Hello all

I wanted to describe the scenario of taking a bus from Sarajevo to Belgrade
to give you a glimpse of traveling here in the Slavic culture. We tried
to get the bus info and reserve the bus from the main bus station but was
told we had to go to another bus station in the suburbs for this. Not
wanting to waste money and time taking a taxi to this other bus station we
went into two other administrative travel agent offices of this bus company
and yet again were told they could not help us even get the bus schedule or
bus station phone #. How crazy. So we asked our Hotel owner for assistance, he was able to get the bus station # but of course the # just rang busy for hours. Our Hotel owner believed the bus left at 8am the next day, so we decided to show up way early and hope the seats are not sold out. We got to the bus station no one spoke English and all the bus information, city and locations were written in Cyrillic alphabet instead of our Roman alphabet that we are familiar with. This is the first location in Eastern Europe that we have come across where English is not readily spoken and written.

We did manage to get a seat on the bus, which the bus ride turned out not
much different than an African bus ride. Some of the road conditions were unsurpassable, therefore we had to find alternative routes which delayed us by two hours so the 7 hour ride turned into 9 hours. The bus had no aircon, no open windows for a breeze or air circulation and it was very hot all day and therefore I drank a lot of water. But of course, we only got two bathroom breaks and with the bus winding and turning so much on all the country and mountain roads the bus had the same effect as one wringing out a towel, which means all the liquid was wrung out of me and I needed to pee so bad most the bus ride. augh. The two toilets breaks were also very similar to Africa with just a hole in the floor with two pee soaked spots for your feet. These toilets were used by both gender and many seemed to have aim problems because the floor was soaked with other people's pee and the smell of baked hot pee is not pleasant. I was very happy to be at a toilet, so I could overlook all of this.

The bus also stopped at every tiny village to pick up and drop off short and
stocky ladies and men traditional dressed and carrying some goods they just
got from the nearest town. The roads were in poor condition, many were not even paved, which caused for a very bumpy road. The scenery was amazing through mountain passes and tiny villages, and horse drawn carts. We would fly past mountain farms houses that were deserted and unfortunately there was
evidence of a war torn country everywhere, with destroyed buildings and new
gravestones.

We had a little trouble at the Serbia and Bosnia border. The Serbian guards
held up our hot bus for about 40 mins so they could interrogate us
Americans. Our government did just bomb their country in 1999. They would ask the normal questions like, Where were you last? How long are you staying? Do you have anything to declare? Then they asked some more unusually questions like, did you smuggle in any cigarettes, coffee, drugs, guns? Is this really antibiotics in this prescription bottle or is it ecstasy? They let us go but there were many more police check points along the way. The road conditions in Serbia where even worse than Bosnia at one point our bus was stuck on a train track for an hour, we had to off road it through corn
fields to get over it. Most the time during all these hot delays everyone
was nice and cheerful about the situation. We were the only tourist on the
bus. But there were times that we passed a few large graveyards with new
tomb stones and sketches of the victims such as a teenage boy with a soccer
ball or a baby with a rattle. This would make most on the bus teary eyed
and silent, it was obvious so many people lost love ones in the past 10
years through the wars. so sad

These two cities were great. Sarajevo had a more Turkish culture with small
shops selling everything and the local merchants sitting outside visiting
with their neighbors while drinking coffee. Belgrade is much larger and
modern. We did see the gypsy shanty towns(Ghettos) that looked as bad as
any shanty towns I saw in Africa. Both Sarajevo and Belgrade had stone pedestrian streets, old buildings and lots of people walking around enjoying the good weather. So I have enjoyed tons of ice cream and good coffee. Tomorrow my friend Jen meets us in Romania. I am so excited.

Well that is it for now. sorry for the long post
Sarah and Mark Journal Entry Sarajevo and Belgrade Posted On: 7/2/2005