And although this trip still has a long way to go, Ohrid is where my time in the former Yugoslavia draws to a close. I've enjoyed it. I regret not having seen more of Croatia - I was very tempted by Zagreb & Split, but they didn't quite fit in. And of course I've ended up omitting Slovenia altogether. (I hope they don't take it personally).
My blog has avoided delving too deeply into the thorny thickets of politics, history and conflict which are so prominent in this part of the world. But that doesn't mean I've been oblivious to it all. It's hard not to be affected when you see so many urban cemeteries full of graves that are all too new, containing people who died all too young. In Bosnia in particular, the air is thick with unfinished business, unredeemed sacrifices, and restless ghosts.
When I got to Mostar, and expressed an interest in hiking the impressive hills surrounding the town, my host frowned and said something about landmines. Also I visited the genocide museum there, a sobering experience to say the least. Some of the events it records are portrayed very crudely: scale models of concentration camps, green toy soldiers standing upright with weapons levelled, civilian-coloured figurines lying prone and daubed over with bright red paint. The directness of it all is shocking. But then why should they water it down?
In a mosque near the museum, where they let tourists look round and climb the minaret for a small fee (they need the money because the upkeep of the mosque is beyond the means of the ever-dwindling elderly congregation), my guide told me ruefully that before the wars of the 1990s there had been many intermarriages - Christian & Muslim, Bosnian & Serb - but no longer.
I got a slightly different perspective from a PhD student in Novi Sad. She found the whole break-up of Yugoslavia tiresome: she said things had made much more sense for Serbs like her when Yugoslavia was one country with one capital (in Serbia). Well, she would, wouldn't she.
For me personally, the main thing is that I've enjoyed visiting all these cities, but the views from the bus & train rides have been so stupendous that I'm determined to come back here one day and do some car rental in order to see the countryside properly. In the meantime, part two of this trip begins with the next blog.
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| Lake Ohrid and Ohrid town, from Samuel's Fortress |
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| This theatre dates from 200BC, and was used for gladiator fights and executions as well as staging plays. Many thanks to sponsors T-Mobile for ruining the whole view with the splurge of purple to the left of centre. |
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| Struga, just round the lake from Ohrid town |
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| Edd vs Food #70 Drum roll...orchestral swell...hold the front page... A vegetarian meal! At a vegetarian restaurant, indeed. Falafel, hummus & sundries. Really nice. And cheap as chips. At Dr Falafel, Ohrid |
