after all, the key is communication

It turns out we are 6 IAESTE trainees who are going to Dubrovnik this weekend. Anouk, Marie, Mariko, her friend Marie, her friend Ryo (currently training in Belgrade) and … well, myself:) We leave at 1pm from the bus station. Sure, we may leave work early … nema problema.

Unfortunately we missed the bus from Самачки Хотел, so instead of paying 1,30KM for the bus we pay 2KM each for a taxi – not too bad. There is plenty of space in the bus, we pay a reasonable 21KM and travel for 6 hours. Now if the double windows of this old German bus hadn’t been filled with water we would have enjoyed some great views even! Oh well – at least we were the only ones to understand the directions of use for the emergency exit

At the bus station a german-speaking lady is already waiting for us – or anyone else who would stay in her rooms tonight. After some bargaining we decide to talk a look and stay. 15 Marks are a fair price – others confirm that 10€ per night is standard.

Soon after we leave the rather ugly bus station we find ourselves in a beautiful medieval town with a strong oriental touch. Small alleys, old houses, mosks – and, still, quite a number of destoryed buildings.

You can now remember where you heard the name Moster before – headline news 1993 / 94 when croats and muslims started fighting here and confused the Americans who had believed in a war of Serbs against ‘the rest’. But that’s another story, see [this not-yet-written blog entry] for more on that.

As we get closer to THE bridge the number of souvenir shops increases exponentially. We decide to be touristy and choose one of the places just next to the river for dinner. The food is neither cheap (for Bosnian relations) nor exceptionally good but the view is just awesome.

As we head back we come across another German-speaking guy. He is celebrating a friend’s emigration to Oslo (and his wife). We stay for long and even longer and after being invited to numerous drinks and beer (which we enjoyed) and other drugs (which we kindly refused) it turns out those flashes were actually real. Meaning for us a very wet return to our beds.

With only little sleep we get up next morning at 6 – the bus to Dubrovnik leaves at 7. [More about Dubrovnik in a few days]

Last Modified : September 22nd, 2006
Filed under : Banja Luka, Travel
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