Mini Balkan Trip aka WOW

Amazing! This was the best final trip I could have made on Erasmus in Hungary. Ever since my last exam all the days have been great, with the trip to Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia as the icing on the cake! I cannot thank my great Erasmus friends enough for all they have given and keep on giving me..

Thursday, 12th of January 2012 - Liszt Ferenc Ter, Budapest
Oh! Some things I forgot to tell you in my last blog: A week ago, I was on my way to have dinner with Ashley, Matteo and his friends from Italy. Since everyone is always late here, I was waiting on Deak Ter. Just enjoying my view on the beautiful dome of the Basilica, when suddenly three people in bright orange jackets walked up the stairs. The girl looked very familiar and when I heard them talking Dutch, I offered to help them with directions. Turned out this was Diane Valkenburg, here this weekend for the European Championships Speed Skating! Honestly, I had no idea it would take place in Budapest.. After some conversating they started the sightseeing route I recommended them and I decided to go to the ECSS during the weekend.
So, on Saturday me and Marius, who is from Nijmegen, put on our warm coats and established ourselves on the bridge behind Heroes Square. The atmosphere was so nice! Not only because of the beautiful court and fairytale buildings next to it, but mostly because half of the people there were dressed in orange!! Singing Dutch songs and cheering like we always cheer at every sports championship where the Dutch do well. When I took the Spanish the next day, to see Sven Kramer win the 1500 meter, they were so impressed by our enthusiasm and support. It was great to be there!
Also, yesterday Ashley took me to a wonderful chocolate shop near the Basilica, where we decided to choose the Chocolate Fondue. The very first one for both of us! It was a wonderful afternoon, especially because of the great conversations we had about our future, our countries and also just about silly stuff. Nice! Gonna miss her a lot..

Sunday, 15th of January 2012 - Travellers Home Hostel, Sarajevo
My brother has his birthday today.. and I am not there. Sucks! So, I got up early this morning (the rest is still sleeping) to see if maybe my family can come on Skype. Then I am going to sing Happy Birthday for him, in the middle of this hostel here. Until then, I write my blog!
We have found a very nice hostel by the way! The staff is extremely helpfull and as I also experienced in other countries, it is really interesting to ask them about the history of the country and their opinion about economy and politics. I really recommend this place if you come to Sarajevo sometime, which you definitely should. I am already planning to come back sometime in summer, because I think Bosnia has so much to offer. Well, I am planning in my head.. since I have so many places I want to visit by now, because of all the stories people told me about their countries, that it is probably going to take a while.

On Friday morning I took the train from Budapest to Sarajevo with Eduardo, Silvia, Ania, Eddy and Pauline. It was a ride of eleven hours, mostly because of extensive border controls in Croatia and finally Bosnia. Most exciting moment: a Croatian police man took our passports out of the train and did not return them for at least fifteen minutes. This could easily have been a story one would read in the newspaper and then comment with: "Ohhh.. are you that stupid?! Never give your passport to someone you do not know.." The travel was okay though. We slept a lot, since on Thursday we had decided to party until six in the morning. Wise decision! When not sleeping, I was mostly watching the surroundings. It suprises me everytime how empty the countryside of Hungary, and later Croatia and Bosnia, is. Rarely any villages, just fields, not too well taken care off fields.. Then, we finally arrived in Sarajevo, aka Snowland!! So much snow, everywhere! We did not let this opportunity slide and while waiting for the tram to the city centre, we conducted our first snowball fight of this year. After dinner, which was even late for the Latins at 23.30 hr, we decided to catch some proper sleep.

Yesterday morning, when finally everyone was ready, we met with a guy called Neno at the Museum of Fine Arts. I had searched on the internet for Free Walking Tours in Sarajevo and found him! It was extremely interesting. Neno is a student in Sarajevo with a Politics major. Also, he was 7 when the Bosnian war broke out and was living in the surrounded city in that time. Therefore, he had a lot of inside information about the war. Really impressive to hear this, especially when you realize it could have been his name on the monument for the children killed during the war or that everyone you see on the street older than sixteen has experienced this awful period.. I talked a lot with Neno about our views on the political situation of the country then and now. Next to that, he also told us some stories that shined another light of some important historical events. For example, I had always thought that Gavrillo Princip had killed Franz Ferdinand and his wife with one attack in a solo operation. This is not true.. There were seven guys, of which Princip was the last one to shoot at Franz Ferdinands open car in the first attack. All guys failed, but the officials thought there was only the first guy, who they had caught. After a visit to the injured, the heir of Austria-Hungary and his wife returned to the streets and the driver took the wrong turn. While trying to go back, Princip saw them from a coffee house window and killed them anyway.
After walking through the most important districts of the city, seeing the monuments and asking a thousand questions, Neno recommended us a restaurant. Here we ate čivapi, a typical Bosnian dish of bread filled with cream cheese, onions and minced meat sausages. Alongside, we drank yoghurt, just as the locals. When our stomachs were filled, we took the tram and bus all the way out of the city. Beautiful ride, since Sarajevo is located in a valley and the surrounding mountains were all covered in snow. Then we walked through a small village, with lots of dogs that I do not like, and finally arrived at the Tunnel Museum. Actually, they were closing but stayed open for us just a little longer. We first saw a video with images of the war in the city, which was a very disturbing image. The tunnel connected the city of Sarajevo with free Bosnian territory during the Bosnian War. It runs under the United Nations Airport, which did also no agree with the escaping attempts and would send the people back if they were caught. This really struck me, since it made me once more realize how complicated international politics is and how it is often first about power balances, to avoid worse situations, and then about the affected people. It was a very impressive place to be, even though it was just a short visit.
To recover from this busy day, we went into a cakeshop where I tried a traditional Bosnian apple pie; an apple cooked in sirup, filled with a combination of different nuts and topped with whipped cream. I thought it would be fairly easy to replicate at home, but the hostel owner told me it was very hard to get it right. We will easy, I will give it a shot when I return to the Netherlands! After that we went to the hostel, where I started reading a book and also talked to the hostel owner. Turned out he had lived the last four years in Scheveningen, since his wife was the ambassador of Bosnia & Herzegovina in our country. Our talk was mostly about our royal family, since he had met our Queen several times and was really impressed with her knowledge, world view and determination to do good for our country. Nice to hear this (for a change). Then, we went to a cute Turkish restaurant here and afterwards we smoked shisha. The Ottoman influence is clearly noticable in Bosnia, where 80% of people is Muslim, which makes it a lot different from any other continental European city I have visited before (or do we really call Istanbul also European?)
Well, I do not think my brother will be able to come on Skype.. Going to wake the others up now for a walk on the hill and some souvenir shopping!

Wednesday, 18th of January - Liszt Ferenc Ter, Budapest
Wow! That was the most impressive trip of this semester, I think. Wow wow wow. All the stories, all the fun, all the sights.. Fell in love with the West-Balkans and have a great sympathy for its people.
Sunday morning, after the Spanish 'finally' woke up, we decided to walk up a hill in Sarajevo to see the view. The view over Sarajevo Snowland was really nice. The walk up was really steep, so we actually all managed to fall on our butts haha. Also, we visited one of the most famous Ottoman cemeteries of the city, located on this hill. Afterwards, we wanted to the old quarter again to eat another Bosnian specialty: bureg! Puff pastry filled with either potatoe (the best!), meat or cheese. At two o'clock we took the bus to Mostar, a small town more south with UNESCO world heritage areas. The ride towards it was really great! Beautiful sights.. Snow, mountains, everything!

When we arrived in Mostar, the hostel owner was waiting for us. You immediately noticed the importance for him of giving information about the war to foreigners. The third sentence he said to me was: "This is where my best friend was killed." The next thing: "This is where my grandfather was killed.." I really tried to grasp what he must be going through even now still, but I will probably never understand. That's the difference between learning, reading and hearing about a war.. and really experiencing it.. The other guests in the hostel were great! An Egyptian guy, who within half an hour invited me to guide me around whenever I would be in his current living location: Berlin! Also, an Australian girl who already had been travelling for 13 months. From her hometown, all the way to here with only the flight from Oceania to Indonesia; all other travels by train or bus. At night, we went to the Old Bridge. Saw a movie about the development of it over time and heard about the famous diving of it in the summer. We also went back here in the morning, to make a ton of picture! We also wanted to climb a minaret, but unfortunately the mosque was closed for gardening works. In a small store I bought a book called 'To End A War' by Richard Holbrooke; the key negotiator of the USA in the peace settlements between Milosovic, Izetbegovic and Kudjan during the Balkan Wars of the nineties. It is a very intreging, well-written book that really reflects the complex problem and the difficulties of international diplomacy.
At half past twelve, we took the bus to Dubrovnik, Croatia. This was not in our original schedule, but I am so glad I joined! It was great to recover from all the impressions in a vacation environment, with the sun on our face. The hostel owner was also really nice. He too had connections with the Netherlands and it was again great to talk with someone this enthuastically about my country! Only things was that he tried to pair me with his rebellious, bull dog - owning son.. not really my type. On Monday night, we ate some pizza and enjoyed the beautiful sunset. Just silence, thinking about this great semester with all my great new friends.. Wonderful. Afterwards, we just had some beers and Turkish delight on bed. On Tuesday, we went to the Old Town, also an UNESCO heritage. Really cute! The last two hours we spent sitting on the rocks, in the sun.. with even Eduardo swimming! Hero, haha. Totally relaxed, Eddy and me took the bus back to Sarajevo in the afternoon, while the others continued in the direction of Montenegro.
This morning, after a night of Bosnian dinner and more shisha, we took the eleven hour train ride back to Budapest! Ready now for my last long weekend in this great city, with my fun cousin Roel arriving on Saturday. A weekend full of goodbyes, unfortunately, but hopefully also full of more memorable experiences!! Five days to go =)