I thought traveling through the Balkans would be a quiet way to end the trip. I wasn't even going to write a blog here (that's right, Joanne). Fortunately, or unfortunately, I am shocked and awed by how deeply the war has wounded this region. Being the powder keg that ignited WWI, Sarajevo is a microcosm that showcases the complexities in the Balkans. Over the centuries, people are forced to take on different religious, cultural, and political identities. Orthodox, Catholicism, and Islam are practiced on the same street. Austro-Hungarian, Turkish, and Communism (let's call it a type of culture for a moment) crafted the city into distinct neighborhoods. Serbs, Bosnians, and Croats all want a distinct homeland of their own. The demarcation of the Yugoslavs let to the polarisation of each other, as everyone strives to hold
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