Ken Munsie: 211. The traveler wanders on to Sarajevo

OK - so it's on the road again for my next destination after a three week stay in Dubrovnik - and I hop on the bus with half-a-dozen fellow travelers and we settle in for a six hour ride - destination Sarajevo the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina ...

First we travel up the stunningly beautiful Dalmation Coast of Croatia for a couple of hours, then we head inland through the farming river flats and then once across the BiH boarder the road starts to slowly climb up into the limestone alps ...

For a good deal of the way we follow the Neretva River - and the further we travel inland, the whiter those alps become ... past cute alpine villages ...

... and finally we reach our destination - a snow blanketed Sarajevo -

known as the Balkan City where the East Meets the West ...

... then a quick taxi ride up into the hills surrounding the city

to my Airbnb apartment and my waiting host ...

... my attic apartment is in the second house down

hidden in this photo by the pine tree ...

... view from the kitchen window ...

... view of the city at 8am from my bedroom window ...

Although very cold outside ( temperature dropped to minus 13 last night ... brrrr ) my apartment is nice and snug with essential central heating and carpeted floors ... !!! ... It hasn't snowed for a few days now and the sun is slowly melting the exposed snow, making walking along the icy footpaths fraught with danger - but with my rubber-soled boots on my feet and my talisman of a tiny shard of marble from the Olympiad of Zeus in Athens in my pocket protecting me, so far I haven't had any slip-ups ...

I am told that the best spot to get a good view of the city is the Avaz Twist Tower in the city centre - so that's where I head on day one ...

First up it's a zip up to the 35th floor cafe for a shot of caffeine with a twist - cafe latte served with a straw and a blue tinted view of the world below ...

... then after that good strong shot of Bosnian coffee, it's up to the next floor observation deck for a few very quick photos before my nose and ears froze off ... and in spite of the sub-zero cold, what a magnificent view of the world ...