the balkans

Art and History Street ArtApril 23, 2017April 23, 2017

Top 5 festivals in Mostar

Festival season is not limited to the summer season with popular events taking place throughout the year. With so many festivals to get involved with, here are five top tips for bringing your brand, business or yourself to festivals in Mostar:

Mostarsko proljeće is designed in an effort to enrich cultural scene in Mostar. It is a rich program of cultural events which covers musical concerts, theater and puppet play, book and film nights, poetry reading and such.

Mostar Blues & Rock Festival has grown into a respectable event that has found a way to maps of European festivals and is one of the most significant festivals in this region.
Mostar Film Festival is cultural manifestation where the audience has an opportunity to enjoy in movies, documentary, student program and such.
Street Art Festival – The art skills of artists that interact with mostly urban environments to express themselves, are fascinating. Mostar is one of those street art galleries in the world.
Mostar Summer Fest – Celebrating urban culture and music, the city of Mostar each summer attracts attention with the Mostar Summer Fest. One of its goals is to become a platform for having a good time and fun.

News Out&AboutApril 1, 2017April 1, 2017

April Fool’s Day

‘Aprilili’ is the colloquial name for “April Fool’s Day” joke which is an old custom celebrated every year on April 1, when people joke with each other and deceive each other harmless pranks, and after they make fun of someone, they tell him he’s been fooled with the ‘aprilili joke’

The custom has been popular since the 19th century and the day is not a national holiday in any country , but is accepted in most European cultures, the United States and India. On this day people come up with one another harmless pranks or publish forged or false news, stories or information.

The goal is that to bring your relatives, work crew or anyone you may know in a funny position while having a great time.

There are many lists of the best jokes that are compiled to show the best and most creative examples of the celebration of this custom. People who do a lot of effort and time in making up with something cool usually have the biggest respect from everybody around.

Here are some of these examples:

1 Borrow someone’s cell phone and change the language (eg, Chinese)

2 Change the language to use Google on someone’s computer

3 In the school office or replace regular coffee with no caffeine drinks

4 Replace the character the male and female changing rooms or toilets in

5 Turn on all scented fresheners in a room

6 Add the food coloring in the carton of milk

7 Add color to liquid washing car

8 Switch a few keys on one’s keyboard

9 Replace “Pull” and “Push” on the door stores

10 Replace the cream in a biscuit with toothpaste and offer someone

11 Dip one’s cigarette filters in something sticky, sour, bitter …

12 Bring more combinations of clothes to work, and they change every half hour, and act as if nothing strange happens

13 Paint a bar of soap completely with transparent nail polish (it won’t make a foam)

14 Hide a small radio under someone’s bed and turn it very quietly

15 Complete hair baby powder.

Bosnia and Herzegovina Places TipsMarch 27, 2017March 27, 2017

5 reasons to visit Sarajevo while in Mostar

Sarajevo is the largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina and home for more than six hundred thousand people. Because of its rich cultural variety this city was sometimes called “Jerusalem of the Balkans”. It is the only major city in Europe to have a mosque, catholic church, Ortodox church and synagogue within the same area and has been home to many different religions for centuries.

It is perhaps the mix that makes Sarajevo such an attractive tourist destination. if you are in Bosnia and Herzegovina and are not sure whether to make the trip to Sarajevo – GO!

1. This is the place where you will find one of the best ćevapcčići in the Balkans

If you are coming to Bosnia and Herzegovina then you must try eating ćevapi(chevaps). It is a favorite dish in the whole country and food lovers from all over the world always enjoy eating ćevapi in our country. Ćevapi has its origins in the Balkans during the Ottoman period, and represents a regional specialty similar to the kofte kebab.Chevaps are incredibly versatile. Eat them grilled with veggies, baked potatoes or just go for fresh salad, these meat rolls will excite your taste buds. There are several great restaurants in Sarajevo which serve traditional ćevapi, find more info about them in our Gastronomy section.

2. It is cheap and easy

Sarajevo is a very cheap city and you can get a lot for the value of your money. Weather it is the accommodation, shopping, food, drink, sightseeing or enjoying the night life, all visitors agree are delighted with what they can get here for their money.

3. Food is delicious

Traditional food is both organic and delicious. You must try local traditional food that can be found in traditional restaurants called Aščinica.

4. It is only two hours from Mostar

In spite of how slow buses in Bosnia travel, it will take you no longer than two hours to reach Sarajevo from Mostar. Even if you hate it—and you won’t, trust me—you’ll be out nothing more than a few Bosnian marks and a little of your time. Enjoying Sarajevo is as close to a sure thing as I’ve recommended on this blog!

5. Architecture is amazing

Sarajevo is famed for its tumultuous history and the city’s architecture expresses this beautifully; the Ottomans, the Austro-Hungarians, the Yugoslav wars and the Siege of Sarajevo have all left their mark, making the city one of the most interesting in Europe.

Bosnia and Herzegovina PlacesMarch 23, 2017March 23, 2017

Sarajevo Airport

The city of Sarajevo is the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Located on the Miljacka River, this city is surrounded by the Dinaric Alps.

Its center has museums commemorating local history, including Sarajevo 1878–1918, which covers the 1914 assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, an event that sparked World War I. Landmarks of the old quarter, Baščaršija, include the Ottoman-era Gazi Husrev-bey Mosque.

In case you have missed it, read our previous post – Short road trip from Sarajevo to the south of Herzegovina.

Sarajevo is connected to the rest of the world by a network of regional roads, international flights, rail and bus lines. Visitors from countries in the region and those carrying passports of the USA, Russia, Australia and Canada do not require a visa to enter Bosnia and Herzegovina, nor do citizens of EU Member States.

The Sarajevo International Airport ( also known as Butmir Airport) is located about 12km from the city center.

International airline companies such as Turkish Airlines, Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Eurowings, Swiss and FlyDubai, connect Sarajevo to many cities and countries around the world.

It is also important to know that the airports in Mostar and Tuzla are both about a 2-hour drive from Sarajevo and they offer flights to Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Netherlands and Italy.

According to the statistics, in 2015, 772,904 passengers traveled through the Sarajevo airport, compared to 323,499 in 2001.

Bosnia and Herzegovina TipsMarch 21, 2017March 21, 2017

Convertible mark in BIH

Located on the Balkan Peninsula in southeastern Europe, the region of Bosnia and Herzegovina is a place of rich historical background and leftovers of past civilizations.

In case you have missed it, read our previous article – 10 interesting facts about Bosnia and Herzegovina you need to know.

The Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is divided into 100 pfenigs or fenings (Bosnian: pfenig/пфениг / fening/фенинг; Serbian: pfenig/пфениг; Croatian: pfenig), and locally abbreviated KM.

The convertible mark was established by the 1995 Dayton Agreement. It replaced the Bosnia and Herzegovina dinar, Croatian kuna and Republika Srpska dinar as the single currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1998. Mark refers to the German mark, the currency to which it was pegged at par.

What about the name convertible mark?

The names derive from the German language. Three official languages in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosnian, Serbian and Croatian) have adopted German nouns die Mark and der Pfennig as loanwords marka and pfenig. The Official Gazette of BiH (Bosnian: Službeni glasnik BiH), Official newspaper of FBiH (Bosnian: Službene novine FBiH) and other official documents recognized pfenig or пфениг (depending on the script; Bosnian and Serbian use both Latin and Cyrillic on an equal footing, while Croatian uses only Latin) as the name of the subdivision.

Banknotes of 50 fenings/pfenigs were in circulation from 1998 to 2000.

They were denoted as “50 KONVERTIBILNIH PFENIGA” / “50 КОНВЕРТИБИЛНИХ ПФЕНИГА”; however, the word convertible should never be next to the pfenig because only the mark can be convertible.

Coins of 10, 20 and 50 pfenigs have been in circulation since 1998[1] (the 5-pfenigs coin was released in 2006).

All of them are inscribed “~ feninga” / “~ фенинга” on the obverse. Misspelling fening/фенинг has never been corrected, and it took that much hold that is now officially adopted and not recognized as an incorrect name.

What about the coins?

In December 1998, coins were introduced in denominations of 10, 20 and 50 fenings/pfenigs. Coins of 1, 2 and 5 marks were introduced later.

The coins were designed by Bosnian designer Kenan Zekic and minted at the Royal Mint in Llantrisant (Wales, UK).