Sarajevo

Started in old town with a guided walking tour, I love these as it is such a good way to get to know a place from a local. 

Ahmed our guide had grandparents that lived through communist Yugoslavia and his parents were present during the Bosnian war and the siege of Sarajevo, so we got a good perspective on how it was during those times. Similar to Dimitri in Kyrgyzstan most grandparents spoke fondly of the communist rule. The Bosnian war and the siege are such an integral part of the history and so recent that there are reminders of it everywhere. The roads that had been bombed and if people died on it are left with the holes painted red to symbolise the blood shed- Sarajevo roses. It also led to the country having three presidents, I cannot imagine how any political policies are agreed upon! 

We learnt about the Ottoman rule and the mosques, madrasas, hamaams and caveranasais built during that time. Interestingly one could stay for free up to three days in a caveranasai as part of the Muslim hospitality. We also saw the only Arabic clock tower still present, midnight is at sunset so it had to be reset daily, now it’s done twice a week. 

Next stop was the craftspeople and we saw their ingenuity of turning the bullet shells into souvenirs. Then walked on to the Latin bridge where we head in detail of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and the roll on effect of it. There is a plaque stating the fact without any positive or negative connotations so to steer away from political conflict. There are footprints and golden blocks to show the spots of the assassin and the car, they happened to be so close to each other due to an error made by the driver and history was made.

After our walking tour we headed out of town to the Tunnel of Hope/ Life. This 800m tunnel was made during the siege to help people in and out of Sarajevo. We walked in 100m of it that is still preserved but now lit up and boarded unlike the original. 

Last bit for the day was the Trebevic mountain to see the abandoned bobsleigh and luge tracks. They were made for the Winter Olympics in 1984 and are now covered in colourful decorative graffiti. We walked along them to the viewpoints to see all of Sarajevo below us. As we walked back admiring the artwork on the walls when Savik flew his paper plane (named Jeffery) off the path and into the overgrowth. He jumped off the track to get it when two ladies reminded us that there are land mines still present from the war, he tiptoed his way out of there pretty quick. 

As we drove back to our apartment we saw the monument with the eternal flame, (Vracka memorial park) bit of an eye roll from the kids but we made a quick stop. Along with the flame there was also some rude graffiti which had the children snickering. 

Finally made it back to the apartment after a very full day.