First day in Sarajevo (rest day for riders)

Having gone to bed about 7pm I was wide awake about 4am. Earlier in the night I woke up as I had heard some singing/ chanting which I wasn’t sure what it was. Later at breakfast one of the riders said it was related to Ramadan, and it was called “singing to welcome the new moon”.

As there are no tea or coffee making facilities in the room I was downstairs at 7am, the moment the restaurant opened for breakfast, to get a cup of tea. I met four new riders from Sydney who were doing their first TDA ride and chatted to them for awhile. After an omelette and a few more cups of tea I headed back upstairs and fell asleep again.

I was woken by the phone just after midday to say Brett had arrived and was waiting down in reception.

We caught up on family news, Brett had a shower and then we headed out to have a look at the town. Unlike yesterday where the heat was stifling, today was not cold but not too hot either. We didn’t really do any site-seeing just milled around, and sat watching the crowds.

For dinner we went to a place called Apetit, which is rated number two for restaurants on TripAdvisor. It was only a five minute walk from the hotel, hence the decision to go there and not to the number one.

It was an interesting place, only seats 12 with no menu for food or wine. They cook and serve a selection of what they have got that day. It was a lovely evening, the staff were the chef and the wait person, who I think was also the owner.

We started with a salad and then had steak with vegetables and pepper sauce. Yum – no room left for dessert.

Afterwards we had a wander around for a little while, stopped at an English pub complete with a red phone box and Laurel and Hardy outside. We went inside and had a drink. I had forgotten what it was like when people could smoke in pubs and restaurants yuk!

Back to the hotel as jet lag was catching up with me.