7/23 Tuesday
Our
apartment is fine so far. The couple in “our” room departs, leaving for
Dubrovnik. We chat for a bit, telling some of our experience there. Adnan’s
wife comes up to clean the room for us, and we can move in. It’s big and
comfortable, with a sofa, coffee table and terrace. Not long after, we are
joined by a young couple from the UK, here for a few days, then going on to
Dubrovnik, just as the others did. We note the fact that with the four
bedrooms, there is actually room for eleven people here, so at least we don’t
have a full house.
We want to organize our next trip to
Belgrade, so we take a walk to the bus station, about two miles away, and an
interesting city tour along the shops and parks. We pass the green market on
the way, where a suicide bomber killed a couple dozen people in 1994,
triggering UN action against the aggressive Yugoslav army. Bob tries to buy a bag of walnuts, but his first vendor doesn't understand and really doesn’t want to deal with him. A second woman understands, and lets
him buy a bagful.
At another block along the way there
is an old building housing the meat and dairy market, so we stop in for a look.
The place is full of counters with chicken, beef, eggs and cheeses in all their
old-world glory. We buy some sheep cheese and some cured beef for lunch. We
feel a little guilty buying our small portions; all the vendors are proffering
samples and seem so disappointed in us when we make our meager order. Our
snacks are incredibly delicious, though, so we manage to console ourselves.
At
the bus station, we’re told that there’s only one bus to Belgrade, leaving at
6am, not an easy time for us. We walk over to the nearby train station to check
our options there. It’s bizarrely empty, post-apocalypse empty. Have you ever
seen an empty train station? Does not bode well for our train plans, and sure
enough, the lonely ticket clerk barks, “No train to Belgrade!” when we ask. Back to the bus
station for our tickets. Next, we head over to the tram stop to find out if
there are any trams running at 5am, so we can get a ride to the bus. No luck, we’ll
have to make sure we can get a cab. We wait for a tram back into town, finding
the schedule somewhat less agreeable than in Dubrovnik. After a half hour wait,
thinking we should have just walked, our tram arrives. Sarajevo had one of the
first tram lines in Eastern Europe, “Before Vienna,” as Adnan has told us. It’s
possible that this is the very same track as our car bounces and shrugs along
the rails.
Now
we’re ready for dinner, and some pizza is what we want. As we stroll through
the old town, we can’t seem to find any of the dozens of restaurants we’ve seen
before. We pass shops and coffee bars, no restaurants. Finally we see a big
Coca-cola banner with pictures of pizza hanging over the entry to a very nice
garden café plaza. We go in and ask for a table, saying we’d like to order
pizza. The waiter looks confused. “Pizza?” he calls over to a co-worker,
“Pizza?” He tells us, “No pizza, just drinks.” Ok, we can’t argue about the
signs, we just continue our search. Another place has an actual menu on their
door, listing different pizzas, so we stop and ask for a table and pizza. Again
the waiter says, “No pizza, just drinks.” We look confused, so he adds,
“Kitchen fire.” Ok. Next!
Finally,
we walk down a street that’s filled with canopies covering café tables, dozens
of people, tv screens at each section and loud music. It’s like a nightclub,
but with everyone sitting and talking at the tables. Along the street we find
an actual little restaurant and get a table just inside, since there’s a lot of
smoking going on at the outdoor tables. We’re rewarded with a nice dinner of
pizza and salad.
1 Video Included
Sarajevo
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