Dubrovnik and Split - in pictures

Dubrovnik - main street

Dubrovnik - city hall

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Dubrovnik - old city walls

Split - bell tower

Split - Diocletian's palace

Split - awesome fire show at night

Split - fun night at the beach bar

Split - amazing Carl Cox show on the Riva 

beautiful Split

Mostar

I saw a man jump off a bridge. It was awesome. In fact, most of my time in Mostar was spent watching guys jump off things into the river below. I was too chicken to jump myself, but I did go for a swim in the beautiful turquoise water; my entire body went numb in less than a minute. That water is freezing! When I wasn't hanging out by the river, I was either drinking with the cool guys I met, or touring the rest of the city.

Of course, Mostar was also affected by the war. The contrast is even more pronounced in Mostar - there are brand new buildings constructed right next to bombed out buildings. The contrast is jarring. I also went to a former bank building that was bombed at the beginning of the war, then used by snipers during the later stages of fighting. Some floors are still strewn with documents - bank records, loans, and books are everywhere - while other floors show evidence of fighting - broken glass, shell casings and grenade plugs are everywhere.

Stari Most (Old Bridge)

one of the guys jumping off the lower platform

old Mostar (seen from the bridge)

the local kids started a fire outside our hostel...

New Orleans pride!

 Chicago pride too!

 hanging out at Ali Baba's

I didn't get the memo about the funny faces...

in the burned out building, on the floor that has old bank documents strewn about

document dating from 1982

 
same building, one floor up

 snipers used this floor, hence the shell casings

bank entrance riddled with bullet holes

 

abandoned WWII cemetery...completely neglected nowadays, but it clearly used to be beautiful

 war and peace

locals jumping off the platform

 we waited three hours to see someone jump off the bridge...not that I minded, it's such a beautiful place

finally, someone is going to jump!

Sarajevo

Sarajevo is a beautiful city. It was founded in the late 16th century by the Ottoman Empire and successively ruled by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and as part of Tito's Yugoslavia.  The break up of Yugoslavia in the early 90's led to the creation of Bosnia Herzegovina as an independent, yet ethnically and religiously mixed state.  Ethnic and religious tensions led to the first of the Balkan Wars from 1992 - 1995.  For four years the entire city was held under siege by Serbian troops, until the Dayton Accords in 1995.  Fast-forward fifteen years and what you see is a booming capital city with a strong tourist economy, and a mixed population of Bosnian Muslims, Croats, Serbs, and even Sephardic Jews. If you're not looking closely, it is almost possible to forget the recent war that scarred this city so much. Most buildings have been rebuilt, replastered, or repainted. But signs still linger everywhere, and it's more noticieable in some parts of the city than in others.  Personally, I never got used to seeing the bullet holes that riddle the walls of so many buildings. A lot of tourists I talked to couldn't get over the war; it was all they discussed and all they wanted to know about when touring the city. 

But not me: I really loved Sarajevo for its culture, its history in total. And I was influenced by the locals. I met many locals and talked to them about a range of subjects, not just the war. For those with whom I did discuss the war the consensus seemed to be that they will never forget, but they want to move on. Most of all, I was struck by how proud everyone is of their city. They love the city's history, architecture, food, the surrounding mountains, and they are especially proud of hosting the 1984 Olympics. To this day the main bottled water brand is Sarajevo Olimpija, and the label has a picture of the Olympic Stadium. 

I stayed in a hostel, but met up with couchsurfers both nights I was in Sarajevo. A local couchsurfer, Nikolina, organized the first get-together. She was the only local - the rest of the participants were from the US, Turkey, Poland and Italy (it was mostly Italians). First a few of us hiked up to a viewpoint to watch the sunset over the city.  Then we went to a big outdoor restaurant for dinner. It ended up being a five-hour eating and drinking marathon--soo fun!  The second night was the regular couchsurfing meeting which takes place in a theater and a local band places traditional Bosnian music. The crowd sits wherever they want, and the band wanders around the room. We sat on the stage, amongst old props and lighting equipment. It was random, but still fun.

typical street in old town

sunset over Sarajevo

couchsurfers enjoying the sunset

Sebilj (Pigeon Square) at dusk

Lyon is beautiful

I spent six days in Lyon. I highly recommend Lyon to anyone visiting France. It's the second biggest city, just as cosmopolitan as Paris, and yet the residents are infinitely friendlier and the overall vibe is more laidback.

rooftops and churches

Place des Terreaux

Only in Lyon

couchsurfing meeting...so much fun

Traboules in Lyon

One of the unique things in Lyon are the traboules. They are basically staircases that go between buildings so it's quicker to get from one area of the city to another area. They were originally created when Lyon was a major silk producer, and, for reasons I still don't completely understand, it was advantageous to move rolls of silk through these passages instead of on main streets. More recently they were used by resistance fighters during WWII - they could hide from the enemy and also transport weapons and basic goods without being detected. If I had done this post while I was in Lyon I could have given more accurate details, but alas one week of intense travel has already elapsed and I'm struggling to recall details. Here are a few pictures of the traboules my friends in Lyon led me through:

Fermé pour congés (Closed for annual vacation)

The French take their summer vacation seriously. I know this. I learned about it in French class and heard about it from other travelers, but I had never experienced it myself until now.  It's a two-to-four-week all-out affair, where restaurants, stores, pharmacies and offices shut down.  Walking through Lyon in August gives the impression that locals have been hard hit by the recession and lots of places went out of business. In reality, the owners are just sun bathing in St. Tropez or visiting the ruins in Rome.Those who have stayed seem surprised when they meet other Lyonnais around town; e.g. while standing in line at the pharmacy, all three people in line ahead of me asked the pharmacist why she wasn't on vacation (answer: she went on vacation in June). In all, visiting France in August isn't that bad - all the tourist attractions are open, and lots of cities (such as Lyon) are actually less crowded than usual since so many locals are out of town. And even with so many places closed I was always able find what I needed - sometimes I just had to search a little longer, and walk a bit farther.

Macon and Burgundy countryside

I was in Macon for almost exactly 24 hours, and that was all I needed to see the entire town, plus great scenery in the surrounding area.  On Friday morning Karan (my Helpx host) dropped me off in front of the Macon tourist center and took off. A few minutes later my couchsurfing host showed up and my adventure began! After a short rest at his apartment to drop off my bags and eat lunch, we decided to explore the countryside.

We set off with no specific destination in mind, just driving around until something interesting came along and then we'd stop.  It ended up being a fun adventure of exploring castles, hiking up to viewpoints, and getting lost on tiny, rundown roads meant for tractors and other farm vehicles.  That night we went out to a cafe and then had kebabs sitting by the river. The next day I walked around the town by myself for a few hours and then Florent drove me to the train station.

Staying with Florent was a good way to ease back into couchsurfing...it was just him and his roommate who are both very chill guys. My first couchsurfing experience (in Strasbourg) was great but crazy, and at times overwhelming. So after six weeks of isolation on a farm I was glad to have a low-key reintroduction to the backpacking lifestyle. We had fun exploring, hanging out, drinking and just talking about random stuff.  Florent was happy I surfed his couch because it gave him an excuse to see some things he wouldn't normally visit (his words), and I learned about Macon, Lyon and some cool french bands. He also introduced me to a new drink - red wine and coke. I was hesitant at first - since I'm not a big fan of either one individually - but when combined it's very refreshing!

Burgundy countryside

Macon

Travelling Again

I left the farm yesterday and set off for three weeks of travel. I'll be spending a week in France before busing my way to Eastern Europe - Zagreb, Sarajevo, Mostar, Dubrovnik, Lake Bled and Ljubljana are all on the itinerary. Of course the list is subject to change, but that's the current plan. What worries me the most is that it's August in Europe. Well, it's August everywhere, but in Europe it's peak tourist season and I don't have anything booked ahead of time. I'm slightly comforted by the fact that it's not possible to book trains or buses online for any of these countries. The only way to get tickets ahead of time is to go to a sales office which means you have to actually be in the country to book a ticket. That means no foreign tourists can pre-book, so I assume I won't have too much trouble buying a ticket on the spot. I do need to think about sleeping though - I'll probably do a mixture of couchsurfing and hostels.

In France I'm going to Macon (already visited), Lyon (current location), and hopefully Annecy. I'll also be spending a few days in Paris when I get back from Eastern Europe, but before going to the Loire Valley for another HelpX exchange.

I'll try to keep the blog updated while I'm travelling!