Bosnia: A trip to Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo is so cool.
East meets West right here. literally, cross a street and you go from the Austro-Hungarian Empire to the Ottoman Empire in a single step.
Maybe it's a result of the war but the people have a live and let live mentality like nowhere I've ever seen. Equally split between Muslims and Orthodox Christians, I felt none of the tensions that we seem to face here in the UK.
Just a little bridge?
This little unassuming bridge is a bit more than meets the eye. One of the most important events of the 20th century happened right here at the Latin Bridge, someone was killed here. Give up? Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated...the event that set the ball rolling for the Great War. Big things can happen in small places I guess.
The scars of a war
As Yugoslavia broke down, the republics fought over who was going to take charge of their patch. And, Sarajevo spent nearly four years under siege, from 1992 to 1996; first by the Yugoslav People's Army and subsequently by the Army of Republika Srpska (Bosnian Serb Army).
As you walk around the city you're reminded of this on nearly every corner and every street. The city has intentionally left many buildings littered with bullet holes as a reminder. And, on the pavements are "Sarajevo Roses". These are actual scars from mortar blasts, painted red, where someone was killed.
People just get on
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