So when we actually arrived in Sarajevo, it was a bit underwhelming. Of course, this was through the outskirts of a poor and recently war-ravaged city, it was an unfair judgment. Sarajevo is attempting to reinvent itself as a thriving, cosmopolitan city but the scars of war are still literally visible. One of the most startling is the Sarajevo Rose. These are the impressions left behind of mortar explosions that resulted in someone's death. (This picture was taken from Wikipedia).
There are also visible "pockmarks" on many of the buildings, some more heavily than others. For example, the Holiday Inn in Sniper Alley was shelled quite extensively.
There's also some formerly glorious buildings, like the Town Hall/Library. It was once a gorgeous, Moorish-looking landmark but was bombed during the war. Apparently, there were papers blowing around everywhere afterward, remnants of the once-impressive library it contained. Now it is sadly boarded up and in disrepair, along with many other buildings.
Although it's not our usual practice, Jon and I decided to take a local tour. We asked about seeing the difficult-to-reach Tunnel Museum at the travel agency next to our hostel and booked the one about 20th Century Wars. It (supposedly) included a visit to the Tunnel Museum and some other information about the Balkan conflict of the 1990s, which we remembered very little about. When our guide came to meet us however, he told us that it wasn't possible to do the War tour and the Tunnel Museum because of the amount of waiting time at the tunnel, so we had to choose only one. So we decided on the 20th century tour.
Our guide was very insightful, if not entirely impartial. He referred to Bosnia as the "Palestine of Europe," a place where Jews, Muslims and Christians lived in harmony until the Serbian aggressors came, hell-bent on annihilating them. (His description of the Serbs made me think of Lord of the Rings' orcs who had no other mission but to destroy the world of men.) He took us to Sniper Alley, showed us the (in)famous Holiday Inn that was home to the likes of Christianne Amanpour during the early 90s,
and the apartments on the other side of Sniper Alley, from where the snipers holed up and launched their shell attacks. (Visible just beyond the facade of the National Museum)
It was extremely interesting, if unbelievably depressing to listen to his stories. He talked about ordinary people, not military men, fighting for their survival. (Young civilian men battling to save the existence of their city again evoked images of Tolkien and the Battle of Helm's Deep.) He said that while some stayed to fight, many fled and that to him, it was one of the worst forms of cowardice. He sees many young men now in the city who are healthy with no signs of war injuries and wonders about where they were during the war and why they didn't stay to defend their home. For us in the western world, the Balkan conflict has ended. We have moved on to wars in different parts of the world, and have mostly forgotten about the siege of Sarajevo.
While the city assuredly shows signs of recovery, our guide warned us that it was a very fragile peace. "Another war could happen in 48 hours," he told us, the Serbian border was moving ever closer to Sarajevo and he pointed out mountains in the distance that were actually Serbian territory. Serbia has always believed Bosnia to be part of it, not unlike the Russians with Georgia. He was angry and upset at the ineffectual EU and how they have delayed talks with Bosnia and done nothing to preserve the peace. Bosnia currently has three presidents - a Bosniak, a Croat and a Serb who serve rotating terms to maintain the balance of power. While he believes none of this was effective, he did actually praise the United States for their role in the war. The United States was the closest thing Bosnia had to a friend, he remarked especially when the US bombed targets in Serbia. It took me aback for a moment, because no one has had any kind words for the US foreign policy in quite a few years, particularly when it involves the bombing of another nation.
We ended this tour at a scenic but melancholic view of the city. The beauty of the natural surroundings contrasted with the ruined buildings and an disproportionate amount of graveyards for a city of only 300,000 (11,000 of whom were killed during the war). While the remnants of the siege are unavoidable, there's a lot more to this fascinating and poignant city, which I'll write more about in my next blog.
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