Travel Reference
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Smells like Bosnian teen spirit.
That night in Mostar, as the teenagers ripped it up at their dance halls, I lay in bed
sorting out my impressions. Until the wee hours, a birthday party raged in the restaurant
outside my window. For hours they sang songs. At first I was annoyed. Then I realized
that a Bosniak “Beach Boys” party beats a night of shelling. In two hours of sing-alongs,
everyone seemed to know all the words… and I didn't recognize a single tune. In spite of
all its challenges and setbacks, I have no doubt that this Bosnian culture will rage on.
Circling back to Dubrovnik, I drove south to yet another new nation that emerged from the
ashes of Yugoslavia: Montenegro. During my travels through this region, my punch-drunk
passport would be stamped and stamped and stamped. While the unification of Europe has
made most border crossings feel archaic, the breakup of Yugoslavia has kept them in vogue
here. Every time the country splintered, another border was set up. The poorer the country,
it seems, the more ornate the border formalities. And by European standards, Montenegro
is about as poor as it gets. They don't even have their own currency. With just 600,000
people, they decided, heck, let's just use euros.
