The Balkans

About a day after Lehna returned from SE Asia (actually I think it was the same day) we booked three weeks in the Balkans, or former Yugoslavia, or whatever you want to call it. To be honest the thought of visiting this part of the world had never really been high on my agenda. However, a decade after the inter-ethnic conflicts which completely devastated the region, it was a perfect and interesting time to go.

We flew to Split in Croatia on 21st June with the intention of traveling down the coast before crossing into Bosnia, moving up through that country, going into Slovenia and finally ending up in Venice, Italy. The journey to Birmingham and Split airport was pretty much faultless; due to some mysterious botch up with the rail ticket booking, Lehna had to fork out another £25. However, that was soon forgotten and we ended up in Split's Old Town at about six in the evening.

It was at this point that throngs of locals tried to thrust upon us spare rooms in their own homes or 'pansions'. Although Croatia has recovered physically and politically from the events of the 1990s, the economic situation is still far from rosy. That is why at pretty much every bus and train station frequented by tourists you will see middle aged Croat women asking you to stay in their home. After a series of polite 'no thank yous' we set off to find our own pre-booked accommodation.

This, we were soon to find out, would also be in someone's house - but not before we were nearly deceived by our host's neighbour. When we thought we had found the right place he told us that there 'was no hostel here' and tried to shoo us off his property. It was only when we were 25 yards down the street that our host appeared and welcomed us in. It appears there is a certain degree of ugly competition between the pansion hosts of Split.

After an interesting couple of days in Split which included a walk up the tower of Diocletian's Palace, we set off by boat to the island of Korcula where we camped for two nights. This place was lovely - our camp was a stones throw away from the beach and about a 30 minute walk from the old town. The town was stunning - much nicer, as I would later find out, that its bigger cousin Dubrovnik, and a million times better than Venice despite the fact that the city gates are adorned with the Venetian coat of arms.

Having left Korcula we left for Dubrovnik where we spent one night, again on a campsite. Dubrovnik is one of those places you 'have to visit' when you are traveling through Dalmatia. George Bernard Shaw called it the 'pearl of the Adriatic'. I can see why, it really was beautiful, however, the amount of tourists spoiled it for me. Like Venice it is a popular cruise ship destination and the crowds didn't make for pretty sightseeing. Furthermore it was quite big and overbearing which was nothing like the pretty quaint atmosphere evoked by the Old Town in Korcula.

From Dubrovnik we got the coach up to Mostar in Bosnia and Hercegovina. Due to a strange state of affairs whereby Bosnia territory includes about 4 miles of Dalmatian coastline (the town of Neum is Bosnia's only seaside resort) we crossed into BiH, then out into Croatia before going into BiH again. Having entered the country for the second time the bus moved into the heart of the country and it was probably at this time that we both realised that what we were being presented with was a completely different kettle of fish. Take 'Pocitelj' for example, this was one of the bus stops on the way to Mostar and the first major town we came across. Apart from the obvious shell fragments and bullet holes, this town looked like a complete 'dead-end'. There was graffiti everywhere, the shops looked completely run down and the whole place seemed really sorry for itself. There Bosnia was of 1992-1995 is so difficult to explain and I can barely get my head around it. The sheer quantity of ethnic groups makes it difficult to comprehend - Bosnians, Bosnian Serbs, Muslims, Croat Muslims - the list is endless. I had a fruitless search for a book that would help explain things more clearly so will try here from a few scrappy pieces of research:

Unemployment and inflation escalated in the last 1980s in the wake of Marshal Tito's death. This alarmed countries like Slovenia and Croatia who in turn held multiparty elections and declared their independence. In Serbia, Slobodan Milosevic feared that this would threaten the 700,000-strong Serbian communities in Croatia and BiH. When Slovenia and Croatia declared independence in June 1991 civil war broke out - the first European War since 1939-1945. A series of ceasefires and UN interventions resulted in a ceasefire in January 1992. However, by this point the war had spread into BiH, regarded as a powder keg because of its volatile ethnic mix (the country is 40% muslim - ethnic divides are nowhere as visible as in Mostar where one side of the river is Christian and the other, Muslim. Plenty of Jewish people are thrown in for good measure as well). When Bosnia wanted to leave Yugoslavia the Serbs let rip with violent attacks on Mostar and Sarajevo, the former was almost completely destroyed (including, most symbolically its 500 year old bridge) and the latter was hled under siege for 3 years. Food and supplies were smuggled in through a tunnel which began at the city's airport. It was during this time that 'ethnic cleansing', a process not seen in Europe since the Holocaust, was committed by Serbs on the Muslim population. This, together with the conflict, raged on until 1995 despite UN intervention. The Dayton Agreement of that year finally brought an end to the war. The resulting situation is that BiH is roughly a decade behind. Of the three places we visited (Mostar, Sarajevo and Bihac (a heavily mined city on the Croat border) the scars of war are self evident - bombed out buildings sit uneasily next two bars and shops, ghostly reminders of a conflict still clearly in the minds of anyone above the age of 20. In cemetaries, literally every grave stone says 'died 1993' and in Sarajevo shell holes in the streets are filled with thick red paintas permanent reminders of the the terrible ordeal endured by that city.

But for all this, things are looking up for Bosnia. The tourists are starting to come back. No that they'd been away for that long. As an independent communist state freed from Moscow's interference, Westerners were free to come and go as they please. This is starting once more - as a UNESCO world heritage site, the Old Bridge area of Mostar is an absolute must for visitors and was easily our favourite place. We agreed that Bosnia is the sort of place that we would love to revisit in 10-15 years. By then, I expect (and hope) that it will be fully back on its feet once more.

After the cultural highs of Mostar and Sarajevo our trip entered a lull. For a start, the much anticipated white water rafting and Bihac didn't happen when we realised that we needed to book in advance. Then after one night in the town it was off to Zagreb where we had the most depressing and drawn out search for accommodation ever. We were just about to board a train for Llubljana when we found a 'cell' in a Youth Hostel which charged £18 a night. Bit of a con but it was somewhere to rest our heads. The following day we transferred up to Lake Bled in Slovenia for five solid days of camping, bike riding, hillwalking, rowing (?) , jogging (!) and monging by the lovely Alpine lake. I'm not going to say much more about this except vent my minor frustration with the amenities and provisions of the modern 'camper'. We carried everything we needed for camping on our backs and to be perfectly honest it was all we needed. The only thing which we agreed would have made things slightly ore comfortable would have been a small table and chairs for our meals. We did NOT need a fridge-freezer, sky television, a DOORMAT, a microwave or a wireless-enabled laptop. For people who turn up in camper-vans which are bigger than my parent's house i do not consider this camping. To be honest, I would rather stay in one of the swanky hotels nearer to the town of Bled. At least here I wouldn't be trying to be anything I wasn't.

Rant over, after five nights we had one night in Llubljana. The least said about this place the better. Don't get me wrong, I'm not criticizing the place itself - Lonely Planet calls in 'Pure Mitteleuropa, with cafes and culture galore'. All we did was clothes shopping and get drunk. As a general aside it may be worth point out some on the cocktails that were available in 'Skeleton Bar' - 'Juicy Balls', 'Blow my Woody', 'Orgas,', 'Bloody Orgasm', 'Bloody Screaming Orgasm' and (my favourite, but most definately the most un-PC) 'Sex in disabled toilets'. I didn't have 'Sex in toilets' and so will be unable to comment on the subtle differences in taste.

The bus journey to Venice was grim. I'd had more cocktails than I could count and my throat felt like I'd swallowed a cheese grate from all the Marlboros I'd smoked.

Venice itself wasn't great either but for different reasons. Our accomodation in Llubljana had been some Halls of Residence - on the whole clean and cheap. In Venice we paid three times as much for filth and the most uncomfortable bed known to mankind. If you ever find yourself in Venice, do NOT stay at the Hotel Giovanini. Venice itself was nice, but like Dubrovnik it was spoiled by the sheer numbers of tourists, only more so. The prices were horrendous too - 4 euros for a cappuccino certainly doesn't float my gondola. Personally i thi kwhen you've been in the tourist game as long as Venice, you become complacent. Prices rise without a proportional rise is the quality of service offered. So much so that in some cases everything is generally poor. In the most depreived areas of Bosnia we received the best meals and accomodation for a fraction of the cost that we did in Venice. The best pizza was in Sarajevo for £3, certainly not the 'tomata sauce on a piece of concrete' which I received in Venice. After a few tiresome days in the city we went to the airport, flew to Liverpool and then homeward.

I recognise that some parts of this tale have descended into rants. I don't want it to appear that I had a bad time because that certainly isn't the case. I'd never been on holiday for more than 9 or 10 days before and I had a wealth of new experiences and saw places that most people never really go to. I definately want to visit Bosnia again, particularly Sarajevo so I can see how the place is finally starting to pick itself up. I think we both agreed that if we go to that part of the world again we shall still firmly off the tourist trail - perhaps to places like Romania, Albania, Macedonia and Bulgaria. They all have a lot to offer and I'm looking forward to making a return trip at some point in the future!