In 2025  

 Looming that region in the last few years, brought me different perspectives. Appreciation for the cultural diversity but in the same time, where this sudden cultural diversity is common from? It hasn’t been there for centuries. It’s quite recent.

Arrival was hard. There is almost no highway except for some kilometeres of the Corridor Vc, which is highly sponsored by EU and Russia (depending on which parts of Bosnia you are riding through). As I was arriving from Zagreb, passing through Republic of Srpska, the corridor was highly decorated with Russian flags.

Arrival to Sarajevo was even worse as we got stuck in a village above called Female Horse Head (I kid you not). Kobilja Glava was the location of the road closure due to the accident. We were stuck 2 hours before turning the car through the villages called mahale. In mahale everyone is in the street and the houses do not respect much the road.

Once we strolled down into the city, got hotel check-in, we went for an immediate walk. The seating time in the car was just too long. The first stop was turkish coffee, which so much cultural in Sarajevo.

Being here only 6-7 years ago, and able to order an alcoholic drink, in this exact place called Morića Han, that now turned into a place of a sudden Arab influence where girls and men seat separately – shocked me. When did this transition happen?

Morića Han is an inn) originally built in 16th century when Sarajevo was Ottoman Empire and is one of the rare buildings which survived the fires, wars and apocalypses that Sarajavo experienced.

Strolling down the old bazaar Baščaršija with many shops and cafes, Sarajevo showed me again its softer side.

But if you want to cool off with a proper Sarajevsko beer, you need to walk further more and choose different surroundings, where there is no segregation. This was the opportunity to try Ćevapi – a popular Balkan dish served in a flatbread with onions and kajmak (a type of Balkan sour cream).

Sarajevo is often referred to as the “Jerusalem of Europe.” The dominant religions in Sarajevo include Islam, Orthodox Christianity, and Roman Catholicism. I visited all three main religious sites. Guess which one of them was most unwelcoming?

I shouldn’t forget to mention the Jews arriving as early as Spanish inquisition (15th century) and got completely erased by the Nazis and their Allies – the anti-Semitic Ustaše.

Religion is the main reason for the conflict in most of the wars. Sarajevo is no exempt. A memorial to that can be found all over the city. Sarajevo Rose is a type of memorial scar caused by a bomb explosion that was later filled with red colour.

As it is not popular right now, to talk about Tito, (they will say I am a communist, a spy, an enemy of God knows what), I will just leave the photo here below:

One of my favourite poets Silvije Strahimir Kranjcevic (19th century) that lived in Sarajevo, would say;

I have a homeland; I carry it only in my heart,
And its hills and valleys;
Where can I spread this paradise, I beg the world in vain,
And... I swallow my pain!

And everything that treads on it, dances on my heart,
Its disgrace is also my disgrace;
They tore off from my being everything they took from it,
And they do not repay the debt.

He lived in Sarajevo. His apartment was on the second floor, with a view on Bascarsija.

Time for better topics. Baklava! Yet another Turkish trace in this city. No wonder they were resisting the Habsburgs so much. 🙂

 However, Habsburgs built one of the most splendid buildings in Sarajevo. The Habsburg Monarchy occupied and administered Bosnia and Herzegovina (including Sarajevo) entire 19 century, facing many diverse ethnic and religious population and navigating rising South Slav nationalism. 

As we all know, this will lead into Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and eventually the World war I.

The architecture of Sarajevo is largely influenced by Ottomans and Habsburgs. Following the Yugoslav era, Sarajevo was under siege for years during the ’90s, during which many of its historical buildings were badly damaged.

Walking the streets of Sarajevo, you notice that the time has stopped: in several important years.

The bridge below is called Ćumurija bridge over the river Miljacka. The name derives from ćumur, meaning charcoal, which at one time was thrown from the bridge into the river, as the nearby sword makers had their bazaar.

To ode the diversity and peace, I visited the UN compound, that is just nearby Cafe Tito. Who would say.

The United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNMIBH) is a United Nations peacekeeping mission formed under the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1035. Nearby is a Monument to the International Community representing canned beef that was sent to Sarajevo during the siege in 1995. The can was most of the time of the expired date, from the Vietnam war.

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The US Embassy is just across. Sheltered like a pack of tuna.

And if you ask if there has indeed been something new and recently built in Sarajevo, then there is Avaz Twist Tower from 2008.

Sarajevo, I wish you luck with the Corridor Vc. I always liked the fact that you were a bit separated from the world, but somehow, and I do not know how, other, more persuasive cultures arrived, to conquer you – again.

Bosnia fell in a whisper. (from the Ottoman Conquest of Bosnia in 1463).

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In 2015

So many times I have been to this country… most recently I have visited Sarajevo as my friends were getting married…

This time I will not upload the map of the country, as Sarajevo is the Olympic city and should be known to many of travellers…

Let me start with the most beautiful thing in Sarajevo: the Baščaršija!

Sarajevo’s old bazaar and the historical and cultural center of the city. Baščaršija was built in the 15th century when Isa-Beg Isaković (Ottoman general of Bosnian origin and the first governor of the Ottoman province of Bosnia) founded the town. The word Baščaršija derives from the Turkish language. The word “baş” in Turkish literally means “head“, in some contexts however also “primary“, “main“, “capital” and “çarşı” in Turkish means “bazaar” or “market“.

If you stroll through the puzzled streets of Baščaršija, grab a coffee or shisha and watch buy some trinkets from the cute shops which line the small Old Town lanes. Nearly half of Sarajevans are there to enjoy their time too.

Sarajevo City Hall was designed in 19th century by czech architect (Bosnia and Herzegowina was back then part of Habsburg Empire) but criticized by austrian minister cause of the facade style.

It is the largest and most representative building of the Austro-Hungarian period in Sarajevo. GThe building is placed at the banks of the river Miljacka.

Very close by is  an Ottoman bridge called Latin ćuprija over the river Miljacka. The northern end of the bridge was the site of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria by Gavrilo Princip in 1914, which became casus belli of World War I.

Being a huge fan of history and politics, we entered the museum. I was fascinated by the failed diplomacy and ultimatums of the then superpowered countries that brought the world into the biggest war known by that time.

Talking about historical facts, I was fascinated by the Inat Kuća  – House of Spite, also very close to City Hall. The story says that during the rule of Austria-Hungary monarchy, the Habsburgs wanted to build City Hall and by that to demolish the very same house, but the owner was against that and house was moved to the other side of the river in its original form. Brick by brick, stone by stone. 🙂

Nowadays a restaurant, one can eat local food like čevapčići with kajmak (Bosnia and Herzegowina were under Ottoman rule long time, thereby Muslim left huge impact, as well on the food and beverage habits) or burek – no pork meal.

Oe of the fascinating sites in Sarajevo is Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque built in 16th century as the largest historical mosque in Bosnia and Herzegovina and one of the most representative Ottoman structures in the Balkans. Being the central Sarajevan mosque since the days of its construction, today it also serves as the main congregational mosque of the Islamic community of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is located in the Baščaršija neighborhood in the Stari Grad (Old town) municipality and, being one of main architectural monuments in the town, it is regularly visited by tourists.

Especially beautiful is the fountain in the courtyard.

Gazi Husrev-bey Mosque was the first mosque in the world to receive electricity and electric illumination in 1898 during the period of Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Another museum that I need to stress out it the Museum of Srebrenica. As my country of Croatia together with Bosnia and Herzegowina were attacked in 1991, on my birthday in 1995 the biggest massacre and genocide after World War II happened over muslim people in Bosnia.

More than 8,000 Muslim Bosniaks, mainly men and boys, in and around the town of Srebrenica were killed during the Bosnian War. The 16 years old boy’s boes were found in 4 different mass graves.

Nowadays, the happenig is discussed at International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), located in the Hague, as  a crime under international law.

In 2005, Kofi Annan, then Secretary-General of the United Nations (who failed to protect) described the mass murder as the worst crime on European soil since the Second World War.

 

 

Once you get Sarajevo, the city where the Western & Eastern Roman Empire split; where the people of the Roman Catholic west, Eastern Orthodox east and the Ottoman south, met, lived and warred – and nowadays live again together – I suggest you the climb the hills of Sarajevo and visit the fort Bijela Tabija (White Fortress).

It is an old fort overlooking the historic core of Sarajevo and a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The forthress was built in 16th century as eastern natural entrance to Sarajevo.

From there you can visit some of the coffee places and enjoy the view. You may re-think about Sarajevo as an example of historical turbulence and the clash of civilizations, as well as a beacon of hope for peace and tolerance through multi-cultural integration.