had it to bleep at us at 5.30am.  It was a strange experience joining all the backpackers on the train, I feel a bit old to be a "backpacker" but apart from staying in slightly nicer places this is what we are doing!

We arrived in Zagreb before 11am, and found the hotel.  Then went for a wander around the city, it was very hot and we were forced to stop at a bar for, remarkably, a belgium beer!  Due to the joys of the Lonely planet we found an interesting bistro next to the market to have fresh fish for lunch.  The menu was all in Croatian and the waitress only spoke Croatian, so I guessed at the risotto.  It was a fabulous seafood risotto (although black!) and Richard ate it, too.  We did some of the touristy things - stuck our head inside the cathedral and went up the old tower, but probably the most interesting thing was the Museum of Broken Relationships!  Apparently gets top marks on Trip advisor. 

The next morning we had another early start to catch the train to Sarajevo.  A nine hour trip from Zagreb, and only slightly faster I think, than the Victorians travelled on the steam trains.  The train was old and decreipt, the toilet digusting and they seemed to feel the need to stop at every other hay stack on the way there - not my idea of Intercity!  The only vehicle we over took was a tractor! The worse thing is they haven't banned smoking on them yet.  The Bosnians try to be polite and not smoke in the individual compartments, which means they smoke in the corridor and unless you keep the compartment door closed (and then it is extremely hot) you have to deal with the smoke of several of them.  There is no refreshment car on their trains, so we stocked up with breakfast and lunch and plenty to drink before getting on each time.  What fun!

Sarajevo is an extremely interesting place, the old cobbled streets smell of spice, sheesh pipes and all sorts of tempting food.  The Bosnians have rebuilt so much of their city since the 1992-95 conflict but there are still obvious scars, with ruined buildings, ancient mosques lacking their decorations as there is no record of what they looked like, and many, many buildings with bullet holes and blast marks.  The old town is wonderful; old streets, shady courtyards full of cafes and bars, tiny market stalls selling the same wares they've sold for 100's of years - although the cliente are now the tourists that throng the area.   The austro-hungarian buildings in the newer section are beautiful too, elegant and colourful, with extra decorations of the red "roses" on the ground that mark the spots where innocent people were killed in the war, and their names are listed on the nearby walls.  52 in the market, 22 in a bread queue. 
Of course, although we explored the city we also found time to try the local Sarajevoski beer and for Richard to watch Bradley Wiggins win gold in the cycling.

On Thursday we were on the train again to Mostar.  The website Seat 61 said this was meant to be the most beautiful train trip in the world - better than the ride to Machu Picchu.  Unfortunately, I couldn't confirm that on the way down as one window was so badly scratched and clouded that we couldn't see anything and the other side had a traveller in an orange shirt blocking the scene!  We arrived in Mostar late morning and it was already incredibly hot. 
We walked down to the old town to see the famous rebuilt bridge and it was as beautiful as I expected.  We even got to see one of the locals jump from the bridge into the icy waters below, you can just about see it in the photo below.

 We also had a look at the Frontline, where the Bosnians and Serbs shelled each other and there are still several very damaged buildings.



2 viaducts we travelled over in the train

The next day we travelled by train back to Zagreb - and I can confirm that the section between Mostar and Sarajevo is very beautiful, I got to see out of both windows!  It switch-backs through the mountains and through dozens of tunnels, I get the feeling they don't really like to build their railways in straight lines!



The train journey ended up being 13 hours!  It was delayed...  It was hot and unpleasant but the company was good :-)

One more night in Zagreb before the short train ride back to Bled, and I was very happy to be back.  The lake looked even more beautiful than before and the view from our apartment gets better each time I look at it - and we got to sleep in!

I would definitely recommend Sarajevo and Mostar, but fly to Sarajevo, enjoy the city and it's wonderful eastern feel and then take the train to Mostar.  These beautiful places deserve visiting but you might want to avoid August as it is a little on the hot side.