Sarajevo

I had planned on 2 nights in Sarajevo, and my first impression of the Hotel Lula was somewhat disappointing after my lovely hotel in Mostar. My accommodation consisted of a small box room, very sparsely furnished, having no chair at all! It did have a small private shower room, but the door to it did not open fully due to a door-stop preventing it hitting the wash hand sink. This meant you had to be a bit of a contortionist to access the loo behind the door. Not great if you required access during the night! The plus side however was that it was immediately adjacent to the main Old Town square (Baščaršija) - otherwise known as Pigeon Square (for obvious reasons). This was the very heart of the Old Town, which was lined with alleyways of cafés, coppersmith stalls and Ottoman mosques. It was thronged with tourists eating, drinking and hookah smoking, as worshippers responded to their call to prayer.

Today was my main full day to explore Sarajevo - a place that has always intrigued me. I decided to start with a 2 hour free walking tour of the old city, conducted by Tour Bosnia (highly recommended if you ever visit). The tour was exceptionally well organised, and our guide Ahmed gave a comprehensive background to this troubled area, outlining major events of the 20th century involving Sarajevo - firstly the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife Sophie in 1914 which precipitated World War One. Then Sarajevo was positively put on the world map by hosting the 1984 Winter Olympics, an event they were immensely proud of - (who can forget Torvill and Dean’s gold medal winning performance skating to Ravel’s Bolero?) Who would have thought then that less than 10 years later Sarajevo would have to endure a 4 year siege at the hands of Bosnian Serbs which shocked the world, and resulted in the deaths of 10,500 citizens.

I was so impressed with the walking tour which illustrated the impact that two major empires had had on Sarajevo - the Ottoman then the Austrian-Hungarian - that I decided to join the afternoon coach tour ‘The Fall of Yugoslavia’. This 4 hour tour (with the same excellent guide), took us to an amazing variety of key places including the shelled and graffiti-covered derelict Olympic bobsleigh track, and a tour of the Tunnel of Hope - Sarajevo’s only link with the outside world during the siege of 1992-1995 - an 800 metre secret tunnel between two houses on opposite sides of the airport runway. This tunnel allowed food and ammunition to be transported into the city, allowing Sarajevo to survive the longest siege of a capital city in the history of modern warfare.

Apologies for the history lesson, but I learned so much today about this fascinating city, and it’s to the credit of the people of Sarajevo that it has survived so well, and developed into the beautiful cultural city it is today, full of fabulous architectural designs and vibrant street life. Well worth a visit.Read more