Sarajevo!

September 27 Downtown Sarajevo

Overnight bus rides suck. I'll spare you the gripe session. The view makes it worthwhile.

Sarajevo is a small city of around 600,000 souls. People of my age know the city only as the stage for the tragic siege of during the war that lasted from 1992-1995. The ravages of this war scarred the facsades of buildings all over town. Huge chunks of concrete were ripped violently away, sometimes revealing an apartment. Some of these apartments have been patched and deemed livable by hardy Sarajevans. Bullet holes are the most common form of defacement. The city is still very much rebuilding, restoring and renovating. Some completely new buildings of glass and steel shine in contrast to the dirtier grayish fade of the structures that endured the war. A few completely destitute skeletons of concrete, enormous relics of the war, are so badly damaged from shelling and fire that they remain untouched. Soccer ball sized shell blast craters are filled with red cement. They are scattered throughout the central city. A plaque now and then recalls the names of victims from a particularly deadly shell.

The city is surrounded by steep hills, strategically it is easy to envision it under siege. But the small cabin-like homes that dot these hills otherwise completely covered in vibrant green foliage radiate an unmistakable liveliness that seems better suited for the city than the helter-skelter missing pieces of buildings. Mosques, synagogues, orthadox and catholic churches all lie within a couple blocks of one another in the center. The streets bustle with all of the activity of any other city I have yet seen in Europe. It is a city, not a ruin, after all. But things have a bit more of a somber feel here. It may be that it’s just the smallest city I have seen so far. It may not be.

I’ll now try and describe a summary of the history of the war. Serbs are predominantly Orthodox. Croats, Catholic. Muslims are called Bosniaks. Croats and Serbs have their own nations on either side of Bosnia and Herzagovina. Additionally, there are “Bosnian-Serbs” and “Bosnian-Croats.”

All three groups came to live in more-or-less equal numbers in the region as here the Russian/Byzantine, Austro-Hungarian/Catholic, and Ottoman Turk/Islam vied for territory over the centuries. Upon the breakup of Yugoslavia, Serbs began seizing territory and ethnic-cleansing aided by the fact that they had inherited most of the Yugoslav army. Croats and Muslims fought against them. Then Croatia decided enough was enough and began a similar policy of ethnic cleansing to pre-empt the Serbs. This set each ethno-religious group on its own. From 1992 to 1995 the war raged. Sarajevo was besieged twice by Serbs. The Dayton Agreement, negotiated under intense US and European political pressure as well as a NATO bombing campaign were signed in 1995. Peace has tenuous held since. (Nationalism flaming politicians in Serbia later set that country to attempt to settle Kosovo in 1999, even though Albanian Muslims still live there). Today Bosnia and Hercegovina is divided into two separate ‘entities’. A jagged area stretching mostly along the Northern and Eastern regions is called the Serb Republic. It controls 49% of the country. The rest is governed by the Federation of Bosnia and Hercegovina and includes Sarajevo. The administrative centers (capitals) of the two ‘entities’ are only 40 km apart.

All of the peoples of the country are Southern Slavic. Physically they are indistinguishable. Intermarriage was common. Ethnic cleansing has concentrated Croats in Hercegovina (Southwestern Bosnia and Hercegovina), Muslims in Sarajevo and central Bosnia, and Serbs in their entity to the North and East.

Elections are now being held in the Federation. Sarajevo is a nice town. The tourist season must be far gone; I have an apartment with no furniture but some 30 cots all to myself. There is a basic kitchen and warm water in the bathroom. I reckon I will stay here another couple of nights.

Their is good evidense of the state of integration of Sarajevo right now. The tourism industry exists but its a bit dodgy. When we were let into the apartment that comprises a tourism agency's "hostel" the man who led us there spoke not a word of English. He couldn't open the door and began angrily ringing the door bell. Eventually he pushed and pushed. The door gave. A half naked polish kid looked dazed. It was 7am. He started yelling at the Polish kid in Croatian and general angry monosyllabic grunts. Fortunately the staff of the hostel are safely some 7 blocks away from my apartment. Which is mine all mine. When an experience backpacker opens up a helpful, fun, AND cheap hostel things might liven up a bit in down town Sarajevo. For now, you have to visit despite the accomidations.

At least the lady that served me pizza was nice.