East meets West in the troubled city of Sarajevo

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Scott’s parents were over in Europe for a few weeks and we all went to Zagreb and Sarajevo for the long Bank holiday weekend. Setting out late Friday evening, we arrived in to Zagreb just before 11 and then managed to get a bus into the city and then a taxi to our pokey little hotel. It was central so we forgave it for being tiny. The following morning we went out walking to the main square where there was a large statue of a man on a horse surrounded by huge billboards for Ray Bans, Pepie Jeans and other similar products. The markets behind the square were full of local Saturday morning shoppers; the fruit and veggies were super fresh and we sacked on strawberries and bananas. We then commenced a walking route around the city visiting the main church which had a huge gold statue out front, clothes market, main coffee drinking/eating street, and then we went up the hill to another church and square. After climbing a clock tower and getting a fantastic view across the city we went for lunch and sheltered from the rain. In the afternoon we walked around the newer part of the city and stopped for ice cream before heading back to the airport for our short flight to Sarajevo.

We arrived in Sarajevo late Saturday night, and had a bit of a run in with the taxi driver who tried to demand a 50euro fare out of us, but we never agreed. So he dropped us outside of the airport to a group of waiting taxi’s, our new taxi driver was excellent, pointing out things on the way in. It was interesting seeing all the sites you saw on the TV during the war, especially sniper alley, we drove down there to get to the river and around the old town to our lovely Pension. We were right on the edge of the old town; it was so interesting walking through the town and seeing steeples and minarets. We meet up with our tour guide and we were off the first stop was the bridge where Franz Ferdinand was assassinated kicking off WW1. It was a lovely bright day and you could see up into the hills that surrounded the pretty/quant city, that is where the Serbian army where during the siege in the city. We walked along the rivers edge past the biggest Mosque in the city, it was bright blue. We then caught site of the Library (which use to be the City Hall), it is grand old building but utterly destroyed by fire. At the start of the war the building was attacked and all the books where burn, apart from a handful that were saves. We then strolled through the old town, looking into the little wooden shops and visited the oldest Mosque, followed by visiting the Jewish Quarter. The guide showed us a red paint stain on the ground, they are sometimes called ‘roses’, basically where mortar holes use to be they have painted them red to people remember - very moving. It was a very sad story to hear how they lived during the siege and how our guide’s friends, who survived, still have bad nightmares about those years. We then walked along to find the spot where the ‘Cellist of Sarajevo’ was set, here over 24 people died in one mortar attack. Many of the buildings in the city had been rebuilt, however some still lay wreaked and burnt out. Every where you looked you could see the scares of war, small and large holes in the sides of buildings and mortar blasts. Scary to think of what went on in the city, and for so long, over 12,000 people died. That evening we went for a lovely dinner in a local pub.

The next morning we took another tour this one focusing on the war, we went up to a great vantage spot that gave spectacular views over the city and our guide pointed out the front line around the city. Again I recognised many vistas from the news back in the 90’s, especially the twin office towers. It really was amazing how close the Serbs were to the city. Next we visited another front line and it was amazing how close they were to the Winter Olympic Stadium. The sad thing is many of the Olympic ski runs are still closed as the entire area is mined, in fact it is not suggested you go hiking in the region and many animals still get hurt by unexploded mines. Our next stop was Tunnel of Sarajevo, the life line to the city during the siege. The airport was controlled by the UN, and the people were not allowed to cross it, in fact many were killed trying to get across. The tunnel was built under the airport and linked the city to the Bosnia controlled territory, and vital supplies. We watched a very sad move explaining about the war and the use of the tunnel before walking down a small section of it. After this we then drove over into the Serbian part of Sarajevo, after all that history they are still living side by side … you get the feeling, after centuries of disputes, this latest peace is only for a limited time. It must be hard living next to people that supported the killing of your daughter, your brother, etc, it certainly makes you think. We returned to the city and had lunch in the old brewery, it played an important part in the war, it had fresh water supplies. People from all over the city, including people on the other side of the river risked their lives everyday to come to the brewery to get water. The restaurant had only recently reopened, it was very grand and the food was great, and I am told the beer was good too. That afternoon Scott and I headed back to London. Sarajevo was an amazing place, so much history, interesting and so pretty, I would recommend it as a destination for a long weekend to anyone, it really is East meets West.

PHOTOS

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