Dear SharePoint people, tired of those \u201c25 reasons for not to come to country X\u201d blog posts? Me too.<\/p>\n

The biggest gain from my work with Microsoft Community and SharePoint peeps, are friendships. No facebook stuff \u2013 just plain, old, friendships, with the people from different parts of this planet. I know that some of those friendships will survive when SharePoint is for a long time no more, and that\u2019s what makes me happy.<\/p>\n

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But! My dear SharePoint peeps, from all over the world, started sharing those silly, don\u2019t-touch-me-I\u2019m-a-little-girl-like touristic marketing posts, \u201c25 reasons not to come to my country\u201d. Bulls\u2026 sorry. Those posts are usually produced by highly specialized touristic marketing agencies, and should attract you to actually visit that very country. You figured that already.<\/p>\n

Here is one no-bullshit-post, produced by me (and I am not a tourist agency), about why you SHOULD come to Bosnia and Herzegovina, leave your money there, and actually be happy and ask when could you do it again. We have f*cked up politics, major economic problems, but we are bloody cool. Don\u2019t trust me? Ask Dragan Panjkov<\/a>, Edin Kapic<\/a>, Aleksandar Draskovic<\/a>, or even Zlatan Dzinic<\/a>. All Bosnian and Herzegovinian SharePoint folks. These photos here are from my collection, put in the random order here, and stolen from allover the Internet (but mostly from my friend Dinno Kassalo<\/a>).<\/p>\n

So, let\u2019s start.<\/p>\n

This is how the springs of our rivers look like. Yes, that is a 500 years old\u00a0dervish<\/a> monastery<\/a> just beside it. Beat that.<\/p>\n

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That spring is close to city of Mostar<\/a>, where SharePoint guru from Barcelona, Edin Kapic is born. Mostar is a kick-ass-UNESCO-protected gorgeous city which was twice selected for a Bing background. That alone says everything.<\/p>\n

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And some beautiful people living there\u2026<\/p>\n

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But, as beautiful as Mostar is, is not comparable to my birth city \u2013 Sarajevo<\/a>. Yes, the freaking capital. This is how it looks like:<\/p>\n

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This thing, called Sebilj<\/a>, was copied at 7 different locations all over the world, including Belgrade (Serbia) and St. Louis (USA). Who cares, we have the original.<\/p>\n

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For those of you IT guys who can remember Novell networks: you might also remember that Sarajevo was host for the Winter Olympic games back in 1984. Believe or not, the mountains are still there\u2026 (just 20 minutes of driving from Sarajevo).<\/p>\n

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If you go to the other side of that very mountain (Bjelasnica<\/a>), you can find this, in the summer:<\/p>\n

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And this in the winter\u2026<\/p>\n

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And there is always a warm place to stay\u2026<\/p>\n

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If you go back to the city you get that Sarajevo architecture, like for example the Art Academy<\/a>\u2026Some cool movie people like Danis Tanovic<\/a> (Academy Award \u2013 Oscar – winner), Emir Kusturica<\/a> (Golden Palm \/ Cannes winner) and Jasmila Zbanic<\/a> (Golden Bear \/ Berlin winner) have studied here\u2026<\/p>\n

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\u2026or the National library<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n

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\u2026or the old downtown city center \u201cBascarsija<\/a>\u201d\u2026<\/p>\n

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\u2026or basically the whole freaking city.<\/p>\n

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15 minutes of driving away from Sarajevo, you find another of those river springs. This time it is river Bosna<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n

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Yep, I know. All that just 15 minutes from Sarajevo. Here is more. I actually did a SharePoint project here.<\/p>\n

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If you move a bit south, you come to the city where I spent the most of my childhood. Konjic<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Beside the Neretva<\/a> river, old city, and the famous Konjic stone bridge<\/a>, we people from\u00a0Konjic also can enjoy\u00a0some cool lakes, like Boracko<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n

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Oh, yes, that Neretva river. This is how it looks like from inside\u2026<\/p>\n

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And this is how Neretva river looks like from outside\u2026<\/p>\n

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It sure is a place for some decent fun\u2026<\/p>\n

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South of Konjic is a city of Ljubuski, with it\u2019s famous Kravice<\/a> waterfall\u2026<\/p>\n

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And western of Konjic is town Fojnica<\/a>. Yes, this is Christian monastery being built just a few meters away from a Muslim mosque. Both over 500 years old<\/span><\/strong>. This is how we roll. If you are not confortable with that concept, please close this page immediately, and don\u2019t (really don\u2019t!) come to Bosnia, since we have enough experience with the a**holes who have problems with that.<\/p>\n

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\u2026with Prokosko lake just beside\u2026<\/p>\n

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But, if you think that this guy Adis found 5 beautiful cities to show off on his blog, nope\u2026 Sorry, but this is just how our cities look like\u2026 For example, Jajce<\/a>\u2026 Yes, I know, freaking waterfall in the middle of the city. Beat that.<\/p>\n

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We do have some funny habits, though. Here are the people from Banja Luka<\/a>, one of the most beautiful Bosnian cities, using their standard transport means<\/a> \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

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Or Bihac<\/a>… (this is where I held one of the first user group sessions about SharePoint development, back in the times when MOSS 2007 was still in beta\u2026)<\/p>\n

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Yes, Bihac has a river, too\u2026 Una<\/a>, a typical Bosnian river, one might say.<\/p>\n

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In the north-east, there is Bijeljina, with the Etno-village Stanisici<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n

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And the food?<\/a><\/p>\n

Well, we invented the freaking Cevapi<\/a>. That\u2019s our national dish. Please remember: it is not \u201cCevapcici\u201d \u2013 Cevapcici is that tasteless thing that you get in the restaurants at Croatian coast).<\/p>\n

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Another national dish is \u201cPita<\/a>\u201d. With meat (\u201cBurek<\/a>\u201d), cheese, spinach, potatoes, pumpkins\u2026 we mastered it all.<\/p>\n

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Yep, and this is how we make bread\u2026<\/p>\n

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Blatina and Vranac (red) and Zilavka (white) are the most famous Herzegovinian wines. Sun, sun, and some more sun, make their flavor… well, unbeatable. What everyone must try at least once in life is Herzegovina Wine Route<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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And if you are not sure, because 20 years ago it was a war country\u2026 well, yes. They bombed the hell out of us, but even then we were cooler than most people on this freaking planet. Beat this (Siege of Sarajevo, 1993<\/a>):<\/p>\n

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And if you think that we are just about beautiful cities, sceneries and good food, think twice.<\/p>\n

This guy<\/a> is from Bosnia:<\/p>\n

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They are<\/a>, as well (mostly).<\/p>\n

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Never heard of Kultur Shock<\/a>? Your loss. Try this<\/a> (WARNING: CONTAGIOUS<\/a><\/span><\/strong>) <\/p>\n

So, stop reading that silly girlish \u201cdo not come\u201d posts, and just get over here.<\/p>\n