Extreme Weather - Ekstremno vrijeme
The weather has seen some really dramatic changes in just a few minutes this past week. Weird (and exciting)
Hello and welcome to another multi-media newsletter from the north of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
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THANKS SO MUCH to Martin who’s our first Member on Buy Me a Coffee ❤️
Our Weather.
This Weeks Vlog.
We visit the final day of The "Summer on the Vrbas' - Ljeto na Vrbasu" event on 25 July 2021 in Banja Luka.
This annual banja Luka event started back in 1953 as "Carnival on the Vrbas". The week long event starts with bridge diving from the city bridge. Divers register from not only Banja Luka but other locations across Bosnia and Herzegovina and the wider region.
This year saw more than 20 jumpers from Banja Luka, Zenica, Sarajevo, Mostar, Konjic, Cazin, Uzice and Kragujevac registered.
Throughout the week there's an itinerary of activities based on the river. The final part of this festival are: dajak races for juniors, ladies, veterans and senior classes, with the selection of the most beautiful boat at the Abacija beach. Sadly this year, the forecasted good weather, didn't appear, but that didn't spoil the atmosphere of an amazing community activity.
Where are we all?
My online friend Christian Payne (Documentally), has a map which shows where all his newsletter community are.
It’s quite fascinating to look at the world and realise how diverse a readership he has.
I think it might be nice to do the same? I realise its not original on my part, but it might be really cool here too?
Here’s the Map if you’d like to add yourself.
The Week That Was.
“Be careful for what you wish for”, is something that my grandmother used to say so often when I was a young boy. My wish then was to live in a country that wasn’t, it seemed at the time, always cold and wet. Decades later my wish would sort of come true, as the weather here in Bosnia and Herzegovina back in the late 1990’s, was refreshingly but comfortably warm during the late Spring, Summer and early Autumn.
Jump forward 20 years to today. The Summer weather has gradually become, for me at least, unbearably hot. Yes hot. I never thought we could reach the low 40C’s so often.
As I write this weeks newsletter, it’s 0920, my door and windows are opened but shortly will close as, I take refuge in the AC. We recently had a few days with rain, but sadly, the downpours weren’t enough to totally reinvigorate the vegetables in the kitchen garden. The anti UV netting is also struggling to offer adequate protection. We have an ORANGE weather alert. The forecast predicts even hotter. Surely not!
Lonac is a type of slow cooked stew. This has vegetables for the garden plus beef and pork. It simmers for ages and the meat just falls apart when eaten. The tastes are amazing and the aroma when cooking tantalising. If you see any type of “Lonac” on a menu when you visit the country, we highly recommend it.
Don’t ask how many wheelbarrows full of onions have come from the garden so far. I am not a rural type of guy, but sometimes doing these basic tasks cam be therapeutic.
Slap bang in the middle of our nearest city, Banja Luka, is a short but impressive street colloquially referred to as “Godspodska Ulica” or “Gentlemen’s Street”. During the earthquake of 1969 a large part of the old historic buildings were destroyed, but luckily, some remained, and together with what was built as replacements (socialist designs), the street has a very quaint charm.
In Austro-Hungarian times the wealthier members of society would promenade there. Today, it’s the same to be honest, but the with the whole of society. A great place to people watch without a show of a doubt.
Today the street is pedestrianised, and, where the city fathers decorate the street to reflect the seasons, culture or events concerning the city. Lasers or snowflakes at Christmas/New Year, or flower installations suspended above walkers in Spring. The present installation (in the image above) reflects the traditional designs for “Zmijanje” the area just to the south west of the city.
We’ll be recording a vlog and podcast hopefully in the not too distant future about Zmijanje.
Visiting Bosnia and Herzegovina.
With more flights scheduled to land at our local airport (Banja Luka - BNX), this time hopefully from the Middle East, it’s another promising step forward for travellers (formerly referred to as tourists), to experience this beautiful heart shaped country in the Western Balkans.
So, if you want to experience a great place for culture, food, adventure sports and much more, or for just chilling and soaking up life, you really do need to come and see this country.
The latest rules (at time of writing) are HERE.
The Humble Ćevap.
Stari Zanatski.
And Finally.
That's our update from our village here in the north of Bosnia and Herzegovina for this week.
We hope you like our new way of creating our weekly newsletter.
We hope you'll continue to follow our adventures, and to engage with questions and comments.
We are always so excited when we receive them.
PLEASE, do stay safe wherever you are.
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