Bosnia, but not as we know it

Just back from a weekend entertaing Grandma and Grandad in the bright lights big city of Sarajevo. It is always fun to show other people around a city, and everytime people come to visit us we realise how much more we now know about Bosnia and its history.

We decided to treat ourselves and stay in a house about 10 minutes outside of Sarajevo. Long experience with toddlers has taught us that staying in hotels can be very stressful and restrictive. Whenever possible we prefer to stay in a house, where the boys have room to play and we have somewhere to sit after they have gone to bed.

The Villa Atelier came with a recommendation from a friend of a friend and having looked at the website we thought it would be nice. Nothing prepared us for just how nice it was. Beautiful rooms, amazing bathrooms (we've not had a standing up shower for a while so are impressed by these things), views to die for. We were looked after by the lovely Leila, who cooked for us and also did a seperate meal that the boys would eat, and all with a smile. They had a sitting room AND a library, not to mention a whole floor upstairs for energetic boys. The house had a calm and gentle atmosphere and was without a doubt the most amazing place we have stayed in for a long time. It was all the best of Bosnia without any of the bits that can irritate.

We've booked to go back there for New Year with some friends, and can't wait. In the meantime Grandma and Grandad have travelled north to the slightly less lovely city of Tuzla and slightly less glamourous surroundings of our house. Ah well, it is a slightly more realistic idea of what Bosnia is like