Bath

Well, I'm getting settled in here in Bath! I have limited internet access right now, but I will write more once I have my internet set up at home.

Budapest

Well, our trip is coming to an end! Just one full day left in Budapest. We've really enjoyed it, though. Our hostel is adorable, and we've been having a good time seeing all the sights. Yesterday, we went to the Synagogue, which is the largest in Europe and the second largest in the world, after the one in New York. The woman, Aggie, who did our tour was amazing, and told us all about the history of the Jewish community in Budapest right up through the Holocaust and into the present. We were shocked to learn about how late the Hungarian Holocaust started, and how quickly it was achieved. We visited the Jewish Museum and the memorial garden, with a beautiful sculpture donated by Tony Curtis, of all people! Then, we went for lunch at a place nearby that was recommended by Olga, who runs our hostel, and walked by the Basilica and Opera House on the way to the Terror Museum, which chronicles the history of the secret police in Hungary. When we came out, it had begun to rain, but we still trekked up to Heroes' Square before dinner.

Today, we visited the National Museum, which has a temporary exhibition on the Mongolian invasion, and then ventured across the Danube to Buda. We wandered around a little bit, but were kind of tired of sightseeing, so we spent the afternoon at the thermal baths and got massages. It was amazing.

Tomorrow, I think we're going to take a day trip. Maybe go wine-tasting in Eger. Sorry this wasn't a very energetic post, but I am so relaxed right now after my massage. Mmmm.

Journey

Our last day in Sarajevo was amazing. I can't wait to write all about it, but I definitely can't do it justice right now. This morning, we were up at 5 to catch a 12 hour train to Budapest. The Lonely Planet guide alleges that there is an overnight train, but that is not the case, so we had to waste one day roasting in an old train to complete our journey. We went just a little bit stir crazy, but at least we had packed plenty of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and were both reading good books. We arrived in Budapest a little sweaty and exhausted, but our hostel is adorable, and we went out to dinner with a fellow traveller, James from Bournemouth, and heard about his ordeal trying to get from Poland to Lviv, and then here, and realized that we had had it pretty easy (although his makes a really good story!). We are excited about spending the next few days here, there's a lot to see, but we are concerned that nothing will live up to the wonderful surprise that was Bosnia. I am going to bed now, but I will write more soon.

Sarajevo

We're in Sarajevo now. Yesterday we walked around the old town and the markets, saw some places of worship (there's a major mosque, synagogue, Orthodox cathedral, and Catholic church within a few blocks of each other), and saw the little museum on the corner where Franz Ferdinand was assassinated. I will write more about it later. The whole crew from Mostar has headed this way, and we all met up again last night. We went out for čevapčiči and then to a bar called the City Pub, which was really happening, except that we noticed that we were about the only ones drinking alcohol. We don't know if the residents here usually abstain, or if they're just observing Ramadan, but it's interesting to be in a European Muslim country. I was awakened by a call to prayer at 5:30 this morning, fell back asleep, and was awakened again by church bells at 7:30. Now we're going to meet Nicolas to go to some of the war museums, then tomorrow we're off to Budapest.

Welcome to Sarajevo

We took the early train this morning from Mostar to Sarajevo with Nicolas, Chaw, and Ya'el, three new friends from our hostel in Mostar. We just checked into our hostel here, and are going to meet Nicolas at a cafe in about an hour. Our excursion yesterday was incredible. It was led by Bata, the brother of Majda, the proprietress of our hostel. We were joined by Nicolas, who is from Argentina; Chaw, who is originally from Hong Kong but lives in Manchester; Ya'el, who is Israeli; Zmago, from Slovenia; Logan, from Portland; and Stephan, from Munich. The last three guys were travelling together in a car, so they followed along and James, Nicolas, and I rode with Bata. First, we went to Počitelj, a medieval Muslim city on a hill outside of town, and Bata gave us a tour and told us the history of the place. He also gave a running commentary while he drove, and was very frank about both ancient and recent history. After that, we headed up to Kraviče, a lake surrounded by waterfalls, and went swimming in the very very cold water. We even climbed inside one of the waterfalls, through some caves, and sat underneath and looked out onto the lake. It was beautiful. Both James and I commented that we had no idea that Bosnia would be as beautiful as it is. After we had dried off, we drove through Međugorje, the site where the Virgin Mary appeared to some teenagers in the 1980's, and where James and I had originally planned to spend the day (so glad we didn't, it's really kitschy and kind of disturbing), and out on the other side of Mostar to a dervish house on the river. We had a big traditional dinner that couldn't be beat, sat around drinking wine, and then took a little boat into some caves at the end of the river. Apparently, the light reflects in really interesting ways inside, but we had waited too long and the sun was already going down. We still had a lot of fun, though. We got back around 8, totally exhausted and rahat (that means satisfied).

So, now we're in Sarajevo, about to go meet Nicolas and explore the town. That's all for now!