[amitwlele]

Thank you mr.sinha for starting the TL again.

I have said it earlier but repeating it again. The pictures taken during your train ride to Sarajevo are postcard stuff. Awesome.

Surprised that photography is not allowed inside the station. Any reason?

The glass building outside the station does not gel at all with the surroundings. An eye sore in my opinnion.

[arup.misra]

Mr Sinha, fantastic travelogue. Worth five stars.

Have been glued to the thread and have gobbled up every word. The car adventure at night was scary stuff. It reminded me of a similar one I had but underwater. Actually its high time I chronicle the same. Thanks.

Please keep the photos coming and do share some tips on photography for noobs like me.

[mr.sinha]

Originally Posted by amitwlele

Thank you mr.sinha for starting the TL again.

I have said it earlier but repeating it again. The pictures taken during your train ride to Sarajevo are postcard stuff. Awesome.

Surprised that photography is not allowed inside the station. Any reason?

The glass building outside the station does not gel at all with the surroundings. An eye sore in my opinnion.

Thank you Amit.
I found the photography restriction surprising too. Maybe they forgot to change some security restriction back from the days of the war.

Yes, the steel & glass looks totally incongruous amongst all the dilapidated buildings in the area. It belongs to a media group. I guess, peace or war, people still read the news. See more on the building here:

Avaz Twist Tower - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Originally Posted by arup.misra

Mr Sinha, fantastic travelogue. Worth five stars.

Have been glued to the thread and have gobbled up every word. The car adventure at night was scary stuff. It reminded me of a similar one I had but underwater. Actually its high time I chronicle the same. Thanks.

Please keep the photos coming and do share some tips on photography for noobs like me.

Thanks Arup.
Do tell us about your underwater experience, if not in a separate thread, at least here.

I am a photography newbie too. I don't have a lot of experience, I am learning a lot. But I take all photos in full manual mode. For most of the outdoor shots, I use a good quality polarizer filter. Mostly I shoot in RAW, but this trip, I shot in JPEG, since there were too many photos to process. RAW requires processing, JPEG does too, but much less. I use Adobe Lightroom 3 to process the photos. For this trip's photos, since I was already using JPEG, processing was minimal, mostly to remove any purple or magenta tints, sometimes to increase contrast, sometimes to decrease the blue saturation from the sky, some cropping etc.

The equipment used was a Pentax K5 DSLR with APS-C sensor (not full-frame) and a 15mm prime lens (which is equivalent to a 22mm lens on film). Just this 1 lens was used.

[balajird]

Sinhaji, Awesome to say the least, I have read this entire travelogue in the last couple of hours and don't feel like working today anymore (its just 2 PM now). I hope to visit these places in future (fingers crossed).

Your photography is awesome and it feels as if we are doing the tour along with you. Keep the photos coming and thanks a ton for sharing your experience.

[DKG]

What an overdose of beauty !!! I am dumbstruck at how beautiful these places are. Thank you so much for sharing. Truly spectacular and you have very sensitively captured the ambience so beautifully through your pictures.

[mr.sinha]

Day 7 (Dec 29, 2011) - continued:

My hotel was located just behind the railway station. It was called "Hotel Grand". It cost me 35 Euros for the night. Not bad.

I am sure there is a proper road leading to the hotel from the station, but like many of the locals who were going towards that area, I followed their shortcut over the train tracks, through an opening in a fence and a neat narrow path created by footfalls through a field full of snow and ice. Balancing with the heavy rucksack was difficult as it was very slippery. But it took less than 10 minutes to reach the hotel through the shortcut.

After checking in, I came back to the railway station, and took Tram No. 1 to the city center. It was not too far.

This canal flows right through the city with bridges built over it every few blocks.





The busy city center and marketplace.







I guess there isn't much to see in Sarajevo, or maybe it was so cold I didn't feel like walking a lot on the streets. The temperature was about -3 degrees C throughout the day, and coupled with a light wind and the snow and ice all around, it felt colder.

Nightlife is practically non-existent in Sarajevo, other than hanging out in restaurants and pubs. I didn't hang around in the streets for too long and followed the Tram Line 1 to walk back towards the railway station and the hotel.

I would have liked to relate the experience I had when I went into a bar near the railway station, but forum rules prohibit discussing drinking & alcohol, so I'll skip this part. All I'll say is the warm friendliness and welcome that I received amongst a group of total strangers for the next couple of hours was terrific, and they paid for everything, including the food. As a parting gift, the cook even gave me a 2012 calendar with beautiful scenic photos of Bosnia. This, in spite of the fact that I didn't speak a word of Bosniak and none of them spoke more than 10 words in English.


During my attempted conversations with the local people, I even found a few words in Bosniak which closely match Hindi. Bosnians frequently use the word "SABUR" to mean "have patience". "Dus minuta" means exactly that - ten minutes.
I wonder where this language overlap came from. Any Arabic or Urdu connection perhaps?




Day 8 - Dec 30, 2011:


Today I was taking the early morning bus back to Zagreb where I'd spend the night and fly back home on Dec 31st.

The bus was at 6:30 am and it was going to take over 8 hours. The ticket price came to 54 BAM.


Some photos during a few rest stops on the way to Zagreb. Even though the journey time came to over 8 hours, it was so beautiful all along the way that I didn't get tired. The bus passed through beautiful countryside, quaint villages, small mountain passes, along rivers and streams. The weather played its part too. It was foggy most of the time which made those mountain passes look really dreamy.








It was around 4pm when the bus reached the main bus terminus in Zagreb. There were quite a few stops on the way to pick up passengers, two rest stops and border control. This time during border control while entering Croatia, all of us had to get down from the bus and form a line in front of the checkpost. It didn't take too long.


The hotel I had booked was about two blocks away, and finding it was easy. After dumping my rucksack and freshening up, I stepped out.

Outside the Zagreb main bus terminus (Autobusni Kolodvor).



I took a tram from here to the city center. It was about 5 or 6 stops. Tickets were purchased at a nearby kiosk.

Reached the city center. In spite of the near zero degree temperature, it was amazing to see the square and the streets crowded. People were walking, drinking, having fun. It was lively all around.







A human statue. Luckily they don't have any mosquitoes there.



This pavilion was a temporary structure built just for the last week of the year, serving hot dogs and drinks. It was very crowded inside.




After spending some time around the square, I ventured out to the surrounding areas where the Zagreb cathedral was located.

The Zagreb Cathedral and the surrounding areas. The cathedral is supposedly the most famous and tallest building in Zagreb.




Nice Christmas lights.



This is inside the cathedral.




I didn't take any more photos inside as there was some kind of serious prayer service going on and I didn't want to disturb the folks praying.

The neighborhood around the cathedral.




Zagreb Cathedral from a distance. Notice the haze and fog.



Got kicked in the behind by your girlfriend? Don't feel bad - now you got a whole museum dedicated to the cause.



Dracula lives here. His scooter is parked outside.
Well, ok, it looked eerie enough for him to live here. He was from around these parts of Europe anyway.





To be continued...

[mr.sinha]

Day 8 - Dec 30, 2011 - continued:


Paint work on frosted glass.



Back to the city square after the church visit. The children were having fun in the cold around this fountain.



The streets with Christmas and New Year lights and decorations. Trams passing by.




Never saw this kind of Benetton store before. Is this where they sell colorful Benetton underwears?



In the short time I was there, I found Zagreb to be such a lively city, I regretted not having spent more time there.





Used to be my favorite store, H&M when I lived in Zurich. I used to go there every weekend to buy ties on sale. At the end of my Zurich trip, I had over 40 ties of different lengths, thickness, hues, colors and brands. Most of them I never wore more than once - only a few survive now.



A few more photos before wrapping up.




Nice statue.





Let me end the travelogue with a weird incident that left me a bit shaken.

I thought that since this was my last night on the trip, I’d check out the nightlife in Zagreb. So I had asked at the hotel reception and the lady there recommended the name of the most famous nightclub and disco in Zagreb, namely the “Gjuro 2” (pronounced G-y-u-r-o Zwei). This was about a 15-20* minute walk from the city center, and she also gave me proper directions. So after winding up with my photography at the CC, I started walking towards the address.

It was a little after 10 pm then. I figured I’d hang around for an hour and two, then walk back to the city center and catch a tram (which run late into the night) back to my hotel.

In the middle, I asked other people on the streets twice to recheck that I was going in the right direction. All of them knew about the place and pointed me towards the roads correctly. So, I figured it was indeed a popular joint.

I was walking along, and after the bright lights near the city center, the streets appeared to be getting leafy and darker. I passed this dimly lit park by the side of the road.



After about 15 minutes or so, I managed to spot the club on the other side of the road. ‘Gjuro 2’ was written on the big gate (like they have in bungalows) in front. So I was at the correct place. The street was not well lighted, it mostly looked like a residential neighborhood, and there weren’t any people hanging outside. In fact there was no one on either side of the whole street. That’s odd, I thought. I crossed over to the other side. I pushed the gate and it opened. So I walked in. There was a small courtyard in the front before the club building. The hotel lady had told me that there was a cover charge. So I get into the building, and on the right is a small cabin, supposedly where the person collecting the cover charge sits.

But there was no one there. That’s very odd, I thought. And I still didn’t see anyone around. Then I turn the corner and I see a flight of steps leading down to a basement and at the end of it is a pair of glass doors through which I could see the brightly lit inside with tables and chairs. I was thinking whether I should go down the stairs or just get out.

Curiosity got the better of me, and I walked down the stairs and pushed on the glass door. It was open, and I stepped inside.

Now imagine this. You are in a very busy and popular nightclub in Bombay on a Saturday night. You see a crowded place, with food and drinks on the tables and drinks, and a big oval shaped counter in the middle with taps, and bottles neatly stacked, glasses hanging above the counter, people nursing drinks, a very busy mixologist, and the waiters and the crowd jostling around, a good lot of din and noise, loud party music in the background, bright and focused lights, and all that. You get it, right?

Now close your eyes for a second and imagine all of the above happening, but the only thing missing are live people and the noise. Because that is exactly what I found when I walked inside. There was pin drop silence, half-finished food and drinks on the tables and counters, chairs and stools loosely arranged as if people were sitting around (before disappearing), all lights on, but not a SINGLE soul anywhere. The carpet was a bright red color.

I looked at my watch. It was 10:40 pm. I looked around. About 15 feet away I could see the entrance to a large hall, well lit.

I walked up to the hall. This was the disco floor. All the lights were on, the DJ's place in the corner, the disco light fixtures on the ceiling and walls, the floor was wooden. But there was no one there. I shouted out "hello" a couple of times. It sounded silly. The whole place felt surreal.

I guess it was at this point that I got a bit frightened when the hair on the back of my neck stood up, and the brain screamed to get out. It felt like the Hotel California song “you can checkout anytime you want, but you can never leave”…
.. before Don Felder’s figurative electric guitar kicked in, I was literally “running for the door, to the passage back, to the place (i.e. the street outside) I was before”. I ran, pulled open the glass door, bounded up those 10 steps in 3 leaps (amazing myself at this sudden spurt of fitness), turned around the passage, ran through the front courtyard, and was out the main gate in under 10 seconds.

After a few minutes of walking, with the heartbeat returning to normal, like a frustrated college kid I went back to the hotel.

Later when I was thinking about it, the only thing that made sense was that something illegal must have been going on in the club and there was a police raid maybe a short while ago before I had gone in (even though there were no police cars in front of the club at that time). In that sense I was probably lucky not to have got rounded up and into a Croatian jail for the night.




Finally it was time to bid goodbye to a great trip.




Day 9 (Dec 31, 2011):

Woke up early, checked out of the hotel by simply dropping the key in a drop-box, and walked to the main bus station where there was an airport shuttle. I had an 8 o'clock flight to London.

The weather was extremely foggy that morning, but the plane left perfectly on time.





It was in the evening on New Years Eve when I landed back in Newark in the US of A. Too tired to party, I simply had an early dinner, went to bed and welcomed the New Year in my dreams, oblivious of the dropping ball in Times Square.

I was able to end 2011 with a great and memorable trip. This was certainly a journey of a lifetime for me.

Dear Reader, thank you for your patience and time in reading through my journey. I sincerely hope I made it worth your while.

I hope 2012 brings some more of such adventures into my kitty. Until then…

[Figopian]

Mr. Sinha, you not just ended your year on a high note with this splendid tour, but turned this into an affair to remember for all us readers. A fantastic travelogue! I wish it had continued a little longer! A five star thread and wonderful snaps! Thanks a ton for sharing!!

[DeepChat]

Mr.Sinha,

Hats off to your writing and photography skills. In one word - AMAZING. I have been going thru this TL for the last 3 days (borrowing time between meetings and work). For me, it was well worth the effort. Absolutely enjoyed reading this, and vicariously re-living your travel experience.

During my attempted conversations with the local people, I even found a few words in Bosniak which closely match Hindi. Bosnians frequently use the word "SABUR" to mean "have patience". "Dus minuta" means exactly that - ten minutes.
I wonder where this language overlap came from. Any Arabic or Urdu connection perhaps?

There even seems to be an overlap between Russian and Bengali. In Russian, fire is 'Agun' (same as in Bengali).

A church on the other side of the Neretva river which flows through Mostar.

I had an epiphany when I saw a mention of the Neretva river. The Neretva dam was the centrepiece of the Alistair McLean novel "Force 10 from Navarone'.

They say Split has the most beautiful women in the world concentrated in one place. Don't believe me? Google it.

It is attributed to a curious mix of Mediterranean, Italian, German and Balkan breeding. The end result is near perfect. Katrina types are dime-a-dozen there. Trust me, I can attest to it :-)

No photographic evidence? Besides the photographs, this piece of information may induce some of us to migrate to Split.

Your experience in the night club was creepy. Sounds like it was Dracula's lair.

And I was in splits reading your experience about walking into a gay bar. I empathize completely since I had the same experience in NYC. Definitely not something to forget in a hurry.

[Animesh]

Lovely lovely pictured and thank you so much for taking time to describe your travel through these places. Enjoyed this travelogue a lot.

Please post any further travels that you undertake in future. Helps each one of us in the community.

[Suess]

Hi Mr. Sinha, this is one of the best travelogue i read. i read it completely till the very end without skipping a bit and pic!!
great keep it up. write a book: a thriller or some.

[Bohemian Spirit]

Mr. Sinha,

One of the best Travelogues ever on Team BHP. Appreciate your story telling and of course you photography skills.

As the famous John Hope quotes “We must go beyond textbooks, go out into the bypaths and untrodden depths of the wilderness and travel and explore and tell the world the glories of our journey.” - your travelogue is epitome of what John wish each traveler must do.

[mr.sinha]

Thanks for the good words folks. That was a trip of a lifetime. Now I am back in India, and the plan over the next few years would be an attempt to drive to all those far-flung and exotic places in our good old country. I have seen much less of India compared to US or Europe, and its time to rectify that.

[SPIKE ARRESTOR]

Originally Posted by mr.sinha

They say Split has the most beautiful women in the world concentrated in one place. Don't believe me? Google it.

It is attributed to a curious mix of Mediterranean, Italian, German and Balkan breeding. The end result is near perfect. Katrina types are dime-a-dozen there. Trust me, I can attest to it :-)

I read your travelog sometime back, but did not realize what you said is so true until I met someone a few months back. That is also the reason, I am reading this again.

Originally Posted by mr.sinha

Dear Reader, thank you for your patience and time in reading through my journey. I sincerely hope I made it worth your while.

Thanks for sharing, after reading your thread, I have decided I will be visiting Croatia soon, may be this Christmas.

Spike

[mr.sinha]

Originally Posted by SPIKE ARRESTOR

I read your travelog sometime back, but did not realize what you said is so true until I met someone a few months back. That is also the reason, I am reading this again.

Spike

I hope your realization had a happy ending.