Bosanska Krupa

Welcome to Bosnia, my friends - a land that has certainly had more than it's fair share of ups and downs in the past few years. Today we're going to show you a side of Bosnia that is both fascinating and beautiful. Follow along, won't you?

The first shot is the beans on the bridge over the Una river in Bosanska Krupa with our good friend, and the self-appointed King of Bosnia himself, BATW Ambassador Samir Mustafic. Samir grew up here, and said that the location lends itself to many fond memories of his youth. Bosanska Krupa is also famous for an annual festival called Unski Ladjari, which celebrates water sports; in this case, canoe races.

Behind Samir in the background you can see a small glimpse of the city's castle. Where in the U.S., every city has a McDonalds, in Bosnia every city has its own castle. Between you and I, I'd rather have the castle...

Next up Samir and the beans visit Dino, a local cafe located on the Una river in Bosanska Krupa. According to the food encyclopedia (and yes - there is such a thing), Bosnian food is a mixture of Eastern European, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern influence, with lamb being the most popular meat, as well as ground meatballs, boiled vegetables and rice pilaf. Pita, flaky pastry stuffed with spinach, cheese or meat, is also popular. Strong black coffee and rich desserts such as apple cake and pastry with walnuts and honey are often served. Sounds good to me!

While the can of beans didn't get to sample any of the local delicacies during their trip, they were glad to not be sampled themselves...

Ostrozac

Next up the beans visit the Ostrozac castle, which overlooks the Una river. The wall is part of the castle itself, which dates back to the 1500's. The ridgetop valley in the background was formerly the Bosnian/Serb front line from 1992-1995.

Now, here's a cool story... Every year, Samir travels from his current home in the U.S. back to Bosnia for a visit, and this May he dared two of his co-workers to come along and visit him in his hometown -- and they did! Here's Julie Harroun, fresh from the United States visiting the entrance to the Ostrozac castle, along with our very-American can 'o beans...

Also along on the "dare trip 2001" was Dan Hastings, who apparently decided to wear the beans instead of hold them. I'm not sure how much shade you'll get from a tin can, Dan, but your posture is impressive! Now, I've done some crazy things on a dare before (remember the live goldfish swallowing fad in the mid-70's?), but I've never flown halfway around the world to settle a bet. Still, it makes a great story to tell your grandkids one day, so bonus points to Julie and Dan!

Next is Samir's cousin Mustafa standing with the beans on the Ostrozac castle wall. Samir told us that the outer walls of the castle are about 7 feet thick - which is even more incredible when you remember that they were built 500 years ago, and "luxuries" such as cranes and ready-to-mix cement weren't around... The beans really liked hanging out with Mustafa, and struck their best "Statue of Liberty" pose for the occasion.

Finally, here's Mustafa again, along with his friend Mirsad. Mirsad is sitting on a small stone carving of a person holding a book, but from this angle, doesn't it kind of look like the statue is giving Mirsad a little pinch?

The beans had a great time in Bosnia, and thank everyone for showing them around.