Hello and welcome to this edition of our Blog, from Čardačani, in the north of Bosnia and Herzegovina, written by an immigrant (me), as I am neither a tourist or a citizen here.
This post might be “truncated” by your email server, because it’s a bit long. We recommend reading through your browser. There should be a link to that automatically generated 😀
Read to the end of this week’s post to find out more from our Sticker ⬇️
This past week wasn’t planned to be basically focussed on food. OK, I am one of those humans that lives to eat, rather than most of the race who eats to live. It is how I am, and how I have always been. To be honest I like it that way.
As is the routine in our house, Tamara and I love to crash together on the couch, and watch food based videos, on YouTube. Not necessarily recipe or “how to videos”, rather the format that the video shows below ⬇️.
These types of video, at least to us, are relaxing, educational and informative (as they show how other cultures created dishes). No commentary at all, just a few subtitles for ingredients. Excellent storytelling as well.
We watch videos mainly from Azerbaijan, Turkey and the Caucasus. Highly recommended 👍
The Food
Tamara gets tons of inspiration. Trust me.
Inspiration that results in mega tasty dishes that I simply enjoy experiencing, like the fried pepper and joghurt dish above ⬆️.
The Culture
We have written here before, about the “national minorities” that there are in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
This week we visited the Polish community in Čelinovac. We had a blast discovering about the history of the Poles that arrived so long ago, and the plans to keep the old traditions alive . Oh! and sampling Pirogi was totally 😀.
You can find out more in our blogpost ⬇️
The Location
The city of Bijeljina
The History
Yes. I am a history buff. Simply love it. Although I get so disappointed and somewhat down, seeing how the current trend of re-writing history is gaining momentum.
I am particularly fascinated with historic connections that the United Kingdom has with the region that is now my adopted home.
So, it was particularly interesting to see that the regiment that my Irish grandfather had served with during the early twentieth century, had such a connection.
His regiment was part of the Anglo-French cover, provided for the Serbian army during the withdrawal from Serbia in 1915. Click the image below ⬇️ if you want to find out more.
The Vlog
Our vlog has been relaunched as Postcard from Bosnia.
Or you can catch previous episodes by clicking on the image below ⬇
The Bad News
Well it had to be expected.
Cheap flights into Banja Luka from airlines like RyanAir, Wizz etc brought a new stream of tourists and visitors to the area and beyond, who could avail themselves of cheap, “bucket price” flights.
Then the pandemic hit us, followed very closely by the current cost of living crises. Travelling by air was never going to be the same again, especially cheap, bucket seat, travel. That now seems to be a thing of the past, due to the rising cost of fuel.
The era of the €10 ticket is over.
There's no doubt that at the lower end of the marketplace, our really cheap promotional fares - the one euro fares, the €0.99 fares, even the €9.99 fares - I think you will not see those fares for the next number of years. - Michael O'Leary CEO, RyanAir.
How will this affect Tourism in Bosnia and Herzegovina? Well, we’ll need to wait and see how creative the entity tourism organisations can be.
The Car Sticker “Hits The Road”
On its way to Montenegro 🇲🇪 and then on a long journey back to Austria 🇦🇹.
Do you have a journey that the sticker could accompany you on?
Drop us a “I’d like a sticker” in the comments 😉 to get yours.
The Sticker Rides Out 🏍 !
And Finally
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Tamara and I appreciate your faithful readership, your comments, and your generosity!
THANKS SO MUCH ❤️
Thanks for the interesting titbit about our grandfather's regiment and the link to the balkans
Ryanair and a number of other airlines buy forward their fuel by two years, these deals are running out in October. It is expected as well a number of smaller tour operators and travel agents will collapse as spending begins to drop. Hopefully this will reduce the amount of overtourism that developed before covid, making it now more comfortable and enjoyable.