Sarajevo - Surestja National Park - Kotor [18-06-08]

During breakfast, the lady from the tourism agency came down and asked if i could pass her my passpport as her colleague has printed the wrong page of my visa. When i looked at the paper in her hand, i was mildly amused that her colleague actually photocopied my used taiwan visa instead of the Bosnian one. I mean Taiwan (with all its traditional chinese characters) visa and Bosnian visa are pretty NOT the same right? We settled that out in the end.

We continued our journey through the hilly and mountainous region before stopping at Surestja National Park for a coffee break, and to visit the monument where the 6th major battle took place.

part of the ridge of the highest mountain in Bosnia n Hercegovina
The monument was 'littered' with flowers as it has been the memorial day for the 3301 partisans soldiers who gave up their lives in their fight with the Nazis a few days ago. This battle was the only battle that the partisans had victory over the Nazis.
There were 2 huge monoliths, some sort of a modern art, to represent the two great powers clashing together at the site (shown in pictures below).

Then it was all the way to the border of Bosnia n Hercegovina and Montenegro


We spent quite some time at the border for the guard thought it unusual for people to take the unofficial border pass to Montenegro. I am always afraid of being at the customs for it will be terrible to be barred from entering the country. The custom officer at Montenegro was scary. He had that death stare which will send chills down the spine. Our van also had to pay this 'eco-tax' to the 'green-uniformed' guy who smoked cigarettes and litter them on the floor. Talking about saving the environment with the taxes *sweat drop*.

a sneak shot of the Montenegro flag at the custom

The road after that was totally treacherous though the view was great. Along the way, some parts of the green grassland and rocky terrain really resembled those in New Zealand. Also, there were some one-way lanes in which we had a couple of close shaves with oncoming vehicles. I was so scared because any mishaps would mean a free drop off the cliff without railings. But anyhow, we did arrived safely at Kotor.

Taking a breather
Left is a monastery and right is a mosque

Kotor was one of the nicest coastal town I've seen so far. The hotel we stayed in was just by the coast and my room has a balcony view that looks across the coast.
In the night, we bought some drinks and chilled out at the beach in front of our hotel. It was beautiful to see the stars and the moon behind the ridge, as well as the castle wall's golden reflection in the water (like a ring).