Eye Opening

 

The really high hill out our hotel window was the answer to our prayers.  We needed some exercise.  Some real exertion.  Our hearts were asking to be pumped faster, our skin wanted to feel sweat, and our souls needed nature.  We were in Mostar, Bosnia & Herzegovina, our first time in country that is primarily Muslim.  And the first time to hear the wailing, brooding call to prayer.  Curiously, the hill we were planning to climb had a huge cross on top of it.  A cross?  In a mostly Muslim country?  Oh well, we didn’t care what was on top, we were going to climb it.  Initially we wanted to just wing it and find the way to the top on our own, but at the last minute we decided it would be better to ask for some directions.  The receptionist said, “you want to do what?  You can’t climb that hill.  It’s full of landmines and is extremely dangerous.”   Our mouths fell open. 

We knew that Mostar was a battleground in the recent 1991-1995 war, but who would’ve guessed that unexploded landmines were still in the ground 15 years later.  Seeing all the bullet riddled homes, bombed out buildings, and hearing that our hill was still extremely unsafe completely shifted our mood from surf and sun to war and peace.

 

The Balkans war or, more accurately, the breakup of the former Yugoslavia, was a bloody ugly mess.  Scars from this conflict are still very much present in many of the cities and towns we visited. 

We watched video footage in Mostar’s City Museum on how the Croatian Army was able to blowup it’s beloved bridge, Stari Most.  The bridge was built by the Turks 500 years ago connecting two communities, each believing differently in the way to heaven.  To the Bosnians it has long been the symbol that Muslims, Jews and Christians could live peacefully as neighbors.  It was rebuilt in 2004 and is beautiful architecturally but is more important for it’s symbolism.  To this day, they are proud of their religious tolerance.  Which, we commend.  Many of the Orthodox Christians and Jews that left during the war are slowly finding their way home again.

           

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was really sad to see Sarajevo, the sight of the 1984 Winter Olympic games, still rebuilding after a crippling war.  The lush valley it’s in, made it vulnerable to attack and the Serbs took advantage.  During the four year siege of Sarajevo, their forces rained an average of 300 plus bombs a day onto the city.  Serbia didn’t want to loose another piece of what it thought was it’s territory.  The bobsled run used for the Olympics has all but been destroyed.  The stadium that was used for the festive opening and closing ceremonies was used to collect dead bodies and is now surrounded by cemeteries.  Parks and High School soccer fields were converted to graveyards.  Every one of the tombstones indicating the year of death as 1993 or 1994.

We toured “sniper alley” where the Serb forces stationed on the hills of the area, randomly killed civilians daily.  We saw the city’s fabulous library under a shroud of scaffolding.  It’s being rebuilt after it and thousands of priceless, irreplaceble books were systematically destroyed.  (Sarajevans risked their lives to save as many books as they could.)  We visited a tunnel that was the only means by which the city was able to get fresh food, medicine and weapons to protect itself.  Without the tunnel (and a massive bombing by NATO on the Serbs that surrounded Sarajevo) this former Olympic host would’ve fallen to it’s opponent.  We think it’s a good thing it didn’t. 

Being temporary locals in the cities of B&H was eye opening.  Seeing the result of the multiyear siege and the damage caused by the bullets and mortar made us uncomfortable.  Learning from a few of it’s people that they never questioned that they would stay and fight for their city; made us wonder, would we put our lives on the line for our city, our country, for religious freedom? 

On a positive note….the coffee was really really really good….Bosnian Coffee, our new favorite….until Turkish Coffee!

Communism and Beyond…

Humbled, speechless, surprised, stimulated, embarrassed, relieved….a wide range of feelings came up as we journeyed through former communist Europe.  The Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia - now that we have traveled to the last former communist country on our itinerary we are prepared to write about our perspectives and interactions.

It’s hard to believe it’s only been 20 years since the Berlin wall fell and only 10 years since Slobodan Milosevic (Serbia’s communist leader) was ousted.  In our eyes all of the countries have come a long way in a very short  amount of time and  are doing a fantastic job of transitioning to democracy and a more capitalist way of life.

There were many times when we shook our heads at the bland buildings and factories with huge smoke stacks that remain from that era.  The ugly, blocky, massive statues and monuments erected during that time mystified us.  How could artists not be permitted to be creative? 

The biggest eye openers, though, came from our discussions with the people that are making the difficult change from communism to democracy.  We were really surprised to hear that, for as bad as life was; restricted freedoms, all sorts of controls, a large # of deaths to people that opposed the party; that life under communism for many people was pretty good.  Some even think that a few of the policies from then are better then today's.

We also learned more details on how the Communist system was practiced in Poland and the Czech Republic,  as opposed to in Hungary, as opposed to in Tito’s Yugoslavia and Milosevic‘s Serbia.  Before our travels we pretty much thought that communism was communism was communism. 

In Prague we spoke with Dana who participated in the “Velvet Revolution” that occurred in the city in 1989.  We were  fascinated as she told us of being one of the 300,000 demonstrators that risked their lives in Wenceslas square demanding an end to the repression.  The police hid in doorways and rooftops and used all types of violence to stop the protestors.  She told us how proud she was to participate.  We pondered whether or not we would  have joined and decided that, yes, we probably would have.  It surprised us when she referred to the period as “Totalitarianism”, not Communism.  We both noticed that she didn’t once use the word communism. 

Her parents are part of the “lost” generation and are still struggling 20 years later as their whole way of life (and financial stability) changed dramatically.  It’s awful to think that there are still around 15% of voters that check their ballots for a Communist candidate.  But, then again, who can blame them.  For many it was all they knew.  Change is hard for most people.  (Who moved my cheese?)  Dana, who is  approximately our age, is embracing Democracy and Capitalism, but is working her buns off to make a decent living.  We got a real sense that she is happy with the changes, but is hoping that the new era will bring economic benefits and more prosperity then before.

In Budapest, Hungary we spoke to Charles and Gertrude who both said that the “freedoms” they had under Communism were pretty good.  They had the opportunity to travel to the West, for work and shopping excursions, and always returned.  We heard that the  Hungarians enjoyed the most freedoms of any of the Soviet satellites.  Hungary was described as the “Happiest Barrack” in all of the Soviet system. 

It was hard for us to comprehend that Charles and Gertrude liked many communist ideals - that everyone was essentially equal and had a secure living.  And although the jobs weren’t great; unemployment was non existent.  Today, there is a much wider gap between rich and poor and a much larger number of homeless and beggars.

Both Petra from Slovenia and Dennis from Croatia said that the version of Communism as practiced by Tito allowed them to have small independent businesses, but when it came to buying day to day  stuff, the choices were very limited.  For example shoes were available in black or white only.  Remember, this was in 1988!!

Some of our new acquaintances actually made very good money by smuggling various goods on the black market.  Baby diapers and cigarettes were financially worth the risk of crossing the border with illegal items.  Dish washing soap was a really low quality, so a better brand was typically smuggled in from Austria as well.   People had to do what they could to make a difference for themselves.

Traipsing through former communist Europe illuminated our lack of knowledge and highlighted our misperceptions about a regime and a time that we were taught to think was about as awful as it could get.  It was exhilarating to see and hear other perspectives.  Learning about an era that ended in our lifetime reinforced why we decided to set out on our year long adventure. 

We wanted to be exposed to alternative ways of thinking, living, eating, praying, etc.  And former Communist Europe did just that.  Much more then either of us thought it would.

We hope that the wonderful countries we visited and the brave people we met won’t have to create more graveyards for future Totalitarian leaders.  To a bright future for a beautiful land and people.