Museum of the Jews of Bosnia and Herzegovina

What a fantastic day to mark the 150th day of our trip! We had a good sleep in a very unique double bed in our hostel (yes, a bunk bed where the bottom bunk is double bed) before heading out to explore Sarajevo!

We started our time in Sarajevo like we had in most European cities, a free walking tour. We met our guide, Kiki, just outside the old city and learnt about this interesting city! Kiki started the tour by giving us a brief history lesson about the city and the region. Sarajevo has a very interesting and tragic history. There was a Bosnian kingdom before the Ottoman Empire ruled the region for over 400 years (between 15th to 19th century) before about 40 years of Austrian-Hungarian rule. The city is an interesting mix of cultures and religions. The country has Serbs (who are orthodox Christians), Croatians (Roman Catholics) and Bosnians (Muslims). Bosnia and Herzegovina gained its independence in 1996. The modern day politics of the country is complicated as there is 3 presidents (to represent the different ethnic groups) and 80 parliaments (therefore it’s hard for any changes to be made).

The three main events which made Sarajevo the centre of the world was: the assassination of archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife which triggered World War I, the 1984 Winter Olympics which took place in the city and surrounds and the siege of the city during 1992-1995 (which is the longest siege of a capital city in modern warfare).

We then made our way to the Baščaršija, the main centre of the old town, where it is said that if you drink from the fountain that you will return to Sarajevo. We then made our way past city hall, admiring its triangular architecture which represents the three main religions that are all present in Sarajevo; Christianity, Islam and Judaism. The original city hall was opened in 1895. It became a National and university library after WW2 but it was destroyed in the Yugoslav war in 1992. After 10 years of work, it was rebuilt to 99% of its original construction. Today, the major of the city works there.

Interestingly, when they built the original city hall in the 1890s, the government bought the houses which were there except one man refused to move unless the government took all the bricks from his house and rebuilt it across the road. They did this for the stubborn man and there is an interesting looking house opposite the city hall called the “House of Spite”. It is now a restaurant (with a nice view of the city hall!)

Around the time that the original city hall was built, in 1892, the first electric tram started in Sarajevo, which is also the first one in Europe.

We then walked into the old town and were told how drinking coffee in Bosnia is a way of life and should be enjoyed, not rushed. Bosnian coffee is very similar to Turkish coffee, which is unsurprising given the Ottoman routes of Bosnia’s history, which is why most Bosnians refer to ‘drinking coffee’ as their way of ‘eating sugar’ because they have a large amount of sugar in the cup the coffee it is poured into (or they even chew the sugar cube and have a bit of coffee as the chaser!)

We then walked down Coppersmith alley, the oldest alley in Sarajevo, famous for the numerous copper products available. Previously, there were alleys for different professions and it is amazing to see this alleyway preserved. During the war times, civilians would collect copper shell casings and then sell to coppersmiths to feed their families and then would be able to produce copper goods for sale. The copper goods include plates, coffee sets, lamps, hairbrushes, pens and other decorations.

We then had a crash course in Bosnian food, with the two main types of food being čevapi (small sausages) and burek (meat/potatoes in pastry) and then Bosnian baklava which is distinguishable by the sweet sour cream which is often used.

We then walked through an old “caravan” which is a courtyard where people were eating which used to be an area for eating and boarding for visitors to the city during the Ottoman Empire.

We then visited the courtyard of the grand mosque which is a very grand beautiful building. Interestingly, the courtyard was made with cobblestone and workers came from Dubrovnik to built it (because the materials had been used there). While they were working on it, they built a small chapel so the Croatian workers could practice their religion. The chapel is now a mausoleum but it’s so interesting seeing how different religions and cultures lived side by side for so long respectfully. This is also the site of the first public toilet in Europe (built in 1530) so that people could clean themselves before they prayed five times a day.

We then visited the infamous Latin Bridge, where archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary and his pregnant wife were assassinated which triggered the start of WWI. We can never forget the 1.5million lives that were lost as as result of WWI, however there is still debate amongst Bosnians as to whether the assassination was a positive event because had this not occurred, Austria-Hungary would have controlled the majority of Europe and the kingdom of Yugoslavia would never have been unified during WWI. There has been a lot of debate as to whether Principe (the young 19 year old assassinator who was part of a monarchist association who was anti the Austrian-Hungarian rule) is a hero or a criminal. Even as Kiki was explaining this part of the story, a Bosnian local walked past and yelled “hero!” The memorial at the Latin bridge has changed 5 times and the current memorial is quite neutral.

We then visited the main Catholic cathedral in the city (which has a statue of Pope John Paul II out the front after his visit). The cathedral still has bulletholes from the war. In front of the cathedral, is a hole in the footpath from a bomb from the war in the 90s. These can still be seen across the city and many are painted in red and are called “Sarajevo Roses” as a reminder of the 3-4 people that would have been killed or wounded from each of these bombs.

We had our final stop in front of the Jewish synagogue (which is now actually a mostly used as a museum). It is so interesting to see how all three main religions are still prevalent in Sarajevo today (and so interesting seeing a mosque, a cathedral and a synagogue within 300m of each other and you can actually hear the call to prayer and church bells ringing at the same time sometimes!) Sadly, many of the Jewish population in the country were killed during WW2 and there are around 1200 Jews still in the country today.

Kiki also spoke a bit about the future of Bosnia and Herzegovina. She said that a lot of young people (including many people in her school class) are leaving Bosnia because they see there is less opportunity/very little economic growth. However, if this continues there may be little future in the region. She said there is still a lot of division between people but people hope for more unity in the future. She has asked her parents if it’s better now or when they were part of Yugoslavia and they say it was better as part of Yugoslavia because Bosnia’s economy was growing (they even exported cars to the US) and they could easy travel around (under Yugoslavia only 20 visas needed to travel, now 68 visas needed to travel outside of Bosnia). It was very interesting hearing this personal perspective.

We said goodbye to Kiki after a fantastic and informative tour.

After that wealth of knowledge intake, we sat down for a delicious burek for lunch (some filled with potato and some filled with meat) before going for a stroll through coppersmith alley to buy some cool souvenirs. Gab bought a bookmark and watched the coppersmith engrave it with her name with individual nails with each letter! Very cool! We then walked around for a bit more before going back to the hostel in the afternoon to cook some dinner.

After dinner at the hostel, we headed up to the Yellow Fortress with some drinks to watch the sunset over the hill which was very beautiful and relaxing after what ended up being a very interesting and informative day! We have a great first impression of this city and the people we have met so far!

Back at the hostel, we met some of the other travellers in our dorm and enjoyed chatting with them for a while about their adventures and even shared some of their baklava (which was of course delicious) before eventually going to sleep.Read more