Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina September 23-30, 2017

One place we had not considered was Bosnia-Herzegovina; but, after some quick research, that is where our travels led us.  Packing up from Dubrovnik we took the very long, 7-hour long, bus ride to Sarajevo. But what beautiful mountain views along the way! Maybe not Bar to Belgrade views, but we’ll take these anytime! The bus stopped at a roadside restaurant & rest area near Konjic, where we witnessed lambs roasting on spicks, turning on mountain stream-propelled wheels.

From Sarajevo’s main bus station, we had to make our way to our AirBnB apartment; so, we made our way to a nearby taxi stand. Our taxi pulled up and the driver asked where we were going. We gave him our address and he told us it would be 20 KM (Bosnian marks), the equivalent to $15 CAD. The drive took no more than six minutes – we had just been scammed! We got over it pretty quickly when we arrived at Dino’s beautiful and spacious pad, where his colleague, Faris, gave us the tour and our keys. We settled in for another week of exploration.

Sarajevo is a walkable city, especially through the old town of amazing east meets west streets: the 19th-century Austro-Hungarian architecture to the west, the 16th-century Ottoman Empire neighbourhood to the east. Another remarkable aspect of Sarajevo is the remaining evidence of the Bosnian War and Sarajevo Siege (1992-1995). Bullet and bomb shrapnel scars are evident across the city along with the ‘Sarajevo Roses’ – red resin filled explosive craters resembling flowers, meant to mark that casualties who suffered at the spot.

If you like (or, at least, don’t mind) walking up steep hills, there is plenty to discover outside the old town. On Sunday morning, we walked up to the neighbourhood of Sedrenik to get a great view of the the city; then, down we went into Bascarsija’s market for well-deserved Bosnian coffee. Later, we made our way to Zeljo (actually, Zeljo2, just around the corner, because #1 was full) for cevapcici: amazing spiced meat served inside a pita-style bread, with chopped onions and kajmak (cream cheese, consistency of thick, Greek yogurt). Super-yum! We were addicted and had to go at least once more.

We enjoyed discovering the city, whether biking the east side of the Miljacka river, along the canyon trail of the Dariva to Kozija cuprija, and Goat’s Bridge; or walking along the west side of the river along the Vilsonovo setaliste, (Wilson’s Promenade). We took more walks up the mountainside: firstly, north to the Zuta tabija (White Bastion) and the Bijela tabija (Yellow Fortress) for another view, overlooking Sarajevo. Secondly, south, past the Vacra neighbourhood to cross over to the Republika Srpska. People walk up and down these very steep inclines everyday.  I cannot imagine cars in winter on these twisty and incredibly steep roads.  It was quite overcast for the walk but still worth the effort to be able to take in the view of the whole Sarajevo valley.  Building up a bit of hunger we stopped at a local Pekara (bakery) on one of the twisty streets to enjoy a delicious burek (spiced meat inside a small, rolled-up phyllo pastry tube). The perfect hiking food!

Before leaving Sarajevo  we had to do a day trip to Mostar and Blagaj on the Herzegovina side (Sarajevo being on Bosnian side). Time to call Ahmed!