Looking for ideas of things what to see and do in Sarajevo? In this post we tell you everything that awaits you in this city of Bosnia.
On September 15 I had a blind date. I had been waiting for this moment for a long time. Was nervous. I was excited. I was like I wasn't since I don't remember when.
Sarajevo He received us with blue sky and a sun that burned ... and I imagined it white and cold! We rode an old, dirty tram that seemed to have traveled in the time tunnel. Along the way a group of children greet us laughing. Are these children so different from those of 1991? It is impossible for me to ignore the question and that is when my gaze is lost among the houses of Sarajevo, the same ones that have been outraged and raped by the sniper bullets hidden in the hills of the city. The same ones that currently surround us. Rober looks at the road and I get goosebumps. How did it have to be to fall in love then? Your life had to be doubly funambular: hanging on the thread of war on one side, and the thread of life and / or death of your loved one on the other. Lovers are doubly brave.
The tram takes the road on the left and the Miljacka River, the art of calm and dark water that divides the city in two. Suddenly the latin bridge, it is here that in 1914 the archduke Francisco Ferdinando of Austria was assassinated. It is here where World War I began. We are already touchingBaščaršija, the Turkish quarter, the historic center, the one that smells like Turkish coffee, baklava and hookah smoke in my mind.
I am savoring my imaginary baklava when a red and yellow colossus warns me that we have to go down: it is Vijećnica, the building of the old library of Sarajevo, today the town hall, the same as the night between August 24 and 25 was set on fire by Serbian bombs. In that fire they burned more than 2,000,000 books, millions of pages of history and poetry. In Vijećnica one of the most shocking and at the same time delicate images of the Bosnian war was taken: that of Vedran Smailović, the cellist from Sarajevo, who played among the ruins of the library.
Photo credit: Wikipedia
We spent 3 days in Sarajevo. We kicked km and km of your skin. We look at her face. We investigate the corners. We met his most brilliant story, that of the Olympic Games winter of 1984, and the darkest, that of war.
We toured the tunnel of hope, which allowed the entry of food and medicines into the city during its siege. We ran into him Markale market, the same where one day in February a grenade killed more than 60 people who were queuing to take home a piece of bread. Our steps walked beside the 'Sarajevo roses', the footprints, covered with red varnish, which left the bombs and grenades that killed 3 or more people.
But we also met a city wanting to live, the one with the terraces and the full beer glasses, the one with the safe looks and the firm step. A war does not make you strong, but surviving it: as if your new life had more value, as if you had to live for yourself and for all those who were not so lucky ...
We discover curious stories, such as the owner of the Tavern 'Inat Kuca' that he had his place in the same place where the Vijećnica stands and that he gave his land so that the Austrians could lift the library only with two conditions: a box full of gold coins and that the Austrians disassembled and mounted their place stone by stone Across the river! He got what he wanted and today the Inat Kuta stands in front of the town hall, almost winking at him.
Tip: there is nothing better than starting to get to know Sarajevo well, than taking a local hand tour. This is highly recommended (and it is in Spanish!). It costs € 17 and lasts 2 hours.
We got hungry and we ate Sarajevo: the first bite tastes like spinach and cheese burek, the second grilled cevapi and accompanied by kajmak sauce, the third one with nut and honey baklava and finally we left the taste of tea Transparent and tasty turkish.
If I had to choose a moment of 'our date', which inevitably became a love triangle, I have it clear: it was at dusk when we came face to face with the skyline of Sarajevo, a skyline formed by mosque minarets, for the bell towers of the churches, for concrete monsters witnessing the communist era but especially for silhouettes of white tombstones that tickle the sky ... Sarajevo has no parks, all were used to give a dignified burial to the dead of a war screaming to the world, which remained silent. Suddenly all the minarets of the mosques began to come alive with the night's prayer. It was as if the city was talking to us, as if it were hugging us and I wanted to scream 'Volim te Sarajevo', I love you Sarajevo, but the city doesn't need screaming, it needs ears and I sat down again, to listen to it and to love it in silence.
Sarajevo with S of silence, of suffering, of blood, of dreams, of survivors. But above all Sarajevo with S of feelings, mine towards her. On September 15 I had a blind date. On September 16 I was already madly in love.
P.S. If you came here looking for what what to see and do in Sarajevo I have only one recommendation: love her.
USEFUL INFO
Where to sleep: We spent 3 nights at Pansion River
How to get to Sarajevo from Mostar: The best (and cheapest) is by train. We take the one from 07.06. Totally advisable as it passes through beautiful landscapes. It costs about 10KM (€ 5).
How to get to the center from the station: With Tram 1, it costs 1.60KM (about € 0.8)
Recommendation: we did a tour with the company Sarajevo Funky tour We highly recommend you. This is the Siege tour during which a qualified guide will tell you and clarify everything that happened during the Bosnian War. The tour lasts about 3 hours and passes through several fundamental Sarajevo points during the conflict (Holiday Inn Hotel, Sniper Avenue, Markale Market, Tunnel of Peace) and also through the Olympic zone (bob tracks, today full of graffiti) and a viewpoint in the mountains from where you can see all Sarajevo (and understand how easy it was for snipers to shoot at civilians). Our guide was given, highly recommended. The tour costs € 20, money well spent.
