A tour of the Balkans... Eight countries in a month! Part one, Bosnia

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I take a flight to Timisoara, Romania and Romania after visiting the city that was missing in my itinerary as well as Romania's Arad near the Hungarian border before boarding the train that will take me to visit for the first time in Serbia.

BELGRADE is a beautiful capital, at the confluence of the Danube and the Sava with its beautiful fortress, Kalemegdan Belgrade that the goal of reaching to admire the beautiful landscape, breathe some 'fresh air after crossing the beautiful pedestrian street Kneza Mihailova with its shops and street artists.

Another good way is Terazije with its bar and the Hotel Moskva, the view and especially the Skandarska a little 'to the south after crossing the beautiful square always closed with the National Museum and the statue of King Karageorgevich.

Skandarska is the Belgrade Montmartre with its bars and restaurants where you taste the excellent cuisine Serbian listening to Balkan folk music, but also the small orchestras that play classical repertoire for customers. Not far from the so-called Silicon Valley, the elegant street where do the beautiful Belgrade botulinum silicon to meet suitors in the local fashion and to the terraces of outdoor bars and restaurants.

Belgrade museums is low, but not art galleries. There should not miss the museum of the genius of Serbia, Nikola Tesla which Serbia has also dedicated the airport of the capital. And many churches such as San Marco and the largest in the Balkans, still under construction, or Sveti Sava much resembles that of Alexander Nevski in Sofia.

I would say to visit the mausoleum of Tito in a green hill in the suburbs, the house of flowers that snub Serbs because they do not remember with pleasure the Croatian leader's regime up to 20 years ago was a local god. There is also a nice museum next door that collects various gifts had to be Yugoslav citizens, but also by foreign heads of state visit to Belgrade.

It is also worth taking a bus and arrive in a couple of hours in NOVI SAD, the beautiful city on the Danube with the Petrovaradin fortress and summer home to the EXIT festival, which attracts young people from all over Europe.

With another bus takes around 8 hours Sarajevo, the capital of war-torn Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnian Muslim virtually divided between the federation and the Republic Srbska even if the two parties currently live together peacefully, without borders and common currency, the mark Bosnia.

Sarajevo endured 4 years of siege of Serbia and was partially destroyed, still has the bullet holes in the facades of the buildings and the only one meter wide tunnel dwellers who forage and reached the city center near the airport. The city that hosted the Winter Olympics in 1984 and was the site of the attack against the deadly 1914 Archduke Francis Ferdinand, who set fire to Europe with the first World War, it is a beautiful city, crossed the river and surrounded by beautiful mountains Miliacka .

The western part of Austria with majestic palaces mark the beginning of '800 and '900 up with many bars and cafes where the locals love sipping coffee between a rumor and the other while the evening is frequented by young people who enjoy the night owls in many pubs and discos. The eastern part is instead of Muslim footprint, the Bascarsija, ie the old Ottoman city with small houses, mosques, hamam within which there are tourist shops and art galleries.

By day the area is frequented by tourists but also locals who love sorsessiare turkish coffee, tasting the local candy types. To visit the beautiful Ottoman house in the hills Svrzo 800 with wooden balconies and rooms furnished with antique furniture and rugs.

Can be reached by bus from Sarajevo, along the Neretva River, which has many trout farms and outbuildings restaurants where you taste the fresh fish caught in front, the capital of Herzegovina Mostar, especially Croatian city that thought and instead is full of mosques, hamam, bazaar typical of Sarajevo, but above all admire its famous old bridge just rebuilt after the devastation of the recent war that razed the beautiful city that still shows many of its buildings abandoned and damaged by bombing and from the front line that passes through the the city.

From Mostar, after walking along the charming tourist town around the bridge and photographed it from all positions, you can take a hike in the nearby Blagaj, a small town, but relaxing with his Buna river which flows from a hole above the temple dervish , in the rocky mountain above it. You can also enjoy trout or carp here in the restaurants on the wooden walkways overlooking the temple dervish total restructuring.

Another interesting excursion from Mostar is one that leads to Medjugorje, the town where in 1981 six teenagers saw the Virgin Mary and who owes his fortune to this event as thousands of pilgrims who arrive from all over Europe for the new Mass in the church and the slope of the Cross Mountain along the rugged and dangerous path because the floor is covered with sharp stones that some walking along barefoot in penance before reaching the top of the cross and the spectacular view of the valley below, after passing a series of bends with bronze crucifixes and the scenes of the ascent of Jesus to Calvary

Mostar is achieved partly by train through a landscape of mountainous gorges and tunnels carved into the rock and then by coach to land up in Neum, the only Bosnian city on the Dalmatian coast, on the road to the nearby Dubrovnik, the beautiful Croatian city I visit for the fourth time, getting lost in its narrow streets and alleys within the walled city that is almost deserted at night and by day is besieged by tourists who arrive by cruise ships. I take advantages of the good weather to relax on the beach a short walk from the Ploce high old walls and I even swam in the cold waters of the Adriatic.

The day after the winter is back and I left by bus to Korcula and Korcula, a beautiful island that is reached through the peninsula of Peljesac Orebic and then by a short ferry crossing to the beautiful Venetian town that locals say is well the birthplace of Marco Polo reported with so much at home as well as beautiful churches, high walls, the towers, the narrow streets, palm trees, the rocky coast with small beaches and the beautiful pine forest with many upstream cyclamen also in April, a beautiful old tower and a breathtaking view over the city and the sea here looks like a lake since it is limited by the Peljesac peninsula.

Back in Dubrovnik I took the catamaran to the island of Mljet was pursuing for years to visit its national park consists of two adjoining lakes, a small island with an ancient monastery and lots of beautiful vegetation that can be enjoyed along the trails along the lakes .

Then another bus to the neighboring Montenegro and running pace the beautiful Bay of Kotor, the peninsula of Sveti Stefan, Budva, Petrovac, Sutomore BAR until you get to where I had him last year visited the ruins of Stari Bar but I had lost the beautiful port city, with its promenade under renovation and the beautiful palace of King Nikola, which houses a museum and the original rooms of the Montenegrin royal family that included Queen Helen was married to Victor Emmanuel III, the small the princess who married King high to raise the stature of the Savoy.

From Bar across the country, meeting tunnels dug into the mountain, the capital Podgorica.