A Bosnian Summer. - or: Dobro došli!!!

Zdravo dolls!

Yes - I am back from my trip to Bosnia. And yes - I didn't upload any posts during my stay. Like Marilyn said: "I've tried to change my ways but the things that make me late (in this case: the things that wouldn't allow me to spend time on blogspot) are too strong, and too pleasing."

Anyways. I had an AWESOME time and wish I could go back or at least could have stayed a bit longer. Unfortunately I had to go back since I am moving on Friday and university starts in less than a month. 

Just like the last two times I went to Bosnia I arrived with a lot & returned with more. With more  information, stronger feelings, more soul & more will to come back again (also: more stuff... don't judge me ;-)). I feel like I got to know myself a little bit better, once again. Besides my 'personal growth' it is amazing to see how much changed in only 3 years. Houses which were still destroyed by the war are now back to their old beauty. People look different. More at peace, even though there is still some tension and obviously pain in most of their faces. I can't even put my finger on it but something has changed. It is like the country grew, grew stronger. Not to what it was before the war, I guess, but into something else. Something new. I believe once BiH finishes growing it will turn into a totally new form of beauty (if there can ever be an end to growth like this). Bosnia is a country which evolves, quickly - even though I am not too sure whether this quickness is good (I can't imagine people suddenly having enough money to rebuild their houses in 3 years if they didn't have the money to do so for nearly 14 years. But that's another story.) In my opinion the fact that there is a development is most important & the fact that this development goes way deeper than building new houses or driving new cars. It is about the people I've met, the people I know. 

My mom and I spent 4 days in Sarajevo and 6 in Zenica where we were visiting good friends of mine (I'd actually call them family...). Despite the fact that our hotels were located in these cities we also  made a lot of road trips to the cities of Travnik, Mostar, Međugorje and Visoko, just to name a few.

I will definitely upload pictures of all of the places we visited. As a matter of fact here's the deal: The next days (maybe weeks) I will upload and include them in my 'Around The World series'. I've also got a haul coming up, containing the stuff I bought while I was out there.

On that note: Laku noć!!!

Yours, 

Lea.

Taking a break in Austria.

Nice boy selling 'lubenica' near the Bosnian/Croatian border.

Near Doboj.

Hotel #1. Hotel Grand in Sarajevo.

View on the Avaz Twist Tower from our hotel room. The first night in Sarajevo.

Hotel #2. Motel Almy in Zenica.

Mommy. :-)

Zenica.

>>Bosnia is under my skin. It's the place you cannot leave behind. I was obsessed by the nightmare of it all; there was this sense of guilt, and an anger that has become something much deeper over these last years.<<
  - Paddy Ashdown.