Sarajevo, BiH (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Sarajevo is the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina and a prominent center of culture in the Balkans. Because of its long history of religious and cultural diversity, Sarajevo is sometimes called the "Jerusalem of Europe"or "Jerusalem of the Balkans". It is one of a few major European cities to have a mosque, Catholic church, Eastern Orthodox church, and synagogue in the same neighborhood.

The city arose in the 15th century as an Ottoman stronghold, when the latter empire extended into south eastern Europe. Sarajevo suffered a series of attacks from the invading AustroHungarian empire which took a foothold in the city in the 1800s. In 1885, it was the first city in Europe and the second city in the world to have a full-time electric tram network running through the city, following San Francisco, California. In 1914, it was the site of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by a local Young Bosnia activist Gavrilo Princip, a murder that sparked World War I. This resulted in the end of Austro-Hungarian rule in Bosnia and the creation of the multicultural Kingdom of Yugoslavia in the Balkan region.

Later, after World War II, the area came under control of the communist Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina as nationalism became more predominant in the 80s and 90s.

In 1984 the socialist republic hosted the 1984 Winter Olympics, which marked a prosperous era for the city. However, after the start of the Yugoslav Wars, the city suffered the longest siege of a capital city in the history of modern warfare, for a total of 1,425 days, from April 1992 to February 1996. This was during the Bosnian War and the breakup of Yugoslavia, under nationalist ethnic passions that tore families apart and resulted in genocide and massacres.
With continued post-war reconstruction in the aftermath, Sarajevo is the fastest growing city in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

This has been such a wonderfu and unique l city to explore. They have a cultural meeting line that runs through the city streets separating the AustroHungarian side of the city from the Ottoman. There is a very stark contrast between the large multistory ornate buildings from the AustroHungarian empire compared to the more primitive 1 story Ottoman huts/homes on the east side of the city. Sprinkled in are mosques, orthodox and catholic church's as well as Jewish synagougs. It's truly a melting pot here of cultures religions and ethnicities.Read more