Whatever Happened to Yugoslavia?: Exploring Sarajevo

6.21.17
Sarajevo - from the Olympics to Chaos

Wow - what an incredible day of learning! (especially about things you've had no concept about). Mention Sarajevo to most Americans and they would say "Olympics." Others may recall the chaos during the breakup of Yugoslavia (what we Americans were lead to believe was a war of "ethnic cleansing.)" But Sarajevo is more than that...

Sarajevo was founded by the Ottomans in the 15th century.
Sarajevo flourished as a multicultural haven for Muslims, Serbs, Croats, Turks, Jews and others for hundreds of years.
Sarajevo was the most important city in the Balkans after Istanbul by late 17th century
Sarajevo is the only city in the world where prayer calls can be heard simultaneously from mosques, synagogues and churches.
Sarajevo was the first Balkan country to host the winter Olympics in 1984.
Sarajevo suffered 4 years and 4 days with an average of 326 mortars fired upon the city daily by the Bosnian Serb artillery (1991-1995).

We are extremely lucky to have Samra Kondo as our local guide for the next 2 days. She has a wonderful ability for storytelling that makes you feel as if you were there witnessing it yourself. Samra started our Old Town (Bascarsija) by shepherding us across one of the main streets from the corner crossing where Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated.

(Photo courtesy of Heather Worthington).

After explaining our bearings, Samra proceeded to hold us spellbound as she described the day that Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated. We found ourselves looking up the main street and down to City Hall as if we were bystanders in the massive crowd. We could imagine the 7 Serbian Nationalist plotters, who were spaced throughout the parade route - so apparently ill prepared that the first potential assassin let loose too slowly with his homemade bomb causing it to explode after the Archduke's car had already passed. Knowing that he faced certain jail time and possibly death, the guilty young man swallowed cyanide, then leaped over the 3-foot wall bordering the River Miljacka below in a suicide attempt. Unfortunately for him, the assassin group only had 4 doses of cyanide among the 7 of them - in splitting the dose, it turned out to be a non-lethal amount, so he leaped into the river, about ankle height, so he couldn't drown himself. He was arrested and sentenced to 20 years in jail (he was under age, so by law he could not be sentenced to death), but he died in prison from tuberculosis after 4 years.

Shortly after this first incident, there was some kind of miscommunication about the route when Ferdinand directed his staff that he was directing his driver to go a different way so he could get to the hospital to check on those who were injured in the blast. Unfortunately this information didn't get passed along, causing not only Ferdinand's car to pass by the coffee shop at the junction of Appel Quay and Franzjosefstrasse, where another assassin was enjoying his sandwich. And to make matters worse, Ferdinand's car was stopped because the injured were being taken to the hospital. The assassin easily fired 3 bullets into the vehicle - killing both Ferdinand and his wife.

City Hall in Austro-Hungarian architecture. Restored after war damage

and a massive fire that destroyed its immense, priceless library.

Inside the Gazi Husrev-bey's mosque.

The mosque was built in first half of 16th century by Gazi Husrev-beg, Bosnian Governor. It is one of the most monumental mosques built in the Ottoman period and is the center of religious life of Muslims in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The mosque is the part of vaqf (foundation) established by Gazi Husrev beg, which is still the heart of the old town of Sarajevo.

During the Siege of Sarajevo in Bosnian war the vaqf complex was fired by more than thousand grenades, but thanks to its solid structure and two meter thick walls, the mosque survived. After the war it was thoroughly repaired using the original ornaments found on the walls.

The amazing ceiling decoration inside the Gazi Husrev-bey's mosque.

The oldest toilet (across from the Gazi Husrev-bey's mosque).

The bell tower outside the Gazi Husrev-bey's Mosque.

Cathedral of Jesus Sacred.

Old Orthodox Church.

Interesting sculpture where live pigeons roost in a perfect spot,

while the other ones are incapable of movement.

A treat from Vlatka and Samra - pite from Olimpik.

We sampled 4 selections: potato, cheese, meat and spinach.

Samra explains the culture of drinking Bosnian coffee...
essentially, the rule is this: a cup is offered to visitors upon their arrival in your home. The host should offer a second cup, the visitor should decline
or they will be considered rude.
(Photo courtesy of Heather Worthington).

We went up to the top of Hotel Hecco

to get some photos of the city below.

The Old Orthodox Church - view from Hotel Hecco.

City block - view from top of Hotel Hecco.

We spent about 2-1/2 hours in the Srebrenica Exhibition in Gallery 11/07/95 - the first Memorial gallery in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This exhibition preserves the memory of the Srebrenica tragedy and the 8372 people who were tragically murdered, using a collection of photos, short films, maps, audio and visual provide visitors with both a documentary and artistic of those events during July 1995 in Srebrenica.

This was an emotional experience on so many levels. The inhumanity, the brutality of war, the hatred of one group of people toward another - all were so overwhelming. But there was also the resilience of the survivors. It was almost impossible to be standing right here, in Sarajevo - the site of the 1984 winter Olympics and current bustling Old Town - and even imagine these atrocities taking place in this same location.

After such a powerful, emotional day we all gathered to celebrate the city's diversity with a group dinner at Nanina Kuhinja's - enjoying a multitude of dishes family style from Italy, Greece, Turkey and Bosnia.

Roasted red peppers and feta.

Homemade ravioli in pools of butter, chunks of garlic and cheese sauce.

Our fantastic chefs!

And, because it was Ramadan, and we didn't want to alienate that particular portion of Bosnia's population, we decided to trudge uphill to the yellow fortress before sunset to experience the breaking of the fast by the Muslims (I have never seen so many extra large pizza boxes in my life).