art nouveau

prague is well known for it's authentic old buildings, my favorite are the art nouveau ones, although they tend to get a bit gaudy.

praha, czech republic

although i had visited prague for three days in march, i was excited to experience the city in warmer weather with andy. it may be a cliche for backpackers to go to prague (what with the abundance of hostels, dirt cheap beer, and legalized substances), and the city may only be unique and truly old because it was decided that beautiful buildings were more valuable than the lives of several thousand jews, but it really is incredible. you can find whatever it is you're looking for in prague, and for andy and i that was small cafes, expansive parks, quiet residential neighborhoods, amazing views, and the best english language bookstore i have found in non-english speaking europe yet.












1:praha 1 through the fog (taken in march) 2:view of Vyšehrad castle from Prague castle 3: view of Prague castle from Vyšehrad 4: view south of Vyšehrad, few tourists venture this far from the old town 5: staircase (taken in march) 6: passing funiculars 7: subway station 8: subway station 9: building in Nové město 10: enjoying the parks 11: don't litter (taken in march) 12: street in Josefov, the historic Jewish part of town (taken in march)

watering hole

this used to be a private beach/bay; but when the owners of the hotel abandoned it, the beach became a favorite swimming spot for locals, and the buildings became delightfully decayed. despite how clear the water was and how sheltered it was from boats, there were surprisingly few people around, perhaps 10 tops at any given time.

homes in dubrovnik

Dubrovnik- Old Town

dubrovnik, croatia

the pictures pretty much speak for themselves. the town is beautiful, but there is a disgusting amount of tourists wearing visors and clutching their backpacks to their chests (because they were warned about pick-pockets). never the less, we were remarkably successful at finding our own space, whether it be on the hostel balcony, at a local watering hole (photos to come), or along the rocky coastline at night.

mostar, bih

we stopped in mostar, bih on our way to dubrovnik, croatia.

rural bosnia is ridiculously beautiful, with forested hills and several rivers that are supposed to be great for rafting. andy and i were going to take an ecotour rafting trip, but it was too expensive.

mostar is famous for its big bridge. built in the 16th century, the bridge survived ottoman and yugoslav rule, only to be destroyed by a retreating croat militia in 1993. the bridge was eventually rebuilt and the old town surrounding the bridge became an UNESCO world heritage site.

the damage from the 92-95 war is even more pronounced in mostar.

whereas in sarajevo, buildings are in the process of being restored or are still liveable, at least 30% of the buildings in mostar are completely unliveable, and it looks like nothing is being done to repair them.

bosnians and croats, as we soon learned, have mad love for tito, the founder and leader of yugoslavia from 1943-1980.

the siege

from late 1992-1995, Sarajevo was essentially closed off to the outside world. serbs surrounded the entire city, except the airport, which the UN maintained. over three years the city was constantly under attack, and it is disturbing how many remnants from the war still exist.

mortar holes in sidewalks and walls were filled with red resin and are called sarajevo roses.

although the airport was the only link sarajevans had with the outside world, the UN wouldn't let them use the passageway. so sarajevans built a tunnel under the airport into the hills past the Serbian troops.

the family that owned the home that the tunnel started in have since turned it into a museum with photos and video footage of the creation and use of the tunnel. you can also walk through part of the tunnel.

many buildings are missing chunks from mortar explosions, or are riddled with bullet holes.

the Muslim cemetary was expanded, but there still wasn't room for all 11,000 casualties. in parks and futbol fields throughout sarajevo there are small markers where people were burried and haven't yet been transfered to the cemetary.

more evidence of the shelling.