July 11th
Drove from Sarajevo to Belgrade, through the mountains of northern Bosnia, and passing by many villages, each populated by a different ethnic-religious community, which could be identified by the prominent minarets or bell-towers or steeples, as well as cemeteries.
The trip took longer than planned – we were on a narrow 2 lane road and there were 2 accidents which stopped traffic completely, at one point for almost 45 minutes. Then we got stuck behind two huge trucks trudging through the steep inclines and curves. Finally we got to the Croatian border and to the freeway, only to be detained for 3 hours waiting to get through the Serbian border ( So many borders in the Balkans!!).
As is turns out we were engulfed by a mass exodus of Turkish families from Western Europe, who were driving in caravans from Germany, Switzerland, France, and Belgium, with whole families packed in vans for their annual summer vacation in their ancestral villages in Turkey. They drive for several days straight on – passing through Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, and Bulgaria before arriving in Turkey. It was fascinating to be caught in the middle of this huge ethnic mobilization that happens every year – at first we were frustrated, even irritated, to have to wait in such line to pass through the border, but then we realized that we were actually witnessing a cultural phenomenon which could be even romantically tied to tales of ancient caravans or migrations, even though we knew these were simply people taking their annual holiday.
We finally arrived in Belgrade after sunset to find ourselves driving in a city where all the street signs are in Cyrillic!! Somehow we managed to safely arrive in our hotel and settle in for the night.
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