Journey to Sarajevo

Luckily we had a a private bus for the five of us plus our two dorm mates, Zach and Tom from Leeds. We all passed out for the first few hours, Steve trumping us all with his initiative and opting to stretch out on the floor, until we arrived at our first stop off, a 24 hour trout farm. We must have been a sight for sore eyes as we stumbled inside, bleary eyed still covered in last nights now panda-esk eye-liner and cigarette infused beer stench, drooling over the soft drink selection but completely penniless. So whilst the driver gorged on his breakfast and coffee, we all reluctantly sauntered back to the van feeling rather sorry for ourselves.

At the second stop I discovered a rather strange rash appearing on my arm that looked a little like this...

You see those red spots? Nothing too serious but I kept an eye on it all the same.

The drive was breathtaking for the most part. The views were absolutely awe-inspiring and had it not been for my extreme fatigue I would have really enjoyed the journey. However a combination of hangover, motion sickness and ridiculously windy roads, along with a drive who liked to break as hard as possible at the last humanly imaginable second made for a rather nauseating trip.

We crept up to Sarajevo from above, giving us a spectacular view of the city. I literally couldn't believe my eyes. The city was situated in a valley, it's expanse of white washed houses scattered up the hillsides reminded me of a cluster of stars sprinkled amongst a leafy green sky, which slowly became more concentrated towards the core and glittered in the sunlight. 

(You can't really tell, but despite the cloud cover it was actually quite sunny. This picture really doesn't do it justice)

Finding the hostel proved to be a bit of an adventure. As usual, the satnav managed to get lost and we ended up having the grand tour of Sarajevo's higher regions. However after asking around a dozen locals and dying for some fresh air, we finally arrived at our hostel. Near the top of a mountain. In the middle of no where. Locked and completely devoid of people.

Now considering that since we'd set off all we'd been dreaming about was the bed that was awaiting us, unsurprisingly we were starting to lose the will to live. Whilst Josie, Mitch and I were contemplating our certain death atop a Bosnian mountain, Caitlin and Steve decided to entertain themselves by climbing cherry trees and playing with stray dogs, with the most impressive amount of fake energy I have ever witnessed. I'll never understand those crazy cats.

Oliver, owner of the hostel, arrived around 45 minutes later, with rather dilated pupils and a toothy grin that was impossible to be mad at, even with his only half hearted apology about picking up some other backpackers from the station.

So we slept, ate and slept some more, in order to feel fresh for our day in Sarajevo. Oh and that rash I mentioned earlier? Well, it got a little worse...

It's currently itchy as hell but on the plus side I'm drugged up to my eyeballs on antihistamines making everything rather dreamlike and lovely. What would a trip be without some kind of accident or ailment at my expense eh? It'd be a shame to break tradition. ;)