Easy, for the soul

Garlic in long strings, homemade spirits and mandarin liquor, sweet walnut liquor and golden honey being sold at stands along the way greet tourists. A good buy is also rewarded by a bag of home dried lavender, while the marks (or even better euros) are being put into old bags hanging from the hip. Through unlit narrow tunnels and across rocky mountains and green valleys, passing small villages and driving for a few hours before reaching the capital of Bosnia and Hercegovina. On both sides of the river the city of Sarajevo is climbing up-hill. The lit houses seem like the starlit sky at nights, but during the day some still remind you of Swiss cheese. The ruins of houses with bullet holes still warn us of the tragic past that happened during the four year long civil war that took its deadly tool in the mid-nineties of the twentieth century. About the events of this recent past people still talk with a bitter taste in mouth and you can hear stories both from tourist guides as well as from the local inhabitants. The statistics are horrific as well. During the siege of the city, when Sarajevo was also bombarded, there were 11.541 mortalities, with over 1.500 children losing their life, with additional estimated number of 56.000 wounded. 

 

Walking up the hill for a few minutes, you’ll reach the pizzeria that didn’t close down even during the war. It’s a small buildings with glass entrance and order windows. You can’t miss it, especially as there’s a line of pizza lovers in front. “Bosinan pizza, completely different from those Italian ones you’re used to,” the host – Haris – told us when we entered. The price is much different (cheaper) and the pizza is heavily topped with meat and cheese and in the middle you will find the local dairy speciality – kajmak – melting.

 

 

The city of Sarajevo is known as the Jerusalem of the Balkans, due to the different cultures and religions. The city was established by the Osmans in 1461, and after 1878, when it was annexed by Austro-Hungary it started getting a European feel. The world started following the events of the city in 1914, on June 28th, when the young member of the rebellious organization Young Bosnia – Gavrilo Princip – shot the crown prince of Austro-Hungarian Empire and his wife Sophie. This historical event has triggered the beginning of the First World War. Today Sarajevo is the fastest growing city in Bosnia and Hercegovina and is firmly in the grip of globalization, which is pulling it towards the west.

The city has little less than half a million inhabitants and the biggest cultural event is the Sarajevo film festival (SFF), which annually attracts over 100.000 visitors. It was first organized in 1995 and is today the most important festival on Balkans. During the festival the city is completely booked and there’s more demand than offer for places to spend the night. The people of the city rent out their cellars or even their own bedrooms! The billboards announcing the event are all over the city and just here and there you can also see the announcement for the Baščaršija nights – a cultural event lasting the whole of July. It’s when famous actors, writers, dancers and musicians from entire former Yugoslavia come to the city. Popular groups that started in Sarajevo (such as Index, Bijelo dugme, Plavi orkestar, Zabranjeno pušenje and Crvena jabuka) give the city a special musical importance. The Baščaršija nights combine dance, street theatre, folklore, and many book readings or other arts in the capital of Bosnia and Hercegovina. 

The grand old city centre – Baščaršija – is filled with narrow streets, cobblestone roads and extremely hot during the summer. This is why the mosque of Gazi Husrev-beg and its fountain attracts people of all religions. The centre of the city is especially full and lively in the evening, when the air cools down a bit. People come from their ground floor buildings to sell souvenirs, scarves and toys. Some shops are specialized and sell only handmade coffee dzezvas, but most offer anything you can think off (from nail clippers to smart phone equipment. For the good or bad, the Chinese merchandise already reached these stores as well, so you get to smell the plastic in plastic along the streets. 

 

 

With 40 degrees centigrade it’s almost impossible to eat hot and heavy čevapčiči in fat lepinja, so we sat down on a small and long terrace of a restaurant and ordered a plate of goodies – filled with ground meet, naturally. The stuffed paprika or even stuffed onions and tomatoes, with ground meat and rice wrapped in young vine leaves cooked in soup. Being completely full of meat and heat we grabbed an ice-cream at the shop and headed for the apartments. We took a different route, so we saw backyards and streets n shade. Near our temporary home we saw two children around 5 years old, who were playing with a dog in the middle of the street. The god started growling and the older child chased it into the yard, while the younger one was looking at the ice-cream on the stick. The negotiation was over really quickly – “Want?” and the boy laughed, got excited and nodded. With half an icicle both boys ran down the backyard to finish off what was left and returned to tease the dog. There are many stray dogs around the city, but we were most surprised at the site at the cemetery, where they circled the headstones, while we were making our way up the hill. After a few minutes’ walk we saw the lit city centre. The low wall was full of tourists, making faces, hugging and forcing smiles while taking pictures.

The city of Mostar is the first real stop along the way, but is nothing close to a cool retreat in the summer heat. The city on the river Neretva is full of tourists. Cheap food and drinks, beautiful architecture and souvenirs from all of the Balkans attract visitors from near and far. About a decade ago the reconstruction of the famous UNESCO protected Old bridge, that was blown up during the war in 1993, was concluded. The famous symbol of the city is 29 meters long and 4 meters wide, so it gets really crowded in the afternoon and the slippery stones are getting even more shining by tourist shoes. During our visit the divers were getting ready at the top of the bridge. »Jumping from 20 meters into the 5 meter deep river. You’ve got to know where to land so you don’t miss the deepest part,« is what a wet and cold diver told us. His splash was rewarded by the applause of the people watching the brave lads and was recorded by smart phones and digital cameras. Swallow style jumps are the city tradition and the season starts in beginning of May by preparation for competition, which is organized annually by the Water diving association of Mostar.

 

 

We went to the green river later on and sat down on the stones to dip our feet in water. It was icy cold and we got a shower when somebody’s dog jumped in. Except the brave divers nobody was swimming in it. The mild Mediterranean climate that does offer some extremely hot summers, allows for many fruit and vegetables to be grown – and especially the sweet mandarin oranges.

 

The country experienced rough times in the past, but it seems they are moving on. The pace of life is a bit slower, but people know how to appreciate it. They also know how to unwind, although they do work really hard – those that are employed. There are many homeless and beggars on the streets of Sarajevo, together with stray dogs. Yet the city is not poor or devastated, although there are holes in houses reminding us of the disaster that happened here. You can see globalization and westernization of the city, while it retains its Balkan intimacy. If nothing else, the tradition is kept by the cultural events.