Full of history

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Geo: 43.8607, 18.4214

Today a guy I met in the hostel in Split ended up in the same hostel as me here. Together with a bunch of Portuguese guys who had driven here from Vienna we went on a walking tour. Our guide, Nemo, was 28 years old and had started a masters degree but dropped out when he realized it was not going to help his employment prospects. Apparently in Bosnia the only way for young people to get a job is through money or connections, and there have been so many stories of people paying money and not landing a job that the situation is fairly dire. He took us around all the historic sites and told us heaps of stories about life here in the early 1990s. Sarajevo is surrounded by mountains/hills (depending who you speak to!) and during the war the Serbs positioned themselves at the top and shelled/ used snipers to attack the city. Having seen so many of, what I presumed to be, bullet holes, I was totally surprised to find that most of these are shrapnel marks. We visited the market which was shelled and over 60 people died- there was a large memorial at the back of the market. The Bosnians are very proud that it opened for business again the following day- they refused to let the Serbs break their spirit. His mother walked 12 km to and from work each day and one day her friend arrived with a hole in her flared trousers - a close escape from a snipers bullet. The worst times were when his mother was a little late home from work and they never knew if she'd made it. He said that they had school in the basement of his apartment block and that the UN would bring in supplies however they never knew when/if these would arrive. There are also red 'roses' all over the city which mark spots where people lost their lives.

First we visited the main square many older men were engrossed in a pretty serious game of giant chess. This reminded me of the old people in China and their outdoor communal activities. After this we headed past the eternal flame, the above mentioned market and through into the old, ottoman, part of the town. This part is really interesting because all the streets are designed to sell one particular type of product, for example, silver, copper, silk, cotton etc. We saw old markets and hostels where traders and their horses would stay. Apparently one of the hostels was burnt down by some high-ranking officials in order to have an excuse to build a new market full of Hello Kitty tat that wouldn't look out of place in a Chinese Mall. We then saw the place where Franz Ferdinand was shot which arguably led to the start of World War 1. The backgrounds story is too long to write here, but it definitely worth a google. A lot of the city has been rebuilt, however in many cases no one knows who owns the buildings or there are no funds for renovation so the city is a mix of new buildings, preserved old buildings and war torn buildings.

After this we headed to Sarajevo brewery which is apparently famous for its dark beer. I can confirm that the beer is amazing; the customer service on the other hand, is not. A few pints later and we headed to the Srebrenica museum. This museum is hands down one of the best I have ever been to. It's very interactive and full of survivors/family member testimonials. They had an interactive computer map which showed the day by day events of Srebrenica. There were audio recordings of general's orders, live footage of executions, and testimonials from the war crimes trial at The Hague. I can't even begin to do it justice here; what those boys/men and the people of Sarajevo went through was too horrific.

Bosnian coffee and dishes are some of the best I've ever tasted. Their cevapi and buick are amazing and they have great millionaires shortbread. It's very easy to spend hours in cafés in the sun just eating and drinking. Indeed, that's what most of the people seem to do here! The views are also fantastic which helps I guess!

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