Our Week In Pictures
Saw this in Ljubljana, it gelled with us..
“We travel not in order to escape life, but in order that life may not escape us”.
Monday morning, woke in a village named Vopovjle near Ljubljana airport, flew to Belgrade where our connecting flight was delayed and left us stuck in the terminal for five hours before we flew on to Sarajevo. Hard to comprehend that the bustling city of Sarajevo was ravaged by warfare, genocide and war crime atrocities a little over 30 years ago. The scars are visible but so is the conciliation in a city where mosques sit beside Christian churches and a line in the street depicts the “meeting of cultures”.
Michaela’s photographs from Sarajevo….
Wednesday we moved on to Mostar, an unbelievably beautiful town bearing at least as many scars of the Balkan conflict yet also packed with the trappings of popularity, unmistakably a tourist destination. Many wonderful old buildings survive, but the impact of war is still tangible. Mostar is so immensely picturesque that it carries all of its various scars with aplomb….
Pictures from Mostar….
On Thursday I attended a UEFA Conference League match (a local side versus, of all things, a team from Gibraltar) and captured a classic sunset-over-football-ground shot…..
With extremely variable weather we took a trip to a number of highlights in the surrounding area, the Blagaj Dervish monastery and han, a Serbian orthodox church, a second monastery and the Kravice Falls. Photographs…..
The week brought some unseasonably cold and wet days interspersed with the warm sunshine which is more typical of the Balkan October; the worst of those days were particularly nasty. But the thing is, we finally made it to Mostar, a long awaited destination and the culmination of our offbeat journey from Porto to here. One last stop to come before we head home to England.
46 Comments
restlessjo
How unbelievably beautiful is Mostar! I’ve only ever seen the classic shot of the bridge. Fab reflection of that monastery too- well done, Michaela! Wouldn’t be wonderful if our other war torn regions could put it all behind them?
Phil & Michaela
If I was still doing the longer narrative, there is a lot more I would have written about the Balkan conflict, Jo.
restlessjo
I can imagine! We were in Dubrovnik before the war and struggled to watch. Ukraine, Gaza… it never seems to end xx
Phil & Michaela
Appalling…huh…
Steven Mark Berger
Thanks for the larger pictures. Makes a huge difference and I love them. I can remember climbing the snipers tower with Annie many years ago. Thank goodness we did it then because we could never do it now! I vividly remember the bombed out buildings and different war stories from all the former Yugoslavian countries. Of course the Serbian view was quite different than the others.
So terribly tragic, sad and still raw after 30 years.
Glad you made it to Mostar.
Stay safe,
Steve
Phil & Michaela
The brutality of that period of history would be beyond belief if it wasn’t for Ukraine. I could have written a lot more, Steven, really.
Steven Mark Berger
There’s a museum in Kyiv on the Holodomor. First, Stalin and the USSR and now Putin and Russia. It must seem never ending to the Ukrainians.
Phil & Michaela
Yep, we visited the museums in Estonia and Latvia remembering Soviet oppression. History does have this habit of reporting itself… or, put another way, we never bloody learn…
Helen Devries
Evidence of war indeed….reminds me of those ‘souvenirs’ of WWI which used to be so common on the vide greniers.
Those wars in Yugoslavia were a tragedy…post Tito, separation was on the cards, but who could have imagined the virulence of old histories that sprang up to fuel the wars.
Still….what a journey!
Phil & Michaela
If I was still writing the longer posts I would have done quite a piece on the Museum of Genocide which we visited in Mostar. Honestly Helen, it’s up there with Auschwitz and the Khmer Rouge Killing Fields as the most disturbing things we’ve ever read.
Helen Devries
Yes….I remember when it was all being reported….you did not want to believe that this could happen.
Lynette d'Arty-Cross
Michaela’s photos of Mostar are beautiful, Phil. I visited 15 years ago when the evidence of war was more pronounced but I’m surprised to still see so much of it in your photos.
Phil & Michaela
Lynette, the Museum of Genocide in Mostar tells many stories of utterly inhumane brutality. It’s a very disturbing read.
Lynette d'Arty-Cross
That museum didn’t exist yet when I visited but yes, I understand that it’s disturbing.
Eha Carr
Thank you for the incredibly well-taken photos from angles previously not seen of places read about but not personally experienced – yes, the Mostar Bridge but also the unforgettable Kravice waterfalls and Old Town Sarajevo. And . . . am surely keeping that particular quote about travelling . . . it is totally pertinent about my own thinking about life and why I do certain things. Trust you managed to get home without further problems . . . and hope to hear from you some time not too far away . . . bestest . . .
Phil & Michaela
Not quite home yet, Eha. In Split tonight and flying home tomorrow. Mostar is beautiful, but it sure as hell has stories to tell.
Annie Berger
Sounds like a wonderful trip to some extraordinarily interesting and photogenic places!
Phil & Michaela
Yeah it’s been good, Annie. I may get back to more detailed accounts one day!
Diana
What a great week!
Phil & Michaela
Yup!
The Flask Half Full
Ah, bullet keychains and pens – capitalism is alive and well! Great photos, as usual. Especially love the evidence of war shots – I’m always drawn to those little pieces of historical evidence of a different time. Glad you got in a football match. Cheers!
Phil & Michaela
It’s still unbelievable what happened in the Balkans in the 90s. Feels like the people who lived through it are still stunned too.
The Flask Half Full
Absolutely. That’s a great way of putting it, Phil. I imagine you are stunned for life.
Andrew Petcher
It is best to thoroughly research the Balkans before visiting. Once in Dubrovnik we mentioned to our hotel hosts that we were going to Montenegro and they didn’t speak to us again.
I wrote about this 15 years ago…
“The Balkans is where east meets west in Europe and Yugoslavia was a mix of Greek Orthodox looking to the east (Serbia), Catholics looking to the west (Slovenia and Croatia) and Muslims who could not be reconciled to either (Bosnia). Here was a recipe for disaster! ”
https://anotherbagmoretravel.wordpress.com/2012/05/16/ljubljana-the-former-yugolsavia/
Phil & Michaela
It’s not really like that now, Andrew, there’s no such animosity… well, apart from Serb tensions. There’s more an overwhelming feeling of “how the hell did that happen?” and “how the hell did it get so brutal?”.
Monkey's Tale
Mostar does look as charming from every corner, not just the infamous brige shot. But Blagaj Dervish monastery looks fantastic. Love the quote. Maggie
Phil & Michaela
Definitely beautiful, definitely still hurting. I should maybe write about our visit to the Museum of Genocide, Maggie. Beyond shocking. I’m still coming to terms with some of the things I read there.
Monkey's Tale
Why do we continue to treat others like that?
Phil & Michaela
Not many of us know the answer to that one Maggie…
Toonsarah
I love that quote from Ljubljana, and Sarajevo looks fascinating. When I saw your first few photos of Mostar I was thinking how great it was that it looked pretty much as it did when we visited, pre-war. And then I saw your other images, such as the sniper tower and bombed out buildings, and I realised it had changed, and suffered, a lot.
Phil & Michaela
The scars are visible, the people are still in disbelief despite the recovery, Sarah. As I’ve said to others, Mostar’s Museum of Genocide is beyond disturbing.
Toonsarah
I can imagine …
normareadtalktalknet
What perfect quote… it sums you both up to a ‘T’ 🥰
Phil & Michaela
We thought so too 😃
Travels Through My Lens
Stunning photos! We’re planning on visiting in the spring, so you’re giving us some good ideas.
Phil & Michaela
Feel free to ask more, it’s a beautiful part of the world
Andrew Petcher
Did you see any divers, we stayed and watched but in over an hour no one took the plunge.
Apparently Duke of Edinburgh Phillip donated a princely sum to help with restorations.
Phil & Michaela
No we didn’t, not in action anyway. They wait until spectators have given 50 euros per diver and only then do they go. I neither hung around nor donated!
Marie
Thank you for this – hopefully we’ll get to visit there next year….
Phil & Michaela
Enjoy…it’s a beautiful area and we definitely intend to return
WanderingCanadians
Oh I love that quote. I couldn’t agree more. Travel is a great way to experience life. Mostar looks beautiful during the day and at night.
Phil & Michaela
It is beautiful though the ravages of war are still very evident. Yep, we like the quote too.
Jyothi
Great collections!!!
grandmisadventures
Incredible pictures! My dad lived around here for a few years and I loved listening to him talk about it
Phil & Michaela
😃😃
Lookoom
I also loved Sarajevo and Mostar. These two cities emerged from the civil war without too much destruction, which is fortunate for everyone today, as they can now benefit from the influx of tourists and the resources that this brings.