A few hours in Sarajevo city

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Wednesday 2nd September
A few hours in Sarajevo city
We weren’t sure last night whether we should be concerned or not by the presence of a security guard and his large alsation dog sitting in a shipping container located between the hotel and the main road that runs past the building.It looked as though he may have even slept in the container.The hotel location is sort of isolated with only 3 or 4 other uncompleted buildings that could be houses adjacent.The hotel website on booking.com did say that ‘your car would be parked perfectly safe and secure’.Welcome to Sarajevo!!
We didn’t hold out high hopes for what would be produced at breakfast and we joked to each other that we could smell the bacon and eggs cooking as we went down the stairs to the dining room.
We think we are the only people staying in this 19 room hotel as RR is the only vehicle in the car park.
Two women were sitting having a smoke as we entered the dining room and a thick set efficient looking man said something to them in the local lingo and they quickly disappeared off to the kitchen.We couldn’t smell the bacon and eggs we are now really hanging out for and in fact there was no food buffet to be seen in the very large room.
The thick set,efficient looking man brought over two cups of hot tea together with 4 sachets of sugar.The tea smelt odd and perhaps the sugar was to give it some taste that would resemble tea,we wern’t sure.
We dithered around as to whether we should drink the stuff or ask for coffee and decided in the end to take the plunge as getting our message across might have been difficult and there didn’t appear to be a smell of coffee in the air anyway.
We were sitting admiring the large room big enough with all the tables and chairs to seat well over 100 people(apparently they do conferences here according to the website)when the kitchen door opened and one of the women appeared with two plates with omelettes.Our faith was restored!!The thick set,efficient looking man then arrived with fresh bread,butter and honey.Breakfast was complete,except for the tea!!!
There are a few historical sights to see in Sarajevo but to us we had stayed here to break the journey to Dubrovnik(our next destination)and as we were going to be passing this way,take in a city that endured 4 years of siege during the recent war and see how it was now.We remember seeing TV news items of the city during the war and can also recall the young girl who wrote about her experiences in ‘Letters from Sarajevo”.
There is a lot of road building or should we say tunnel building going on down the road from the hotel .The country has a lot of infrastructure still to repair and develop to catch up with what its people want to be able to drive their BMW’s and Audi’s on and roading seems to be getting a big share of what money is available.The EU won’t admit B-H to the union until they give up a couple of the leaders from the war for trial but the EU is spending some money here especially on the roads.
Sarajevo is located in a valley surrounded by hills on all sides.The heat accentuates the pollution haze and our view towards the main area of the city as we head towards it is shrouded in this murky haze.It is more than just a heat haze that you get with hot weather.
As in all ex communist towns and cities there is the ever presence of tall boring looking apartment blocks everywhere except that here with the relative narrowness of the valley floor the blocks are arranged in short rows that give some asymmetric design to the eye and relive some of the boredom of their uniformity and colour.
There are some new tall glass fronted buidings in the business centre further on in the distance so there has been progress since the war ended.
We had no idea where we were going to park RR but were hopeful that we might find a parking building.We passed a couple of signs indicating parking as we thought we weren’t far enough towards the main part of the city and we didn’t want to walk too far in the heat that was starting to build.Finally though we chose to turn off and the sign led us thankfully to a parking building which turned out to be half empty.
A small river runs which has been contained by concreted banks runs through the city and there are numerous bridges that cross it.On one of these bridges WW1 was effectively started when a local shot dead Arch Duke Ferdinand of Austria and apparently the site is commemorated by a small plaque.We had started this adventure where so many young New Zealanders had lost their lives in a senseless battle all started by this action in Sarajevo and so it seemed fitting to suss the place out.
The problem with Sarajevo is that much of the infrastructure was either blown up in the siege or has been repaired since and that includes the bridges over the river.So we walked the length of the town,mostly thankfully in the shade of trees along the riverbank,but couldn’t find the bridge we were looking for.
It was a pleasant stroll stopping along the way for a cold soft drink and some people watching in a park by the river.
As we had been walking we passed many apartment and other buildings still with the scars of the war.The bullet and shrapnel holes had not been repaired or plastered over leaving the buildings with a pock marked look.We guess there have been other priorities in the 14 years since the war ended.
In the city itself where we walked we didn’t see too many bombed out and deserted buildings although there were a few.
We ended our walk up the river at the old part of the city founded by the Turks back in the mid 1400’s.Here there is a market place selling local products and it was our stop for lunch in the absence of a McD’s in Sarajevo.This is one small part of the west that is yet to make its way to this country.The fries and orange drink raised our stamina back up for the walk back down the city and along what was known as ‘sniper alley’ during the war.
It was at this location in the city just below the main CBD that the Serbs in the surrounding hills would aim their guns on civilians trying to go about the small level of business they could do in a city under siege.Over the 4 years of the siege several hundred people were killed and thousands injured as they tried to cross the main boulevard which is 4 lanes wide with a further two lanes in the middle for trams.Apparently the locals used to risk their lives to cross the boulevard without cover and at times also walked behind UN tanks or armoured vehicles to avoid being hit by the snipers.
Eventually the locals built a tunnel out of the valley towards the airport that enabled supplies to get through in small amounts and people who were injured in the gun battles and air raids were taken out of the city to hospitals further away.Today the scene is one of a typical busy main throughfare in a large city.
Just before we turned away from the main boulevard to go back to the parking building we passed a derelict site with trees and scrub now growing amongst what is left of a bombed and destroyed building.Around part of the site was coloured ribbon indicating that you should not enter as the site may still contain live explosives.
Yet just across the road there are two modern tall glass fronted buildings.It all seemed rather strange that redevelopment had happened so close to a large site that was still waiting its turn to be cleared away and erase the memories of the siege and war that affected the lives of the people of this city.
In a way we were glad to be heading back to our hotel after spending 4 hours in the city.Although walking around felt like it did in any other place we have been with trams,buses,city noises and people going about their business and daily lives there was also a strange air about the sight of the shell holes in the buildings unrepaired after all the years since the war ended somehow keeping us on edge until we drove home.
As we drove up a ramp onto the main road to our hotel we came across gypsy kids one no more than 3 or 4 years old walking amongst the cars waiting for the lights to change while other traffic sped by just a metre or two away.The kids were trying to get money from drivers in their cars waiting for the lights to change.The smallest child couldn’t even see into the drivers door where he trying attract the drivers attention.It is hard not to be touched by the sight of children so young spending their days in such a dangerous situation.It is terribly sad to think that for these children life is so cheap.
The drive back to the hotel is a rather a sombre one as we reflected on our few hours in Sarajevo and what we had seen there.
With a limited number of options for dinner we went back to the same Italian restaurant.However as we parked RR in the same spot we did last night when it had been dark,a man standing on the steps in front of a nearby building waved his finger at Gretchen indicating not to park there.As we got out of RR he came over and lead Gretchen off to show her where else to park.He didn’t speak English and nor did he appear to understand it but he had some sort of label attached to his shirt that made him look official so Gretchen went into the Police Station at the end of the building to see whether it was OK to park where we had.The policeman came out for a look and suggested around the back would be best as they needed to keep places clear for people coming to the Police station.
After the huge pizzas last night we branched out with Gretchen having a chicken salad while I went for the beefsteak which was a little on the tough side.The proprietor was pleased to see us back and actually gave me a discount on my meal ‘because the steak wasn’t as large as it should be’.I was happy with the amount of meat and left him a tip for his friendliness during our two dinners.With his friendly manner it had made us feel a little better about Sarajevo and B-H in general.

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Comments

[Rin]

Where's the photo of Sniper Alley???