Budapest

On Thursday, I spent a very hot day traveling 8 hours on a train from Sarajevo to Budapest.  Unfortunately the train's air conditioning in the car that I was in, and only in that car, was not working.  Arriving in Hungary's capital sweating and stinking, I managed to find my hostel during the failing light.  Almost immediately I met 2 Frenchman, a Brit, a few Spaniards and a fellow American (the first I have seen or met since Venice) who I would spend the next to nights exploring the nightlife in Budapest (which is very good).  The following day I explored the city making a notable stop at the "Terror House".  This complex was taken over and used as the headquarters for the Nazi's in Hungary.  Subsequently, with the fall of the Third Reich in 1945, the building was converted into the headquarters of the Soviet intelligence, interrogation and torture in its satellite communist state.  The building now houses a museum dedicated to telling the horrors inflicted on the Hungarian people under the two subsequent occupations.  The following photo was taken of the monument that stands outside this unassuming building on one of the main streets in Budapest.

On Saturday, I spent most of the day (and the night) taking photographs from the two hills that overlook the city of Budapest.  On top of one sits the citadel fortress and the other the Royal Castle that seated the Hungarian half of the throne in the Austro-Hungarian Empire (shown below).

And some pictures of the city during sunset and twilight respectively.

One of the main sites in the city is the Chain Bridge which connects the city of Buda and city of Pest across the Danube River.  During World War II, the bridge was destroyed and was also badly damaged during the 1956 Revolution against the Soviets making it a symbol of the city's suffering under occupation.

Today, I traveled from Budapest to Vienna.  Thankfully it was much shorter (3 hours) and also had working air conditioning   I will do a post on that tomorrow before I leave.

Belgrade

Yesterday, I spent most of the day riding in a train from Sarajevo to Belgrade. By the end of the eight hour journey I had traveled through 3 countries and added 7 stamps to my passport.  The train was very nice as I shared a compartment with a couple from Australia/New Zealand and a local man from Bosnia who back at the turn of the millennium represented all of Bosnia in worldwide karate competitions (very cool guy).  I arrived in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, in the evening and with exception of not being able to find my hostel had an enjoyable night highlighted by a visit to the Cathedral of St. Sava.  Unlike Mostar or Sarajevo, the major religious presence in the city is dominated by the Eastern Orthodox church.  St. Sava is the largest Eastern Orthodox cathedral in the world.

Pictured below is the inside of another of the Eastern Orthodox churches.

Today was spent exploring the city itself.  Belgrade is very large and very modern city that reminds me a little bit of Vienna.  For example, a picture of Republic Square in the heart of the old city.

One of the other major sites in Belgrade is the Kalemegdan fortress complex that sits on the intersection of the Sava and Danube rivers overlooking the rest of the city and surrounding areas.  The whole complex is an enormous series of walls, ramparts, ditches and fortifications.

Sarajevo

This morning I took the local train from Mostar to Sarajevo which is said to be one of the most scenic rides in all of Europe and it lived up to its expectations.  The trip weaved along mountian cliffs that fell hundreds of feet down into amazingly blue lakes.  The rest of the day was spent exploring the city of Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina.  Throughout the past century, Sarajevo has been the center of ethnic, cultural and political tensions.  In 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated my Gavrilo Princip, about a block from the hostel I am currently staying at, thus sending the globe spiraling into the First World War.

During the Yugoslav Civil War in the 1990's Sarajevo was held under siege by Serbian forces from April 1992 to February 1996, making it the longest siege since the 1700's.  Some remnants of the war can still be seen but it has recovered much more quickly than Mostar.  The city was historically heavily influenced by a strong Muslim and Ottoman presence.  The old Ottoman Quarter, where my hostel is located, is one of the few areas of the city that did not lose its historic presence during the Soviet era or the civil war.  

The modern center of the city, which was largely destroyed during the war is not much to view.  The surrounding hills on the other hand, still retain some of the city's former beauty.

Tomorrow, I will be heading out of the city and traveling by train all day to Belgrade, Serbia.

Mostar

Today was spent mostly on a 8 hour bus ride traveling from Kotor, Montenegro to Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina.  It was a pretty ride along the coastline and through the mountains.  The old section of the city is very scenic but the majority of the rest of the city is still recovering from the war.  Many buildings are still bombed out almost 16 years after the end of the fighting.

Mostar is a very unique city due to its tumultuous history in the last 20 years.    During the Yugoslav Wars from 1991 to 1995, Mostar served as one of the central areas of intense fighting between three different armies.  One side of the city was held by the Bosnian Army, the other side by the Croatian Army and the hills surrounding the city based the Serbian Army.  During the course of the war, the historic centerpiece of Mostar, the Stari Most bridge, was destroyed.  Following the conflict, the bridge was rebuilt of over the course of 7 years and now stands exactly as it was built in the 1600's.

 
And a closer view...

No rest for the weary though, tomorrow morning I will be catching a train to Sarajevo to explore the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina.  Another post to come then.

Kotor

After a 6 hour bus ride (due to traffic on very narrow winding roads), I arrived in the small town of Kotor, Montenegro. The small port is located directly on the Bay of Kotor, the deepest fjord in the Mediterranean.

The ride, although long, was filled with stunning views as the bus weaved along the bay with cliffs plummeting into the water.  Sitting above the city is an old fortress built into the side of a cliff.  Although quite a ways above the city, the views were definitely worth the hike.

So that brings us back to my current location in my trip.  I will be leaving Kotor tomorrow afternoon by bus to Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina via Dubrovnik.  If all goes well I will arrive in the city late in the evening.