Sarajevo: city, ski hills, and cemeteries.
Map of Sarajevo
View from hostel window.
Sarajevo, Bosnia Herzogovina

In 1984 Sarajevo hosted the Winter Olympic Games. Eight short years later the city was surrounded and under a three year siege by Serbian forces. We heard a lot about this sad chapter in the recent history of the Balkans, but I for one, never really understood or appreciated the extent of the devastation that was rained down upon this very old community. I still don't really understand what it was all about. It was a very complicated war, with the Serbs coming out looking very much like the perpetrators and aggressors. When the war is talked about with locals in Bosnia and Croatia, there is usually a deep reflective, heartfelt sigh of sadness, followed by a slight shake of the head, and still wondering why the Serbs did what they did.

Sarajevo is an very old city, and based on the proximity of houses of worship of Catholics, Orthodox, Muslims and Jews, it is obvious that the good citizens have lived in harmony for a long, long time. It really is a crossroads of east and west. The muslim presence if strongly represented in the architecture, food, and commerce, more so than any other city I have been to on this trip, so far.

The old city is know as Bascarsija, and as usual, it's where you want to find your accommodation. My hostel was right across the street from the edge of this fascinating part of town, so it was easy to roll out of bed and to find a nice cuppa Turkish coffee, or better yet, Turkish tea. I found a beautiful tiny Turkish tea/coffee shop and it became my absolute favorite place in Sarajevo. So small, you couldn't "swing a cat", there was always one or two "regulars" there, smoking cigarettes and lingering over tea, discussing - who knows what? Politics, no doubt...

I met up with another travelling acquaintance at the hostel, Douglas whom I had met in Orhid, Macdonia. Together with another Aussie traveler (Jane) we hired a local guide to take us on a city tour, with particular emphasis on the famous Siege Tunnel. The guide was a youngster during the Siege of Sarajevo, but has very vivid memories, and a strong understanding of the intricacies of the politics and maneuverings of that time. He showed us important places within the city, and from viewpoints pointed out various features and monuments. The ski resorts of the 1984 Olympics are within 30 minutes drive of the capital, and were just beginning to show signs of accumulating snow. Strewn across the landscape of the city itself are cemetary after cemetary, Muslim, Catholic, Orthodox, and Jewish.

Then he took us to the Tunnel House, where the life line to Sarajevo began in the basement of one mans house. Eight hundred meters of passage way that was the sole means of getting food and supplies into the city for 3 years, it was dug underneath the airport runway. It was eventually equipped with some small rail cars and tracks to increase the flow of supplies and make it easier to move through the 4 foot high shaft. The house itself and surrounding houses are riddled with bullet holes, and there are remnants of rocket shells in the pavement. All in all it was a moving experience, and once again brought home how blessed I am to be Canadian.

Douglas, is a traveler who is not very interested in what makes a country beautiful to the average tourist. He is less impressed by grand architecture and historically beautiful sites and more interested in what he refers to as "the real world". He seeks out and easily finds places where it's just the locals struggling and making their way, day to day. Being racially Chinese, he is something of an oddity to the rural folk, and they are curious to meet him and welcome him into their home and work places. He finds himself staying in monasteries and humble mountain homes, happily using sign language and any other means to communicate with his hosts. With this sense of adventure, he talked me into joining him to find the so-called Great Pyramids. Some whacked-out local archeologist of some repute was convinced that one of the many hills in the territory near Sarajevo, was actually a pyramid built by the Egyptians, no less. There is a description of this site in the Lonely Planet guide, so off we went to see for ourselves.

It was after this day long "adventure" that I started referring to the guidebook as the "Lonely Planet Book of Lies". A bit unfair, perhaps, but it was very evident from our experience that this is one of the many recommendations in the Lonely Planet books that the writer has clearly not explored for him/herself or verified the information provided. Let's just say that one would have to have been on drugs to imagine that any of the hills is anything other than a geological formation. But, it was a different kind of outing than I otherwise would have had, and definitely added to my arsenal of experiences!

From Sarajevo, I decided to take the night train to Zagreb, thus saving one night accommodation cost. Was it worth it? Stay tuned...