Sarajevo

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I arrived from Mostar in the evening and had to find my way from the bus station using my Lonely Planet map. A bit annoying when it’s within a huge ‘Europe on a Shoestring’ guide, as well as hauling my wheeled luggage along. My hostel was located in the heart of Sarajevo so it was a bit of a trek. I had my eyes peeled for the ‘Sarajevo Roses’ I had heard about these in my LP guide. They are shell impacts in the ground all over Sarajevo where people lost their lives during the war and are filled in with red cement. Unfortunately it was dark so I didn’t see any. I got a little excited when I saw the famous bright yellow Holiday Inn because that was one of the sights I was looking forward to and it meant I was on the right path to my hostel. I just walked to the river edge and turned left so that I knew where I was going.

I got a bit panicky when I got to where my hostel should have been according to Hostelbooker directions as it was not there! It was a busy Saturday night with boozy pub crawlers and clubbers all over the place, so I was feeling a little vulnerable with the added tiredness. When I finally found my hostel I was not disappointed - it was lovely! I went to bed shortly after arrival and slept very very well.

The following day I woke up later than I had planned. With a brother and sister I had briefly spoken to the previous night in my dorm, I arranged a tour of the Tunnel Museum and the surrounding hills flanking Sarajevo. This turned out to be a great idea as our tour guide was the hostel owner. Born in a concentration camp and lost his home and possessions to the Serbs during the war, he is quite possibly the most interesting man I have ever met. He is playing an active role in rebuilding post-war Sarajevo. He took us to the Tunnel Museum where we watched some video footage of the war and walked through a stretch of the tunnel used as an escape route out of Sarajevo. Then we went up into the hills where we had amazing views over Sarajevo, and then to the old Olympic bob sley tracks which were used by the Serb snipers as bunkers. They are now destroyed and covered in graffiti. The most amazing thing for me was a sign on the ground saying ‘UXB’ which means unexploded bomb. I would have been sceptical if it weren’t for the fact we were the only tourists up there on this absolutely beautiful day. Not another tourist around for miles. Our guide told us this was pointing to a bomb 150 metres up the path.

I was very hot and hungry by the time we finished and was very much ready to eat. The guide recommended a restaurant where I had the spiced kebabs again as I was so impressed by the ones in Mostar, but these ones came minus the trimmings i.e. chips and salad so I was a little disappointed. The desserts made up for it though – Tufahije – whole stewed apples stuffed with a walnut filling, Baklava (didn’t like this – yuk) and an ice cream and fruit sundae. By the way these desserts were shared between 3 of us – I am not just a greedy bastard.

We spent the rest of the day wondering round the old streets in the heart of Sarajevo. The brother and sister duo were souvenir hunting but as I only have a cabin sized bag which was already overweight I simply watched them and looked at the souvenirs, probably to the shop owners’ annoyance. The shops mostly sell Turkish items due to the heavy Turkish influence in Bosnia. After a rest at the hostel we wandered out again to take a closer look at the famous Latin Bridge where WW1 precipitated with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria by Gavrilo Princip in 1914. We ended the day at a Sheesha café where we smoked a sheesha whilst watching a couple of Bosnians play Backgammon on the table next to us. They tried to get me involved but I was a little too dubious of their intentions so I insisted on just watching them. Feeling very tired I headed back to the hostel leaving the brother and sister behind. When they returned they told me that the Backgammon guys started to get a bit creepy and pervy. That’s kind of why I left.

That night was spent feeling highly pissed off with the people in the next dorm to us with their loud music and smell of smoke filtrating into ours. So inconsiderate. The next day I caught my first train, to Belgrade.

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Photos

Latin Bridge
Where WW1 precipitated

Stari Grad
Centre

Holiday Inn
Wartime home for the journalists

Tunnel
Wartime exit from Sarajevo

Driving down Sniper Alley
In the early 90s there is no way we would even dream of doing this

Holiday Inn
Wartime home for the journalists

TV building
Damaged for obvious reasons

Saed
Massive repect to this guy - born in a concentration camp, home and all possessions destroyed/stolen in the war, and has always played an active role in trying to rebuild Sarajevo