war – Growing With Leala

Today is my last day in Sarajevo. My check out is 10:00 am so I am getting a later start this morning while I pack up. I snack on my leftover cheese and bread. Last night I remembered to carry my ziplock with me so I can have what I call purse cheese – a term I coined because I love ordering cheese plates but as a solo traveler it is too much dang cheese for one person. So I am not wasting I try to save some it to enjoy later if the temperature allows or I have a refrigerator in my room. I pack up and put my bags in the lobby to explore what I may have missed.

I had potato burek yesterday and today I try the one with meat. I realize it is a mistake because not being hungry since I already had morning cheese. They give me way too much burek even though I stress I want the small portion. Also it is very greasy. I throw a big amount of it away because I don’t think it will keep well while I explore town due to the excessive grease.

I wander around and see some things I missed previously.

I stop by the market. It doesn’t seem to be a busy day today. Also I don’t see booths available to sample local cheeses like I’ve read online. I wonder if COVID took this industry out?

I walk by the eternal flame of Sarajevo for the victims of the Second World War.

I visit a highly recommended Gallery 11/07/95 and I dont regret it. The museum is a display of photographs from mostly one photographer of the time of the war in the 1990’s. The first exhibit is the photographs of those brutally murdered in the massacre of Srebrenica in July 1995. These photos and the photos of the aftermath paint a clear picture of the horrors that happened. The audio guide is essential for this tour. After there is some Sarajevo advertisements and finally a film at the end called Miss Sarajevo. I took the 30 minutes to watch the documentary. It is a very powerful documentary that focuses mostly on the school kids and students during the war of the early 1990’s in Sarajevo, set to powerful music of U2. It made me emotional because I was finishing high school and starting college at the time of this conflict. I couldn’t imagine having to dodge bullets from snipers while trying to attend college classes. We see students doing just that in this movie. If you have a chance to watch it online then do so.

This is hard to see. Basically the UN failed this town.

Miss Sarajevo, only partially based on a beauty pageant.

The museum is so emotional I don’t have it in me to visit another museum today and learn about more atrocities. I go have an afternoon wine instead. I am still not hungry but I know with my train ride it will be a while before I can eat later so I stop to get cevapi once more. Again it is very good but very filling.

I pick up my bags and head to the train station. I assume the train station was a very nice place for the 1984 Sarajevo Olympics but unfortunately it has not seemed to be renovated since. The government has a hard time with infrastructure projects post war. While waiting for my train I get in trouble for taking a picture inside. I joke that the reason no photos are allowed because they don’t want the world to know they haven’t updated the train station since the Yugoslavian era.

Despite the shaky infrastructure I am sad to leave Sarajevo. I am certain I could have spent another 3 days here with just exploring local museums and other day trips. I must return some day.

Now I head off on the scenic ride to Konjic. The train ride from Sarajevo to Mostar is supposed to be one of the top train rides in Europe. (I stop half way in Konjic). Unfortunately I choose the wrong side of the train. The sun is setting on my side and between the sun blocking and the reflecting on the dirty window I don’t see as much. It is very beautiful on the other side of the train. So I say if you take the ride in the morning sit on the right and for afternoon sit on the left (facing the direction of travel).

I arrive in Konjic to my apartment rental. I can tell already I should not have done an overnight here (I almost eliminated this as an overnight and changed my mind when hotel alterations were challenging). It is slow season here and many things seem to be closed. It is cold out and no one wants to be out I guess. Thank goodness I am still full from earlier because I cannot find any restaurants that are catching my eye.

Today is an other long day. I originally planned to attend a Fall on Yugoslavia tour in the morning and do local sightseeing in the afternoon. An hour before my tour is supposed to start they ask if I’d like to go to the 2:00 PM tour and additionally attend the 10:30 AM free city walking tour. Because I realize it’s off-season and I am flexible I agree. I have extra time so I order burek and Bosnian coffee for breakfast. The burek, or Bosnian pie, has potatoes. The standard serving is large and served with yogurt. I like it but not sure I’d eat it every day. The cafe I stop at has a basketball on its sign. Since I’ve seen basketballs multiple times on signs I take the time to google the significance: during the Yugoslav era the region had many powerful basketball players.

Once I start my walking tour I realize I am very happy I joined the tour. I am learning so much about the city that I would not have otherwise learned. This afternoon is very specific to the Fall of Yugoslavia whereas this tour gives me more of an overview of the history from the ancient times, Ottoman Empire, Austrian-Hungarian times and so on.

We walk around town. In one street alone you can tell the different time periods from the architecture: Ottoman Empire, astro-Hungarian architecture, and then brutalist architecture from the Yugoslavian times (East meets West).

We learn more about what ignited WWI. We learn about how 3 main religions live here in harmony.

We learn how things are slow to progress due to the current political system. Since BiH is represented by 3 primary ethnic groups (Croats, Serbs and ethnic Bosnians) that are unwilling to fully relinquish power the government is run by three presidents or three parties who take turns being in charge. This system leads to chaos and most certainly corruption. It is stunting the progress of a beautiful country. Many have dreams of one day joining the Euro zone like some of its former Yugoslav brothers but at this point it never seems possible.

We visit the famous church in town and learn about the rose of Sarajevo that was caused by shelling during the war of the 1990’s.

We also pick up on places where signs of the war still exist. They don’t leave them unrepaired for remembrance, it is just the government just ccan’t get around to making the repairs….for a war that has been over almost 30 years.

I say goodbye to my fantastic tour guide and after the tour I have a break so I get a snack. I soon meet up for my Fall of Yugoslavia tour. I am pleased to find it is the same tour guide from this morning. We hop in a van and head out to see some sights related to the fall of Yugoslavia and the war of the early 1990’s. I’m not going to give an entire history here because it is long and complicated but within ten years after Josip Tito (former leader of Yugoslavia) died in 1980 some of the countries that formed Yugoslavia decided to declare independence, for various reasons. The initial countries to do so were Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia. There was opposition to this by Yugoslav loyalists and as a result the region was full of conflict throughout the early 1990’s. I slightly remember it because I was in school at the time and I do remember the term ethnic cleansing being used frequently. It was a horrible war now that I go back to learn it as an adult.

We start at the yellow fortress where we are given a view of the city.

We visit a hospital destroyed in the war. Our guide tells us how a nearby stadium is used as a mass grave.

We visit the Tunnel of Hope and tunnel museum. This tunnel, the start on private land, allowed soldiers and supplies to travel under the airport and to/from the mountains to be undetected by the Bosnian Serb army. It was a lifeline to the Sarajevo community during the war. We got to sample the tunnel and watched very powerful footage of soldiers using the tunnels to transport supplies to the local people. My guide was a student at the time but her father was a soldier that used the tunnel. We got her unique perspective on the war.

We then visit the abandoned bobsled course from the 1984 Sarajevo Olympics, a proud moment for the locals. It was once used in the war of 1990’s and now is a place for street art and tourists to visit.

We finish with a stop at an abandoned building where we have lovely views of the city. Teenage me would have loved exploring this abandoned building in the middle of the night. I suppose this destroyed building has a different meaning to locals.

I am back in town and it is raining. I stop at a wine bar until I decide what I want for dinner. My meals the last couple days have been meat heavy and I am craving vegetables so I find a place that will serve a mixed cheese plate and grilled vegetables. Of course it is way too much food but the stomach wants what the stomach wants. I am not so much a fan of the travnik cheese (feta type) because it is a little salty for my taste but all the other cheeses served, including the blue which I never love, were very good. I eat all my cheese alternating bites with the grilled veggies to make sure I get a little nutrition while I travel.

I still haven’t tried the local brandy so I stop by a local place and try rakija. It’s just me and what I assume is the owner’s family in the bar, or at least they gave the appearance of being family. I sampled my very strong brandy in what felt like someone’s house. One sample is all I have in me so I call it quits for the night afterwards.