Balkans Tour - Sarajevo: Part Two

Sarajevo’s sad history didn’t begin with the Balkan conflict of the early 90s. Much of the city has some sorrowful connection to the past. Our first sightseeing stop after our arrival was the Latin (or Spanish) Bridge, the site of Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s assassination and the camel’s-back-breaking-straw of the First World War. A museum now memorializes the spot with personal effects of the Archduke and his wife Sophie – also a victim of the shooting – and their assassin, the Serbian Gavrilo Princip as well as a reenactment video of the event.

Sarajevo was lucky to survive the Second World War without significant damage or fighting in its environs. The exception of course was its Jewish population which was persecuted, sent off to camps and killed. In a touching (and rare) sign of inter-religious cooperation, a sacred and valuable Jewish relic (a Torah that is one of only three ancient copies in the world) was moved to a mosque for safekeeping during this tumultuous time. It is now housed behind walls of glass in the National Museum.

While much of Sarajevo is still recovering from a decade of war, much of the city shows signs of rejuvenation. The Turkish quarter, Baščaršija was shelled during the siege but there were few scars to be seen in this wonderfully bustling section of the city.

It is filled with kebaberies and shops selling souvenirs and leather goods, beautiful mosques and elegant minarets, some of which use actual muezzins. We were lucky enough to see one real-life, human muezzin give the call the prayer without aid of a loudspeaker from one of the mosque’s minarets.

Tourists were not as plentiful as they were in the beach-filled Croatia but a few could be spotted here and there, including a terrible American singer/guitarist. He seemed to follow us wherever we were in the city to “entertain” us and anyone in listening range with his off-key warbling and forgotten notes and lyrics of popular American soft rock songs.

One of his favorite haunts was near one of the churches. In the park just in front, there were old Bosnian men playing chess with giant pieces that would never last a day in the US before being stolen. It was hard to tell if these were retirees or maybe unemployed upper-middle-aged men who had no other way to spend their days. But they did seem to be enjoying themselves (the players and the bystanders who would shout occasional advice at them). While melancholic, some signs of hope and happier times have returned to this intriguing Bosnian capital city.