On our previous visit to Sarajevo, we befriended the guide from our tour of the Srebrenica Genocide Memorial, Arna. We’ve been trying to meet up with her this weekend, but she had some last-minute work assignments. Ever the concerned host, she sent me a link to the Sarajevo Wine Weekend so that we could keep ourselves occupied. She stressed that it’s only about 200 meters (656 feet) from our apartment (at the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina Hall). Since today is our 500th day on this crazy adventure (we left San Francisco on June 7th, 2017), we decided to check it out.

We’re really glad we did. The participating wineries were from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia. The white wines from the Balkan region are all light and crisp, even the Chardonnay. My new favorite is TAMJAHИKA (also Tamjanika, pronounced Tamyanika). Kenric’s been drinking a red varietal called Vranac by this winery Plantaze which happened to be there tonight. It costs about 5 Bosnian Mark (USD $3.14), but of course, it is so low-end that the winery didn’t even bring it to the event. The representative, however, introduced Kenric to the higher-end Vranac which is quite good. Dangerous!

Each ticket was 30 Bosnian Mark (USD $18.82). We got two wines glasses for unlimited wine tasting from the 60 different wineries upstairs, and free cheese and hors d’oeuvre from local restaurants and farms downstairs. I really liked the orange marmalade from a farm vendor booth and asked if I could buy a jar. The girl said the only thing for sale at the event was cheese. She insisted that I take a jar of marmalade home. “I give you for free!” I resisted twice and then happily accepted it.

We went back upstairs for more wine; I was secretly thankful that they’re not selling any wine at the event. At around 8:30 pm, the place filled up and got really warm, so we left. Besides, we were getting a little tipsy; we visited about ten booths and tried at least two wines from each although we dumped a lot of it; some because they were not good, and some because it was way too generous a pour. After not having alcohol for the last two weeks, I was most thankful that the venue was only 200 meters from the apartment.

Happy 500th Day, Erickson! It’s been insane. Cheers!