Nice and quiet in the room, but didn’t sleep too well. Walked down to the old city and strolled around a bit.

When I was studying one of my maps a guy came up and asked if I needed a guide – I asked how much and he said whatever I wanted – he was a history student and wanted to practice his English. We agreed on 10 KM (about $5) and off we went. He was very knowledgeable and had interesting stories.

I saw the place where Franz Ferdinand was killed that started WW1 as well as a lot of other stuff – he seemed to know about all of the most famous buildings and places.

There’s one road that has a mosque, a christian church, a Jewish temple and a Catholic cathedral and he knew the date each was built and sometimes re-built, and by whom. The cathedral has one spot that was shelled during the 1992-5 war and the holes have been painted red – they now call it the roses.

Spent about an hour sightseeing, then took myself to one of the places my host Mirza had recommended as having authentic Bosnian food. It reminded me of one of the Greek places Sue and I went to in Olympia, Greece in 1985 – all of the food was already prepared behind the glass and you just pointed to what you wanted. A little bit of English by the cook helped, or I might have ended up with a portion of okra (yuk!!). I ended up with a stuffed tomato, two stuffed vine-leaves, a large meatball and a fair-sized portion of pasta with carrots and beans (which was very tasty). Grand total 7 KM. Only down-side was they didn’t serve tea and my water bottle was getting empty.

Walked past a post-office and inquired about shipping a box of stuff back home – price depends on weight and you also pay hefty customs. Picked up some fresh veggies and more water at a store on the way back to the pension/hotel, then sorted thru my stuff to see what I can get rid of. Ended up with a nice little pile of things that I don’t really need or haven’t used much. Hopefully this will make loading and packing the bike around a little easier.

Chatted again with Mirza – he said he’ll probably go down to the old town this evening as there’s apparently lots going on at night there so I invited myself to go with him. We left shortly after the sun-down fireworks went off. Tons of people – some places were more crowded than they were this morning. Stopped to walk part way thru one of the many cemeteries on the way.

Mirza went to one of his favourite restaurants so I also ordered a bit of food – a ‘small’ order of chicken with a half-piece of bread. Luckily I order the small – a regular size would have fed me for two days! It’s very tasty too, and of course very cheap.

Walked around for awhile then picked up some fresh baked thing for his dad on the way home. Late night for me – around 11 when we got back.

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