Wednesday, 14 May 

Zagreb, Croatia - Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina 

Hotel Marriott

Weather - Cool morning, warm afternoon - 24c Max

It was a day of travelling to get to Sarajevo with the highlight seeing the Tunnel of Hope at the end of our bus journey. It took two hours to get to the Croatian/Serbian border initially traveling through the Zagreb peak hour traffic then out onto the freeway with a maximum speed of 130kms per hour. The initial journey was through flat farmland dotted with houses. 

During the bus ride Sanda gave a detailed background to the lead up to the war during the 1990’s  involving the South Slavic people. The history is quite complex with many wars through the centuries. It was fascinating to learn of the life under Tito and the collapse of communism and the lead up to the war. 

We had a toilet stop at a petrol station fifteen minutes before the border as our guide wasn’t sure how long it would take to get through the border. The border customs involved a two-step process, firstly getting off the bus in Croatia and lining up to have our passports stamped and walking into No Man’s Land and getting on the bus again. We then crossed the Sava River to the Serbian border passport control and repeated the process. It took only 25mins so we were lucky not to be held up.

The difference between the two countries of Croatia and Bosnia was immediately obvious. The roads were inferior and the houses were functionary rather than the stylish ones with the Austrian-Hungarian influence in Croatia. In the small villages we could see many minarets. We had an hour’s lunch break in the outdoor part of a restaurant in an isolated area thirty minutes from the border at noon. I chose risotto which was tasty. 

After lunch we left the flat farmland and started climbing through lush green areas into mountainous regions passing by many industrial towns left over from the communist era and still functioning. 

We had good views of Sarajevo as we drove into the city with its high mountain, Mt Trebevic dominating over it. We were driven to the Tunnel of Hope, a 800m tunnel constructed in 1993 during the seige of Sarajevo when it was surrounded by Bosnian Serb forces. The tunnel provided the only link for the city to the outside world and was dug by using shovels, picks and wheelbarrows. Surprisingly, it goes under the Sarajevo airport runway.

The local guide, Boyan, met us outside the Tunnel Museum which is a house owned by the Kolar family. It was pitted with bullet holes and we were shown a Sarajevo Rose on the pavement outside the house. This is a floral pattern made by the landing of a mortar on concrete. They are either painted red or filled with red resin and mark where at least three people were killed by a mortar. There are over 200 Sarajevo Roses in the city. 

Boyan’s father was killed by a sniper during the war when he was a baby. He was excellent at explaining how the war occurred and he will be our guide during our stay in Sarajevo. At the museum we first saw a video explaining the construction of the tunnel and we then were able to walk a part of it. The tunnel took four months and four days to build by 300 people. During the war it is estimated that 3,000 to 4,000 soldiers and civilians passed through the tunnel on a daily basis and it was the only means of getting supplies to the sieged city. Both the UN forces and the Bosnian Serb Army were aware of the tunnel but couldn’t locate it. We were able to walk 100m of the tunnel. 

We arrived at our hotel room at 6.15pm so it was a long day. We met Brian and Julia in the lobby at 7.00pm to go out for dinner. We found a fabulous restaurant in the heart of the city serving local cuisine. Our waiter suggested that we share the local dishes and we were taken aback at how much was being served. Surprisingly we devoured most of it after eating an early lunch. The local red wine was excellent. 

Tomorrow morning Boyan is taking us on a walking tour of the city. It will start at 9.30am so we can have a sleep in after our early start today.