Sarajevo

A young local guide by the name of Samra took our group on a three hour walking tour of Sarajevo this morning. The first stop on the tour was just a block or so from our hotel. It was the intersection at which the Archduke Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated in 1914, precipitating World War I.

The irony, of course, is that the assassin was a partisan advocating “greater Serbia,” the expansion of Serbia to encompass the entire area of Yugoslavia. And the desire for Serbian expansion is the same cause that brought about the brutal war here in the early 1990s. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

From the site of the assassination, we crossed the muddy river Miljacka via the Latin Bridge, which was actually built, not by Latins, but by the Ottomans in the early 16th century. The other side of the river is where Sarajevo was actually founded, and very near this location was the original palace of the local Ottoman Sultan who founded the city.

Still here, and the primary feature from our hotel window, is the imperial mosque — the first mosque built in the city after the Ottomans founded it in the 1463.

Yet another irony is that, just up the street from the mosque, is the city brewery. Beer brewing was established here in the 19th century, when the Austrian-Hungarian Empire took over from the Ottomans. The brewery was of special importance during the war of the 1990s because it had its own wells, and was therefore one of the few sources of drinkable water for a city under siege.

Also a short distance up river is the reconstructed City Hall. Although built in the Austrian era, the architect sought to blend with the city that had been ruled by the Turks for more than 400 years. So, it looks very Islamic in style. We came back to tour it later.

From City Hall, we entered the Old City, back on the other side of the river. The narrow streets here are pedestrian only, and have the feel of a Turkish bazaar. Although souvenir shops have taken over many spaces now, traditionally each street had its own collection of similar trades.

One street that has maintained tradition is the coppersmith’s street. We visited one shop where the artisan explained some of his work, which includes transforming some of the thousands of brass shell casings left over from the war into works of art. We could hear other smiths pounding away at their handiwork as we continued down the street.

Next stop was the city’s largest mosque, which, along with the adjacent school and library, had been constructed by one of the city’s most prominent benefactors of the 16th century, Gazi Husrev Beg. His large tomb is also on the grounds of the mosque. Inside, one of the imams explained some of the features of the mosque, but mostly got a little preachy about Islam and the current Ramadan observance.

The tour concluded with walk-by visits to sites related to the three other religious traditions of Sarajevo. The oldest synagogue of the city still stands, however it is primarily a museum now. In the late Ottoman period, nearly 20% of the population was Jewish. When the Nazi occupation ended in 1943, things were much different. There are now fewer than 1,000 Jews in a population of 400,000.

The Roman Catholic cathedral was visited by Pope John Paul II in 1997, very shortly after the end of the war. A statue in front of the building commemorates the Pope’s visit. And the largest Serbian Orthodox church in Bosnia is just around the corner.

On the sidewalk between the churches is a “Sarajevo Rose,” a preserved section of pavement damaged by a mortar round, unrepaired and marked with red paint symbolizing blood. Each of these “Roses” represents a spot where there were multiple casualties.

Our tour leader treated us to lunch in a tiny, hole in the wall restaurant where the specialty is Burek, a dish of phyllo pastry and various fillings rolled into a sort of wrap and fried. Very tasty!

The afternoon was free, and we used it first to return to City Hall. The building is mostly ceremonial now, with most city offices elsewhere. There were several exhibits about the war, the building's destruction, and its reconstruction.

There was also an exhibit about the visit here by the Archduke and his wife in 1914. Their stop at City Hall was their last official act prior to their assassination, just down the street.

Another exhibit was adjacent to a courtroom and detailed those who had been convicted of war crimes following the 1990s war. We thought it odd that there was such a big display about the war criminals, rather than highlighting the victims.

After City Hall, we crossed the street and began climbing a rather steep hill, through a residential neighborhood that had mostly -- but not entirely -- been rebuilt after the war. About halfway up, we encountered a large Muslim cemetery, with almost all of the stones showing death dates of 1992.

We continued to the top of the hill, where a Napoleonic era fortification afforded a sweeping view of the city. It was amazing how many cemeteries, just like the one immediately below us, were in our field of view.

Coming back down hill, we re-entered the Old City, where we walked through the entry of the reconstructed Gazi Husrev Beg Library. This is not a restoration, but a modern building. It houses Islamic manuscripts, and is not a lending library as such.

We tried to visit the Jewish Museum, but we didn't have the right currency for a ticket. Few places here take credit cards, but most will accept dollars or Euros. This museum only accepts Bosnian Marks. Juggling multiple currencies here is a pain!

We visited the Roman Catholic Cathedral inside this time, and we were quite surprised that the interior architecture has such an Islamic style. Photos weren't allowed, but I cheated.

Finally, we paid a visit to a museum dedicated to the Srebrenica massacre of 1995, in which more than 8,000 Bosniak Muslim men and boys were rounded up and executed. The town was supposedly under the protection of Dutch UN Peacekeepers, but the Dutch failed to carry out their mandate. Mass graves are still being uncovered to this day. It was a sobering exhibit.

After a short rest back at the hotel, we met our group and walked to a nearby museum where we heard a presentation from a Bosnian Serb who gave his version of the 1990s war. Basically, this fellow is a believer in the lost cause of a united and socialist Yugoslavia, as it existed under Tito. He considers himself still today to be victimized by Bosniaks and Croats.

From there, we joined our tour leader for an optional visit to yet another restaurant where we enjoyed a variety of typical Bosnian dishes served family style. It was a lot of food for the money, and we are feeling very heavy.