Fabian's Blog

During this trip I traveled a lot. Let’s make it clear to you:
1.Sarajevo (BIH) to Kraljevo (SRB): by bus +/- 298 km
2. Kraljevo (SRB) to Skopje (MK): by bus and car: +/-340 km
3. Skopje (MK) to Kicevo (MK): by train: +/- 115 km
4. Kicevo (MK) to Kraljevo (SRB): by bus, train and bus 465 km
On Monday I will travel from Kraljevo (SRB) to Podgorica: by train +/-370km

That is a total of +/- 1588km !

I can write you that I am a spoiled Western citizen, because traveling on the Balkans cost you a lot of time and patience compared to the Netherlands, yes even with the NS (=Dutch Railways). Patience and a lot of time are both things I do not have now.

First of all there are borders which take a lot of time: first you need to be checked by the border police and customs of the country you are leaving, then you have to be checked by the border police and customs of the country you want to enter. I live in the Schengen area and I am not used to this procedures. I hate border crossings, on the other hand, it give some tension and give you a real feeling that you are traveling. Shortest time I waited at a border crossing was between Bosnia and Serbia with the damaged bus I was traveling in. Within 15 minutes I was in Serbia and I have to admit: that is efficiency

Second of all the public transport is slow: the bus stop almost every hour and make a lot of extra kilometers to go to a bus station in some boring town…Trains are also slow, but I like trains, so that is not a problem. For example: Skopje-Kicevo is around 115 kilometers and it takes 2 ½ hours….Ok the track is ascending. The maximum was my “famous” bus trip from Sarajevo to Kraljevo with a delay of 7 hours due the accident I had and the fact it broke down at the end….

Then some positive points, because of course there are some: First of all is that you see a lot. The roads I took were very beautiful, surrounded with a lot of nature and splendid mountains (which is mostly the cause that the transport is slow). Yes I can say that I saw a lot of beautiful things.

Second of all, people here are curious and they can see that I am not from the Balkans, but from some Western country (some say like Austria for example . You get easily in contact if you want (and also if you do not want) and hear some interesting stories if they speak German,French or English. They offer you most of the time a drink or food and are mostly helpful. From Skopje to Kicevo for example I was allowed to sit by the train driver to make some nice pictures and I did (they will be online in a week).

Traveling gives me new inspiration and new ideas. It is also sometimes quite relaxing to not think a couple of hours until you have reached your destination and only look around you and enjoy what you see…. Then I finish this blog with a quote which you can find in the station of ‘s-Hertogenbosch (NL): “Al reizend ervaart men het leven vreemder; overal anders en overal eender”. Free translation: while traveling you experience life differently; everywhere different, everywhere the same!

Yesterday I got a message from the author of this website: http://www.ambassador-serbia.com/

He asked me if he could use my blog named ” kusturica’s country”  and yes of course that is no problem when people ask it friendly.

So take a look, then I will continue here in Kicevo-Macedonia

Yes I am in Macedonia, a country which I really like: today I am in Skopje, and at 16h30 today  I will go by train  to my friends in Kicevo. Yesterday I arrived after an 8 hours bus trip, this time no accidents.  A friend waited for me in Skopje and she offered me a dinner which was really nice.

And here some pictures from yesterday…..

Pozdrav !

The last days I was here in Kraljevo-Serbia and it was like if I was in a movie from Emir Kusturica. People who know me well know that I like his movies. Mostly his movies play on the Balkans (although he has also a movie in the USA with Jonny Depp) and they are with their humor and melancholy a kind of mirror for people who never went to the Balkans. I know Serbia or the Balkans are not like in his movies, but some elements remind me a bit to it…

The wedding of Darko and Zoritza was very beautiful. It started around 10  o’ clock in the morning and at around 11 o’ clock there was some gunfire. I asked the the uncle of Darko why and the simple answer was “ tradition”. Other tradition was that people started to drink around that time and eating, a lot of eating. Then the bride was “ sold” to Darko: a negotiating started about the price of the bride, but they came to an agreement. Then it was time to go to the city hall, where my friends would marry for the Serbian law. The local gypsy musicians know that there are weddings on sunday , so they were playing and asking money.

The wedding ceremony in the city hall was amazingly short, compared to the Netherlands: within 15 minutes we were outside and Darko and Zoritza were married for the Serbian law. Then it was time to go to the church, which was in Matruska Banja . In this Orthodox church we had a beautiful ceremony and I found it really special to experience this.

After the official part we went home to relax a bit. After the refreshments and the traditional things like that the couple who just married at an apple together we went to a restaurant. With 231 other guest we had a wonderful evening with a lot of food, drinks and dancing. Yes I had a dance with the bride A day I will not forget and I think for Darko and Zoritza it is the same….

And every morning I woke up a couple of hours after the cock tried to wake me up and who was looking angry to me, because I did not wake up when he tried to….. The goat was making noise and dancing in the field, the grandmother was drinking beer during the breakfast. The only thing I did not yet experienced are flying beds (like in “life is a miracle” from Kusturica), but who knows? You see , life is full with miracles and I think especially in Serbia….

When you are in Serbia and you stay by friends, like I do, then you have to report yourself by the police. So yesterday I went to the police to register myself. If there is one thing I hate then it is things like this: register myself at the policestation and feeling threathned like a criminal….Hey guys, I am tourist, I bring some dinars to the country, so instead of a very unfriendly policemen, I expect a welcome committee.

But forget about this stupid registration procedure, this will soon be abolished I guess, I hope. Untill then I will report myself here and an unfriendly policemen can ask stupid things and a lady with a hairdress from Tito’s time can watch my brand new passport with chip

My welcome committee was already there on Saturday, when the bus crashed in Bosnia first and then broke down near Cacak, my Serbian friends came to pick me up and that was great. Don ‘t think this is a police state or something, because most things are going easy and calm here, but I am from a country where we hate rules and therefor I had to write my frustration here.

I am feeling great here, although I miss some one who has her birthday tomorrow. Tomorrow I will go to Macedonia, unfortunately I could not make it easily from here to Kosovo, so I go to Makedonija, a country I really like just like Serbia….

From Serbia with love

Yesterday my friend Darko married with Zortiza and it was a wonderfull day. I really enjoyed it to experience this. First we went to the cityhall and Darko and Zoritza married for the law there. It went really quick, within 15 minutes they were married (I guess in the Netherlands it takes more time). Then wse went to Matruska Banja where they married for the Orthodox Church. This cermony was really beautiful. After we went home were the party continued. Finally we arrived in a restaurant were I was with 231 other guests and spend a wonderful evening….

More pictures will follow, but here you have some…..

Saturday I left Sarajevo which is in Bosnia-Herzegovina, I was on my way to Kraljevo, which is in Serbia. The bus left at 08h40 and I was supposed to arrive at 15h40 in Kraljevo. The environment is really nice, so it supposed to be a wonderfull trip, untill +/- 10h35 when a Bosnian driver hit our bus….In a turn to the left a car did hit our bus and the bus did fall at the right side of road, near Obrtici. Three people were wounded , but nobody of the bus was wounded. I felt really lucky, because it could have been worse….

First the press arrived, within 15 minutes, the police and ambulance arrived after some 30 minutes. The wounded were brought to the hospital , but returned after. We had to wait, because the police had to do their investigation and after the investigation the bus had to be pulled back on the road. The police was really unfriendly and no help was offered at all. We were stucked in the middle of nowhere, but we managed with food and water. Totally we had to wait for 6 hours before we could continue our journey. I had a lot of fun with the other bus passengers, they were really friendly. I have also never crossed a Balkan border so fast: within 15 minutes I was in Serbia….

When we left Cacak the bus broke down and I called Darko we picked me up…. The total delay was 7 hours, but finally I arrived in Kraljevo at 22h00!

So and here the points for:
Police of Republika Srpska (enitity in Bosnia)= zero points
Bosnian driver= zero points
Busdriver= ten points
Border police Serbia= ten points
Bus passengers= ten points
Darko= ten points

Yesterday I took the trolleybus number 103 here in Sarajevo. I came from the Lukavica bus station, which is the bus station for destinations from Sarajevo towards the Republika Srpksa and Serbia. There is another bus station in Sarajevo which serves the rest.

I had to go to the Lukavica bus station to buy a bus ticket because tomorrow I take the bus towards Kraljevo which is in Serbia. When I arrived in Dobrinja (which is the part of Sarajevo where all the Serbs live) I saw quickly the difference: all the letters were in Cyrillic, were in the rest of Sarajevo the latin alphabet is used.. ..It was like I crossed an invisible border between the entities in Bosnia Herzegovina: the republika Srpska and the Federation. Just a detail: whole of Sarajevo is within the Federation even Dobrinja.

I want to ordered a bus ticket, but the ticket office was closed, because they had a break. This gave me the time to drink a beer. Surprise: they had not “Sarajevsko” pivo, no they had “ Jelen” pivo, which is a beer from Serbia. After I ordered my ticket it was time to go back to the city and you can guess it, I took the trolleybus 103 back.

It takes around 30 minutes to go back to the city, but the difference is astonishing and that I wanted to share with you….Sarajevo is really on the edge of the Orthodox, Catholic and Muslim world and you can see it, feel it and smell it.

Back in the hostel (it is a really good one I can recommend you) a Bosnian men, living in the UK, started to talk to me about the DNA from the Bosnians which is different then that one of the Serbs… I asked him what helps him to think like that. The answer was simple, they (the Serbs) are murders, they started the extermination of the Bosnians. I asked him, what if you mix a German and a Dutch, what DNA will be formed then? I got no reply…Then again the whole blabla story and I decided not to continue the discussion, because we will never agree and we both agreed. He was friendly, I only did not agreed with him…

I do not want to have discussions like these ones, because I think we are all human beings and what the hell DNA has to matter with that? Different DNA, so what I do not care……I cannot judge about the things happened here during the civil war of 1992-1995, because I was not involved (and thank god I would say). In Bosnia nationalistic politicians did heat up the people and then the inferno started with catastrophic results for this beautiful country and it’s friendly inhabitants.

Politicians nowadays can talk about inter ethnic relations, peace and more like this. but if the minds of the people are not ready for that then it is going to be very difficult. The political situation here is still not good, but there has to be a solution for Bosnia and I hope it will be a good one…

Trolleybus 103 will continue driving between Dobrinja 4 and the Latinska Cuprija…

I am in Sarajevo and I am really enjoying it: Sarajevo is a beautiful city and you can feel that you are in a place were you are between the Western, Orthodox and Muslim world….

You can actually see some war damage, but a lot is already repaired, although I think not yet in the minds of all people. The citizens of Sarajevo are very friendly and if you need help you will get it.

I did put pictures on my website, here the link.

I will try to write something today about trolleyline 103, but now I go to walk a bit in the upper city.

Ciao from Sarajevo!