Where We're Going

Where We're Going

Monday 2 June 2008

Snowstorms and ice-creams and nuns, oh my!

We left Mostar early for our bus to Dubrovnik, but had just enough time to watch some of an amazing Bosnian soap opera, where the suspense music lasted for almost an entire 10 minute scene. From what I could tell it did look pretty gripping but even I would regard 10 minutes as being a little long. We had ice-cream for breakfast and noticed in the newspaper and sweet kiosks that all the porn was on the lowest shelves, and clearly in view. Similarly, in Split the porn is housed with the comic books oddly.

Leaving Mostar by bus we noticed a sign pointing towards a "Hotel Bristol", we seem to have seen the same named hotel in every city we have stayed in so far, and they all look really swanky. I think they would get a bit of a shock if they actually went there. The bus took 3 hours and was incredibly pretty, plus there was sea at the end! As we got off the bus we were swamped by old ladies offering us rooms to rent. We politely declined and one woman chased us as we were leaving the bus station, adamant that her room was much better than our previously booked room! We made our way to the hostel up yet another hill. If it hadn't been for the sea breeze I'm sure we wouldn't have made it, it was another scorcher. We arrived at the hostel after a good 20 minute walk. I call it a hostel, but in reality it was a picturesque little house perched on a hillside, covered in vines with fig trees outside in the road, belonging to a guy who lives there with his parents and rents out the two spare rooms. Our room was enormous, and furnished more like a hotel room than a hostel. We were told to leave our bags in the room and come straight to the balcony for juice. The whole air of the place, the laid back attitudes and the feel of the area made us feel like we were on holiday for the first time since we've been on this trip. Despite being told repeatedly to take it easy we couldn't wait to get to the Old City we had heard so much about. In no way did it disappoint, it was far more spectacular than I had expected. The pretty stepped side streets leading off the main strip were as perfect as the alleys in Taormina, and no less photogenic. We missed a great photo opportunity while sitting outside the city walls as three old men wearing trainers, fluorescent bumbags and caps walked past in a row. The old men who weren't tourists were sitting on various steps dotted around the city sketching their surroundings, and the old ladies were out in force. As were the nuns, there were hundreds of them! Amusingly, most of them looked like fake nuns in fancy dress. We also saw a fake-looking monk in Mostar, forgot to mention that earlier.

Walking back to the room from town we popped into the local grocery store to buy supplies. We've been living on a basic diet of bread (the nicest one being from Sarajevo), chocolate spread (Barpy from Bosnia is the best), crisps (the only available flavours being red pepper or peanut flavour), cheese, biscuits, the odd bit of pasta, cola (so far we've had Sky Cola, Hevi Cola and Cola 21) and orange juice, you know, for vitamins. When we're feeling a bit posh we'll get the odd burek (Bosnian being the best so far) and, of course, ice-cream! There were some old women in the shop who seemed to be causing quite a fuss with their money at the till, and I couldn't help but giggle at them. We started each other off, and they started giggling then the shop assistant started giggling too. I love old Croatian women!

The next day we went for a nice walk again along the seafront and down to the sea, woop! The sea was really clear but I didn't paddle for fear of sea urchins (I had read about them being in the Adriatic off Croatia and didn't want to go in barefoot). We had another lovely walk through the Old City, weaving our way through the throngs of old Americans on their guided tours. We have generally felt pretty happy walking around foreign cities, keeping out of the way of the tourists, especially in Belgrade where we were stopped and asked for directions in Serbian. I can, however, no longer honestly say I don't feel like a tourist: my trusty Birkenstocks finally gave way in Mostar (damn those cobbles!) and I simply couldn't resist buying some green jelly shoes for 10 Kuna (£1). The sun was at its hottest and the streets full of people so we ducked into a shady alley to escape. John was as happy as a badger with a beard in the labyrinthine alleys of the city. Every alley we headed down, as well as demanding to be photographed, was full of cats. There were little money boxes dotted about the streets with signs saying "Please give us some money for food" and signed "The Cats".

We eventually met up with the main street again, conveniently just as my tummy decided it fancied an ice-cream - 7 Kuna (70p) for a nice sugar cone with a huge scoop of creme caramel flavour. We ate ice-cream and watched some small children play with the pigeons in the square. That is, until they noticed us watching them when they decided pigeons were no fun and that they would do a little dance for us instead!

The heat finally got to us and we headed home for a nap. I dreamt about a certain Mr Tim Kennington who was wearing a long navy blue jacket and culottes combo, with the periodic table printed on it. I think he had gone a bit mad: he kept jumping around and dancing in his pretty suit, pointing at and singing about various elements.

That night we headed back into town to take some more photos, and saw some stoat like animals frolicking around the city walls. The same animals are on the 2 kune coin, interestingly. While waiting for a really good photo (there were people in the way) an old man on a bicycle sped past us making motorbike sounds, and then suddenly came to a halt when he saw us trying to subdue our laughing. We assumed there would be some kids on bikes following him, but no, he was followed by another old man. They seemed so embarrassed about the whole thing, greeted us in Croatian and slunk away down another quiet street.

Highlight of the night: I finally found a snowstorm!

2 comments:

Jae Kay said...

I'm enjoying your posts! I hope the rest of the trip is as enjoyable.

Unknown said...

sounds lovely. I love readng yur posts, though am not sure about the nutritional value of the ice cream diet.

xxx