We Do Adventure

It’s funny how some things can be so familiar to some yet so foreign to others. We were dropping a friend and co-worker home today after a morning of workshops when they started shouting and pointing: look at that weird German car! We looked, immediately realising someone was in need of a little education. Objectively, yes, it is a weird car but is not a weirdness that should be blamed on the Germans. That they can be blamed for all the Mercedes, Audis and BMWs that clutter Mostar’s streets says more about their ability to churn out desirable status symbols rather than weirdness on wheels. The idiosyncrasy on show here was the proud preserve of the Black Cab, the taxi that is, or certainly used to be, ubiquitous in the frantic ferrying of busy people about Britain’s capital. Why this one came to be parked somewhere up a back street in Bosnia and Herzegovina is anybody’s guess. But running British licence plates and sporting a still-valid-for-another-month tax disc we have to assume tha...

Tonight I saw a very sorry sight as I drove home: dozens of very bored riot police. One imagines that someone who dresses up in body armour, complete with helmet, baton and shield, does so because there’s something about crowd control that appeals to them. How disappointing for them if the only people loitering with intent are their colleagues. Local radio was warning people to stay off the streets after 4pm today. Dnevni List, one the popular dailies in Bosnia Herzegovina, said Mostar was ‘under siege’, ‘bracing itself’ for the local derby that took place today, and the ethnic tensions it was expected to exacerbate. Maybe they were right, but I went about my day as normal and have nothing unusual to report except what you’ve read already. That and I walked past a very drunk man trying to impress three ladies sitting outside a cafe. It was the old-school walkman he was clutching in his right hand – presumably a counterbalance for the large bottle of Sarajevsko in his left – that really...

When my mum met my dad he was, she says, the first person she had met who ate ice cream in the winter. A little over forty years later he is still a dedicated year-round consumer. During their recent visit I felt quite the killjoy explaining that, no, he couldn’t have ice cream; most Slastičarnica’s put it away for winter. But that was then. Now, with temperatures up into the twenties it’s time to wheel out those counters and lure in the passers-by. Which is why we stopped, barely five minutes from our apartment, to test out one of these new arrivals. The large tubs of scooped up, Italian-style, ice cream looked good. It proved a winning experience on two counts. Our modest, single scoop, cones cost about 35p each and the ice cream was probably the best we’ve tasted yet. However, tonight our language teacher said that the best ice cream is to be found in the same place we think the best cakes are served. So I know where we’ll be off to when we get a free minute; it’s only right that we...

So we had a minor domestic disaster today, but I don’t want to overplay it. Fellow Brits in Bosnia have experienced much worse – bizarrely both incidents happening in the bathroom! They woke at 3.30am to the sound on their hot water tank detaching itself from the wall. ‘It made the most almighty crashing noise. [We] shot out of bed, and into panic. We couldn't find where to turn the water off. We couldn't find the right fuse to stop the flow of electricity into the tank.’ We, on the other hand strolled back into our apartment on a warm, sunny Sunday afternoon to be mildly bemused by the strange sight that greeted us. Showing great presence of mind I reached for my camera and can proudly this video of what followed!

Some footballers suffer what you could call ‘the curse of the classic goal’. What do I mean by that? They score a goal so timely and technically superb it sets a standard they will never again equal; it becomes a monument in whose shadow they play out the rest of their career. Tonight I’m reminded of David Platt and his stroke of brilliance in the last minute of extra time for England against Belgium back Italia 90. It’s fair to say he probably never matched that moment. I’m reminded by the blaring horns, revving engines and enthusiastic singing and chanting outside that undoubtedly means Bosnia Herzegovina have beaten Belgium twice within the last week, on what could quite possibly be the road to their first Fifa World Cup. Tonight’s 2-1 triumph added to a 4-2 victory on Saturday would itself provide a comfortable goal difference but given that they dispatched Estonia 7-0 they share the same goal difference as Spain, who top the group, although Bosnia Herzegovina have scored five more...

We have a friend who here in Mostar who found us through this blog. They were looking for English language blogs about life in Mostar and stumbled across ours. I did a search the other day and realised just what a small niche this blog is part of. If you narrow the search the English people blogging in English about life in Bosnia Herzegovina then there’s even less choice. As far as I’m aware we’re one of two! There may be more, and I’d love to find them if there are, but it’s weird to think us and a fraught mummy in Tuzla may be the only English voices speaking about life in this country. And then you start wondering who’s actually listening!

I have a bad habit of leaving some things to the last minute. Those things usually include filling in forms or making phone calls. And so, needing to pick up a hire car for the weekend tomorrow it was only today did I get around to trying to organise this. In the UK this, I suspect, what not present much of an issue – I say I suspect as I’ve never actually hired a car myself in the UK. However, based on observation and my one experience of car hire – in Las Vegas – I decided that a well know franchise had to be the way to go. I’ve seen two names I recognised in Mostar: Budget and Sixt. Two things were not in Budget’s favour: the need for a bigger budget for the same class of rental and the fact they conspicuously decal their vehicles. The Sixt website came out with a better price but wasn’t clear on whether the car could be driven into Croatia. A local friend called to confirm it could and find the location of their office. It was not in Hotel Ero as they said. Nor was it in the office...

We still log onto the BBC website to follow the news, but in doing so we’d be forgiven for thinking we live in a part of the world where nothing happens. Obviously that’s not true. However news from Bosnia Herzegovina is clearly not seen as a priority by Auntie’s editors. But doing a search today I turned up a video worth watching . It’s about the ongoing mine clearance, a project I didn’t realise was supposed to have been finished by next month. The country now has a ten year extension on this deadline. OK, if we're honest the video is not really 'worth watching' material; it's short and shallow and the accompanying text even more so. Neither do the subject matter justice. So what do you do if you want to find some local news but don’t speak local well enough to read the local papers or websites? Thanks to some Brits in Bosnia we found BalkanInsight.com , which seems to do the trick.

The other day Rowan was given a brochure for Green Visions – ‘Your guide to responsible travel in Bosnia and Herzegovina’. Slouching on the sofa today I picked it up and was idly flicking through the pages when I landed on a spread screaming ‘ride free...’ Just a few hours early I’d made the decision not to ride despite the sunshine outside. With my saddle now reunited with my mountain bike after four months of separation I’m still look for the perfect opportunity for my first ride over here. The brochure indicates I could be joining ‘a small circle of dedicated bikers’ if I can work on the dedication bit. It paints an enticing picture of country side that is not crawling with recreational users, unlike the south of England! And so I won’t leave it to many more sunny days before I check it out for myself. After all, it is a novelty to live near mountains on which to ride my mountain bike!

We had lunch with an American friend, recently returned from the States. We were discussing the difficulties of accurately describing life in a different culture to those who never experienced the place you’re living in. Something’s are cannot easily be put into words, either they come out sounding overly dramatic, or they sound painfully obvious. And then there’s the issue of where do you start with so many different things to describe. You can try your best but you’re never going to do it justice on Skype or Facebook – or even through regular blogging or YouTube videos! Then there are the questions people ask. We had plenty from our visitors over the holidays but none that compare to the one our friend got. ‘Do you live in huts?’ A fantastic question, and if the person responsible is reading this I hope you are not offended by being quoted! We are all aware we live in a country that is often overlooked by much of the outside world. In fact we could think of three things that might pu...

This post is a hotel recommendation for visitors to Sarajevo, capital of Bosnia Herzegovina. What follows can be read as an honest endorsement or a shameless plug. Should you choose to think the latter know that we paid our bill in full and only the tiniest box of chocolates changed hands. My wife’s family have been visiting us is Mostar this week and wanting to take them to Sarajevo she was hunting online for a suitable hotel. Anyone who been will know parking in Sarajevo can be a real headache, and, anyway, most sights are easily reached on foot. We once stayed in Guesthouse Halvat , which came well recommended. However, they were already fully booked on the dates of this trip. With a bit of hunting around online she turned up Hotel Konak – a competitively priced and conveniently placed establishment. I’ll gloss over the small incident that left the staff profusely apologetic and say instead it was a pleasure to encounter staff who seemed genuine in their desire to provide efficient...

We’ve discussed many things tonight but one of them is Britain’s obsession with ‘health and safety’. These often futile directives have all the freeing powers of a hungry boa-constrictor. If there was a prize for stifling adventure is surely belongs to the stuffy bureaucrats whose fickle and fearful sensibilities get enshrined in law. The ‘health and safety’ adherent becomes a person planning for every negative eventuality, almost willing on disaster to enable the implementation of their contingency plan or to vouch for the veracity of their risk assessment. Earlier today we’ve visited Počitelj, “ one of few urban ensembles in Bosnia and Herzegovina preserved in their integrity to the present time developed through the several phases of the history, beginning with the medieval period .” Put simply, it’s old. It’s a small old village built on the side of a hill with a tower at the top and ramparts around its borders. Being boys, my sister-in-laws husband and I had to climb the tower. St...

In an email to a friend the other day I mentioned that in the last three months the fastest I’ve driven was 80kph. They’d done a fair amount of travelling with us in the UK and were well familiar with the way we used to enjoy our Minis. Needless to say they were surprised, possibly verging on disbelieving. However, I know I wasn’t lying. The Toyota Combi we drive here gives no impression of being able to travel any faster than the national speed limit for out-of-town single carriageway roads. I have taken to telling myself all speed sign are in fact in miles-per-hour to save myself from depression. That we spend most of our lives trundling around at thirty miles-per-hour or less requires some getting used to. Today we travelled to Dubrovnik to pick up Rowan’s family from the airport. I made the welcome discovery that Croatia has a 90kph speed limit on out-of-town single carriageway roads. The two and a half hour journey contained two or three short sections of uphill dual carriageway a...

It was end-of-term karaoke night a Klub . It was also a farewell bash for Kate, who’s moving back to the UK after three years in Mostar. The place was packed and it was noisy. Again, it was a reminder that although sometimes people believe he who shouts loudest, there are often untold stories that defy the common wisdom. There are plenty who will tell you that in this part of the world you can’t witness what I saw tonight. So, as the chances are you weren’t there, let me fill you in on things the way I see them. I saw a room full of young people enjoying themselves. The stereo was blasting as one after the other took the mic and belted out local tunes. As the evening warmed up it became first a group sing-a-long, finally and jumping, shouting, dancing party! I didn’t spot anyone who wasn’t having fun. All that is good, but not necessarily surprising; young people enjoy enjoying themselves. But when you realise these young people represent all the ethnic groups in Bosnia Herzegovina, in...

Browse any magazine, or magazine-style web-site, these days and you’re not going to get far without stumbling over a list. Lists are the authoritative way to dispense information in the modern age. Who hasn’t fallen for teasers such as ‘The Ten Things You Never Knew About...’ or ‘Five Ways To Better...’? Putting as few half-baked thoughts into bullet points seems a sure-fire way to imply infallibility. This being our one-hundred-and-first blog post it seems only right we jump on this band wagon and present ‘Bosnia 101: what list?!’ Who cares we’ve only been in the country five minutes; it’s a list, it must be good! · WHAT COUNTRY? Say ‘Bosnia Herzegovina’, or ‘BiH’ (bay-ha) for short; to just say ‘Bosnia’ when referring to the whole country is to Herzegovinans like saying ‘England’ to the Scots or the Welsh, when you really mean Great Britain. · WHAT HISTORY? Don’t expect to understand local history, and be wary of anyone who claims they do. The region’s rich tapestry, ...

Most nights we wake, albeit momentarily, at some unearthly hour as the garbage truck rumbles under our bedroom window. Last night we did not wake as Mostar experienced an earthquake ! I am somewhat disappointed about this. We have a friend in another former communist country who was living seven or eight floors up a crumbling apartment block when a sizable earthquake struck the area she was in. She emailed me about people running down the stairs and out into the street as the building swayed sympathetically. I have no such stories to tell. I could talk about a friend who woke thinking it might be the end of the world but that is their story not mine. Earthquakes are a lot more common here than they are in England, where noticeable ones are not common at all, or at least that’s my perception. There was one a month or so before we left England that dislodged a chimney pot or two in our town. I slept through that one too. Although the night after I had a very vivid dream about an earthqua...

Today we witnessed what can only be described as a miracle. My only problem is how to do it justice in my description! Bosnia Herzegovina is a country divided in some many ways along ethnic divisions, kept apart by the lack of reconciliation, perhaps even the desire for revenge. But that is not the whole story nor is it a story exclusive to this part of the world. Many have been victims and perpetrators of crimes. Some have found the way to forgive and when you see this played out it is a powerful statement of hope that should not be ignored. I doubt I fully grasp the significance of what I was part of this morning but I felt in some way connected to the unfolding story. The room was full of people from people, old and young. Some were from a Muslim background, some Croats, some were Roma. There were people from America, we’re from England, a friend from Finland was there. The girl in front of me was a refugee in Sudan for ten years. The meeting was lead by an Evangelical pastor and ha...

Mostar has a few quirks in its road system; certainly to a driver freshly arrive from the nanny state that is Great Britain for driving in the UK leaves nothing to the imagination. There is always a sign to tell you exactly what to do – or not as the case may be. There are sign to remind you to take a break and even signs that announce ‘fog’ when there clearly isn’t anything of the sort. Then there are road cones – millions on them. A motorway contra-flow system will utilise edge-to-edge cones for miles on end, guiding obedient vehicles through every twist and turn, while temporary speed cameras will ensure all of this happens at an appropriate average speed. Tonight we were heading to a concert in a nearby town. I knew there were road works on the most direct route out of town, but didn’t want to make a fuss by picking my way across town to hit the main road by an alternative route. So it was that we encountered an un-signposted road-closure, negotiated a barely-signposted diversion a...

Golden birthdays have cropped up a couple of times recently in videos I was watching online. I don’t know how widely this concept is known. Everybody gets one per lifetime, although not everybody will remember it. It’s the birthday where your age corresponds with your birth date. So it may not mean much to those born in the first week of a month but people, like me, born in the last week of the month should get a birthday to remember. Sadly I don’t! I’m thinking of numbers and birthdays because I received a belated birthday present today, twenty-one days after it was posted from the UK. Twenty-one is a significant birthday that I do remember. It is also more than twice as big nine, which is the number of days the parcel my wife received today took to arrive. I think five days is the fastest anything has arrived in. As for the longest time: I’m sure one of the two outstanding items of post I know that were sent for my birthday will get that prize. We’re told that locals will often opt t...

I’ve long been an admirer of Land Rovers . I’ve never owned one, or even driven one, I just like the concept of them. I know they have their detractors but they have their defenders – the pun was unavoidable! In Mostar there is at least one, maybe two, royal blue Defender 110s that are used by a mine clearing team. Bosnia Herzegovina is still littered with mines from the conflict and the work of clearing these often unmarked areas continues today. In Michael Palin’s recent New Europe series it was said that in parts of the country it will take a hundred years to finish the job. Today I was walking into town when I spotted one of these Land Rovers parked on our street. There were people in matching blue overalls standing around. Then I noticed a plot of land where the remains of a ruin were being removed was taped off. I know they still find unexploded bombs from the Second World War in the UK. That there should still be unexploded ordnance a street away from the former frontline of a ...