Day Thirteen - Jun 10, 2017

Zagreb, Croatia to Sarajevo, Bosnia

High Point: Realizing we were staying somewhere where the Muslim call to prayer happens 5 times a day. It's just cool

Low Point: The bus was hot, slow, and hot and slow

Miles By Automobile: 236

Miles By Foot: 6

Today's Antiquities: Vratnik, our 18th century neighborhood in east Sarajevo

Today's Weather: Hot and muggy on the bus. 77° and pleasant in Sarajevo

Tonight's Lodging: Lejla's ridiculous Sarajevo flat

Touristic Events: A bus ride across Bosnia & Herzegovina, a walk through Sarajevo's Old Town, Vratnik

Travel Tip: Brian would tell you that a lack of research leads to great surprises. Theresa would tell you that is ridiculous

Daily Didactic

We hit the road early this morning to catch the 6:30 bus from Zagreb to Sarajevo. The tickets said to arrive 10-20 minutes early. Due to our innate inability to rise in the morning, we made it with 10 minutes, which turns out not to be early enough to sit together with no assigned seats. This was a bit of a bummer, since we share a day pack of hardware and snacks on trains and busses when our backpacks are stowed. Theresa ended up next to some nice travelers from Uruguay and Australia. Brian ended up next to a large Bosnian woman who was annoyed she had to give up two seats to accommodate him. Not that she really ever moved all the way into her own seat. It was a long next couple of hours. About half way through the 8 hour bus ride Brian's new best friend and traveling companion disembarked in a small town and Theresa was able to return to enjoying Brian's full-time companionship. In spite of the restoration of our togetherness, the bus ride was long and sweaty. While our bus was air-conditioned, this only appears to work when the bus is braking. Anything that requires power (acceleration, idling) seems to override AC. Mid afternoon we finally arrived in Sarajevo, and were met by our very accommodating and stylish host Lejla. She was good enough to taxi us from the bus station to her apartment above Old Town on the eastern side of Sarajevo. If she had not there was really no way we would have ever found it. We were immediately surprised and excited about our new neighborhood. Sarajevo (and Bosnia & Herzegovina in general) is known for being the crossroads of the world's three major western religions and we were surrounded by mosques, churches and synagogues. The muslim call to prayer sounds over speakers five times a day and inevitably makes for a middle eastern feel. We headed the five minute walk down the hill to old town and found some very un-middle-eastern pizza for dinner, walked around Old Town a bit, and then headed back up to our seriously luxurious flat on the hill and marveled at the view for the remainder of the evening.