Sarajevo Roses & Franz Ferdinand

Bosnian coffee pots for sale in the Turkish Quarter

Day 1
Our day started at 5.20am as we needed to catch the 7.00am bus into Bosnia to our first stop, Sarajevo! Thankfully a piping hot tasty Pita Sir (cheese pastry) helped ease me into the morning.
For the 8 hour journey I bought some juice (oh so disgusting), pretzels and chips to gastronomically entertain myself.
On our way from Serbia to Bosnia the scenery changed from fields to lush forests, mountains and streams. It was amazing, and definitely the most picturesque scenery so far on the trip. It was an exciting journey, with the bus driver chain smoking, numerous bumps in the roads in conjunction with death-defying driving near cliff edges, blasting Bosnian pop and the aromatic sausage-scented picnics of fellow passengers.
When we arrived in Sarajevo I was stunned to see the damage of the Siege of Sarajevo (1992 - 1995) was still so visible and tangible. There were shells still embedded in the footpaths and roads, bullet marks and bazooka holes in the concrete walls of apartment buildings and buildings so badly damaged they were never rebuilt...all right in the middle of the city.

Another sad sight were "Sarajevo Roses", an impression in the concrete from a mortar shell, which was filled with some kind of red wax or paint. They signified the places where people lost their lives due to that particular mortar shell falling. It is considered very disrespectful to step on one. I didn't take any photos of roses as while I was there looking at then, because it didn't feel right to do so at the time.

Bascarsija (Turkish quarter)

It was the longest siege of a capital city in history, with 10,000 people killed or missing including 1,500 children.

We were staying in the home of a Bosnian muslim family...the lady was so clean and fastidious about keeping everything in order and clean! The house used to be on the battlefront, its amazing to hear how they lived back then.

City Hall

We were famished so went out for a late lunch and I had Sataras, a Bosnian rice dish with red capsicum, tomato, onion and paprika...fantastic!!

Cafe culture

We had a local guide, Mohammed, meet us for our guided tour of the town. He is the same age as me, and was talking to me about his life during the war. It was so sad to think that for the years I was playing outside, he was forced to stay inside, and on the one single occasion he went out to play, was targeted by soldiers and got hit by shrapnel.

We visited the mosque, Bascarsija (Turkish quarter), Morica Han (Bosnian coffee shop and bazaar) and the bridge where Franz Ferdinand was assassinated, sparking WWI.

Bridge where Franz & his pregnant wife Sophie were assassinated

Plaque explaining the assassination of Franz Ferdinand

Day 2 Before entering the Tunnel Museum With Mohammed

Tunnel Museum guide explaining the history of the Siege of Sarajevo

Visited the Tunnel Museum with our guide Mohammed. Sarajevo was completely surrounded by Serb forces and people in the city were dying without food and medical supplies. The tunnel, connecting suburbs in Sarajevo to the airport (which was protected by the UN and considered neutral territory) was dug by volunteers working around the clock in 8 hour shifts in order to bring in medical supplies, food, and to move people in and out. It was sobering to see.

View of the airport from the end of the tunnel

Inside the tunnel
Mortar shell embedded into the ground inside the museum

Afterwards I went back into town to wander around and decided to try coffee, Bosnian style at Morica Han.

In Bosnia, some people seem to have terrible front teeth, this is apparently caused from the tradition of grasping a sugar cube in between your front teeth and sucking the strong black coffee through it...as they say not to stir it in!! Of course I tried it this way as well, surely can't hurt just to do it once :P
I found a gorgeous orange embroidered shawl at the bazaar, 2 x Bosnian coffee sets and a handmade silver cuff made in the Turkish quarter.

Bazaar

Went to the old brewery to have a beer and then out to To Be or Not to Be for dinner. Wandered back to the house thinking what an amazing city this is, the only other time I've been touched by a place this much was in Scotland.

City Hall by night