I’d planned on this being first post being all about the brave new adventures around England I’m embarking on over the new few days. It’s wholly different from any past brave new adventure around England, as for the very first time I have a Rough Guides to Britain. And all real holidays involve a Rough Guide, so this must be one too.

It’s my logic, I’ll do what I like with it.

Bath Abbey

I’m hoping to find out if we’ve become the “overweight, binge-drinking reality TV addicts, obsessed with toffs and C-list celebrities” type of race that Rough Guides claim we have. So where better to visit than the origins of British civilisation epicentre that is Bath. I have only tenuous links to make such wild claims but it makes for a great introduction, doesn’t it?

Bath is famous for many things, The mostly preserved ancient Roman baths (60-70AD), The Wife of Bath, Jane Austen’s residence for five years, it’s a World Heritage site, King Bladud… Wait….Who?

You probably all remember the story of late King Bladud of 3,000 years ago. He contracted a disfiguring disease (hit by the ugly stick). It was due to this that he was banned from the royal palace, and eventually travelled to the Avon Valley in his new line of work, “Swineherd”. Unfortunately for the pigs, they all caught “ugly” off of poor old Bladud, and it wasn’t before they went rolling in the hot mud around Bath that they became beautiful Disney pigs again. Seeing the miracle with his own eyes, Bladud joined in with the pigs in what would nowadays be called “mad”. But due credit to the guy, the magical springs did the trick and he returned to retake the throne. When he returned to the palace, he founded the City of Bath and dedicated it’s healing powers to the Celtic goddess Sul.

King Bladud's Pigs. Abi and Emily

And that’s why 100 pig sculptures have been modelled, painted, decorated, been displayed in the greatest commemoration of Pass The Pigs the world has ever known. Oh, and to get Bladud’s statue out of storage and into Parade Gardens, of course. They’ll all be auctioned on 31^st Oct 2008. So get to Bath while you can, or get ready to place those bids. If you don’t make it, hopefully old Bladud will be back on his perch in the gardens, with a brand new pig sculpture made from Bath stone. Let’s hope so.

You can buy a map of all said pigs in the tourist information for the extortionate price of 1 pound. It’s well-worth it though and an excellent way to explore the city, taking you places you’d probably raise an “eh” for, before. I managed to photograph 54 of them in my one day visit. If I had longer, I would certainly go and find the rest - but I still consider this to be a pretty good haul.

My first impressions of Bath is a beautiful city, full of friendly smiling people, grand impressive architecture, sprawling green parks, and well worth the short 90 minute train journey from London Paddington. You won’t regret it. Unless you’re Jane Austen. Or you hate pigs.

The first of my catch-up posts written way back, but just now ready for public consumption (I have a stringent post approval process, as I’m sure you can tell). At least I can add pictures

The (New) Old Bridge

I’m now in Mostar, one of the front lines in the Bosnian/Serbian war of the 90s, and one of the worst hit architecturally.

It was attacked by Serbian and Montenegrin forces in 1992 with an onslaught of heavy bombardment lasting 6 months. In May 1993 (just over 15 years ago, remember) - Bosnian Croat forces within the city attacked the Muslims living there. They were taken from their homes, moved to detention camps, dividing the once united city into two distinct halves.

There is a strong emphasis in Bosnia to never forget, through leaving some destroyed buildings as a monument, to simple plaques alongside rebuilt areas. “Forgive, yes … But never forget” says Bata. It seems a healthy way to be, but undoubtedly a lot easier said than done.

Don't Forget '93

The Old Bridge in Mostar once stood for 500 years, and was visited by people from all over the world throughout its lifetime. It’s the symbol of Mostar, and regular diving traditionally takes place from the highest 21m point into the freezing river below. Everything seems to be built around that single central point which draws the focus of the town.

Once it was gone, everything the bridge had stood for in the city went with it. Christians, Muslims and Jews became divided. After the war, it was replaced with a wooden bridge before being rebuilt to be identical to the old bridge and reopened in 2004. This meant using stone from the same quarry, as well as using the old methods with no modern technology. It’s said that the original Turkish architect fled to the nearby Dervish monastery after it was completed the first time, through fear that it would collapse once the scaffolding was removed. I like to think the same tradition was held to this time around, and if you stay real quiet, and watch very closely - you can still find that man hiding out amongst the pigeons in the caves below.

As you probably worked out from the last post, I’ve been on holiday again. So, as is tradition - here’s the usual photo story. The pictures come from various West Balkanite countries; Bosnia, Montenegro, Albania and Macedonia. Facebook users will probably need to click through to the original article link to see the video.

The rest of the photos, including the ones in the video above will be on Blakepics shortly (as soon as I’ve got my server running again). Likewise, a full quality version of the video will be here. The music, “Let me be myself” by 3 Doors Down.

Incidentally, more blog posts from the trip are also on the way. Some are drafts, some are notes, some probably don’t exist yet - but they’ll be spreading across the site like mould on bread very shortly.

Sarajevo is not one of the worlds most beautiful cities. It is a far cry from the coastal towns along the Adriatic, but it is one of the only places in the world that you would find the nearby Holiday Inn to be one of the local tourist attractions.

It was once known as the world’s Jerusalem, there the worlds three main religions sent their prayers upwards in harmony. It’s since seen its fair share of trouble though, and they may have been a little premature. From 1992-1997, Sarajevo suffered a siege which saw over 10,000 civilians killed, and left the city without food, or water as well as constant fear of attack from Serbian troops in the surrounding hills. What makes this especially thought provoking is that the war happpened in perfectly memorable times, for me. And whilst I was sitting at home watching the news of terrors in far away lands, other men and women my age were fighting for their lives and survival. 2,000 children were killed during the siege, enough to fill two of the schools that I was attending at the time. Everybody has a war just like that, this is mine, and I suspect many of yours..

On the few occassions the “don’t mention the war mantra falls apart, I have still had to do a double-take when people talk of it not as, “they travelled through here”, or even “we travelled through here”, but “I travelled through here”.

Anyway, as they say in Bosnia, “enough about the war already”, and amen.

The weather is stunning, the sun is beating down on my pasty white arms, and I think I’m building up a pretty good t-shirt tan, all in all. The people are amongst the most friendly, and welcoming you’ll find anywhere in the world. With a growing tourism industry, I get to take advantage of the fact that not everybody hates tourists, yet. A sad fact that has been in existence in London for some 700 years.

I realise from the lack of Rough Guides, and that the BA direct route only opened up last year, that this is not yet on this years hot list. Whilst the guide books suggestion of watching the locals chess game might not be everyones cup of tea. But I challenge you not to tense up and get sucked in by the enthusiasm of 20 people screaming at said player not to make the move that will end his fight.
We’ve also got more mosques than you can shake a stick at (120 in Old Town), a beautiful rich green valley to explore (not off the beaten track though, mine clearance is still underway), graffiti from Space Invader (well I saw one, anyway), Red Bull flavoured ice cream, churches, great food, cheap food, great cheap food, and a whole lot of bars that aren’t yet filled with the typical British Male Tour Gangs. You know who you are.

Last but not least, not one single fat person. Except the tourists. And the ones I haven’t seen.

Why would you not want to come here?

So with that, I’m leaving tomorrow for Mostar. I have a vague plan of where I am heading now. At least before the sun sets, the idea is Mostar, into Montenegro, Kotor, Bar, through Albania to Lake Ohrid in Macedonia, before heading back north to Skopje and my eventual flight home. Public transport permitting, of course. I might even stop off in Dubrovnik again, if the buses demand it.