Welcome to Sarajevo

Id have to say that Sarajevo has been my favorite city so far.

When I had talked to other travelers about Sarajevo they were like "Wow your going there?" So I guess its really off of the backpackers trail. When I got on the train I was expecting to not see any other travelers but actually there was an American couple and four American college girls traveling there. In my car was also a lady from Croatia, Julijana, who ended up giving me a lot of advice on what to check out (Cevapcici!) an expect as well.

The train ride ended up not being too bad and overnight besides the several stops at borders for customs guards was uneventful. The worst part actually was that my allergies finally kicked in overnight and by the time I arrived in Sarajevo in early morning my eyes were red and puffed up and I was full of phlegm. Not a preaty sight.

But Sarajevo was. It is surrounded by picturesque mountains on almost every side and looked rather inviting.

The train station was a communist relic and when I got off the train there was a lady for a hostel pushing her card at me. Another American tourist was going to check it out as well, and they offered a free ride into the city. So I took up the offer.

When I got there I decided I didn't really want to stay at a hostel so I asked about the private rooms and the lady showed me a room in a building not too far. It was great. I had a huge room to myself, located right next to the old town, and a nice older lady as the owner all for 15 euros a night. It was great.

After getting a few hours of sleep I took a tour around the city which took us up into the mountains and also showed us the a tunnel that the people of Sarajevo used when they were under seige from 1992-1995. It went underneath the airport and was the only lifeline to the outside world.

The scars of war are still everywhere in Sarajevo. Where ever you look there are still buildings that have bullet holes in them. If you just wander around there are also burned out hulls of buildings right next to a lively cafe.

From the hills you could still see the buildings that had been destroyed by the constant shelling as well as where the serbian snipers took position to shoot down citizens from the surrounding hills.

As a photojournalist I had to visit the Holiday Inn where the international media were staged during the seige.


But even with all the scars its evident that Sarajevo was and is and will be a beautiful city. At night if you walk down the main pedestrian boulevard of Ferhadija couple and families and tourist enjoy the stroll while the warm summer sun sets walking past rows and rows of openair cafes where people enjoy cappicino's and the local beer.
At sunset the muslim call to prayer fills the air, across from the Bill Gates Cafe.



I wish I had more pictures and I wish I had more time to check out the city but unfortunately my time backpacking around is starting to grow short. I have to be back in a week in Germany to get ready for the World Cup and still have to make it to Dubrovnik and Rome.

Budapest Revisited

Well I'll be leaving in a few hours but I enjoyed my three days here in Budapest.

The unfortunate part is that only being here a few days I just get a taste of the place, when you know there is a lot more to see.

No Turkish Baths for me, didn't really see much of the tourist sights, but I found the people cool and the city more than ready to join up with Western Europe.

I did get a chance to wander around and found myself in a huge park in Pest that was having a kiddy carnival. As I continued I happened upon a wedding party.



The bride and groom had just been married and were parading through the park with their whole wedding party following behind them on the way to the reception, with a trio of accordion players providing the background music. After photographing weddings its always fun to see something different, and what a better way to start your marriage then to strut around and let everyone see you on your big day.

I made my way back to the hostel via walking up a huge hill just off the Duna river in Buda (Buda is the part of the city west of the river, Pest is the city east of the river) and it was worth it with an awesome view that my photo can't even really begin to show.And then it was time to get ready to head out. I meet a couple of cool people at the hostel and we were planning on checking out the nightlife. The place they were going to go was a large outdoor club on a island in the Duna river. It wasn't exactly what I wanted to do so I checked out a few places on my own first and said I would meet them later.
So I went to a drumb and bass, techno and house club but they were all dead. So I made it back to the outdoor club place. The music wasn't that much but I ended up talking to random people for the rest of the night and enjoying it all in all.

I'm taking the night train tonight for Sarajevo. Not sure what to expect there but I have always wanted to see the city. Till then!

Buda Update

Well after a small city its back to big city living in Budapest.



The easiest way I can describe Budapest is its Grand in scale but badly needs a good scrubbing. All the old buildings look like they haven't been cleaned in a number of years.

I made it in yesterday and finally found my way to the hostel a bit away from the center. Hung out there until a few people said they were going to a club and so I went along. I guess cheesy clubs with lame music are everywhere in the world cause after about fifteen minutes I took off. The guy working at the front desk of the hostel had told me earlier of some other clubs. They wern't that bad, outdoors right along the river but still not exactly what I wanted.

So I found out some more options to check out and I think besides work thats what I will be up to the next few days. Hopefully i'll get a chance to take a few more photographs as well.

Stop-over in Breclav

I'm on my way now from Krakow to Budapest by train and I have a four hour layover in a town called Breclav in the Czech Republic. I had some extra Czech money when I went to Poland and kept in my wallet and I'm glad I did so I could drop off my bags and wander around. The town would definately not win any urban award designs (im guessing it was bombed in WWII) but i made it to the center of the town and a cafe had a huge "Wi Fi" sign in the window.
So I went it and talked to the bartender who didn't speak english but i made the international signal for working on a computer and I sat down orderd a beer and checked my email.



Man I can't believe how wired it is over here!

A Step Ahead of the Pope

After having all these impressions of what Prague should be like I approaced Krakow with no pre-conceptions. Just some good words about Poland from other people and that was about it.

The ride from Prague wasn't too bad. After crossing the border from the Czech Republic I ended up meeting a fellow traveler going to Krakow from Australia. We were talking on the train when a local guy from Krakow started talking to us.

He was great and gave a lot of advice on cool places to check out in the city. When we got off the train his girlfriend met him but even after he gave directions he wanted to show us the way to go. We told him to go have fun and thanks for all the help already given.

It was a great first impression of Poland and nothing in the past three days has changed my mind. Everyone here in Krakow has been cool and really nice and more than willing to stirke up a conversation or help out in any way.

Walking from the train station to the main square was great and I was impressed with the beauty of the city. Although it was definately touristy it was much calmer then Prague, and a great number of the tourists were from Poland itself.



I ended up visiting the main square often, esepcially cause it had free wi-fi internet access so you could sit and have a drink while checking your email. It wasn't always that reliable but it was the right price.

I said goodbye to the Aussie who was staying at a different hostel and made my way to Nathan's Villa which was a really cool place to stay and had a good crowd of people there to meet and talk to, including a fellow photojournalist from Australia.

My number one reason to come to Krakow was to see Auschwitz, which was about a hour and a half outside the city proper by mini-bus. It was a sobering experience.


The tour went into great depth about how the place was basically a death factory but walking around the grounds but visiting in and seeing just how huge the concentration camp was, especially Birkinew was almost beyond belief. To walk the shortest distance from the entrance where the trains carried in the prisioners to the other side took fifteen minutes. Rows and rows of barracks stretch almost as far as the eyes could see.


It was an overwhelming experience.

At one end of the camp there were some local workers that were busy putting together a platform for the media to stand on . I had heard and the guide confirmed that the Pope was making a visit to Poland and on Sunday would be visting the camp himself.

He would also planning on making a trip to Krakow as well. And as the week went on the town was getting ready for the big event. Flags with the seal of Poland and the Pope were for sale everywhere in town.


At the big church in the town square, workers were putting up banners of likenesses of the pope and signs welcoming him to the country.


It would be cool to stay and witness the event, but my time is short here. I spent a lot of time wandering around the streets, and whenever I was hungry grabbing one of the pieces of bread, called a obwarzanki, that were being sold out of carts all over the city for the price of about 30 cents each. They were kind of like bagels but not quite as doughy. I also tried a bunch of the local food including some perogi's.


One one of my walks around I saw Mieczyslaw Jalocha who was working out of his garage grinding a tool.


I asked to take a couple of photographs of him and we ended up taking for awhile. He knew some english, and i knew absolutely no polish but we were able to talk for awhile. We talked a little bit about each other's life. He wanted to know why I was visitng and he told me with pride about his daughter who was an engineer living and working in Hong Kong. She worked on the large new airport there and he showed me a picture of her with the former president of Poland.

After saying dos-va-dan-yah i continued wandering around getting really lost and acutally finally found myself at the steps of the train station. So I went in and bought my ticket for my next stop, Budapest.

Sorry I wish I could post more often on the blog, but the internet access can costa a bit here.

So as the Pope comes I head out. Like Poland I don't know what to expect in Hungary. I just hope its as an enjoyable a place to visit.

Wow I feel like a tourist

Well I guess I cant help it actually being in Prague. In my head I had an idea of a Bohemian Prague which I guess died about ten years ago. Nowadays it is overrun with tourists, everywhere.



Its still a great city. Absolutely beautiful with cathedrals, castles and in particular the Charles Bridge.

The first time I went over it was at night going to a Jazz Club on the other side of the river and there were only a few people there, some couples making out, a band drunkingly playing some music while a police office for the fun of it took their photograph. It was great.

The next day I crossed it in the afternoon and all the magic I felt the night before was lost. There were just tourists everywhere, so many that it was hard to see anything.

Ah well...

But if you can get outside the center it is cool. The jazz clubs are really cool here and I went to a rave club one night and it was great music. I guess people assumed I was a local cause they kept speaking to me in Czech. And the beer was much cheaper out there. So a good time.



But I think I've had my fill of being a tourist in Prague, so I'll be a tourist somewhere else.



Next up Krakow in Poland.

Getting ready for my trip

Well I can't believe that I am about to head off on my World Cup trip to Europe for 2006. Its been a long time in planning but it still doesn't seem like I am leaving tomorrow for Germany.