Another Country Brewing?

Friday, Aug. 26, 2016--Sarajevo

I took the trolley-bus (electric bus) this morning to buy my bus ticket for Sunday.  It's important I catch that bus, and there is no way to know how popular it will be, since it goes all the way to the coast where many people take their vacations.  I had already asked if there was a place to buy the ticket in town.  There are two bus stations, and everyone kept suggesting I go to the Central Bus Station. But I already knew that the only buses going my direction leave from the Eastern Bus Station.  The lady at the tourist office didn't even seem to know much about it and said it is a separate area.  Well, as I watched on my phone as I made my way there, I noticed a division line that said Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina on one side of it and said Republik of Srpska.  The Eastern Station is on the Srpska side (and is actually southwest, rather than east, of Sarajevo).

As I read about it, the Republik of Srpska was established as part of the peace agreement to end the war.  It includes the areas that were occupied by people of Serbian culture (which means they attend the Orthodox Church vs. Bosnians who are Muslims).  Although officially part of the country of Bosnia and Herzegovina, they have almost total independence (and apparently want it to become total).  They recently established a delegation to the EU in Brussels.

It's all evidence to show that the problems that caused the war are not very deep under the surface.  It could break out all of a sudden if Srpska tried to get true independence.  Both sides committed atrocities against each other and probably are ready to avenge the offenses committed against them.

Anyway, I bought my ticket and left Srpska to return to Sarajevo in BH.  But the ticket was a surprise.  It cost more than I had estimated based on costs of previous bus tickets on this trip.  Before leaving Belgrade, I traded just enough extra dinars for markas to spend here.  It was a  pretty good estimate until I bought the bus ticket.  It, with the two bus tickets to get out to the station and back ate up over half of the money that I had gotten through the exchange to spend here.  Since what I have left will be okay as long as I only eat one meal out tomorrow, I won't exchange more (because the amount I would need to exchange would be ridiculously low).  I ate some of my breakfast food for dinner tonight.  That's the problem with every small country having it's own currency; it's very difficult to plan what you will need and it is expensive to have leftover currency which has to be exchanged again in the next country.

Back in town, I wandered through a more modern area.  It has the new skyscrapers, the US Embassy, several shopping malls, and the train station.  It was interesting to see, but not as nice as the older parts of town.  Because the city is enclosed by mountains, skyscrapers are really the only way to grow, so the photos in the link above show pictures of the ones that exist (including some photos of previous ones that burned during the war some of which were rebuilt later), and architectural drawings of others that are proposed.

Next, I went to the Latin Bridge beside which Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated--the trigger that set of World War I.  I saw a set of photos showing him during his visit and at the point on the road beside the bridge where he was killed.

By then, it was hot and I was thirsty and tired.  I returned to the apartment.  I thought of going out again in the evening, but decided just to stay inside.  Tomorrow is another day to do things, and I probably have planned one too many days here anyway.  It's a nice city, but it is quite small in general.