Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
In spite of what some said, Bosnia-Herzegovina's Trebinje not only exists, it thrives.
As I entered bustling and prosperous Trebinje, police with ping-pong paddle stop
signs pulled me over to tell me drivers need to have their headlights on at all hours. The
“dumb tourist” routine got me off the hook. At an ATM, I withdrew Bosnia-Herzegov-
ina's currency, called the “convertible mark.” The name goes back to the 1980s, when,
like other countries with fractured economies, they tied their currency to a strong one. It
was named after the German mark and given the same value. Today, while Germany has
switched over to the euro, the original German mark lives on (with its original exchange
rate) in a quirky way in Bosnia. But like the country itself, convertible marks are divided.
To satisfy the country's various factions, the currency uses both the Roman and the Cyril-
lic alphabets, and bills have different figureheads and symbols (some bills feature Bos-
niaks, others Serbs). I stowed a few Bosnian coins as souvenirs. They have the charm of
Indian pennies and buffalo nickels.
Coming upon a vibrant market, I had to explore. The produce seemed entirely local.
Honey maids eagerly offered me tastes—as if each believed her honey was the sweetest.
Small-time farmers—salt-of-the-earth couples as rustic as the dirty potatoes they pulled
out of the ground that morning—lovingly displayed their produce on rickety card tables.
