The day started at about 4:45 am, as the first birthday text messages started to come through. I was then up and leaving Sarajevo around 6 am. The bus ride to Ostrog was meant to take about 6 hours, and when we first got on the bus it looked fairly full. We had seats reserved though, which a bunch of old people had kindly decided to keep warm for us.
There wasn't much English going on, so I did my best to say sorry, but seats 9 -19 were reserved. I'm not sure if it made sense, maybe Pete or Dorotea can grade me.
“Žao mi je. Sjedalo devet – devetnaest. Reservacija!"
The response I got was all over the shop, I had no idea what they were talking about. I just know they didn't want to move, and didn't comprehend the reservation system (or didn't care). Anyway, I finally kicked them out and we got seats.
Got to Ostrog, and dropped off our stuff in the tiny little rooms (making sure boys and girls were kept seperate). Ethan was also in hitting distance of my bed, so every time I snored I was going to cop it. So much for birthday priviledges! There was also no hot water, and only a tiny little trough like construction for showers. Oh well, its not like we are going to be doing anything to work up a sweat...
So - we hike up a mountain to the upper monastery. The priest there let us into the smaller chamber of St Basil. He's basically a little dead guy, with tiny shrivelled up hand. Just by walking in there, we supposedly get his blessing. The locals were kissing lots of various objects, and leaving their donations. I found it interesting that they also leave by walking backwards, there is no turning around.
As we went back down the mountain, the guys had a little birthday moment for me. I got a card, some booze, and also some rather interesting cake. We made our way to the closest restaurant within walking distance for dinner, and had a few drinks there. I shared around the grog, and the waitress was very good with providing shot glasses (and cake) for everyone. She got a tip for her trouble, and we went back for breakfast the next morning.
After that, there was a bit of stumbling back to the monastery – to make sure we were in bed by 10 (or we get locked out). By this stage, in a decision probably fuelled by alcohol, a few of us had decided we were going to sleep at the upper monastery instead. Out under the stars, on little mattreses with blankies...
But there were no taxis, and I'm not hiking up there twice. Its my birthday, dammit.
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