Yeah, that just about says it all. The hostel in Sarajevo had the worst shower, bar none, in any of the hostels I’ve stayed at. The shower alternated between boiling hot and glacier cold water (air in the pipes, methinks) that made the usually relaxing activity of taking a shower an extremely tense one. In fact, to avoid scalding my more critical parts, I just decided to skip the whole showering business in the last few days and really looking forward to that 2p check in at the hostel here in Zagreb, Croatia.

Anyway. Sarajevo.

I showed up in Sarajevo not knowing what to expect at all. I had no guidebook and had done no pre-reading, although I remember hearing about it in the news when I was younger. All I knew was that the city was torn by a relatively recent war.

To this end, I found what I expected to see. Driving around Sarajevo is both refreshing and shocking. Every structure that was built prior to ‘93 and still stands is scarred with the lasting impressions of war. By this I mean buildings and homes that are pock-marked with the impact of bullets. Abandoned structures which are bombed out shells. You look at all the residents and realize that in their recent lives, they have looked in the face of war. This is a part best told by pictures, which will come soon.

Sarajevo is also the spot of some major history. The Archduke Franz Ferdinand (I hope I’m spelling this right) was assasinated on one of the bridges spanning the river that runs through Sarajevo, the event which started World War I.

While Sarajevo is scarred by war, there’s a lot that’s come up in recent years that superceed it. Sarajevo is absolutely beautiful, flanked by green hills on all sides with homes of red tiled roofs that extend up the hillsides (not too high, of course…there are still mines out there). The center of the “old town” is beautiful, walking streets through small shops and tons of cafes. The areas of Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, and Bosnia (which were all have similar roots) have more cafes per square meter than anywhere I’ve ever been. Most of the seating is outside. It’s absolutely fabulous to sit and watch the day go by. Although the site of the ‘84 Olympics and a big tourist destination in it’s hayday is not such a place today. While there are chunks of tourists, most of the tourists head instead to Mostar in the west, so the cafes of Sarajevo’s old town are filled with locals. My favorite. Guys should know that the women in this region of the world have a reputation that preceeds them.

Chess is extremely big in the Balkans. In Sarajevo, there was a spot in the shadow of a building where the ground had a series of alternating tiles that formed a chess board, topped by giant plastic chess pieces. Large groups of old men (sometimes more than 50!) would huddle around and would switch off playing chess all day, oohing and aahing with every move. It was so fun to watch and the players were amazing! Definitely something I need in my future back yard…

About my travel plans…they’re now set in stone. I’m taking a 7000+ mile detour from Paris and heading to Montevideo, Uruguay!

I went yesterday to a photo gallery called “War and Honey: 10 Years of War.” The photos inside were immensely moving…ten photographers that covered the Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian conflict (ethnic cleansing) that later resulted in the breakup of the former Yugoslavia. Something that still in the all-too-recent memory for many of the residents here.

The photos were incredible.

• A four panel frame. The first three panels are two men, forced to lie face down on the sidewalk, being kicked and beaten by anonymous soldiers. A fourth panel is absent of people, just a photo of the sidewalk, marred by still-wet pools of blood in the vague shape of two men.
• Bullet shattered windows after the war, with their occupants standing behind them with blank looks.
• A close-up on the face of a man, terrified, presumably told to kneel down, hands up, facing away from the solder behind him who’s cradling his assault rifle in one hand and palming two handguns in the other.
• The asphalt pavement of a street, with the shape of a person imprinted in white. The imprint was created by ash, for the person was burned…
• A field filled with casualties of a siege.
• Dubrovnik’s marina, an inferno.
• A snowy field, red with blood.
• Scared refugees huddled around a switch next to a rail line.
• A barrack, filled with soldiers sleeping on blankets.
• Men with their skin stretched so tight over their skeletal structures that full-definition of ribs and spine could be seen.
• A unit of the Serbian Tiger Army, posed around the front end of a tank, all wearing black masks, except the commander, standing in the middle, directly below the cannon, holding up a tiger cub by the skin of its head.

Is this the human condition? I certainly hope not. But is the result of war? My only perceptions of war are from movies and mass media, which always glorify the role of the soldier or the greater goal. It generalizes the civilian population, anonymizing them. But when viewed like this…

I’ve looked forward to going to Sarajevo because I’ve never seen a place torn apart by war. I know that Dubrovnik was involved in the aforementioned war, but there’s so much tourism here that it seemed that everything had been well repaired by now.

Then I saw it.

I walked into the Old Town this morning and immediately ran into a German tour group in front of a church.

Maybe he was gesturing, maybe he wasn’t. But his hand drew my eyes to the missing chunks in the otherwise smooth brick facade of the church. Missing chunks that looked like oddly shaped craters…

I wonder how I had missed it before. Perhaps I wasn’t looking hard enough, perhaps they naturally blended into the weather-beaten bricks of the Old Town. But now, everywhere I looked, bullet-impact craters marred the walls. Chunks missing here, there. Pockmarks that marred the fountain. Everywhere, spots that had been mortared over and made smooth, but not enough to blend.

I found myself strolling and standing in the open of a former war zone. This may sound odd to some of you, but I started to imagine the place, crossed with gunfire. The wide street would have made for an open killing zone for anyone running across. I wonder if someone had lost their life in the very spot I was standing…

The image, augmented by my imagination filled with the photos from yesterday and Hollywood scenes was not a pretty one.

Of course, this is all very different today. Croatia is a beautiful country, with friendly people, a goregous coastline, and cities that feel like larger versions of Cinque Terre (hills and all). Oddly, hanging around here evokes feelings of being in the US, especially considering the availability of good, clean, bathrooms which are well-stocked with soap and paper towels (treasures after China). Dubrovnik’s Old Town, a walled city right on the coast of the turquoise blue waters of the sea, is quite picturesque.

There’s a huge classical music scene in Croatia. On Hvar I went to a piano recital (gratis!) of Anne-Marie Rouchon from Paris, in the Fransciscan Cloister of Hvar Town. Last night I went to a performance of the highly skilled Dubrovnik String Quartet in a small church, the same one with the cratered facade. I’ve also heard from the street more than a few children practicing their instruments.

Music from América Latina is also big here. More than a couple bars play Latin Music and the big club here is called “Latino Club.” I’m going tonight. Can’t wait.

Heading to Montenegro tomorrow to spend a couple days at Dumitor National Park!

New photos up, including some catch up from Italy.

• Siena, Italy
• Burano, an island off Venice, Italy
• Hvar, Croatia
• Dubrovnik, Croatia

Wanted to quickly say that I’ve made it to Dubrovnik on a beautiful 7 hour ferry from Hvar through the islands of Croatia.

And now to unveil my upcoming travel plans, which I’ve just decided to do, for sure, today…I’m going to either Sarajevo and/or Dumitor National Park in Montenegro next. Yes, Sarajevo is in Bosnia, which I understand to be quite safe (and tourist free!) these days.

I will definitely go to Sarajevo and on there to Belgrade in Serbia, so the only question mark is making it to the supposedly incredible Tara Cannyon in Montenegro.

I’m currently on the island of Hvar off the coast of Croatia near Split. It’s beautiful out here, with sparkling clean torquoise blue waters of the Adriatic sea. Unfortunately, like Cinque Terre and Santorini before it, all the dive shops are closed because it’s the off-season.

Let me tell you that traveling in Croatia is easier than most European countries…English is widely spoken here, to the point that the bookstores all carry a large selection of well-priced English books.

Heading to the infamous city of Dubrovnik tomorrow for a few days and from there… =)