Day 1: Home to Sarajevo

Our big summer trip this year was to Qatar and Tanzania, which turned out to be an absolutely amazing experience. Back when we were planning it, however, we didn't know for sure how much we were going to enjoy it and so I wanted to make sure that we had another, more relaxing trip booked for the autumn to look forward to. When Tim was browsing online he found some cheap flights to Sarajevo from Stansted and, given that Bosnia was one of our unvisited European countries, that seemed like too good an opportunity to pass up on. Initially I was envisaging a short break, but once I started reading the Bosnia guidebook and realised how much there was to see, the holiday somehow turned into a 10-day road trip.

Our flight to Sarajevo was at 08.30 this morning, so we had a pretty early start to the day with alarms set for 03.30. There was very little traffic at that time of the morning, so we made it to Stansted ahead of schedule and with plenty of time for a leisurely breakfast in Wetherspoons. The flight to Sarajevo was around 2.5 hours and we took off fairly promptly by Ryanair standards, arriving punctually just after midday. This isn't a very good photo because I took it through the plane window, but hopefully it gives an impression of just how hilly the area around the airport was as we came in to land.

There was quite a long queue for passport control but when we got to the front of it, the process seemed quite smooth; we weren't asked any questions about how long we were staying etc. Once we got through we found our baggage was already waiting for us, so we were able to stroll straight out into the arrivals area, where we were met by a taxi driver holding a sign with my name. I don't normally book a taxi from the airport, but the timetable for the airport bus in Sarajevo seems a bit irregular. There was a bus at 12.30, which I didn't think we stood any chance of making, and then the next one wasn't until after 2pm. I'd experimented with booking a taxi via booking.com for the first time and it worked perfectly; it was all paid for online in advance and the driver knew the exact address of our apartment. That was a relief because I was struggling to get my e-Sim to work, so would have struggled to contact someone if it hadn't worked out.

The route turned out to be really scenic. The airport is higher than the city centre and so we drove down some really steep streets as we made our way towards the old town. We've hired a car for the rest of our trip but I didn't think we'd need one while we were in the capital and I think that's been a good decision; it looks like it would be a difficult city to drive and park in.

The man we're renting an apartment from was waiting for us outside the building when we arrived and showed us inside. At EUR 75/night, this is the most expensive apartment we're staying in on this trip and we're mainly paying for the location, which is really close to the old town. For that we've got a comfortable bedroom...

...as well as a nice kitchen/dining area.

It was quite sunny at the point we arrived but tomorrow's weather forecast is for significant rain, so our host recommended that if we wanted to see Sarajevo in the sunshine we should go out and do that now. He particularly recommended going up the cable car behind the town while the weather was good. We unpacked the essentials, resisted the temptation to have a nap and set off outside.

We wandered through the streets of the old town, towards the river. Wherever we looked there were hills towering above us.

The old town is full of beautiful mosques.

Sarajevo was part of the Ottoman empire from 1461 to 1878 and the influence is definitely visible.

I was on the look-out for somewhere to change money and found plenty of exchange booths along this street. The currency in Bosnia is the convertible mark, which you can't really buy outside the country itself, so we've brought a batch of Euros to change. The majority of the accommodation we've booked needs to be paid in cash.

Before too long we reached Sebilj, a wooden Ottoman water fountain which stands in the main square of the old town. 

I don't know why but this square is famous for being full of pigeons and people actively come here to feed them.

Shortly after the square, we made it down to the Miljacka river which flows through the centre of the city.

I was excited to visit one bridge over the river in particular; the Latin Bridge, where Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in 1914.

A small plaque marks the spot where Gavrilo Princip stood and fired the shot that sparked the First World War.

The footprints show where he stood.

We crossed over the river via the bridge.

From the opposite side we had a view of the Vijećnica, Sarajevo's City Hall, which was built during the city's Austro-Hungarian period. Under Yugoslavia it was used as the Bosnian national library, but almost all the books were destroyed when it was shelled during the Siege of Sarajevo in 1992. The building has since been completely rebuilt.

From here we had a short walk to find the bottom station of the Sarajevo cable car, which runs from the city centre to the top of Mt Trebević.

We were pleased to find it was a gondola and we managed to get a cabin to ourselves  

The views over the city centre were superb and we could easily make out the Vijećnica which we'd been admiring a few minutes ago.

Before long we were climbing high above the town...

...with some really beautiful views of the surrounding countryside.

This mountain was the site of the bobsleigh track when Sarajevo hosted the Winter Olympics in 1984 and that seems to be something they're still very proud of.

We walked to a couple of viewpoints, from where we could see the bad weather starting to move in.

As we walked down a small road we were rather surprised to see a fox running past us at speed  

We were walking towards the site of the Olympic bobsleigh track, which was seriously damaged during the war in the 1990s.

Today it's abandoned, although there are some hopes it could still be restored and usable again.

We walked along a little bit of it, although were cautious of going too far because we didn't want to have to climb too far back uphill again!

After a brief stop for a drink in the cafe at the upper cable car station, we made our way back down to the centre of town.

We were starving at this point, not having eaten since Wetherspoons, so we stopped for an early dinner. Tim had a beef goulash...

...while I had a spaghetti bolognese.

Then it was back to the apartment to catch up on the blog and some sleep! It feels like it's been a long day but I'm really pleased that we've managed to see so much of Sarajevo, and if the weather really is as bad as the forecast suggests tomorrow then it won't be the end of the world