Sarajevo - Finale

So me and some of the other hostel guys went out for a pretty crazy Saturday night in Sarajevo. I wont give away the details, suffice to say I might have had a bit to drink and if you're my facebook friend you can see some unflattering pictures of myself... The picture above is of me and Jim, a random American from Tennessee that we ran into. There is not a weirder accent to hear when walking the streets of Sarajevo at night than a southern accent from the U.S. Jim, who is currently helping to build the new American embassy in Bosnia, came out with us to a biker party.

This map, while probably a little hard to read, gives a good idea of the situation Sarajevo found itself in during the siege from 1992-1995. The red area all around the city is where the Serbian forces took up hilltop positions to fire on Sarajevo. The small gap in the red at the top is where the airport is, which was controlled by the U.N. forces, who had an agreement with the Serbs not to let locals use the airport.

This is a section of the tunnel that Bosnians built underneath the airport to reach the free territory on the other side. Through this tunnel was smuggled all sorts of food and other items that kept Sarajevo sane during the siege.

Another "rose".

Sarajevo at dusk.

Sarajevo - Pt. 2

One of the older mosques in Sarajevo.

This is Princip's Bridge (or Principiv Most in the native language). On June 28th, 1914 right on this very bridge Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian activist, assassinated the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his pregnant wife. It was this action that sparked World War I after Austria declared war on Serbia and the rest of the allies jumped in.

Sarajevo

A sprawling cemetery, every grave is dated between 1992-1995, the years Sarajevo was under siege. There are far too many fresh gaveyards around the city.

I climbed to the top of this hill with some excellent dudes from my hostel, Pete and Rod. We had some amazing views of all of Sarajevo. Best to stay on the beaten paths, though, they're still working on a bit of mine clearing in the hills.

Sarajevo - Pt. 1

I arrived in Sarajevo, Bosnia at 6:30 am, fresh off the night train (see my earlier post about the song I wrote on the train), and this is the first sight outside of the station. A very modern-looking skyscraper, and it feels very out of place in Sarajevo, the rest of which feels quite old and anything but modern. It is a very real city, and I feel fortunate to have gone before it becomes a tourist destination. Many scars from the war 15 years ago are still there, and you'll definitely see some bullet holes and such in my postings about the city. I have to say that up to this point (I am now in Verona, Italy) it has been my favorite destination. I will try and show the different sides of Sarajevo...

There is the war side, and you will see it everywhere you go. I think it makes the city a more interesting place to visit, as they simply don't have the money to fix it. Here is the library, which was destroyed when the Serbs that were laying siege to the city intentionally shelled it with incendiary grenades to burn the books inside and kill the city's morale.

This plaque explains it pretty well.

This is "Pigeon Square", with Sarajevo's beautiful fountain in the middle. This old part of the city feels more like a middle-eastern town, which isn't too far off because the majority of people in Bosnia are Muslim.

This is called a "Sarajevo Rose". You will find them around the city at various points in the concrete. The red fills in where a mortar hit, and honors the death of those that were killed in that spot. Most of the time it was just people waiting in line to get some bread.