We have a three day turnaround between our vacation in Sarajevo and Dan's conference in Budapest, and I wanted to let you know about Sarajevo before we dash off again.
We took the bus out last Tuesday, and it was a magnificent ride through the mountains of western Serbia / eastern Bosnia. The vistas were stunning, but it was best not to look over the side of the road; it's a loooong way down to the valley floor, with only a flimsy guard rail between the bus and the drop off the winding two-lane roads.
We spent the first two days in and around Bascarsija, the old Turkish part of town. It's a beautiful city, with plenty to tempt the tourist - shop windows full of copper Turkish coffee sets, leather goods, jewelry, and all sorts of shiny and tasty things. We saw a big poster for TANGO on Wednesday night, so of course we went even though we only had our sneakers. It turned out to be a beginner class, not a milonga. It was fantastic to be there and do some dancing at long last. Be on alert, tangueros - the Sarajevo tango scene is just beginning!
We visited the medieval Serbian Orthodox church, the medieval synagogue, and the medieval mosque. They were all lovely in their own ways, and I think we both felt serene from having been in so many places of worship. The mosque was the most interesting because we weren't sure how to go about visiting. I carried around a large shawl (thanks, Hannah) because I knew I would need to cover my head, but we didn't know when we could go or what door to use. Fortunately, Dan's Serbian / Bosnian is progressing quite nicely, and he found a caretaker who told us when to come and led us in the door to the woman's prayer area. He did take us into the main hall as well, which made me slightly uncomfortable, but he said it was OK for tourists. It was beautiful inside, especially the Persian carpets covering the floor and the delicate, intricate designs on the ceiling.
Our other big tourist venture was not so serene. Zlatan, the co-owner of the hotel we stayed in (with his brother, Allen) drove us to the outskirts of town to visit the famous tunnel. During the Siege of Sarajevo from 1992 - 1996, the Bosnians were entirely cut off by the Serbian forces surrounding the city. In fact, if you stand in the city looking up to the mountains, you can see the weird artificial tree lines - the hills are bare up to the top (the front lines of the war) and then there's a small copse of trees. The Bosnians chopped down all they could for heating in the cold winters.
At some point the UN took over the airport to deliver humanitarian aid, and the Bosnians tunneled under the runway to reach the Bosnian territory on the other side. This way they could get supplies and move troops, and they even ran electricity, phone, and oil lines through the tunnel. A piece of the tunnel still exists and is maintained, along with a small museum, by the father and son who owned the house when it was commissioned by the military. It was fascinating to walk through the remaining 25 meters, then look across the airport to see where it used to connect. It was FREEZING outside, though, so we didn't stay long.
The other sight of historical importance we saw was the bridge where Gavrilo Princip shot Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie, jump-starting WWI. If you're not familiar with the strange, slapstick-like story of the assassination, definitely check out Wikipedia.
We saved snowboarding for Friday, and it was perfect weather. Blue skies, no wind, and, once we actually got to the mountain, mild temperatures. Of course, we had imprecise information about when the bus left, so we stood in the early morning cold for an hour before it came, but we made it! We passed the Olympic ski-jump on the way (Sarajevo winter Olympics 1984). Many of the buildings and even the lifts were destroyed during the seige, but the hotels are being rebuilt and they've fixed the main lift almost to the summit. If you look around from the lift you can see poles where other lifts used to run. The snow and the riding were fantastic, and at one point a parachuter / glider passed overhead.
We took the bus home on Saturday so we could get ourselves together for our next trip. I'll report back sometime next week!
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A picaresque account of a year in Kragujevac, Serbia.
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"The test of an adventure is that when you're in the middle of it, you say to yourself, 'Oh, now I’ve got myself into an awful mess; I wish I were sitting quietly at home.' And the sign that something's wrong with you is when you sit quietly at home wishing you were out having lots of adventure."
~Thornton Wilder
~Thornton Wilder
3 comments:
for the record,
bosnian muslim started the war, and their leader alija izetbegovic /muslim fundamentalist/prepared all details. it is all well known and could be found through google.
muslim paramilitary gangs attacked and killed Serb wedding ceremony, etc.
all well know,so why you dont tell your readers the truth.
Who really started it is difficult to say since everyone participated in the downward spiral that led to the war.
About the numbers killed. The latest estimates (by the Sarajevo based Documentation Centre) are at about 100,000 people, of which about half were soldiers and half civilians. Of the 50,000 or so civilians, an estimated 30,000 were Bosniaks, a couple of thousand Croats and the rest mainly Serbs.
So, Gazija, I think the 40,000 children is questionable. But terrible all the same.
About 2 million of the pre war population of 4 some million did leave their homes, of which about half have returned (I think).
Hey! Soon (next tuesday!) we are going to visit sarajevo and of course we would like to dance tango... You don`t remember the place you were going, don`t you? Thanx for trying to remember.
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