PAUL ANDERSON
an aussie abroad
Welcome!
Over the past two decades I’ve lived all around the globe, seizing every opportunity to travel and explore the outdoors. I’ve experienced some great adventures along the way and I’ve met some amazing people. It’s been an incredible journey, but I’m not planning to slow down anytime soon! Enjoy the site, and stay connected. – Paul
I finally made it to Sofia after a fairly horrendous journey from Sarajevo. After a full day of bus travel through the mountains of Bosnia and Serbia I made it to the town of Nis (pron. “Nish”) in south-east Serbia by 6pm. I was hoping for a quick connection to Sofia (which I thought was a just few hours away) but my dreams were quickly dashed – I had the option of a 2am night train or a 5am bus. I elected for the train which meant I had some time to burn, so I headed into town to see the sights of beautiful (ha ha) Nis.
Let me just explain for a minute how difficult it is to do anything in a country that uses the Cyrillic alphabet – even a three letter word like “Nis” comes out as “H-“backards N”-W”. I overcame the headaches and found the main tourist highlight in town, Tvrdava, a 14th century Turkish fortress. The other attraction – a Turkish victory tower made of Serbian skulls – was unfortunately closed. I had a wander around and then had dinner in a coverted hamam (Turkish bath). That chewed up a couple of hours, so after a few more beers I went to the station and found myself an uncomfortable slab on concrete to get some kip on.
At 1:30am I woke up to find the train already in the station, so I had to bolt to catch it. The rest of the night was fairly sleepless becuase the train had terribly unconfortable and unventilated carriages with heaps of chain-smoking Eastern Europeans packed to the gills, and a long border crossing which saw customs officials take the train half apart to find smuggled goods (they missed most of them – after the border I saw piles and piles of cigarettes and booze brought out of all sorts of hiding spots).
So I’m in Sofia now, and I have to say I don’t think much of it. There just doesn’t seem to be much here for the tourist (or the local for that matter…). It’s been heavily influenced by Communist architecture and town planning (i.e. not that aesthetic nor functional) and looks very shabby around the edges. It took me all of two hours to see the city’s sights, and in lieu of finding anything else worth seeing I spent today by the swimming pool working on my tan. Tomorrow should be good though, I’m off to see Rila Monastery (World Heitage listed site) in the mountains south of the city – stay tuned…
p.s. I’ll have some pics up from the last couple of weeks sometime soon.
Sarajevo was yet another must-see on my Balkans tour. I wanted to learn more about the four-year siege that the city withstood from 1992-1995, and I also wanted to see how the situation was today.
The bus ride from Mostar to Sarajevo was a good one along turquoise rivers and lakes, through narrow valleys and past some massive snow-capped mountains. After about three hours we arrived in Sarajevo, which from a distance looked like a huge alpine village with lots of red-roofed chalets scattered on all sides of the deep valley. The commie-style ugly concrete apartment blocks near the centre of the city sort of gave the game away though… I got a dorm bed at a hostel in the old Turkish Quarter, which was great for a wander with its handful of mosques and lots of small shops in the alleys selling local artisan’s stuff. Alo nearby was the infamous Latin Bridge, where the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand was shot along with his wife by Gavrilo Princip to kickstart the First World War.
Scenes from the Turkish Quarter: the marketplace, and Muslim graves.
The Latin Bridge where Archduke Ferdinand was shot.
I took a tour around the city to learn more about the war and the siege. With the predominantly Muslim city down on the valley floor it was all too easy for the Orthodox Bosnian Serbs to surround the city in 1992 with their tanks and artillery on the high ground. They weren’t able to surround the city completely however, as the UN guarded the airport at the end of town. The sneaky Bosnian army dug an 800m tunnel from their position on the far side of the airport to the Sarajevo side, and this tunnel was used to resupply the Bosnian army in the city, to provide some humanitarian aid, and to allow civilians to escape the city. We were allowed to visit one end of the tunnel and walk a short length of it still standing – an ingenious feat!
The still simmering tensions were clearly visible when I went to catch my bus out of town. I was headed east to Serbia (and onward to Bulgaria) but when I rocked up to the main bus terminal I was told that all the buses to Serbia left from a different bus station outside the city in a Bosnian Serb enclave – how ridiculous!
The bus ride out of the country took me through some beautiful mountainous areas, but it was all too evident that I was on the Bosnian Serb side of the country. I didn’t see a single mosque still standing (but a few in ruins). I also started seeing a lot more Cyrllic writing (which I never saw on the Bosnian side – although the languages are the same the Bosnians use the Roman alphabet) which was quite a shock for me – I realized I’d never been in a country which uses the Cryllic alphabet and it was quickly evident that I didn’t have the foggiest idea what anything said! At least with the romantic languages you can give it a red hot go…
If you think back to the Balkans Wars of the 1990’s, you’ll probably recall the story of Mostar as a shining example of its futility…
The town is to this day split down the middle into Croatian (Catholic) and Bosnian (Muslim) halves, which fought each other during the war – real neighbour vs. neighbour close quarter stuff. The old front line is still clearly visible by the blocks of gutted buildings that line it. Another giveaway are the churches on one side of town (including the most ridiculous “f#ck you mine’s bigger than yours” bell tower I’ve ever seen) and the mosques and minarets on the other.
The front line – lots of bullet holes! The muslim side of the river.
The Muslims definitely have the better/nicer part of the town, including the stretch along the river with its cobbled streets and old architecture, and the Croats tried their best to pound it into rubble during the war. The town’s famous 16th century Stari Most (Old Bridge) over the river is also on the Muslim side of town, and it was repeatedly shelled by the Croatian forces until it collapsed in late 1993 after about 18 months of hits. It’s since been rebuilt and looks pretty damn good! The same can’t be said for the famous “bridge divers” who were a bit of a disappointment. I was expecting something pretty extravagant and acrobatic, but all they did was drop off the 21m height feet first into the river below – “bridge jumper” is a more apt title.
Impressive!
Sunset and twilight on the Stari Most…