29 Jun 2014 Sarajevo & Srebrenica (Mike)/to Mostar (Carol)

29 Jun 2014 Sarajevo & Srebrenica (Mike)/to Mostar (Carol)
Mike

Today was to be a long day trip to Srebrenica for Mike.  From the Central Bus Station, there is a 7:15 am bus to Srebrenica and a 4:30 pm return.  Yesterday he had bought that round trip.

Up very early, walk the few hundred meters to the Bascanica tram stop, where there are others waiting.  There are two trams from here.  The basic tram goes all the way to Ilidza, which we took two days ago on the way to the Tunnel Museum.  There is another tram which pulls into the train/bus station area, just after leaving the downtown area.  That second tram is what Mike needs.

Breakfast is a quick pastry and coffee from an open shop.  But instead of waiting at the tram stop for a tram that may not be coming, Mike starts walking, at least to the next tram stop.  It is 6:00 am and the sky is clear.  The sun is shining.  Everything is beautiful ... and no tram seems to be coming.  So, walk to the next tram stop, . . . and the next.  The train station is 6 tram stops.  After the fourth tram stop, Mike sees a tram waiting to go the station, so he hops on for the two remaining stops.  On the walk, there is a sign: "Ramazanserif Mubarek Olsun," which probably means Have a Blessed Ramadan.  It probably also means that today (29 Jun) is the first day of Ramadan.

Mike is at the bus station at 6:45 am.  There he meets the other Swedish couple, who were on our Dubrovnik-Sarajevo bus.  They are going off to Mostar today. 

There are both regional and international buses coming in and leaving.  At 7:08 am, a bus pulls in with the sign "Srebrenica-Sarajevo: Bratunac, Milici, Vlasenica, Kladanj, Olovo."  We are obviously doing the trip in reverse, and it is obviously Mike's bus, so on he goes.  There are maybe 8 folks on this 45 passenger bus, so he grabs the front seat. No one complains.  We go north towards Olovo in the hills, picking up a few, dropping off a few.  We make it to Kladanj at 8:50 am.  It is a sleepy town with not much happening, but we need a smoke stop.  Off to the side, someone is grilling a big batch of whole chickens.  By noon, there is going to be some good eating.

At 9:30 am we pull into Vlasenica.  The further we go, the more Cyrillic (Serb), and the less Roman (Bosnian, Croat) lettering.  The signs around here are mostly in Cyrillic, with some Roman lettering here and there.  This is one country, but there is a very uneasy peace between the parties.  As we go eastward (towards Serbia) it is getting a whole lot more Serbian in tone. At 9:50 am we are at Milici.  This is a bus station with 10 gates, but probably only 20 buses a day.  Finally, we are in Srebrenica.  It is 10:40 am.  It is not clear where the bus station is, but this looks like the town center, so I get off.  There are two new mosque minarets here.  There is also a restaurant.  Though 20 years ago, this area was a Muslim region surrounded by Serbs, today the Serbs dominate.  We are near the Drina River, which separates Bosnia from Serbia proper.  Everything is in Cyrillic, nothing in Roman letters.  The post office box says "Poste Srpske," with not a hint that we are still in Bosnia.

Because Mike had almost no breakfast, he orders a bowl of chicken soup, a bowl of goulash, and a coffee.  It comes to less than 10 KM ($7) and is very tasty.

A little history is in order.  Before 1992, this corner of Bosnia was heavily Muslim-Bosniak.  When civil war broke out, the UN declared Srebrenica a "safe haven," and the mostly Muslim city of 10,000 swelled to 50,000 folks.  The Serbs threatened the small "safe haven" territory, and the small Dutch contingent of the UNPROFOR was supposed to protect the area.  Finally, on 11 July 1995, the Serbs overwhelmed the Dutch, the Serbs controlled the town, and the local population fled into the hills.  The Dutch were stationed at Potocari, a small community about 4 km north of Srebrenica, and about 4 km south of the town of Bratunac.  There tens of thousands of Muslim refugees streamed, and the Dutch couldn't protect them.  The net result was the massacre, over the next week or so, of close to ten thousand Muslim men and boys.

By October the parties were negotiating in Dayton, Ohio, and the Dayton Accords of Dec 1995 "resolved" these issues.  The resolution involved splitting Bosnia into 10 cantons, each of which would be dominated by one of the three competing regional groups (Boshiak, Serb, Croat).  This framework remains til today.

Not long after the accords, professionals and locals started digging up mass graves and identifying bodies.  By 2003 a cemetery was built in Potocari and dedicated.  As of today there are 8372 graves and a stark memorial.

Mike finished the meal fairly quickly, decided that there was little of tourist interest in Srebrenica, and asked (in terrible Serbian), "Is there a taxi?"  For that matter he may have asked it in Russian, or in no discernible language.  Anyway, the question came across as "Taxi?"  At which time, a gentleman got up from his coffee, went to his private car. Guess I had a taxi.  We agreed on 5 KM ($3.50).  Who knows if it was a fair price?  Off we went, back up the road toward Bratunac.

He left Mike off at the memorial.  There is a pavilion, surrounded on three sides by a circular, alphabetically arranged list of the deceased.  All of this is surrounded by 8372 nearly identical gravestones.  I have not been to other similar memorials (Vietnam War, 9/11, e.g.) but this one certainly rates as among the most moving memorials in existence.

I took in the memorial for about a half hour.  It was not yet noon, and I had more than 4 1/2 hours to spend here.  So I took a leisurely walk along the road into Bratunac.  About 40 minutes later, I was in Bratunac, at the bus station.  I had 4 hours to spare.  I took a short walk into the town center, bought a soda, went back, sat down in the adjoining cafeteria and had a beer, and mostly vegged out.

Srebrenica/Potocari is a shouldn't miss place, but boy is it a nuisance getting to and from.  As I sat there with nothing to do but wait, I started contemplating trips in an alternate universe.  We could have taken a direct bus from Belgrade to Sarajevo, but . . .

There are 3 buses a day from Belgrade to Bratunac.  You get to Bratunac, walk or take a taxi, or some local bus to Srebrenica and Potocari, see Srebrenica itself and see the memorial cemetery at Potocari, get back to Bratunac, and then take one of three buses to Sarajevo.  As I sat there I noted that it didn't seem to be possible to buy Bosnian KMs in this town, and contemplated actually buying a ticket on a Bosnian bus using only Serbian money.  It is probably realistic.  At 2:30 pm, a bus was going back to Sarajevo, along an entirely different route (Visegrad, Pale).  It was going to end up at the Dobrinja bus station 10 km west of downtown not far from Ilidza and the airport.  But its route felt much more Serbian.

Any way, after an uneventful trip, we were back in Sarajevo after 8 pm.  I took the tram into town, got off a little too soon, but finally made my way to the Sarajevska Pivinca, where Carol had eaten the night before.  A delicious plate of sausage, fries, and a large beer met my needs, and I walked back to go to bed.

Carol

Hotel transfer day for the group. With packing + breakfast + luggage, we do not leave Sarajevo until 9:15. When we get to the trailhead at 11:55, it is already hot. Since yesterday midmorning, Carol has been experiencing some Montezuma (Tito? UNESCO?) revenge. It has struck full force today. It is already quite warm when we start hiking the Diva Grabovica Valley. Here are those scary tall crags we viewed on the bus from Dubrovnik to Sarajevo.

Long story short: Carol ready to call it quits 1/3 up of the way up at a fine natural spring. It's quite enjoyable watching the dragonflies and an unusual butterfly. Our leader Ann summons our driver, who walks Carol back down to the van. Ann has brought along an interesting book, "A Short History of Bosnia." Great read! Eventually the rest of the crew comes back, totally bushed. Carol feels ashamed and defeated, but it was the right choice for today.

Back down the bumpy road into town. We settle in to a nice place in Mostar, "Motel Demadino." Our room has a kitchenette with a deep sink and a huge private patio perfect for drying clothes. Rub a dub dub time.

Lovely dinner overlooking the river and a perfect view of the famous REFURBISHED Old Bridge. Honestly, it's not what Carol imagined. It does not have the delicacy of Venetian bridges; instead, it is a sturdy ribbed stone structure that served to unite the town - until it was blown to smithereens. A nearby museum runs a loop film about its destruction and rebirth.

What a dinner: huge platters of salad and all kinds of grilled meat, including chicken and grilled liver. Another platter of stuffed veggies (onion, pepper, tomatoes). Instead of grape leaves, the sarmele use either chard or kale.

A little wandering after dinner, then time for bed.