13 Days in the Balkans (+ Slovenia)

The City of Sarajevo

This was the first city that I really did something besides walk around and explore in. I definitely did plenty of that though as the city is fairly large and has a rich history. There are great free walking tours covering the history of the city and the country, especially with the major Balkans War in 1992-1995. The childrens war museum was truly heartbreaking and the experience felt very similar to WWII except only 25 years ago. When I told people that I was travelling to Bosnia they instantly asked if I was crazy or if I would even be safe. Once I was there I realized why that misconception is prevalent still in the US, there is so much war evidence still in the city today with shrapnel and memorials.

Cooking Lessons

I mentioned the food was great in Mostar and it was even better in the capitol. The Turkish influence appears throughout the cuisine and the extremely cheap meals lets you try everything without worry of breaking the bank. I may have lost 10 lbs in Dubrovnik from being super cheap but gained half that back in Bosnia with $3 giant cheesecake. Anyways, I had signed up for a cooking class beforehand and although I was the only person for the day, it was a great experience.

I walked all the way to the West end of town where the cooking class was held in the lady's house for the class. They are the sweetest couple and it really gives you insight to how the people actually live there. I heard stories about growing up during the war, working on small family farms out in the country, and the current state of politics in the country. They provided me with a ton of local snacks not found in restaurants like elderflower juice, dogberry jelly (similar to cranberry sauce), plum rakija. The lesson covered the very complex Burek and solgan dolma. I left satisfied and strongly recommend this place (linked above) to anyone visiting Sarajevo; it may be more expensive ($50 roughly) but it supports a great family not a big company. 

Abandoned Bobsled Track / Whitewater Rafting

Took a hike up to the famous abandoned bobsled track and ate a ton of wild blackberries on the way. Not much to say about this other than there's some cool graffiti.

The next day I took a trip to Konjic area for a whitewater rafting trip on the Neretva river. It was a bit underwhelming especially not having a great rafting group and nobody knowing English (5 Polish people and the guide).