The apartment we've rented comes with an OLD cellphone that we are supposed to be able to use for calling taxis, food delivery, etc. Rich needed help figuring out how to set it up with the remote wifi, so our host had a friend come by and fix it. He fixed it all right. We couldn't use it after he left. :( The joys of technology!

Our meeting point for our tour was ambiguous--Rich thought it was at one place, I thought another and neither was right. We tried calling the tour company, and that's when we figured out our phone wasn't working. Arghh. We spent about two hours off and on fiddling with this and finally Rich called someone, who turned out to be an insurance agent (wrong number). He was the nicest man! Said he wasn't associated w the tour agency, but maybe he could help me as a private citizen. It was through a series of clues he gave me that we finally figured out where to meet. So stressful!!

We had decided to take a taxi since we had heard parking was a nightmare near where we were to meet. There's a taxi stand right next to our building, but not a single taxi to be had. Rich finally went into a cafe and had them call one for us. Worked like a charm.

We had gone early to make sure we knew where to meet, and ended up having about an hour to kill. It was VERY hot, so we found a shady outdoor cafe so I could people watch.

Lots and lots of women in head scarves and even burkas. I was sweating in a sleeveless shirt, I cannot begin to imagine how they deal w the heat dressed like that! This was the first time we've seen Muslim women in all of the Balkans.

We met our guide and it turned out we had a private tour. Layla was quite knowledgeable and led us all over the old Town. We sampled some cevapi, which are small beef sausages made with spices and grilled, served with a grilled pita and chopped onions. Delicious!! Next was what they call burek, which is a pie, but not like an American pie at all. They take a pastry type dough, roll it out, fill it with meat and finely chopped potatoes or spinach, cheese--you can choose--then they roll them up tightly and spiral them. They bake until the dough is brown. We were so full from the first stop that we could barely eat any! The food is quite heavy and filling. We got our leftovers to take away.

We wandered through the old Town, with our guide pointing out different landmarks along the way. The recent war is still very evident in a lot of the buildings. You can still see bullet holes and places where mortar shells exploded. And of course, there are a lot of monuments placed around the city in recognition of those that died.

Our last food stop was for Bosnian coffee and dessert. They like their coffee thick and strong, in small carafes that are served individually. There's a proper way to drink--first you stir, then you pour out your sugar cubes onto your tray. Next you pour your coffee into a tiny cup and place the cup in the container that held the sugar. After this, you take a bite of your sugar cube and hold it in your tongue. Take a sip of the coffee and let it melt the cube. Swallow together.

Rich didn't even try it. It was strong for me and I think that with practice, I could learn to take the proper size bite of cube to sip of coffee. But for now, I'll continue to drink my American coffee. :)

We also tried the Bosnian version of baklava, as well as some other dessert, which was a peeled baked apple filled with a sweet nutty concoction. It was delicious!! Even Rich liked it, although we both were way too full to do much damage.

Our tour ended up being 3 1/2 hours--we learned a lot about the history of the city. It's a beautiful place, they've done a great job of rebuilding. Lots of tourists here right now, so I'm guessing that Sarajevo will once again be a popular place to visit in the not too distant future.

We were both exhausted after the tour--maybe from the heat, because we didn't walk all that much, but a cool shower and ac were calling us. We hailed a cab and were home in 10 minutes.