Sarajevo

We left Mostar on Tuesday and were treated to a very windy bus ride on our way to Sarajevo. The bus was an hour late arriving but we found a comfortable shaded park bench to wait on. The air conditioning wasn't turned on the bus probably in an attempt to save energy. I felt nauseous again. Fortunately half way through the journey we got on a more highway which smoothed the journey out. Driving through the countryside one can tell that Bosnia is not as prosperous as their EU Balkan neighbours.

We have now spent a very interesting 2.5 days here in Sarajevo and really enjoyed making the effort to come here. We recognized from the moment we checked into our air BnB how unique Sarajevo was. Looking out our windows we could see multiple minarets of various mosques, multiple churches of both Serbian and Orthodox denominations and the very large Sarajevo brewery which was right behind our apartment. Not a typical sight for an Edmontonian. Our apartment was vintage 1980 but very comfortable and perfectly located to see all of the sights just across the Latin bridge.

Our first evening we wandered around the downtown before coming across the site where Gavrilo Pricip a Balkan separtist assassinated Archduke Ferdinand the crown prince of Austria on June 28, 1914. There were foot prints on the concrete marking the exact site that the assassin had stood and a replica of the car that the Archduke and his wife had been driving in. The assassination led to the outbreak of WW1. Interestingly the assassin survived the war imprisoned in Czech which was part of the Austrian empire only to die shortly after the war from TB he had acquired while in prison.

Our next day we headed out for our Rick Steves walking tour. I felt like a time traveller We started our walk in the old Ottoman town . The Ottomans had controlled Sarajevo for 450 years and had left their marks on the city including mosques, madras, bath houses, fountains and bazaars. It felt very Turkish. Of course it was also pretty touristy with lots of gift shops. Then very abruptly we entered the Hapsburg era. The Hapsburgs controlled for 75 years ending with WW1. The architecture was immediately Austrian. Then we transitioned to the 19 century and finally after an extended walk to the more modern day Sarajevo. As some may be aware Sarajevo withstood the longest siege of a city. Between 1992 and 1996 Serbian forces controlling the hills around Sarajevo reigned artillery shells and sniper fire on the 300000 citizens of Sarajevo. It was horrific. 10000 killed, 75000 wounded, 1600 children killed. That was 30 years ago and although things are much normalized there are still remnants of the siege. Some buildings outside of the downtown are still pock marked by artillery and gunfire. Throughout the downtown the holes on pavement were filled in with red resin if people were killed by the shell. These are called red roses and are present throughout the downtown. They have been preserved even if the street has been repaved. There are still some vestiges of the 1984 winter Olympics. In one of the downtown squares we found the logo in the pavement used at the Olympics. We took a break in a park and watched some seniors playing chess on a large chess set while their friends watched on and gave advice. The central bank had been built in the 20th century and had a feeling of Soviet brutalesque architecture with the doors guarded by female and male Atlases who looked like they had been on Testosterone replacement therapy. We visited a market where a Serbian artillery strike had killed 60 civilians and injured countless others. The world horror at this civilian targeted strike had lead Bill Clinton to start airstrikes against the Serbian forces which eventually lead to the Dayton accord and the wars end.

The most modern part of town had the sites most significantly associated with the civil war. We walked down sniper alley where Serbian snipers reigned death down on Sarajevo civilians. We saw the Bosnian parliament which had almost been captured by the Serb forces at the beginning of the siege only to have been fought back by Bosniaks. We visited the Romeo and Juliet bridge where a Serb/ Bosniak couple had died in each other's arms after being killed by snipers. We finished the walk with a visit to the monument to canned beef erected to recognize the role of the UN food drops and to the Tito Cafe dedicated to Josip Tito, the post war dictator of Yugoslavia. There was lots of Cold War military stuff outside for us to look at.

What a day. We walked 16 km. We weren't done yet. I noticed that we were very close to the national theatre. The ballet Giselle was on that night with a full pit orchestra. Tickets ranged between 8 and 16 CDN dollars. Andrew was game so we got box seats and took in a beautiful ballet in a beautiful Hapsburg built theatre. How cool is that. The pit orchestra was very good. I haven't taken in much dance but it also appeared to be of very high quality. The communists were always very good at supporting their symphonies and ballet and this must be a holdover from those times.

As Andrew had been so willing to come to the ballet with him I agreed to accompany him for his adventure. His adventure was to hike up the 600 metres above town to the 1984 Olympic bobsled track which you were allowed to walk on as it was no longer used. It was the last time at an Olympics that the bobsled track was not refrigerated. It was the closest I have ever got to a bobsled track and there were some pictures showing what it had looked like during the Olympics. At the top, Andrew wanted to keep hiking snort 600 metres up and I wasoso g steam so I headed back to our apartment for a break.

Today, Friday we are flying to Milan Italy on Ryanair. Further adventures to follow.Read more