Bosnia doesn’t really seem to have weekends, and it is primarily Muslim. Therefore, Christmas on a Sunday in Sarejavo has about as much effect as Diwali falling on a Thursday in Brisbane. We, however, have been in contact with family, have managed to put presents under a tree and will have a meal suitable to the -6° outside. I must say that Christmas Sarajevo is by no means the only new experience.

We had a small earthquake yesterday (4.1 was the judges score).  I have never experienced an earth tremor until now – and we have seen plenty of things that leave us scratching our collective heads..

Merry Christmas all from Bosnia

Don’t die with the music in you. He dances like a maniac on a drug of some sorts for hours every day in the city centre. No idea why -a boy just needs a hobby I guess.

The only thing we have not witnessed is seeing people holding hands in yellow underwear. Way too cold for that nonsense!

“Fatima, our sign’s not working!”

No comment – because I have no idea what this is about.

The Pigeon Man goes to the square at different times every day and the sky becomes filled with pigeons. How do the pigeons know?

Mostar is about 3 hours from Sarajevo by car and the bridge there is by far its biggest attraction. The original bridge was commissioned by Suleiman the Magnificent in 1557 (although Brian Griffin knows thats not a real name) and it was finished in 1567. For quite some time it was the largest man-made arch in the world. Then in 1993 the Croatians came to Mostar.

The bridge had survived earthquakes and numerous wars. In an act of pure cultural vandalism the Croatians dropped it wth 60 well-aimed  shells. The bridge had absolutely no strategic value – a steel bridge is 100m downstream. Sometimes the recent history of the Bosniaks reads a bit like the kid in your primary school who everyone beats up for no particular reason.

The bridge was later rebuilt using the same materials recovered from the bottom of the river by NATO divers and with Turkish and Croatian money. It is an exact reconstruction of the original. The rest of Mostar was just a wee tad underwhelming.  The stalls leading to the bridge sold souvenirs made in China to tour groups visiting from China – bridge pencil sharpeners, bridge paperweights, mugs with engravings of the bridge.

Our drive home was made interesting by the blatant corruption of our driver. Din’s dad is high up in the police force. Din finished Yr 12 and has never worked, however he now owns 10 apartments in Bosnia. In the summer he and his dad host rich Arabs who rent Ferraris to drive around and buy property in town, dad greases the wheels and the visitors grease the palms. He would say that nobody pays traffic fines, it costs 10 BM (about $7.50) to avoid charges for most offences, 20BM for drink driving or accidents. He was proud of the fact that it costs him nothing because of dad. And by the way did we want to buy an apartment in Sarejevo?   Tax-free of course.

Australia is a much simpler place, or at least we lead vastly different lives. I would be willing to take any of my reading public on a tour of Rosewood AND visit the Seven Mile bridge over the Bremer. We could eat a counter meal at the Royal George Hotel. Rhuno’s Drapery may even have a tea towel with some local sights printed on it. However Ted would never have been able to save me from a speeding fine, introduce me to rich Arabs buying properties in Walloon, or ever let me charge visitors for a drive in the country. And what a good thing that is.

Enough from me,

Best let you go Farquar

Farley C-S