Bosnian Coffee

It has been a little while since our last entry. Afer weighing our options, we decided to go to Bosnia Herzogovenia instead of directly going to Italy. We can say it was a worthwhile experience. Our first stop was a small town called Mostra. It sits a few hours from Dubrovnik by bus and is suprisingly culturally and geographically different from Croatia. There are numerous mountains with lush greenery everywhere. Despite being ruled by many groups, the most influental has been the Ottoman empire. The food has a lot of Turkish influence including the thick coffee (Turkish Coffee) which i drank religiously every day at least once. Our vegetarian selection increased dramatically, we actually ate eggplant and spinach.
After being attacked once again by the hoards of old women asking us for accomodations, we found a place near the center of this town which is divided by a river. On one side resides the islamic community and the other side the Orthodox christians. The segregation occured post-war. Despite seeing bullet riden buildings, the people have adapted to each other and were very friendly.
Then we moved on to the capital, Sarejevo, which was another amazing experience. Although our accomodations had hit a rock bottom (sketchy bathtub that was actually IN the kitchen..gross), we really enjoyed walking around the "old town" as it was called. Cobblestone walkways, antique shops and tons of cafes....we also happened to be there during the Sarejevo Film Festival where we saw a few documentary films from Romania, Croatia and Bosnia. Another incredible experience was visiting "The Tunnel"...during the war in '93 between the Serbs and Bosnians. Apparently, the city of Sarejevo was surrounded by Serbian forces and was cut off from all supplies (food,water, electricity) and life was described similar to that of a concentration camp. After 3 years, the UN was given access to the airport which was made a safe base,however the people trying to cross still would be shot and killed. Anyway, the people of Sarejevo secretly built a underground tunnel, in which food,people and supplies were able to be transported. It was pretty unreal to see the video and the actual tunnel.
Afterwards we headed back to Italy, we stayed a few days in Florence, biked under the Tuscan Sun and visited a vineyard and then had a final day in Venice. Florence was really beautiful...we went to the Uzzi and Academia (Michealangelo's David)..walked around and had great Italian food.