Gorazde

On Saturday, April 29th, Edin, "The Hero of Gorazde,"
one of our IT guys,
had his annual Lamb Roast in Gorazde.





Yep!! A whole lamb is skewered and cooked over an open pit. It's really interesting and very unusual for Americans.


Menso and Adis





Many of Mark's co-workers were there. The weather was, of course, cold and rainy...bone chilling cold and rainy!! I was the DD (designated driver) so I didn't have anything to drink. Everyone else was drinking and warm....uh duh!! The company and food were great.


Nihad







Cola and his son, Harun



Sam and Dzelila (Jelly)

Gorazde is about 1.5hrs from Sarajevo, unless of course, you take the Gallagher short cut, in which case it takes a good 2 hours. We followed the map and the signs that led to Gorazde and it took us through some very lonely and isolated places. There was a tunnel that we got to that had a stop light. A sign said in local language that the light would change every 5 min. It was a one lane tunnel. Looking at the tunnel, which cuts into the side of a mountain, one feels like at the edge of an abyss. You go in and never come out!! The light changed and we started going through. The tunnel was long and dark and a little scary. All I could think about was "I hope we don't get a flat!". Once we passed through, the landscape was really verdant and magnificent. We were in the Republic of Serpska, in an area not touched by the war. There were no bombed out buildings, no bullet holes, no evidence of war. It was nice....looked a little like other areas of Europe.Orthodox Church - the bricks were so unique for this area as well as the colors, just had to get this shot!





Then we followed the sign to Gorazde. We were on a small, narrow dirt road that indicated it was 35km to Gorazde. Mmmmm - hairpin curves up the mountain...the views were exquisite. There were a couple of cars behind us, but none coming in the other direction, and none ahead of us. We were a little curious, is this the road to nowhere? Is this "the long road, maybe the wrong road, the road to God knows where?"

We did stop at one point to get some nice photos. God, if the weather had been nice, the scenery would have been perfect. But as you can tell, the sky was grey and cloudy.

Going back home, I drove and Mark and Sam slept. We took the main road back. It's longer, but it only took 1.5hrs to get back home. Thank Goodness!!



This young man was the star of the day. Harun is Cola's son and is about a year and a half. He is a happy, beautiful little boy who obviously brings great joy to his parents as well as all those around him.


Sam got a great shot of Mark and me. We don't get many of those.