#bosnia Archives • Folksy Travel by Bill Smale

January 9, 2025January 9, 2025

Exploring Mostar History and Relaxation. Mostar with Bill Smale Adventures.

Mostar was definitely the most interesting of the two cities which included Sarajevo. There was a lot of destruction in the city and you can see some bombed out large complexes and a modern Marriott hotel which for some reason has been abandoned. The city is very relaxing to walk around and people don’t seem to be as busy as in a large city so it’s a nice place to hang around and there are a lot of good restaurants. The old town is another post I put up with photos so you can click on “old town” to get the link to it and see what kind of interesting an ancient city has left there. I would recommend at least three days here and if you want to get a hotel on the river or in the old town you might wanna stay a few more days and just relax, enjoy Bosnian and coffee and good Bosnian food. So take a walk around Mostar with Bill Smale adventures.

Cold windy band — A Christmas event band in the seasonal event area with two people watching due to the extreme cold and wind.

The old bridge — The old Bridge. When it’s wet it can be a little bit slippery so you have to take care. This bridge was completely rebuilt since the original ancient Bridge was destroyed as it means of “teaching the people a lesson”.

Walking Santa — I never saw a Santa walking away but I guess he’s busy.

Parking on the sidewalk — Some old abandoned building but you can see people parking on the sidewalk. The police came by one day to take photos and pass out fines so the next day there were no cars on the sidewalk. But on the third day the cars came back and parked on the sidewalk so there seems to be a cycle going on here.

Ducks and plastic on the small river — The plastic collects on the river where it drops down but the ducks keep going to the main river.

Bosnian coffee with sweets — A wonderful Bosnian coffee with homemade sweets (very sweet)

https://maps.app.goo.gl/yHuTKLbkGAg5DHWi6?g_st=com.google.maps.preview.copy

Local restaurant specialty — At the restaurant where local people eat this very inexpensive meal is a specialty of the day. It was fine food, good quality and plenty for me for lunch.

Resident restaurant — The local resident restaurant

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The map of the siege — A map of the places attacked during the 1990s siege on the city.

Another siege map — There was a lot of destruction but most of it is rebuilt with some scarred memories.

The main river in Mostar — The main river through town

Tasty local food — This was a quick food restaurant with a kebab sausage sandwich. You put the sausage and onion and tomato inside the bread. It’s very tasty.

Restaurant menu — Here’s the menu from the restaurant

https://maps.app.goo.gl/JVKCzrZHX7kxQt93A?g_st=com.google.maps.preview.copy

A hotel parting gift — This seems to be a very popular treat which you find all over Bosnia. The hotel gave it to me as a parting gift.

A such dinner — A very elegant dinner setting, waiting for a pre-ordered SUCH dinner, a family style specialty food.

Such — This is meat with vegetables and potatoes in a very nice sauce mixed together called “such”. It takes time to prepare so we are asked to request it in advance

An elegant dessert — A simple but elegantly displayed dessert

A grapa dessert — I guess the dinner would not be complete without grapa. I drink it while eating the dessert since grapa is very strong by itself

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Local coffee shop — I went here many times in this local coffee shop for a coffee and a cigarhttps://maps.app.goo.gl/U9VTTFxPuibAZQNX6?g_st=com.google.maps.preview.copy

Chicken bits — Very tasty chicken bits with pizza style bread. https://maps.app.goo.gl/FE16VDyN7kZ9JL7h8?g_st=com.google.maps.preview.copy

A Greatly designed glass — This restaurant was fairly good and highly recommended and I just like the water glass. It’s the perfect kind of glass that will probably not slip out of your hand. I think this is a great design.

A view of the mountains — A view beyond the city

Strange architecture — I thought this was a very odd construction

Foggy countryside — Foggy and cold in the morning

A Bosnian Vineyard — This is not a great photo but it shows the vineyards along the way. I was told that Bosnia is famous for wine but unfortunately I didn’t try any.

A bombed out building in Mostar — One of the bombed out complex shells

Another damaged building — You can even see the bullet holes in the building and somebody tried to give it some beauty

Excellent restaurant Sadrvan — This was an excellent restaurant so I ate here twice. Sadrvan. I highly recommend it. https://maps.app.goo.gl/odBgYt12SnGEMdzZ7?g_st=com.google.maps.preview.copy

A whole Toscano, a little bit too much for me in one sitting. Normally I have the toscanello which is half this length so most of the time I just break these in two and smoke the one half at one time

I found this very interesting though not related to my visit here

It was nice of them to bring me “hot chili” catch up but there was no spice in it. It just tasted like regular ketchup so maybe they replaced the contents?

Tasty pizza bread — Very tasty pita bread with a flavorful sour cream type spread

The process of preparing a Bosnian coffee — For Bosnian coffee I was first taught to skim the top of the copper contained coffee, the foam with some bean residue, into the cup and then pour coffee into the cup and drop the sugar cube in. It was an interesting process

Baklava — I stopped here for some baklava

Water on the menu — I just put this here to see if you could figure out what this is on the menu. OK time is up. It has to do with water, either mineral or gas (soda water) and the third one I don’t know.

January 8, 2025January 8, 2025

A Wintery walk – old town Sarajevo with Bill Smale Adventures

The history of Sarajevo, Bosnia of course is long but as many of you may remember the war back in the 1990s was very much a persecution of many of the people living here but even going farther back we remember the spark that set off World War I, the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria. One interesting thing I learned recently was even thought this area was under the Austro-Hungarian Empire before World War I the peopledecided they wanted to take some land closer to the north and reduce the subjugation to the empire. Since Russia, allied with the Serbs, activated troops and stationed them on their western border, all hell broke loose. Walk through the old town of Sarajevo with Bill Smale Adventures.

Ćevabdžinica Željo, Old town local food — Eating kebab at a restaurant frequented by locals. Ćevabdžinica Željo

Photos of the archduke — Photos of the procession

Kids playing in snow in old town graveyard — Kids having a snowball fight in a graveyard

SarajevoChristmas event — A Coca-Cola sponsored Christmas event

Illegally parked car — Taking a car, illegally parked, to a impound lot

Partly smoking a Bosnian Cigarette — I don’t smoke cigarettes but just lit it and felt the smoke in my mouth. It was a Bosnian cigarette offered by the owner of the coffee shop

Fresh ground coffee — The owner of this coffee shop grinds the beans to make sure it’s fresh

A very clear sign — The sign is very clear on the contents of the shop

Bosnian sausages and dried meats — Bosnian deli cuisine

Old town Tourist souvenirs — Old town shops

Large Sarajevobazaar — The large inside bazaar

Partly damaged building — A beautiful old building partly damaged

Jameson whiskey advertising — Big advertising for Jameson whiskey

2 man juggling in the street — These guys were doing a two man juggling act every time the traffic stopped for the light

Tramm fine — A €13 fine because they ticket machines on the trams don’t work. Make sure you pay the driver in cash directly.

View from the bus to Sarajevo — On the way from Mostar to Sarajevo

Ancient house — Ancient practical house construction

Ancient artifact — A very detailed ancient artifact

Ancient agricultural artifacts — The lower right has scissors constructed almost exactly the same as the sheepshearers I used to trim the lawn around the edges.

The swastika in use long ago — The swastika was used in ancient times indicating good fortune. I thought it was something originating from northern India but an archive told me it originated farther north.

Tombstone identifier — Relating to the tombstone above

Old symbol — The artifact on the upper right shows the three drops circling just like the old Celtic symbol and the one in Japan from thousands of years ago.

The trident — Not only Neptune but real people used the trident

Swastika on an ancient piece — Here we see on an ancient structural piece the swastika used again

Snowy museum view — A snowy day, view from the museum

January 3, 2025January 3, 2025

A Fascinating walk-through the ancient town of Mostar with Bill Smale adventures

When in Montenegro I saw the town of Mostar in Bosnia on Google maps and history came to mind. I remembered the conflict after the breakup of Yugoslavia and the horrible things that happened in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Mostar was prominent in my memories due to the press attention concerning the destruction of the 400 year-old bridge.

It was a very good thing I visited this town since it has a very old town which is very attractive and a good short walk through mostly tourist related venues but I found the restaurants to be not so expensive compared to many EU countries and very high-quality and tasty food. If you visit Bosnia then this is the one town you should put as the place to visit. It is easily accessible by car and bus so make sure to put it on your itinerary and enjoy walking through Mostar with Bill Smale Adventures.

The rebuilt old bridge in Mostar — A view of the old bridge rebuilt

Old bridge destruction — The targeted destruction of the old bridge.

I did not delve into the reason the old bridge was targeted for destruction but I suspect it was too totally demoralize the people in this area. That not only did not work but the people have great pride in what they have rebuilt and it’s a very beautiful place to visit.

A photo of town — A photo of the video which runs in the genocide museum in town

The old Bridget nighttime — The Bridget Knight

Old Bridge walkway in Mostar — The old bridge walkway

Tourists on the bridge — Only a few touristS since it is not high season

The old town in Mostar — Walking in the ancient town

Shopping in the old town — Many tour shops along the way with restaurants, cafés and opportunities to buy local foods such as baklava and other sweets

View from the bridge — A view from the bridge

A viewpoint restaurant — A restaurant with a good view and a mosque in the background

The edge of the river — People go down to the edge of the river

Small bridge and mosque — Another mosque with the smaller bridge

one thing you have to note is that the old town and the bridge are paved with stones which have been polished over the years by millions of tourists walking on them so especially when it is wet there are places that tend to be slippery.

Restaurant outside — My hotel restaurant outside seating

Sit outside — When it’s not cold in the winter it’s a very nice place to sit outside and enjoy food or coffee

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