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Wizzair came to the rescue; I found cheap flights to Tuzla, a city north of Sarajevo in Bosnia & Herzegovina. I conveniently knew I had a friend there, because when I went to BiH earlier this year, I had got in contact with her to ask where she lived and if we could meet up. We didn't end up meeting up, because she lived in Tuzla, off my route. Even more conveniently, it wasn't too far from Belgrade, which is pretty much swarming with colleagues and good friends from my time in Macedonia last year. So Tuzla it was.
I originally planned on staying 5 days, but it was cheaper to stay for a week, and I had the holidays necessary anyway, so I ended up booking for a week. And here I am.
Let me first tell you; I don't ever remember being as excited for a trip because of the food. I've been excited about trips, but it's always been for some other reason; an adventure, reuniting with (really) old friends, exotic places…but never for the food. Not even when going to Italy. And it's kinda crazy because I know a lot of people, (and an old colleague of mine would kill me), who find the food here really bland, and I admit, it is quite bland! After some time, and not even very long, you (i.e. even I) would probably get bored. But you get used to certain things, and you might even start associating them with certain things, and it just so happens that I have developed a taste for their very bland but brilliant BBQ and burek. Bureeek! So while this is a trip to catch up with friends and explore new things, it's definitely also a trip for the sake of the food.
Anyway. Wednesday: I very 'conveniently' had a conference in Malmö on the day of departure. Or that is… I knew that I was going to be in Malmö, so I had kept a special look-out for flights departing from Malmö airport instead of Copenhagen. So straight after the conference, I took the bus to the airport.
The flight itself was fairly hassle-free for being low-budget. Wizzair has some new policy where you have to check in your hand-luggage unless you have priority boarding…but in fact, that's a bonus, because it meant I was allowed to take my laptop out of the (checked-in, hand luggage-sized) bag…and my laptop came in a small backpack…so it meant I had two bags in total. Since it was checked in, I also assume I would have been allowed to bring more liquids in bottles bigger than 100 ml…
We arrived at 22.30 ish, some 20 minutes before estimated arrival time. However, we taxied around for such a long time that I was almost starting to think that they were just circling around to make the airport feel bigger than it really was. Eventually, we came to a halt, and people rushed up even before the seat-belt signs had been turned off. We got out, and could walk straight into a building that looked very temporary; white plain walls, passport booths that looked like they would fall over if you just leaned against it. There was no conveyor belt; just a short thing with those metal bars that spin that they have at the beginning or end of the security check conveyor belts. The bags came onto it from a hole in the wall, but then a guy just worked on getting the bags off the tiny 'belt' and onto the floor where people could take their bags.
Outside, my friend was waiting for me. Lots of people were waiting outside actually. I usually find that there is a correlation between the size of an airport (or terminal), and the amount of people waiting outside, but this Tuzla airport completely destroyed my self-collected evidence of any such correlation. But who knows, maybe it's a fairly big airport normally; my friend told me they were renovating and that's why everything looked so weird and plain.
Her dad was waiting outside, and I greeted him in Bosnian with a phrase I had forgotten, but had then heard on the plane; dobre vece. I can't spell. He got the car, while we waited, chatting a bit. It was, or at least I felt quite cold, even though the forecast had said it had been around 20 degrees that day.
We drove through a very dark forest on a winding road. They got me to my Airbnb, as they had not been able to host me just these days, but apparently I lived on the way to their place, so I could feel less bad for them having picked me up - but it had been her idea.
I felt quite exhausted when I got to my room. Not just after the conference and flight, but last weekend has been hectic and I only have a hectic time coming up; I had packed almost all my things and my parents had come pick them up, since I'm moving out at the end of the month, but I only have two nights left at the flat, since I'll be here and in Oslo for most of the time. I had lots of deadlines for job and funding applications, one of which I still haven't finished. Trying to figure out what to do at the end of the month. So I put my alarm to sleep for 8 and a half hours. Yet I woke up after 'only' 8 and felt rested.
It was almost so early that there would be no point in going out quite yet; would things be open? Would I really need that many hours to walk around a town that hardly has any attractions? I wasn't meeting my friend until 4 something PM, so I had plenty of time. So I spent some time downloading offline maps, checking attractions and places to eat etc. Headed out just past 10AM.
I had seen that the bus station was nearby, so I decided to go there first to check the timetable for Belgrade. There was also an ATM there, so I took out some cash, since I realized I didn't have a single penny on me; not even euros. My Airbnb seemed a bit surprised about that, but hey, why would I have euros when I live in a non-euro country?
It was a good thing I checked the times at the bus station because they were very different from the ones I had seen online. I found the site online to be quite reliable when I was in Macedonia last year, but here they were completely off. So I noted down the times, then headed downtown. On my way, I saw a shopping centre with DM; probably one of the biggest discoveries of having worked in Germany last year. They had it in Macedonia as well, and in lots of other Eastern European countries, but not at home. It's so much cheaper than at home, and they have a much bigger selection of all kinds of things, and so many just brilliant things and great prices; I wanted to buy half the store.
I was almost out of the deodorants I had bought in DM in Germany earlier this year, and had meant to get facial wipes (travel edition) at the airport but Malmö…well they don't have a lot. So I got wipes and 3 different kinds of deodorants(…), and ended up getting a few more things while I was at it, though if I had had endless space (and weight) in my bag, I would have bought so much more.
Then I headed into the old town. It was quite clear you had reached your destination; a walking street, more touristy shops, though really not a lot, and I'm obviously very out of season. I reached a big square, then just continued following the people. I went past a really delicious cake shop that made me laugh when I saw there was a cake with a plazma biscuit stuck in it.
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I could have said no, but I don't remember how to say 'only' in Bosnian - and it was only 1.5€ anyway, so I was like 'whatever'. But it means I still have a meat burek in the fridge from yesterday. Even though they're much better fresh. It will sound like (food) porn if I try to describe how happy I was eating burek again - so I'll leave it.
I walked a lot more; up on some hill. Past a Muslim cemetery. Down again through a park. Sat down for a while enjoying the view over the city. Moved on towards the salt lakes; fake salt lakes they made a few years ago for people to bathe in. There was a giant slide as well, and pools, but they were all empty. They had ticket boots but because, I assumed, the pools were empty anyway, and out of season, it was free to enter. So then it was just like entering another park, with lakes, pebble beaches… It was around or above 20 degrees yesterday, so I wasn't the only one taking a stroll in the park.
I found wifi in the park, so I used it to text my friend about when and where we could meet. We'd meet at 4PM, after she had finished at uni, then go for early dinner.
My intention was to go find a place to sit down and have my daily dose of tea, as I had only had one cup in the morning, and my water bottle had only been half full, so even though I wasn't thirsty, I felt like I needed something more to drink. However, there are two things I'm really bad at when travelling on my own: 1) I forget to sit down and take breaks, so I at the end of the day my feet are tired beyond the 1-sit down dinner rest. 2) I get a bit anxious about deciding where to sit down. It should be a place that's casual, where I can sit alone without seeming like a loner. Not expensive. There are just so many factors.
All this meant that I ended up walking around the old part without any tea for about another hour. Not quite an hour though; I found a market. Most of the stalls were closed but there were some clothing ones that were open and to my big joy, there were also some people who were still selling fruits and some vegetables. So I got two apples and a pomegranate because they were so huge and looked so delicious. The three things were half the cost of one pomegranate at home…
I found a bench by the main square, where I was also meeting my friend later, and ate one of the apples. Really juicy even though it wasn't even my favourite type. Then a wasp came and bothered me and just would not let me be even after I had waved it away several times, so I had to get up as I was starting to fear I might accidentally eat it if it sat on my apple; that's how hysteric it was.
So I went another round around the neighbourhood, then sat down at another bench when I had finished the apple and thrown it out. There wasn't much else to see around town.
My friend arrived a bit early so I didn't have to wait for all that long. We went for cevapi at a place I had also read about on TripAdvisor who had cevapi from Tuzla ; my friend says they're different from the ones from Sarajevo. I'm not sure I could taste the difference but just oh so good to have cevapi again!! It's the only place ever where I've got my food before we got our drinks.
I tried Sultan from my friend; a coca cola drink but that's made from black seeds. Tasted pretty much the same as regular coke though but fun to have tried something local.
After our early dinner, we walked around for a bit more. I was almost, but only almost, surprised at the fact that there were places I hadn't walked yet. We went up on a hill past, or shall I say through, the hospital area, then passed a Christian cemetery (Orthodox and Catholic), then came back down by the viewing area where I had sat down earlier that day. She told me about the memorials, showed me the library, told me about the statue in the park, the town history - or lack thereof, and all kinds of other things.
Then we sat down in a favourite place of hers to get dessert. It had got dark but was still warm enough to sit outside. It said French waffle but… It was slightly different from a normal French waffle; this one was the size of a normal waffle, thinner, not as sweet and not quite as crispy, but still super delicious. What made it better was of course: you guessed it, plazma! A bit of melted chocolate, but not too much, and a few slices of banana (okay, that there could have been more of…), and plazma. Just absolutely fantastic. Somehow my cup of black tea was almost just as satisfying as the waffle. I think because the black tea I've had at home since my parents took all my stuff, including my teas, last weekend, means I've only been drinking black tea I don't really like. So it was really delicious.
We started walking back towards her house and my Airbnb, stopping by the shopping mall with the DM, just to pass some extra time and take a look. I've been in bad need of some new running sneakers so we looked at some in Intersport. They had a sale so the prices were pretty reasonable. We also went into a very small store that told dried fruits, teas and spices in loose weight. The rest of the shopping mall, except the DM of course, wasn't of much interest though.
At a nearby crossing, where we were going in different directions, we parted, her saying she could quite possibly also drive me to the airport in a week. So sweet. And I thanked her once again for the dinner and dessert; remember that Balkans always pay for their guest. I had forgotten about that, so I had asked where "we" would pay. As soon as she said I shouldn't, I remembered, and knew it was a lost cause to even argue. Thankfully, I had bought her and her family a box of Danish chocolate, so at least I didn't have to feel too awful about everything.
I went to my Airbnb where I made myself some tea and cut up my pomegranate. I had seen they had had plastic cups at the flat for some reason, so I could fill them with the seeds so it'd be easier to eat on the bus the next day. Meanwhile, some other guests that were staying at the Airbnb got home. Two, not attractive middle-aged men in the room next to mine, right by the kitchen.
They were colleagues from Ljubljana and were apparently staying for quite a while because of some family one of them had some 100 ish km from Tuzla. One guy was in the kitchen trying to make use of the oven to heat some frozen mini burek they had bought. He was very talkative, asked me all kinds of things. I was friendly back but not very talkative. I wasn't in the mood for talking and the smell they had brought into the kitchen was all but pleasant. So when I had finished up with the pomegranate, I thanked him for the chat and went to my room. Did some writing and showered before going to sleep.