An unexpected trip to Sarajevo
I knew this trip was coming up, but I was supposed to go to Scotland before that. Everything had been
planned nicely for Scotland: it was Friday afternoon and I was supposed to fly to Glasgow on
Sunday... but then life changed these plans big time. The situation in Sarajevo reached the boiling
point in an instant and I got a call from my manager: "You're flying to Sarajevo tomorrow."
So there I was, boarding the plane, flying to Sarajevo, making a few circles above the city... and then
returning back! The plane could not land due to dense fog! At this point, the whole affair began to
resemble the scenes from a Fellini movie and I began thinking: "I am beginning to like it, this is going to
end up real fun!"
So I called my manager from the airport and suggested, as if it was almost
an act of courage with a slice of sacrifice:
- "OK, I think I better go there by car tomorrow early in the morning..."
- "You can go by taxi, if you want. It will cost a fortune, but we'll get someone to pay."
- "No, no, there's no need for that. I'll just drive myself, no problem."
- Etc. Etc.
The truth was that I have wished to drive to Bosnia for quite some time and this opportunity was not to
be missed. So, the next morning at 5am, the Dyane engine roared into the night and I set of for a longish
voyage in deep sub-zero temperature. It was mid January and this winter was quite tough. The heating in
the Dyane works best in summer... but it's hopeless when it's below -15 degrees C outside. The warmth of
the garage vanished into the night soon and cold reality set in. I got into Croatia soon and luckily, the
sun began to rise at 7. This helped a lot: by the time I was "speeding" through the plains of Slavonia,
the inside temperature was close to normal.
At 9, I was at the Bosnian border crossing in Slavonski Brod. On the other side of the Sava river, there
was a town once named Bosanski Brod, but now the name has changed to Srpski Brod. This was Republika
Srpska, the part of Bosnia under Serbian rule. It was the area where the fighting in the early nineties
was very fierce. Not just fighting, but also plain and deliberate destruction: for many kilometers I couldn't
see a single house that was not torn down. But later on, the scenes of destruction became less apparent...
The road was very interesting and certain scenes were just breathtaking! I drove through the ... canyon
along the meandering ... river. I reached Sarajevo after 7 hours of driving and looked for the Holiday Inn
Hotel.
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