Zivjeli Bosnia and Herzegovina

Heading to Bosnia we were uncertain of what to expect, but a cultural and learning experience was what we were hoping for. As children we had seen the Yugoslav civil war on the TV but weren’t old enough to fully grasp what was going on. So when we arrived late at night on the outskirts of the CBD we hustled to our hostel as quick as we could so we could get our heavy bags off but to also figure out exactly what we were going to do here. We had zero internet in our room so we went old school and read the tourist material and built a rough plan of what to see and do whilst in the area.

Sarajevo is an incredible place, the recent history here is evident everywhere. That’s not to say that the place is a shelled out mess, far from it but there are plenty of scars that linger. Holes in buildings, hollow skeletons of structures that were once something and the ‘Sarajevo roses’* on the footpath. Take away the 90s conflict though and there are things to see and do that are not war related.

*more on those further down.

Sarajevo's iconic landmark

We decided to walk into the old town from our Hostel, a good 30 minute walk but we didn’t mind. Walking a city is always the best way to get a feel for it. Along the main streets you can see brand new buildings being erected and modern architecture. Right next to our hostel is the tallest skyscraper in the Balkans. Amidst that though you see some buildings have been left as is, untouched since 1995, very scarred and bruised with their own unique stories to tell. We were later to learn that the walk we had taken along this main street was one that during the war was the most terrifying of all. This walk was known as sniper alley, were people would run and pray not to be shot. Many died on this street. 

The old town of Sarajevo is fairly much as it was when the Ottomans left town and the Austro-Hungarians took over. There are narrow windy paths and each of them is named after the trade that worked that street such as “Coppersmiths Street” (except in Bosnian not English!) where even today there are coppersmiths banging out traditional wares. Some other streets have had their trade disappear a while ago though such as “Swordsmiths Street”. Not much need for a sword these days unfortunately. We found a cute little café and had the traditional Salep drink which is very similar to a Chai latte and equally as delicious. Unfortunately Bosnia has not outlawed indoor smoking and is unlikely to, given 70% of the population are smokers. This makes some indoor dining experiences more than a little unpleasant.

After wandering the old town and exploring a while we found a tour shop and arranged to go on the walking tour at 4pm. This place had a really great exhibition on the Sarajevo siege and the civil war in general. It was well worth the time to go through as it filled a lot of holes in our knowledge of the war. 

City Hall, made by the Austro-Hungarians to fit in with the Ottoman architecture

During the siege of Sarajevo the city experienced about 440 shells per day, on average that’s one every 4 minutes. It was only due to an 850m tunnel dug under the UN controlled airport that the Bosnians were able to hold out and outlast the siege. There is not a lot of love amongst Bosnians for the UN who they feel did a pretty terrible job of aiding them during the siege and the war in general by delivering Vietnam War age ration packs, canned meat from WW2 along with 2 tonnes of Malaria vaccines – you get the idea. Hearing from survivors, this actually made Bosnians feel even more isolated, as though the international community didn’t really care. 

We filled the afternoon looking at some of the sights that survived the war, such as religious establishments, the city hall, the water fountain, and the famous site where Franz Ferdinand was killed sparking the WW1. There is a tale about the water fountain that if you drink from it you will always have safe passage to Sarajevo. We also found a photographic exhibition documenting the genocide that was perpetrated by the Serb army on Bosnian Muslims. Some of the photos and the eyewitness testimonies are shocking and make you feel sick, most of all the terrible failure of the UN to protect its designated ‘safe zones’ resulting in the death of tens of thousands of Bosnians. We spent almost 2 hours looking at the pictures and listening to women speaking on their husbands and sons being taken away to be killed. It’s excruciating that history was allowed to repeat itself just 50 years after the Nazis were defeated.

Our tour started in the way normal tours start, and then we became famous. On the tour a local news team approached us and thrust a microphone in Simons face asking him whether he thinks there should be a monument where Franz Ferdinad was shot, after Simon gave his opinion, the mic was pushed into Amy's face, there was nowhere to run, so we provided our opinion (we dont even know what we said) and we really were on the Bosnian news.On our walking tour we met Neil, an English travel blogger who had come for a week’s snowboarding, but like everywhere in Europe, there was no snow; and some Spanish and Argentinians. Our guide was really knowledgeable about his city having grown up here during the siege. He took us through the old town, to the various places of worship in the city whilst explaining why Bosnia has come to be the country it is today. Bosnia is primarily a Muslim country but in Sarajevo there are mosques, Orthodox churches, Catholic churches and a Jewish Synagogue.

The Latin Bridge -  where Franz Ferdinand was killed

The Sarajevo roses I mentioned earlier are red patches on the footpaths all over Sarajevo that mark where massacres occurred during the war. Just walking around town you will see several. Unfortunately these massacres often occurred where the Serbian army knew a crowd would be including attacking at funerals, food markets, water supplies. It was close to Guerrilla warfare with civilians a prime target.  Some 11,500 people were killed in the city over the 3 and a bit years that the siege lasted with 1600 being children.

We capped off a great day over beer and some Cevapi with our walking tour friends. Given the knowledge we had from today, we all decided to do the Tunnel Tour the following day. 

Our diet the entire time in Sarajevo was mainly Cevapi. We had tried Cevapi in Croatia but the Bosnians do it better with either the traditional little sausages or flat patties in Turkish bread, onions and this sour cream\ricotta cheese like dairy product that is simply delicious! It does however give you terrible breath so we were going through chewing gum like crazy. Ewww cevapi breath – but seriously it tastes amazing, and its cheap, so cheap. 

The next day we set out to explore a little further. After some traditional Bosnian coffee (much like Turkish coffee)*, and some Burek (rolled meat in pastry) we hiked up a hill to get a lookout over Sarajevo. Along the way we came across one of the many war graveyards that are all across the city. As we looked out across the skyline we could see huge war graveyards everywhere, it’s incredibly sad. In the backstreets more scarred homes bear the marks of a conflict that was less than 20 years ago.

 *You can see from the photo how the coffee comes and there is a special protocol that goes along with it, we looked incredibly awkward trying to figure how to ‘work’ the coffee. We still can’t quite figure out exactly how to do it.

Delicious Burek - meat, potato or spinach varieties

This shows you the scale of just one cemetary

Descending our viewing point we went back to the tour office and met up with the guys from last night before travelling to the tunnel museum next to the airport. We had a different guide today who had also grown up in Sarajevo during the siege and told us stories of when she was 6 and carrying 10 litres of water up 14 floors. Or being terrified of bath time during the winter because there was no hot water or heating. She spoke candidly about the lack of food, lack of heating or money to buy anything to heat with, no electricity, little clean water sources and washing clothes in the river. What was most impacting was how these children lost part of their childhood, going to school in basements, doing what you could to survive, losing family members etc. Her father disappeared during the siege, she had no idea if he was killed, kidnapped or had fled, it was only when she was 20 that the Government confirmed his body had been found. Unfortunately many families suffer the agony of no closure, apparently this is the hardest part, the not knowing.  Hearing stories like hers are heartbreaking when you realise there is an entire generation of Bosnians, now young 20 somethings, who are trying to build their country up with little means at their disposal. University is free but unemployment is at 44% making doctors often employed at sandwich shops and supermarkets. Next time first world problems are getting in your way, just think about this and it will help get it all back into perspective.

The tunnel and its museum was fascinating, learning about how everything came in and out through the tunnel, including electricity. When the tunnel would occasionally flood they would be completely cut off. The tunnel at 850m long and only 1.5m high, would play host to women who would carry 50kg on their backs and men even more. We walked through only 25 metres of it and that was plenty. Simon doesn’t do well in low spaces and cannot even imagine walking 850m in ankle deep water carrying 50+kg. This tunnel was unquestionably the saving grace for Sarajevo.

The house where the tunnel was built

The train to Mostar was uneventful and a throwback to the 70s with everything looking pretty aged and tired but we weren’t complaining it was ridiculously cheap. The carriage itself was a donation from Sweden – interestingly the Mostar buses are a gift from Japan. Rolling into Mostar it was pouring down hard with rain, we quickly gathered our belongings and started hunting for a cab. Then it happened, the thing we have been dreading. On the muddy, slippery tiled area outside the station Simon went down sideways with full pack load on and landed hard on hip, knee and arm. Initially it didn’t hurt much but later that night it was pretty unpleasant. 10 days on the bruises are still there.

Drenched, and a little sore, we eventually we got a cab to our Villa, and it was amazing! We had the most incredible view to the ‘Stari Most’ or Old Bridge that was illuminated in the night. Simply beautiful. After our welcome glass of local red wine (which was actually pretty good) we turned in.

The view from our room

In the morning we would learn that had we stayed in Sarajevo just one more day we would have experienced a day of snow. Just one more day, we can’t believe how close we were…

Mostar

Mostar is an old city in the southern part of Bosnia near the Croatian border. It has a beautifully rebuilt ottoman era old town including the famous Stari Most/Old Bridge. It like a lot of Bosnia was shelled heavily during the war and closed off ruins dot the city all over. We opted to take a day trip to some of the regions best sights.

The Kravice Waterfalls are basically a smaller version of the Niagra falls but still incredibly impressive. Given the recent rain the falls were massively flowing and bursting the river banks. We got down close and soaked in spray and mist.

Medugorje is a town nearby that is known for its Catholic miracle of Mary appearing to a group of shepherd children on a hill. It is now a massive pilgrimage site with over 1.5 MILLION people visiting annually. As we walked up the hill to the site marker a group was praying nearby. Our driver thinks the miracle is an economic one as the town has expanded immensely since the report and everyone has a side business accommodating pilgrims. People come from all over the world often for a week or more just to pray.

Pocitelj is a half ruined ottoman village with a few hundred year old fortification tower. It has excellent views over the village and the river below but is a little unsettling to climb, but we did it anyway.

Tekija is a Muslim monastery that is built under a sheer cliff face and the source of the river that flows through the region. Whilst we didn’t go in just the beauty of the high cliffs and fast flowing river were beautiful.

Our driver was a Bosnian-Croat who gave us a great commentary along the way about recent Bosnian history, why all the locals grow and make their own wine, the current situation of the nation and the unfortunate political bureaucracy that seems to be strangling the country with its own weight. Bosnia really is a baby democracy with it only being running itself for less than 20 years there’s still a lot to figure out there but our guide doesn’t see it as sustainable and bringing more problems than it solves. Watch this space I guess.

After a good sleep (and more Cevapi for dinner) the old town was ripe for exploration starting with the Stari Most. The bridge was original 16^th century construction before the civil war which saw it destroyed by the Croatian army. There is footage of the moment it collapses on YouTube if you’re interested. It was meticulously reconstructed and re-opened in 2004. The only way to tell its new is the stonework is not aged like that around it. In the summer local men will dive the 23 metres from the peak of the bridge into the river below, apparently to prove their worth to the woman they love. Apparently flowers and chocolate don’t cut it.

Walking up the Stari Moss

Being low season we find that some tourist places are quiet to borderline dead, the old town was no exception with 90% of shops being closed and nothing to eat open. So after a very quick walk through we ended up walking through the newer part of Mostar and along the old front line seeing shelled and collapsed buildings still awaiting removal and replacement. We ended up in a shopping centre and got some lunch before doing some window shopping and going to the movies to see Mitty which was a really enjoyable film further inspiring our travel aspirations. We ate at a very fancy restaurant dining on steak and local red wine, all for so little, the value for money is unbelievable.

Lessons Learnt:

• Taxis in Bosnia are cheap, super cheap.
• Cevapi and its variants are incredibly tasty
• If you think your childhood was rough speak to a 26 year old Sarajevan
• You never know what you’re capable of until extreme circumstances push you
• Train travel is always superior to bus travel for comfort
• Bosnians identify themselves by their religion which can be a little confusing. A Bosnian\Bosniak is a Muslim, A Bosnian-Croat is a Bosnian Catholic and a Bosnian Serb is a Bosnian Orthodox Christian. During the war this became extremely muddled and confusing as Muslims didn’t know if their Orthodox neighbour would kill them or help them. There are stories of both.
• Don’t blindly trust the media
• The country is Bosnia and Herzegovina, although most people just call it Bosnia. Herzegovina is a region, it never was a seperate country. Mostar is part of the Herzegovina region.

Parting Thoughts:

Sarajevo is not a beautiful city or a shopping mecca but it should be on peoples list to visit if they are visiting Eastern Europe. The history here, both recent and older is deep and literally visible everywhere. The cultural fusion of east and west meeting with old traditions and modern inventions makes a great hybrid city with plenty to offer.

Multiculturalism can create issues, the former Yugoslav nations are a case of what happens when intolerance and hate get the upper hand. A lesson to us all to be inclusive, patient and tolerant. 

The Bosnian people were all incredibly friendly, warm and open with us about their experiences. It would be fair to say that at least half the nation would have some form of PTSD but they are all striving for a better and more prosperous future. What that looks like only time will tell. 

The Stari Moss is as beautiful as one might expect, but we would recommend coming when you can see the men diving into the water for their women. I still think Simon should do that for me, he seems unimpressed.

We said we came here for a culture and learning experience and we certainly got both, this is not a honeymoon destination, but it is worth going. Please come with an open mind, an open heart, and an ability to listen.

Simon and Amy xoxo