The Balkan Loop – Cultural Bridges

The Hram (Orthodox Temple) Belgrade

Having arrived in (what is now the Former) Yugoslavia in 1999, with no intention of being here more than a few months, it is surprising in some ways to still be here 10 years later. Certainly my wife’s friends revel in asking Irena: ‘you married an Australian and you live where?’ Indeed I only stayed those few months. I returned later however, seeing this second posting as my bridge to my second (or third) career. I should have known – the Balkans have always been a bridge – between East and West most obviously. As with many members of the invading armies who fought wars on this land over the past 2000 years, I never really got off ‘the bridge’.

For my family and friends, the vast majority of whom live in North America, where I was born and schooled (in both the US and Canada) and Australia, where I immigrated in 1975, the history that is visible across Europe cannot be touched in their native lands – at least not in the way it is present here. Having grown up in young countries, confronting age, in the context of nations, religions and inter-cultural relations was illuminating, and, frankly, shocking. While the multicultural flows in Australia are complex and nuanced, the inter-ethnic conflicts witnessed annually these days at the Australian Open are but a ripple compared to the deep currents of division, distrust and suspicion that exist here, between Croat, Serb and Muslim. Here, centuries of hatred, war and misunderstanding generate constant foam on the surface, indicator of the churning going on below the surface.

Usce (confluence) of the Sava and Danube Rivers

I have written elsewhere more generally on this point. What I would like to share here is something I have developed that I hope helps people feel, in some small way, the length of history and the depth of complexity. I call it the Balkan Loop, 5 to 10 days travel across Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The trip takes in locations specifically interesting in terms of Balkan geography and history, with a specific emphasis on religion, language and empire, and on the dynamics of life for normal people living on this bridge – living on the edge of both ‘the West’ and ‘the East’ but not living in either.

The Loop varies in size, length and duration, but most recently has taken on the form described below. My focus has always been on seeing how geography could have impacted on conquest and daily life, so the trip includes the mountain highlands of Bosnia and Montenegro, together with the rivers which flow through the region. The Adriatic, and the coast from Budva through to Split are a second geographical aspect.

A second focus is on religion – its variety in the Balkans (with significant majorities of Catholic Croats and Orthodox Serbs and the significant Muslim minority), its link to ethnicity and the role both have played in the recent Balkan conflicts. Linked to this discussion is the third focus – language. Studying in Canada I was taught that the language of Yugoslavia was Serbo-Croatian, but don’t expect a Montenegrin or a Bosniak or a Croat in Split to agree with this description, even if it is linguistically correct.

So here, my Balkan Loop, which for me starts and finishes at home.

Belgrade, Serbia and the Danube

The largest city in the former Yugoslavia, Belgrade is a modern city, whose recent development has been severely hampered by war, the international sanctions of the ‘80s and ‘90s and the NATO bombings of 1999, with subsequent difficulties in re-establishing it economy and administrative systems.

One is regularly confronted with an (often humorous) mix of sensible and not-so-sensible practices. We pay for parking by sending a text message, with the fee coming off our mobile phone bill. And people park anywhere they feel – anywhere – legal or not. Visit any Government Ministry and enjoy a cigarette with a high-level functionary, in their office, below the No Smoking sign.

Kalemegdan Fortress Belgrade

I always imagine Belgrade as the point of change, although strictly speaking this might not be the case. But as it is at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, and as Austro-Hungarian influences increase from the moment you move to the north side of the Danube, it is a good image of a line. Having said that, history here is an ebb and flow of influences from East and West. Let me tell a story I heard about the fort in Belgrade (http://www.belgradeeye.com/kalemegdan.html).

According to the story, when at one point the Austro-Hungarians gained control of the south of the river, Belgrade and further south into Serbia proper, they wanted to move the administrative centre across the Sava, to Zemun. And they did – brick by brick they moved the fortress. Some 200 years later control of this territory was again ceded to the Ottomans, who again moved the fortress, brick by brick, stone by stone, back to the hill overlooking the confluence of these two great rivers. While I am fairly confident that the whole fortress was not moved, the story provides an interesting insight into the history of the city.

One other critical point about Belgrade – it has been destroyed 40 times in its history, and was bombed by NATO in 1999 and by both sides in the second world war. Unlike a Prague, one does not visit Belgrade for to look at old buildings.

Oplenac, Topola, Serbia

Have a look here: http://www.topolaoplenac.org.rs/english/welcome.html. Topola was a surprise to me until I lived and worked there a couple of years. I visit now for the church, and for the Serbian history represented in the family buried there. And I like the mosaic art of the inside of the church – 14,000,000 separate mosaic tiles, which have been used to re-create many of the great Serbian Orthodox frescoes. The website has an aerial photo of the church – I didn’t take it, but I did balloon over the church and the whole of the Topola area one day – fabulous.

The Karadjordjevic family is buried in the church. Karadjordje began the uprising against the Ottoman’s in 1804 that would ultimately be successful, after some 500 years of Turkish rule, in reclaiming Serbia. The family, and the story are so representative of this place – backwards and forwards from one conqueror to another. My enduring memory of the first book of Balkan history I read (The Balkans, From Constantinople to Communism, Dennis P Hupchick, 2001, Palgrave, NY), was that every almost page seemed to see a new tribe from the steppes sweeping across the Balkans, taking over for a period.

The Bridge on the Drina – Visegrad, Bosnia

The Bridge on the Drina

Like many, my knowledge of this bridge came to me from Ivo Andrić, whose book, The Bridge on the Drina (Na Drini ćuprija) is one of his works that saw him awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1961. In the context of my Balkan Loop, it is of interest to note that Andric Andrić is claimed by Croats, having been born to a Croatian family, by Serbs, given his own later perspective on who he was by Bosnians, given he was born and raised in Bosnia and Herzegovina (indeed in Visegrad itself for part of his childhood).

I think it is a beautiful bridge, and coupled with how Andrić draws Balkan history through the story of the bridge, it is an important part of my Loop. As you might see in the background of my photo, the drive to Sarajevo is beautiful, up a stark Bosnian river valley.

Sarajevo

I love Sarajevo. I’ve been going there for 10 years. The older parts of the city, nestled up against the mountains, are particularly attractive. The Baščaršija (pronounced Bashcharshia) is the most famous street/ sector, and it is lovely, if a little touristy now along the main corridor. But the whole of the old part of town is beautiful – doors are a favourite of mine. The city (physically, emotionally and culturally) was terribly damaged during the war in the ‘90s. I recently read Scott Simpson’s Pretty Birds (2005, Random House, NY). There is also the Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway (2008, Knopf Canada). They both tell stories of the sad, and the beautiful things that happen in war.

Sarajevo was always known as a multi-ethnic city – it was a hallmark of who it was. I understand this is still the case, but I am just not sure. The wounds are very deep, here and across Bosnia. Having said that, masses of humanity flow through Baščaršija each evening in a Bosnian version of a paseo along Las Ramblas in Barcelona. And at the end of the street away from the mountains, near the Orthodox Church, you can sit and enjoy a beer and watch the crowds.

The Bridge, Mostar, Bosnia

The Bridge in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Mostar is a newer place in my experience, as I never went there before 2005. I never saw the old bridge, for which I am sorry. The new bridge looks exactly the same, you can just tell it isn’t. I’m not sure if it is what I knew/ know that affects me when I visit Mostar, or whether I really do feel something, but I’m always a bit sad and uneasy there. The old bridge (Stari Most) was destroyed in 1993, having stood over the Neretva River for almost 430 years. The reconstructed bridge is lovely – it has the same exact look as the old one – but it is new, and obviously so.

You can see how steep it is.

Still, sitting in Mostar’s old town, just off to the side of the bridge, eating ćevapi, watching tourists and locals and waiting for the divers to leap off the bridge is a great way to spend a couple of hours in the afternoon.

Mostar Old Town

Dubrovnik, Croatia

Looking down on Dubrovnik on the road from Montenegro.

Oh how I love Dubrovnik – have a look at what Wikipedia says: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubrovnik ). As with almost all my favourite cities in the world, it is totally overrun by people like me, but handles them better than Venice – on a par with Prague let’s say. Knowing absolutely nothing added to the experience, but the moment I first saw it, from above and to the south, coming in from Montenegro, with its fabulous walls, stone construction and lovely red-tiled roofs, jutting out into the Adriatic, I knew I would return often.

The three main entrances to the old city are on three different levels – the middle entrance some 200 steps above the main walking street. It is a beautiful entrance, as you look down the uneven stone stairs to the bustle of the town below you. The city walls are a tourist favourite, as you can walk the whole circumference of the city, looking down in onto city life or alternatively looking out onto the Adriatic, with its tourist boats, liners and ferries. It is quite easy to imagine yourself as a member of the city’s defences, guarding against invaders from the sea.

There are two places where small doors open out onto rocky locations outside the walls. In recent times these places have been levelled with concrete, and tables and chairs brought out. Sit, enjoy a coffee and watch the (mostly) young travellers jump from the rocks into the Adriatic.

Seaside, outside the walls.

Like each of the key places I visit during my Balkan Loop, Dubrovnik too severely damaged during the war. The physical scars from being bombed and bombed from the mountains above are almost all gone, but the antagonisms remain. Drivers of Croatian number plated cars in Belgrade are more comfortable putting their cars in parking garages overnight. The same is true for Belgrade plated cars in Dubrovnik.

While speaking of parking it is worth mentioning there is a new, large underground parking garage a short walk from the old city – a welcome change from the parking difficulties of the past.

Kotor, Budva and the Boka Kotorska, Montenegro

Boka Kotorska Montenegro

Many, many, many of my friends and family spend the July/ August holidays on the beaches of Montenegro in and around Hercegnovi, Budva and the Boka Kotorska. (http://www.discover-montenegro.com/Boka-Kotorska.htm). I could never bring myself to holiday here, in the sense of 10 or 20 days sitting on the ‘beach’, but it is a simply beautiful place to spend a couple of days. Here, the Montenegrin mountains come straight down into the sea. In front of you, ‘just out of sight’, is Italy and behind you, the mountains, blocking you from a quick exit. Kotor and Budva each have their old cities, but the attraction for me is the Boka itself. The entrance to the bay is about 300 metres across, but the drive from one side to the other is some 35kms I would guess. The drive should be made in the direction which keeps the passenger side of the car on the water side. Steep mountains, deep water, twisting, narrow roads. Lovely.

Stop for a meal in Perast, and get a table that looks out on the islands in the middle of the Boka.

Durmitor and the Tara River, Montenegro

Crno Jezero, Zabljak, Durmitor, Montenegro

Montenegro promotes itself as ‘wild beauty’. True. The climb up from the sea, along the rivers and up the steep roads to Durmitor used to be much more wild than now – a noticeable change is the number of police and the frequency with which people are stopped. It makes for a less stressful 5 or so hour drive to Zabljak, and the peaks and lakes of the Durmitor National Park. This is a place I could spend a week or 10 days, walking, reading, cycling. Lots of people do, enjoying the less crowded beauty of the mountain in summer.

Tara River Bridge, Montenegro

The trip home includes the last serious bridge of my Balkan Loop. This one has no historical or engineering significance that I know of. But I love it. Down from Durmitor, across the bridge (over the Tara, where you can raft most days) and then up again, into the mountain beauty again on the way back into Serbia. It’s a long drive home, past Zlatibor and eventually along the Ibar river. It’s a good chance for me to rehearse with my guests what we have discovered, about history, language, war, and the beautiful geography of the Balkans.

Other Places

From time to time I have the chance to extend my loop. I try and take in the Plitvica Lakes National Park in Croatia, as well as Split and the Dalmatian coast. It isn’t possible, or practical really, to do that section and Sarajevo/ Mostar, and it is a longer drive. But Plitvica is unbelievable – a magic kingdom of water and solitude – and is well worth a trip on its own.

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Tags: Balkans, Belgrade, Boka Kotarska, Bosnia, Croatia, Dubrovnik, Europe, Montenegro, Mostar, Sarajevo, Serbia, Travel