Filling in the gaps

Today is essentially a day off.

But we must walk to the station first so we can be sure of its location for our early departure tomorrow to Konjic.

It is just as well that we do, as we stuff up (again as usual) and walk in completely the wrong direction; 20 minutes later we are back where we started and set off again! We finally make it there: the Željeznička Stanica - a very sad-looking place, hardly anyone around, one lonesome man in the ticket office - AND he speaks very little English, but he eventually locates our paper ticket (that I had ordered online) - in amongst a bunch of tickets held together by a paperclip. 

I also wanted to check ‘where is the platform?’ so I used Google Translate and showed it to him on my phone: gdje je platforma? And he showed me.

We walked back into town via the National Museum of BiH. It opens at 10 a.m. and we were their first customers for the day. It is an excellently curated exhibition in 4 buildings over 2 floors - but held only marginal interest for me as I thought it would have war stuff. It does hold the oldest Sephardic Jewish document in the world (dated around 1350) - but we missed it 🤔. What I really enjoyed was the Botanic Garden.

After our visit, we continued our way back into town along Sniper Alley, past the Holiday Inn which at the height of the 1990s Bosnian War was used by reporters as their base. From here, we had a perfect line of sight up to the Trebević Mountain from where the Serbian snipers constantly shelled the city.

Further on, we stopped for THE BEST COFFEE at the Ministry of Cejf cafe. We had a nice break here before continuing our walk into town. 

Along the Miljacka River, we looked at the shrapnel holes on the walks of the buildings. 

In a square in front of the Bosnian National Theatre that we happened to pass through, I saw the name Susan Sontag and wondered why her name was on a sign; apparently she had visited in 1993 to stage a production of Waiting for Godot and she has said she particularly wanted to go to Sarajevo as she was so appalled at the Serb aggression that she wanted to advocate for the city by bringing attention to its plight.

A little further on we came upon the Bosnian Cultural Centre which is located in what used to be the Great Sephardic Temple, the largest synagogue in Sarajevo.

We thought we might try and book dinner at Dveri; we had tried last night but it was booked out. Reviews say it can be booked out months in advance. I wasn’t very optimistic but when we got there (it was now about 1 p.m.) there was a table for lunch (definitely not for dinner!) so we took it. Shortly after, we saw people that arrived being turned away. How lucky were we!

Wow! What a meal. And a lovely local red wine too (Hercego Blatina). The food was amazing (MF had a steak stuffed with cheese and I had a goulash) and I loved the desserts we shared: a cream cheese with cherries and a wonderful dish of figs in syrup. 

And of course they would only take cash so MF slipped out to the money exchange between courses ,,, Anyway, thanks Nick D for the discussion about ChatGPT as the recommendation came from a list of restaurants generated by it.

By now we had walked 8.2 kms. Next on our list was to take the cable car up the Trebević Mountain. This is where we had gone yesterday with Mak on our tour to the 1984 Winter Olympics bobsleigh and luge site.

We had a bit of a walk to the Trebevićka žičara as it is known - and enjoyed a long ride up the mountain with great views back over the city. 

By now the clouds had parted and it was the most beautiful afternoon so, from the top, we set off on a hike - probably about 6 kms we think with quite a bit of climbing through lovely forest of white pine, larch and Bosnian pine.

Back to the cable car a bit before 5 p.m. and we descended once more - from 1160 m to 583 m. 

We enjoyed a coffee near the Latin Bridge and continued our walk back to pack ready for tomorrow’s departure. 

Another drink out later on at the  bar we’d discovered  yesterday, then a supper once more of a cuppa tea with more baklava purchased earlier in the day from Baklava Ducan.

Walked 18.4 kms (!).