Whenever I heard the word Sarajevo, I’m immediately take back to the Balkan conflict of the 1990’s. At that time Sarajevo suffered a siege of the city of 3.5 years. There was a tunnel dug from the airport which allowed supplies to be fed through to inhabitants.
On the bus to Sarajevo, I found myself sitting next to Goran who fought in the war as a Bosnian Croat at 22 years old and was injured in Sarajevo. I wasn’t expecting it to be quite so lovely but the old town was full of narrow cobbled streets as I have all these Balkan towns, with cafes and restaurants squeezed in between souvenir shops and tour guides.
I had pretty much give up looking for croissant for breakfast and was forced to chose somewhere more local. I pointed to what a man on the next table was eating and was served up the most disgusting great cheese turd made in a spiral.
I ate as much as I could and then made my way to the cable car. For a very reasonable price this new attraction takes tourists up the mountain to the 1984 Winter Olympic park where one of the most popular attractions is the disused bob sleigh run. Today it is used as a canvas for local graffiti artists.
It was mighty hot and the place had so water so none of the toilets were working. I headed downhill and spent a pleasant few hours walking around the old town, drinking strong and very small cups of coffee and local beer.
I did think about going to look at the museum of ethnic cleansing and other horrors but in the end I decided that it would only depress me and I needed to be uplifted not brought down by the suffering by people in the Balkan war.
Sarajevo is a small town – much smaller than Dubrovnik and less money-grabbing. As an historic city it should be seen on any trip to the Balkans.