Sarajevo is a remarkable city, and our visit there touched us both deeply, especially meeting the people and seeing the destruction from the siege of Sarajevo (1992-1996). Understanding this history is crucial to our experience here, so we begin with a brief and absolutely inadequate summary of Sarajevo’s turbulent 20th Century.
The Troubled Recent History of Sarajevo: In 1914, when Bosnia was ruled by the Habsburg Empire, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated here, sparking the first World War. The Habsburgs declared war on Serbia, and before long all of Europe was in turmoil. By the war’s end, both the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire were gone. After WWII, Bosnia was part of Tito’s Yugoslavia, and in 1984 Sarajevo proudly hosted the Winter Olympic Games. However, when Yugoslavia fell apart in the early 1990’s, Bosnia sought its independence. The Yugoslavian People’s Army (JNA), now led by Serbians who insisted on maintaining their own power over Bosnia, began the siege of Sarajevo which lasted from 1992-1996 – 1,425 days without electricity or water and days and nights spent in basements when shelling was at it’s worst . In Sarajevo, Croats (Catholics), Bosniaks (Muslim), Jews, and Serbs (Orthodox Christians) lived peacefully together, thinking of themselves as Sarajevans or Bosnians. While under siege, they sought to protect and preserve that diversity, while the Serbian attackers, the Chetniks, wanted to drive out the Muslims, Croats and Jews. During the siege, the city was shelled regularly, an average of 300 shells per day, and snipers would shoot randomly at anyone, women and children included. Imagine this: you need water but can find it in only one place. To get there, you must risk your life to cross “snipers alley,” where Chetnik snipers shoot indiscriminately at anything that moves.
A bus ride from Mostar to Sarajevo: As we left Mostar, we could see a snow line quite clearly on the surrounding mountains. As we drove on, that snow line became closer until soon we were driving above it. A thick snow had fallen everywhere. Only the main road was clear but wet, while the mountains, trees, homes and cars wore a clean, white blanket of snow. It was beautiful, for sure. The temperature remained cold, so the snow covered the buildings and some of the roads into Sarajevo itself.
We found our AirB&B apartment, which was truly lovely until we noticed that we had no running water. City workers were working in the streets to repair the water lines, and they reassured us that it would be running again in a couple of hours. So we set out to explore the town a bit, found a recommended coffee spot and had lunch. Then back to the apartment hoping to find running water so we could wash, cook, and flush. No such luck, even by 18:00, so we arranged for another Air B&B for that night in hopes that the water situation would be corrected by tomorrow. We stayed at another Air B&B for that night, and thankfully the water was back on by the following afternoon.
Intrigued by the history of the city and the region, we watched the film Sarajevo about the murder of Archduke Prince Franz Ferdinand, the 1914 assassination that began WW1. Reviewers said the film offered more of a conspiracy theory than the historians would accept, but it was very well done, and it did reflect the complicated history of motives at the time.
Here are some of the highlights from our time in Sarajevo. This City really touched us from the amazing spirit of the people to the diversity of cultures, cooperation and City pride. The setting is beautiful and the people are so friendly.
Sarajevo Free Walking Tour: This provided a great introduction to the City, exploring the Ottoman Old Town and crossing over the point “Where East meets West” and into the modern city of Sarajevo. * We met another couple, Sarah & Alan from Montana, who are traveling the world like us. We really hit it off with them and spent the rest of the day visiting, breaking bread together, and sharing stories and advice. We are still in touch with them as we both travel.
Downfall of Yugoslavia Tour with Anna our guide and Reagan (driver) around Sarajevo. Our guides describe what it was like to live in the former Yugoslavia and Sarajevo and to have been affected by and survived the war, as well as the big picture of the many tragic events. Places we visited included the Yellow Fortress, Sniper’s Alley, the 1984 Olympic Village, The damaged, destroyed Bobsled and Luge run from the mountainside. Bombed maternity hospital, The Tunnel of Hope and the Republic Srbska section of town learning about how Sarajevans endured the siege.
Srebrenica Gallery: A very moving museum based on photography and film in remembrance of the mass murder of Bosnian Muslims (Bozniaks) in Srebrenica. Refugee Muslims, from Sarajevo and elsewhere, came to Srebrenica for protection. The UN had declared it a safe zone, but did nothing to protect the 8,000 Bosniaks, mostly men and boys, who were massacred and buried in mass graves.
The Sarajevo Rose: Some 200 Sarajevo Roses can be found around the city, where damaged concrete from mortar shells now remains as a reminder of the siege. Sarajevo artists would mark these patterns of concrete damage with red resin to indicate a spot where three or more individuals were killed during the siege.
The Point where East meets West:
- The East is the Ottoman Old Town (or Bascarsija) reflecting the Ottoman Empire’s rule for over 500 years, until the late 19th Century. The architecture, cobbled streets, cafes, small shops museums and mosques around the “Pigeon Square” still reflect this time.
- The West looks quite different, with architecture more common to Austria and western Europe. The Habsburgs, who ruled the vast Austro-Hungarian Empire, took over in 1878 and ruled until that empire fell apart after WWI. The west side of town has more Orthodox Christian and Catholic churches than mosques.
The Islam You didn’t Know Tour (with “InfoBosnia”): We had our guide Merjam all to ourselves for this tour. The day was lovely as we walked primarily around the Ottoman Old Town, while Merjam pointed out key landmarks, filling us in on the history of Muslims in Sarajevo and answering our questions about both history and the Islamic faith. She pointed out how you can easily find in close proximity the houses of worship for the four major religions: Mosques of the Muslims, a Roman Catholics cathedral, the Jewish synagogue, and a Serbian Orthodox cathedral. We visited the mosque founded by Gazi Husrev Bey (1480–1541), a museum, a library and a caravanserai (a traveler’s inn) also bearing his name. We enjoyed learning about Merjam’s views of politics, and the history of the wars.
War Childhood Museum: Another small but very touching museum, this one housed just a block away from our apartment. The founder collected stories from hundreds of children reflecting their experiences growing up in wartime. Most of the stories were from children who grew up in Sarajevo during the war. The museum highlights their stories along with artifacts relevant to their experiences.
Eating in Sarajevo: We enjoyed the local food, especially the local stuffed pastry or pies called “burek.” The cheese “burek” was good, but the meat “burek” was really great. We lunched on “burek at a recommended shop – cheese burek & meat burek & yogurt drink, all for 9 marks, about $4.50 for our lunch for two. Another night we ate cafeteria style, but with a beautiful variety of traditional Bosnian food: onions stuffed with meat and rice, similarly stuffed grape leaves and zucchini, beef and veal in gravy – sooo good. The Sarajevans claim that their cevapi (ground meat with spices that looks like a sausage) is better than that elsewhere, and Evan agrees – the Sarajevo cevapi definitely improved upon what he had in Mostar.
BOOK AND MOVIE RECOMMENDATIONS: We have taken an interest in the history and experience of the former Yugoslavia and particularly in Sarajevo during the seige between 1992 – 1996. We highly recommend these books and documentaries. “The Cellist of Sarajevo” by Steven Galloway. Zlata’s Diary by Zlata Pilipovic, The Death of Yugoslavia (A BBC documentary), No Mans Land (a movie) Welcome to Sarajevo (a really touching movie)
