We were fuming. We had spent nearly two months running the gauntlet of the chaotic Italian roads and come out of it unscathed only to have a lorry take out our wing mirror on a quiet road in Bosnia.
Whilst we could still drive with a broken mirror it was far from ideal so we put our plans for Sarajevo on hold once more and drove straight to the main Mercedes dealer on the western edge of the city.
We had no idea how much it would cost us but what we did know was that the chances of them having a mirror in stock were very low and it would be a minimum of 15 days to get the part sent here from Germany.
So we arrived at Mercedes expecting to order the part, pay through the nose for it and have it arrive sometime over Christmas for us to collect when we got back from the UK in January.
Imagine our surprise when the lovely gentlemen in the parts department told us that they had the very part we needed in their warehouse, ordered for another customer who never picked it up. A quick check with the manager confirmed we could have it for just £80 and we walked out of the dealership clutching our new wing mirror with surprised grins on our faces.
I guess sometimes luck has to be on our side!
With BigMog fully repaired, our first stop was the Tunnel of Salvation
This tunnel was dug during the four year Siege of Sarajevo in the 1990s war and was a lifeline between the city and the ’free’ territory held by the Bosnian Army. Food, supplies and weapons came in, people went out
The museum was originally opened by the owners of the house used as the entrance to the tunnel and was run as a private enterprise. It was taken over by the Sarajevo Memorial Centre in 2012 and was the most expensive place we visited in the whole of Bosnia.
I had spent a long time trying to find somewhere to park-up in Sarajevo to use as a base for our explorations. There were two main choices, both as close to the historic old town as we could get but frustratingly not actually very close at all.
The first was a car park in a rather run down part of the city with graffiti and rubbish everywhere. It all felt a bit grim and not particularly safe but many people on our park-up apps had stayed there and there were few other choices, so we decided to risk it.
We walked 1.5km into the city to see the ICAR Canned Beef Monument
It was covered in graffiti and somewhat uncared for but this seemed to add to the message it was intended to convey – a memorial to the total inadequacy of the international humanitarian aid provided to the city during the siege, including expired and inedible food. As far as tongue-in-cheek memorials go it had to be one of the best.
Across the road we found the History Museum of BiH. We didn’t go in but there were some very interesting exhibits outside in the gardens
From there we went on to the Jewish cemetery, the second largest in Europe
Most of the documents detailing the history of this cemetery were destroyed in 1941 but we did find out that the first grave here dates back to 1630
And the last was in 1966
The whole place was overgrown and felt very abandoned but that just added to the atmosphere and sense of mystery that these centuries old tombstones created
We planned to stay in the city for a few days but wanted to get a bit closer to the city’s heart before the day was out. So we ambled up to the main street and walked towards the old town. We found a bustling, modern and relatively clean city with shopping centres, restaurants and coffee shops lining the streets. We poked about in watch shops and outdoor shops and found strange art installations everywhere
Eventually it was starting to get dark so we headed back to the truck, crossing the disused railway line through an abandoned station which was a world away from the sparkling, lively city we had just left behind
That night, we were fast asleep when someone suddenly started knocking on the door. My heart sank, this car park had not felt at all safe and now we had someone clearly stalking around trying to find out whether BigMog was defended. James jumped out of bed and swung the door open, bellowing at the man to go away. He ran off and we heard nothing more from him or any one else for the rest of the night.
We were pleased to be leaving the car park behind the next morning and drove straight to the other park-up place which was at the football stadium. It was absolutely heaving with people and cars but we managed to squeeze into a spot right at the back.
It felt safer, probably because there were more people around, but we were still a long way from the centre. We walked 3km back to the main shopping area we had visited the day before, passing by one of the many large graveyards in the city
From there we continued into the old town. The walk along the Miljacka River was beautiful with rows of Ottoman-era buildings on both sides
The ever-present street art was everywhere
And we found the ruins of a 16th century caravanserai, an inn for merchants
There were a lot of little bridges crossing the river, each with a name plaque and a little bit of history
But the main event, of course, was the Latin Bridge
This is where history was made, with the assassination of Franz Ferdinand taking the world into war
We went into the small Sarajevo Museum next to the bridge where we saw a replica of the car Franz Ferdinand and his wife were in at the time
Along with the clothes the assassin was wearing. We also learnt all about the build-up to the assassination, the reasons behind it and why it caused the first world war.
I had never understood why the assassination of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne caused Britain and Germany to go to war and everyone else to follow. And, of course, it didn’t – that is a purely UK-centric view. I feel rather better educated on it all now, including the realisation that the UK and Germany were only ever supporting players. You learn so much when you travel, including a large dollop of humility!
After all that history we needed sustenance and found a wonderful tapas restaurant on one of the side streets where we could have stayed all day. But there is no rest for nomads, after pasta and Chinese chicken we pressed on to the magnificent City Hall
It was built in 1894 in pseudo-Moorish style to honour the Muslim background of the city. It was used as a court house and a parliamentary building and then turned into the National and University Library.
Sadly the building was heavily bombed during the siege and the entire library holdings were destroyed along with much of the building itself. Emergency repairs were done in the late 1990s to stabilise it but it wasn’t until 2014 that it was properly restored and reopened as the library, city council and a museum.
We peered inside the door to see the fabulous, domed atrium
We hadn’t expected to be able to enter but were welcomed in by a gentleman who told us we could visit the museum. We were so glad we did – the whole interior was stunning
And the museum was fascinating. There was some very eclectic art on display
And an exhibition all about the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia along with an exact replica of the courtroom
Some of the information we read about the court’s work was harrowing but it gave a hopeful message that those who perpetrate the worst war crimes don’t always get away with it
By the time we had finished it was 3:30pm and already getting dark. We walked back over the bridge and spotted the House of Spite – apparently a ‘symbol of Bosnian stubbornness, insubordination and persistence’
The house was originally built very close to where the City Hall now stands and ended up in the way of construction. So the authorities offered to buy the house but the owner turned them down, even when they offered much more than the house was worth. In the end, the only way he could be won over was by moving his house brick by brick across the river…and giving him a large bag of gold!
We made our way back to the Mog as the sun set, the city becoming more beautiful than ever in the twilight
I really wanted to go in and look around this little church but we were both tired and had a 3km walk ahead of us so decided to leave it until tomorrow.
It had been a great day and Sarajevo was growing on us.
The next morning we woke up to freezing temperatures and frost on the ground. The locals clearly thought I was mad as I diligently did my training at 7am in my thick fleece and woolly gloves – I heard shouts as I was doing my stretches and turned round to see a group of around ten young men waving and calling out to me from the windows of the nearby training academy!
It took until 11am before I had defrosted enough to head back into the city. Our first stop was back at the little church we had seen the night before
It turned out to be a Serbian Orthodox church with a small museum
The museum housed some beautiful old religious artefacts
And the inside of the church itself was lovely
We then headed into the old town, known as Bascarsija – the historical and cultural centre of the city.
The main square is called ‘Pigeon Square’, we didn’t need to ask why
In the middle of the square is the Sebilj, an Ottoman-style wooden fountain
We had a guided walking tour booked for 1pm and wandered around the markets whilst we waited for it to start
We came across the impressive Gazi Husrev-beg mosque
With his tomb in the courtyard
It was still bitterly cold, the day had not warmed up at all since the early morning and we were suffering with frozen fingers, toes and faces even with our big coats, hats, scarves and gloves on. Winter was very much with us now.
Our guide was lovely. We learnt so much about the history of trade and industry here including a visit to a craftsman to watch him making all sorts of things out of copper
In Uganda we stood on the line of the equator, where north meets south. Here in Sarajevo we stood on the line where east meets west – the ‘meeting of cultures’
And it is so true. BiH, and Sarajevo in particular, is a melting pot of eastern and western cultures. There are few other places where you can see both orthodox and catholic churches, a mosque and a synagogue all from the same spot
Our tour ended on a more sombre note – the Sarajevo Roses. There are around 200 of these ’roses’ scattered around the city, marking the places where three or more people were killed during the siege
To cheer us up, our guide took us to a place where he said we could buy the best baclava in the city. We were a bit peckish by now so I went in and bought the three of us a piece each. We sat outside the shop and ate it and he was right – it was amazing. So much so that I went back in and bought another four pieces to take away with us.
The next morning we had intended to drive the 30km from our football stadium back to the lovely park-up place near the Olympic ski slopes for a bit of peace and quiet. But we were having power problems.
To explain the cause of these problems, here is a quote from the news in 2021
Around the time we were there, the news was increasingly dire
Sarajevo sits in a valley surrounded by hills. These hills hold the air over the city and there is little breeze to blow the pollution away. So an almost permanent blanket of smog sits over it.
At first we couldn’t understand it, the weather forecast kept telling us there were blue skies and sun but when we looked up all we could see were thick, low clouds. What we didn’t realise was the these were not clouds, it was smog.
I said in a previous post that with our 1.2kW solar array on the roof, power was not something we ever have to worry about. And that has turned out to be true, even in the depth of winter. But now, here in Sarajevo, it was different. We were driving very little and the smog was blocking out the sun, making our solar panels completely useless. Our batteries were down to 23% and we were getting worried.
So we drove the 30km to the Olympic park-up place and then just kept going. We drove the winding roads south for 45 minutes then turned round and drove back again. Our batteries were at 56%, still low but no longer critical.
When we arrived at our park-up spot it was just as beautiful as it had been the first time
We were high up above the city here so could finally see the sun again.
There were two cars and five men there which initially disappointed us as we had been hoping for some solitude. But they were very friendly and two of them had motorbikes – one electric and the other an old two-stroke. We got chatting about the bikes – watching them race off together over the hills.
The three guys that were left were very interested in BigMog and we talked to them for ages. They suggested that we visit an old wooden mosque just up the road before we left the next day
Eventually it started to get dark and even colder so they headed off home and we had a blissfully peaceful night under the stars.
This winter has been particularly cold all across Europe and BiH was no different. It was now the middle of December and the arctic weather was just starting. When we woke up the next morning there was a thick layer of frost on the ground and as soon as I opened the door to go out and do my training the freezing temperature hit me like a truck
I trained underneath the pavilion where the ground frost was not quite as thick and was wearing two layers of thick fleeces and my thick woolly gloves
But, by the time I had finished, my fingers and toes were numb and I was feeling a little ill. It was too cold, even I had to admit that this was not good for me
We headed off to find the wooden mosque which turned out to be the Mount Igman Mosque, otherwise known as the ‘War Mosque’
Built by members of the Bosnian Army during the 1990s war, in winter conditions, it is considered a powerful symbol of maintaining faith, culture, and community in the midst of destruction
The drive back to the main road was gorgeous and our day had started well. Sadly, it was not destined to continue that way, we were heading for another of our disastrous drives.
We wanted to visit the Yellow Fortress, White Fortress and the abandoned Zmejevac Fortress, which are clustered together on the eastern hills of the city. We had checked our route and it all appeared fine and at first it was – we were driving along the river through the city, past City Hall where we had walked two days ago.
But about 2km from the White Fortress we had to turn off the main road into the side streets. I knew these roads were going to be tight but I had no idea just how tight.
The route led us deep into tiny, residential streets, built for horses and carts. Our stress levels started to rise again. We twisted and turned and found ourselves squeezing past parked cars with only inches to spare. At the very last moment, about 100 metres from the car park, we were stopped in our tracks by a low over hanging roof blocking our way.
We were stuck. It had been almost impossible getting through these roads forwards, now we had to negotiate them backwards. Of all the problems we have got ourselves into, this was one of the worst.
As we carefully nudged BigMog back, the locals watched with big smiles and clapped and waved as we made progress. They may have thought it was a great spectacle, we had other ideas.
Eventually we made it to a junction of two of the tiny roads which gave us just enough space to turn around. Now we were going forwards but it didn’t make it much easier. We took a wrong decision and ended up in front of a low bridge which required yet another perilous twenty eight point turn to backtrack.
We finally made it back onto the main drag, our nerves in tatters, and I navigated a route back through the city heading out towards the Olympic Bobsleigh track which was about 1km away as the crow flies but 20km using roads we could actually get down.
And even when we got there we found it was absolutely packed with visitors. Both car parks were full, cars were parked along the roadside, it was chaos. On any other day it wouldn’t have mattered too much but today it felt like the last straw.
We carried on up the road until I spotted a small, dirt car park just off to the side. James swung in, turned the engine off and we sat there for a few minutes with our heads in our hands vowing that we would never, ever do anything like that again.
After calming ourselves with a late lunch we left BigMog in the car park and walked down the road back to the Bobsleigh track
The track was built for the Sarajevo Olympics and then used for competitions until the war started in 1992. It was damaged in the Sarajevo siege and used as an artillery position by Serb forces
It is still remarkably intact and, from what we could see, is now used by locals as a place to walk and enjoy nature
From up here you could get fabulous views over the city, or at least you could if it wasn’t hidden under the thick layer of smog
We wandered up the track, breathing in the fresh air and enjoying the far-reaching views. There was another set of Olympic rings
And at the very top was the cable car that took you down to the city. We decided that after Christmas we would come back up here and take the cable car down to visit the three fortresses.
Later that evening, once all the crowds had gone, we moved BigMog back to the hotel car park we had originally intended to park in and spent a very noisy but happy night listening to dogs barking, young people doing donuts around the car park and owls hooting
The next morning I got dressed into my gym kit, opened the door to go outside, took one breath of frigid air and went back to bed for a hour! I had gone too far braving the cold the morning before, a line had been crossed and I decided enough was enough.
Our tanks were frozen again – water would not go down the sink and our toilet was out of action unless we wanted another smelly swimming pool in our wet room.
BigMog was well-designed and well-built but we had never travelled in sub-zero temperatures before and were on a steep learning curve. We needed to do some re-designing and retro-fitting of cold-weather features such as putting heating coils and insulation around our tank pipes. And none of that could be done until we went back to the UK and bought the bits we needed. Until then, we were dead in the water as far as being self-sufficient went.
Fortunately for us, we were flying to the UK for Christmas in two days time. The campsite where we were leaving BigMog was 2km down the road and even though they weren’t expecting us until tomorrow, they were happy for us to arrive early. So we decided that discretion was the better part of valour, packed ourselves up and drove to the place that we, or at least BigMog, would be calling home for the foreseeable future
We were greeted by the owner’s young son who showed us around. We had flushing toilets, hot showers and a large kitchen area where we could cook, sit and – to my great delight – train!
We had an electric hook-up which we desperately needed to get the batteries back up and there was even a washing machine as well as fruit, crisps, chocolate and beer all included in the price
The whole place was beautiful
A few hours later the owner herself, Stojana, arrived and she was lovely. She couldn’t do enough for us and made us feel at home – we had no doubt that BigMog would be well looked after here
We got busy preparing BigMog for his holiday. James made some adjustments to our toilet that would help keep it cleaner in the future
We then scrubbed the inside, did seven washing machine loads of clothes and bedding, drained our fresh water tank, switched off the fridge, the satellite receiver and finally the inverters and batteries. We packed our bags ready for the flights and did everything else we needed to get ready for our Christmas holiday.
We even brought Teddy in from the cab and tucked him up with Dot…
When the time came, Stojana was kind enough to drive us to the airport and we headed off to see our family and friends for a well-earned break
It seemed strange to fly back from our travels in just two short flights of less than 2 hours each, it had always been a minimum 24 hour mission from Africa. As usual, my sister collected us and it was wonderful to be with everyone again for a perfect family Christmas
We spent much of time in the UK buying all the UniMog parts it was possible to get our hands on
As well as having to give the car we use in the UK and James’ motorbike a lot of TLC. We weren’t mobile for much of the time with both vehicles off the road and between that, me catching a horrible cold within a couple of days of landing and Christmas itself we hardly saw any friends. It was hard work all round and when it was time to go back it felt as though we had hardly been away.
We had been tracking the weather forecasts for Sarajevo whilst we were in the UK and were concerned to see the temperatures plummeting. When we left it had been around 3-5 degrees during the day and minus 3 to minus 5 degrees overnight. Now the thermometers were saying minus 18 overnight and never above minus 10 during the day. A sense of foreboding was gathering.
I contacted Stojana the day before our flights to confirm we were on our way back and to check all was well at her end. She said BigMog had been no trouble at all and everything was fine. She sent a photograph of him sitting in the campsite waiting for us
We gulped. I wrapped my scarf a little closer around my neck….were we really about to do this….?
The Sidetracked Sagas 