Posted on

Sarajevo and Mostar, Bosnia

After visiting Montenegro, we decided that we were going to visit Bosnia for a few days. The trip from Zabljak to Mostar was impossible to plan as nobody could tell us if and when there was a bus. They mostly only know the direct destinations from their town and can’t help much with the transfer after that. We then decided to start with Sarajevo as it was easier to get there and move to Mostar afterwards. We were up really early to get on the 7:15 am bus to Sarajevo. We were actually really fast at getting ready and waited for a little bit at the station. Nobody was around for a while but then all of a sudden, everybody seemed to arrived at once. We were hoping for a big bus, but instead it was a little mini-bus that pulled in. Fortunately, half the people were going to Podgorica. The 18 passengers mini-bus was full, but the road was nice.. well the view anyway! We spent a good portion of the trip chatting with a guy from California that has been on the road for 15 months. It was inspiring to hear about all the places he visited so far. We arrived in Niksic for the transfer and there was already a bus leaving for Sarajevo. We got in only to find the bus fully packed. We spend the first 1.5 hour standing in the back of the bus. The bus was really slow because of the mountain road. It almost felt as if it was not going to make it all the way to Sarajevo. Eventually some people got of the bus and we could sit. When we arrived in Sarajevo, we were in the east station and needed to find a way to the center. We were going to walk but it seemed way too far. Suddenly a guy with a backpack was running after us. He also didn’t know how to get to the center so he tagged along. We finally found the city bus station that was 5 min away, hidden from the bus station. For once our french was useful as a man beside the bus helped us understand the bus driver and he exchanged us 5 Euros to Convertible Mark. It was enough for all of us to take the bus. We got of the bus in the old town and decided to look for a place with WiFi in order to book a room somewhere. We usually prefer to have a place booked when we arrive in a new place, but we didn’t this time. We had a beer in the Pirate Pub that accepted Euros with our new German friend where we booked a private room in a ‘hostel’ (really a 4 bedroom apartment which 3 rooms are rented out). We set our bags down and went for a walk in the old town. The city looks really different than all the other European cities so far. We liked the mixture of religions; there is a Catholic church facing a Mosque. We had a good time in Sarajevo, enjoying the nice vibe of the city.

When we left Sarajevo, the temperature outside was 28 C. Shortly after we left, we could see the temperature rising… when we got to Mostar, it was 43 C outside. It felt like leaving a fridge to step into an oven. Or as one friend said; it’s just like you are standing in front of a hair dryer… all day! We weren’t too sure how to find the pension as the map was rather confusing, but really it was not even 2 minutes from the station. Our room had AC, which we enjoyed for a little while, before being ready to go back in the oven, and go for a walk in town. There are a lot of buildings with bullet holes or half destroyed in both Mostar and Sarajevo, a constant reminder of the war that happened not too long ago. There wasn’t as many tourists as we first expected so that was a plus. We walked all the way to the old bridge and around the little streets of the old part of town. Mostar was worth the detour.

City Hall Sarajevo
Bridge over the canal
Small pedestrian street
Beside the Mosque, Old Town Sarajevo

Eternal flame, Sarajevo
Building cribbled with bullet holes on main street, Sarajevo
View from the bus, Sarajevo – Mostar
View from the bus, Sarajevo – Mostar
Mala Neretva (River), Mostar
Old destroyed building, the nature is taking over.

Mostar Old Town restaurants
View from the old bridge, Mostar
Old Town Mostar 
Mostar old bridge
Mostar old bridge
Posted on

Zabljak, Montenegro

The bus ride from Kotor was interesting as it goes through a few mountains. The driver was speeding and breaking every few seconds because of the numerous airpin curves. We were lucky enough to have some kind of AC so we could handle the almost 4 hours trip. We arrived in Zabljak in the early afternoon and were suggested to go and walk around the Crno Jezero, the Black Lake. It took about 3 hours round trip from the hostel, a walk a little over 8 km. The lake is beautiful, not sure why it is called black lake as it is a nice blue shade. It seems to be a very popular spot for tourists to step in the water to take tons of pictures of themselves. We came back to the hostel were we attended the nice barbecue offered to us by the hostel owners.

View from the bus
View from the bus
View from the bus
Tight corner
Crno Jezero (Black Lake), Zabljak, Montenegro
On our second day, we walked 15 km in a not so easy mountain terrain and were rewarded by an amazing few from the top. The mountains are very nice. There was still snow in a few places. Zadljak is located at about 1490 meters above sea level and we hiked our way up to 2191m. We did what they call the difficult loop, and some sections were indeed fairly difficult, especially the last part getting to the cave as we were almost rock climbing. We were gone for about 7 hours and had a lot of fun. We definitely enjoy more being in the nature than in the city which is why we will be looking into more hiking destinations. When we arrived back at the hostel, we showered right away as we weren’t sure we were going to be able to stand again if we sat somewhere!
At the beginning of the hiking trail to the ice cave
View from the trail
View from the trail
View from the ice cave. Zabljak is in the clear spot in the middle, 7.5 km away
The cave’s entrance
Still some ice in August
Us, nice background
A few minutes outside Zabljak
Nice mountains
After spending all morning trying to figure where we are going next, we decided to go for a walk to the Tara Canyon viewpoint. While we were getting ready, a German guy that arrived in the morning at the hostel asked if he could tag along. We all got ready and headed toward the viewpoint. The walk consisted of mostly paved road, except for the last 1 to 1.5 km where it was back in the mountain. A total of another 15 km. The view of the Tara Canyon was wonderful, lots of mountains are surrounding this pretty turquoise river that is really deep in a curved canyon. There was also lots of butterflies and even a not so shy salamander. Our legs are really tired though so a bus day tomorrow will probably be very appreciated!
Tara Canyon viewpoint
Tara Canyon viewpoint 
Tara Canyon viewpoint 
Tara Canyon viewpoint
Tara Canyon viewpoint
Posted on

Kotor, Montenegro

The bus from Bar to Kotor had great views of the Adriatic Coast and the ride itself was worth the bus fare. After a good night of sleep in the Old Town Hostel, we left to climb the 1350 steps to the top of the fortress. It was definitely a satisfying exercise for the amazing view of the fjord. It was really hot but at least we went up in the morning, while there was still shade on most of the path. The fortress is partly in ruins now and looks amazing. The fortifications are impressive as they are built right on the mountain. We also walked through the wall to get to a small church on the other side of the fortifications. On our way back we were even happier to have gotten up has a lot of people were walking up. The small old town of Kotor is like a little Dubrovnik, a city we visited a little over a month ago in Croatia, not very far from here. We love to get lost in all the old cobblestone streets.


 
Posted on

Bar, Montenegro

We took the train from Belgrade, Serbia to Bar, Montenegro. The train took roughly 13 hours to get there and it was late on arrival, just like the past 2 weeks of trains. The view was great from the train as it went through the mountains between Podgorica, Montenegro’s capital, and the coastal town of Bar. There are a few beaches but the ones we saw were rocky and pretty crowded. We also visited the old town. We walked from the apartment we were renting to the old city, a good 14 km round-trip. The old town is still being worked on, and not developed for tourism quite yet, so we could walk everywhere in the ruins without restrictions for a small entrance fee. It was very interesting and we had a nice view over the city and the mountains. We had a great few days in Bar and relaxed a lot.

 
Posted on

Belgrade, Serbia

When we got in Belgrade, we were a little lost. The directions we had were from the main train station. Apparently, trains from Romania get to a different train station than the main one. It was a 2 km walk to downtown and we managed to find our way. After checking in and dropping our bags at the Goodnight Grooves hostel, we went for a walk around the pedestrian area and to the gypsy street. We ended up having supper in an English restaurant, the Little Bay, which was a lot fancier than what we are used to these days. We had great food for a reasonable price. We spent the rest of the evening talking with fellow travelers and the great staff at the hostel, tasting some rakija, the traditional Balkan drink. Rakija is a homemade alcohol from various fruits. The next day, we visited the citadel, walked to the buildings bombed by NATO in 1999 and all the way to the big orthodox church, which looks great from the outside, but is not finished inside. We also had an afternoon lunch at the ? pub. And yes, that is the pub’s name. We enjoyed our stay in Belgrade, on our way to Montenegro.

Belgrade Fortress Entrance
Belgrade Military Museum
Military Museum
Confluence of River Sava and Danube
View from Belgrade Fortress to Novi Belgrade
Ruins in the Citadel
Fortress Tower
Fortress 
One of the Fortress entrance
Fortress
Main pedestrian street, Belgrade
Moscow Hotel
Bombed government buildings downtown Belgrade
Bombed government buildings downtown Belgrade
Cathedral of Saint Sava 
Street Art
Posted on

Timisoara, Romania

We were supposed to arrive in Timisoara at 7:07am and catch the connection at 7:25am but as it is in Romania, we assumed the train would be late and… it was! Good thing we had planned this ahead and had booked a hostel for the night.  In the afternoon we went for a walk in Timisoara, through the squares, Roses Park and Kids Park. The Kids Park was actually amazing with lots of different games for all ages, and hammock type chairs for parents. Back at the hostel we had a few beers with local architecture students in training in Timisoara. We had a good time.

View from the night train to Timisoara
Piaţa Victoriei
Piaţa Victoriei
Piaţa Victoriei
Canal surrounding old town
Piata Unirii
Piata Unirii
 
Posted on

Bucharest, Romania

Today, we visited Bucharest. It was way easier to get around in Romania than Moldova as they don’t use Cyrillic alphabet and Romanian is a Latin language close to French. Between two night trains, we had 15 hours to spend in this huge city. We walked a lot to see all the sights we found interesting in one day. There are quite a few areas with really old and interesting architecture. The walk from Gara de Nord to the Palace of the Parliament is over 4 kilometers via the Calea Victoriei. After the Palace of Parliament, we walked slowly toward the Kiseleff Park, where we  tried to read for a while but ended up having a nap as we were really tired. Sometimes sleeping in night trains isn’t enough and it was also really hot outside so a break in the shade of the trees was well deserved. When we woke up from our “reading break” we decided to go see the Arcul de Triumf. We didn’t know but they have one here too, just like the one in Paris, but half the size. It was rebuilt as a better version a couple times since it’s original wooden version built in 1878. The walk back to the station was long and under a very hot sun again and we got there around 7 PM, 12 hours after our arrival. We then sat down in an air conditioned Mc Donald to have a coffee and use their free Wifi until our departure time to Timisoara.

Random Old Building
University Library Carol
Dambovita River
Playground / Castle in Izvor Park
The corner of Boulevard Natiunile Unite / Libertatii
Palace of the Parliment
Coltea Hospital
Arcul de Triumf
Posted on

Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic or Приднестрóвская Молдáвская Респýблика

Today we visited a country that doesn’t exist. It is not recognized by most countries in the world as an independent country, even though it has been 20 years since they fought about it. Transnistria has it’s own capital,  border control, money, government, etc. We got to meet with a local that showed us around and gave us a real insight on Transnistrian life. We also bought a bottle of their own cognac made in the only Kvint factory in the world for 27 Transnistrian Rouble (about 3 CAD). We visited the main sights of the city in a few hours and came back with the minibus to Chisinau. 

The minibuses to go and back were really crowded, and the drivers don’t seem to care about the lines on the road. They will drive on it, pass when they feel like it, but surprisingly, we didn’t see any accidents on the way. We read about Transnistria before deciding to go, and we weren’t too sure on what to expect, especially at the border. For example, Wikitravel gives a number to call in case of corrupt officers, so we were a bit worried on the way there. Turns out, it was really easy. We filed out the little piece of paper, handed it to the Moldovan officer with our passports. She then looked at it for a few minutes while entering our info on the computer and gave us back the paper with our passports. We were now officially outside Moldova. We walked to the next building, and gave our paper to the Transnistrian officer who looked at it along with our passports and gave us the second half of the stamped paper back. On the way out, same process, but even easier as the officer actually spoke English.  He looked at our documents and we moved on to the Moldovan border where the officer left with our passports for a few minutes in order to add some info on the computer. 

It was an interresting day where we learned about the Soviet time and about life in Transnistria. It is actually a pretty quiet place, where even crossing the roads seemed safer than Chisinau.

Kvint Factory 
Tiraspol City Hall
Disney store with fake castle on the bottom floor of a Soviet looking apartment building
KBAC, or Kvass is a traditional Russian drink made of fermented black or regular rye bread
Transdniestria, Founded to Live! 
Suvorov Monument
Soldier statue in memory of the war of 1990-1992
Posted on

Milestii Mici, Moldova

Milesti Mici is a winery in Moldova. We were told it is the biggest one in Europe, producing over 1 million bottles a year. It is built in an old limestone mine which they used to make blocks to build the surrounding cities. The mine has 250 km of tunnels, which 120 km are now used for the winery. They make and store all their wines underground. We saw bottles as old as 1979. They also own a lot of land outside Chisinau, in Milestii Mici to grow the grape vines. We did a visit of the underground tunnels with a rented car, as they don’t provide transportation for the tour. We also did a wine tasting of 3 different kind of wines they make. We really enjoyed the tour and the tasting of course, even if the planning was a little hard as information in Moldova is hard to get. Speaking Russian or Romanian in this country would have helped a lot, but we got around with gesturing.

 
Posted on

Orheiul Vechi, Moldova

While we were staying in Chisinau, We planned a few day trips in Moldova. We visited Orhei Vechi, a monastery built on a cliff by a river. The view was really nice and it is in a very remote and quiet location. After an hour of minibus to get there, we walked up to the monastery on the small gravel path. We were the only visitors there at the time. The church is still used for the 3 small surrounding villages. There was also a cave monastery which was dug out in the 13th century. There was apparently monks living there, sleeping on bedrocks, decades at a time.

The Monastery

Inside the church
The church courtyard
The view

Going to the Caves
Where the monks used to sleep