OK, so I really didn't tour Bosnia...
...in April 1996...
...but if you look at the map, I had to pass through its coastal access, which is technically part of its territory, on my way to Dubrovnik, Croatia. I never noticed a border marking, and undoubtedly they have a right-of-passage agreement with Croatia--assuming they don't have some neat trick where the road is on a bridge or island instead of Bosnian territory. But the map looks like I was actually in Bosnia.
Now that I hear a Spanish tour group has gone to Sarajevo, I have half a wish that I had gone. From every city, there were buses to Sarajevo and Mostar. From Dubrovnik, Mostar was a short trip. The mountains around there were beautiful, and I've read about the Bosnian countryside.
However, there were several reasons not to go. First, they were still rebuilding from war, and while tourism dollars would help, they weren't in a position to share their meager shelter with a bunch of crass tourists. It's also a bit ghoulish and tasteless to go see the war area--human suffering as a neat tourist attraction? Granted, I have a more professional, personal, and scholarly interest than your average tourist, and I could claim that it's a part of my study of security matters, but in reality, it would be like rubbernecking at an accident. Besides, the UN probably would have stopped us and sent us back since they no doubt had enough problems trying to deal with mines, Bosnians, Serbs, and Croats without having to take care of idiot Poles, Japanese, and Americans wandering into a very dangerous situation--and in the end, that's the ultimate reason not to go. Sniper fire and mines were still prevalent there, and the Serbs couldn't have been in love with Americans at that moment.
Hopefully someday...
