Trips

Thurs., 6/7/18 - Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina

This morning after an OK breakfast on the top floor (6th) of our hotel, we met our local guide, Neira, who will also be with us tomorrow. Our walk around the old city started at the line across the pedestrian area that states that is where East meets West. The churches are west of the line and the mosques are to the East. Sarajevo is called the “European Jerusalem” for this reason.

We stopped in a market area that was once a caravansary and then moved on to the corner where Archduke Franz Ferdinand, of Austria, and wife, Sophia, were shot by a Serbian nationalist in 1914. Popularly, but not actually, this event is reputed to have triggered the start of WWI - the war to end all wars.

We looked at the 1462 mosque and hamam. The first brewery in the Ottoman Empire was down the street. We looked at the City Hall, which became the library of the university in the city. Some two-million library books were burned in the 90’s war and the building destroyed. It was rebuilt and reopened in 2004 as City Hall once again.

Views of Sarajevo from our hotel	Views of Sarajevo from our hotel
Views of Sarajevo from our hotel	Nearby mosque
	Caravanserais ruins
The corner where Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophia, were shot in 1914.
Building mural	Nice tile on the hamam
Our next stop was to visit to an active mosque (Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque) to learn more about Islam. We took off our shoes and covered our heads (women) and arms to the elbows (half of us) and stood inside for a review of the Islamic religion. Supposedly this mosque has the first electric lights in a European mosque.
	Dome of the Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque
Tilework in the mosque	Minbar - raised platform for sermons and speeches
Mihrab (prayer niche) of the mosque - it indicates the direction of Mecca	Another dome
Abloution fountain in the courtyard	Entrance
Cemetery next to the mosque	There is one active Jewish Temple, built in 1581. In olden days Jews were accepted here for their “intellectual” talents in entrepreneurship and finances. They were rounded up by the Nazis, during WWII. Some were sent to the death camps and others fled. There are not many Jews who live in Sarajevo now.
Entrance to the synagogue	Nice sign
The 1889 Roman Catholic Cathedral. There is a silvery statue (stainless steel) of John Paul II outside.	Ines took us to a little bakery and treated us to meat, cheese, potato, and cheese baked rolls. They are Bosnia’s version of fast-food. Eat and Beat It. They were greasy, but good enough to count as lunch. Marge and I sent some laundry out to be washed and dried by a young local, Julia, who was born in London, lived in Australia, and now has a metallurgical shop in Sarajevo where she makes jewelry. She was interesting to talk to. Then we went out to buy a spoon and ice cream with local currency, Bosnian marks. Tonight we had our OAT “home hosted dinner.” Amelia, our hostess, is a Bosnian moslem (but she dresses like us) who fed us while she was fasting because it is still Ramadan. She is an elementary school “professor” who teaches first through fifth grades in an all Moslem school. She lives in an “apartment” in a communist-built tenement, an ugly building, on the 13th (yes, 13) floor. We took a dilapidated elevator to the 12th floor - it only stopped at even numbers floors - and walked up to her two-room plus tiny kitchen and bath apartment. She lives here with one of her daughters. After communism, residents had the choice of buying, for about $700, or renting, for $70 a month. She bought her apartment and pays another $40 for “maintenance” on the building. She did most of the talking in broken English and obviously is one of the generation that still thinks “communism” was better than the freedom of capitalism now.
Communist-built tenement	Amelia (left), our hostess
Fri., 6/8/18 - Sarajevo This morning was all about the 1990’s war. The resulting Dayton Peace Treaty (1998) created three nationalities into one federation. Bosnians, Croatians, and Serbians living within the borders of Bosnia-Herzegovina each elect a president and VP. Each serves for eight months and then there are new elections. There are also two autonomous territories and all five get to choose their own parliament. The constitution is more complicated than that and as a result nothing gets done and there is no assimilation.
New buildings in sarajevo	New buildings in sarajevo
Trolly	Pretty carpets
We visited the 25-feet of tunnel a family preserved that went under their farm house. In 2012 the Bosnia-Herzegovina government allowed the farm and tunnel to be opened as an unfunded museum.
The tunnel went under the airport runway	Entrance building
Tunnel entrance	In the tunnel
Cherry tree	Street scene
On the way back to the old town we drove along beside the city trolley tracks. Evidently every country or city that replaced their old “tram cars” shipped them here, maybe for the ‘84 Olympics. We have seen all different kinds of cars, but none from PTC!	Church of the Holy Trinity
Tonight at 5 PM we had a very interesting person speak to our group here at the hotel. Her name is Alexandrea. She left Bosnia before the war to study in London as a fashion designer. She returned to see her parents in 1995 and was devastated to see what her country had become. She returned to London and became a very successful special effects director in films and TV. She returned to Bosnia and wants to create positive changes in this country. Her passion for the future of Bosnia and Herzegovina was very uplifting. We all hope she is right and the future will be a well functioning culture and society here. We went with some of our group and Ines for a Turkish dinner in the old town. For $15 US each, it was delicious.

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