Inside Northwest Bosnia

Enisa and I spent last weekend in Banja Luka (Bahn-yah Loo-kah), Bosnia, stopping through Jajce (Yah-eet-say) en route back to Sarajevo. Here are some photos from the trip.

Banja Luka is the second largest city in Bosnia, and inhabited primarily by Serbians (part of the Serb Republic).

I found Banja Luka proper to be refreshingly western in comparison with other Bosnian cities. Though still poor with a high unemployment rate, Banja Luka, unlike Sarajevo, strives to keep up appearances of prosperity.

Downtown Banja Luka: Ljilja (Lili-ya), from Herzegovina, and Belinda, from Cape Town, SA--work with a college student ministry

Banja Luka "Kastel," built four centuries ago (notice this picture was taken in the winter--we didn't get a good frontal view, so I found one on the web)

Outside the castle walls

On the castle grounds

View from the top

Jajce (which, translated, literally means "little egg"), is the city where former Yugoslavia was established. Before returning to Sarajevo, we spent the afternoon wandering the ruins of ancient Jajce

Jajce, yum!

One of the beautiful views from the stone walled windows. I'm being smart and leaning forward, not backward

Christi and Enisa adorning a threshhold

Dungeon, 17 centuries old, impenetrable walls: here prisoners were thrown to the bears

Prisoners' view of the sky as they were being gobbled

From left: Dina, Sanela, Vanja (Von-ya), me, Christi

One of Jacje's beautiful waterfalls

On the road again

Off to Banja Luka for a couple of days; tell you about it when I get back!

First omelette I made in my life, this morning, was perfect. I had a genuine fear of omelette-making, and because it was so hyped up in my mind, I almost started sweating when it was time to flip the thing.

But voila. A wonderful half circle of egg, tomato, edamer cheese and garlic salt. Completely cooked all the way through. Gorgeous.