World Bosnia And Herzegovina Sarajevo

Vincent Family Balkan Adventure 2009

Saturday - Sarajevo Tour Sep 19, 2009

Saturday, September 19, 2009 Today we spent the day with Mustafa Sorguc, our tour guide from Green Visions. We were to meet him outside our apartment building at 10:00. When we walked outside the building he was sitting on the rail waiting for us. Of course, to my displeasure he was smoking. This was the first tour guide that we had that we had to deal with the smoke all day. After we politely mentioned that Joe had asthma and we were not accustomed to the smoke, he politely moved away from us when he did smoke. We had our first experience on the city tram system. For my school students, see if you can find the history of Sarajevo’s city tram system. It is run by an electrical wire system that covers most of the downtown and circles the city. Mustafa purchased our tickets for us at the front of the tram while we hopped on the back to get a seat. Many of the trams that had already passed us were full and there were people standing. Since I tend to get sick while riding I was not looking forward to this. I must say, though, it was a pretty smooth ride and we diddidn'tride it very far. Since I cannot possibly remember the names of every place that we visited I will describe a few of them and we’ll post the pictures at the end. Hopefully, we will be able to remember or find the names of most of these places that we took pictures. We started our tour at the end of the tram stop. We started in a Atmeydan city park that had what we would call a large gazebo, “Turkish Music Pavilion”. There was a “Kava Café” and, of course, we had to start the day with coffee. We discussed where we would be going and what we would be seeing before starting our trek through the city. We began our tour at the Miljacka River. The Latin Bridge is where the first two people, two women, were killed while protesting the war. Looking across the river toward the mountains where the Serbian Army camped we see Careva Mosque built in 1457 for Sultan Mehmed II. On the same side of the river is Inat Kuca - House of Defiance, this house was located where the City Hall is now. The owner refused to sell it to the city, so he made a deal that they would pick the house up and move it across the river. Therefore, the “House of Defiance.“ The Sarajevo City Hall is now being refurbished with the help of many municipalities across Europe. Looking up to the hills above City Hall we see Jajce Castle - Eugene of Savoy, the Fortress Wall of Sarajevo, and the “Yellow Gate”. The Jajce Castle was bombed during the war and has not yet been repaired. When it was built it was in the shape of an “E” for Eugene. Of course, now it is hard to see this. Word has it that it is going to be torn down and a new tourist hotel built in it’s place. Our next stop was “Old Town Sarajevo.” This is where many of the souvenir copper shops are located. Many of the men do their own copper etching with beautiful designs. Sara purchased a silver teapot that had been etched with copper designs for a friend. We haven’t decided if any of the items were made in China, but we are confident that the artwork is done in Sarajevo. We saw many things that we wanted to purchase, but decided to wait until later in the week to come back and shop at our leisure. We then saw the largest mosque in the city. With this being the end of Ramadan there were many people at the mosque praying. Of course, the men went in the front door and the women went in the back door. Mustafa told us that they made no difference in the men and women, but just like many other religions I think that they do. There is a fountain located in Old Town called, “Bascarsija”. Legend has it that if you drink from this fountain you are sure to return to Sarajevo. Joe took a LONG drink from the fountain insuring that he would come back soon. I don’t think that we have found a HealthSouth here in Sarajevo yet, but who knows there may be one someday. The Old Town city center is called, “Sebilj - Pigeon Square”. As you can see from the picture there were many pigeons located there, however, I have to say there weren’t as many as there were in Venice. While standing in Old Town we heard the Muslim’s mid-day “Call to Prayer.” If you look closely at the turret on the mosque you will see an Imam standing below the turret chanting. As he chanted he moved a few steps, eventually encircling the entire turret. It was a sight to behold and hear. Our next stop was the oldest Orthodox church in Sarajevo. It was very small and had been turned into a museum. You will see that the door to the church is very small. This is because the army would ride their horses into the churches during WW I and destroy the church. So they built the doors short and narrow to keep the army out. When we went upstairs of the church, we were shown an altar that held a small coffin. Legend has it that a mother laid her child on the steps of the church. Because it was very cold outside the child died. They buried the child in a cemetery next to the church. Many years later they decided to replace the cemetery, so the coffin was removed from the ground and brought to the church. Now, people (women and couples) who have sick children, women who have not been able to have children, or parents whose children have died come to this altar to pray. They pray in front of the altar, crawl under the altar, and pray on the other side, then place either a picture or a symbol on the window sill leaving it behind in hopes of their prayer being answered. After the church we went to see a traditional Turkish Ottoman home. It is called “Svrzina Kuca.” This is typical architecture for a wealthy bey family. It dates from the 18th century and is one of the best examples of Bosnian houses enclosed by high walls that protected the family from prying eyes. The interior is very richly decorated in reds and gold. The bey, man of the house, has his own room where he sits and entertains visitors and eats his meals. There is a family dining room, but this is where the family and guest eat their meals. The house has very beautiful ceramic stoves in each room with a bath attached for warming. This home had the first “indoor bathroom”; however, it had only a hole in the floor with a large can sitting below to catch the waste. No indoor plumbing!!! The Ottoman home was divided by a courtyard, therefore allowing one side of the house for business and the other for personal living. It was very unusual and quite a sight to see. Of course, Gullivar accompanied us to this house and was very comfortable sitting in the courtyard. As we were walking through the café’s we came upon “Bosnian Elvis.” As you will see from the picture an older gentleman sitting outside in a café courtyard playing the guitar. He noticed that we were Americans and said, “Stop, I play music for you.” He began to sing, “Love Me Tender.” His English was quite good, but his singing left something to be desired. We returned to the Latin Bridge making an entire circle ending this part of our tour at the City Museum. This corner marks the spot where Archduke Ferdinand and his pregnant wife, Sofie were killed. This killing started WW I. The outside of the museum has pictures of the men who killed Ferdinand and Sofie, their trial, and the funeral of the Archduke and his wife. Mustafa then called his brother who is a city taxi driver to take us to the “Tunnel of Hope.” This is the home of Edis, Alija, Sida, Bajro, Emina and Edin. They gave their house to the Bosnian army to use in the building of the “Tunnel of Hope.” In doing so they made a great contribution to the defense and survival of Sarajevo and BiH. Before the war the house was a building of two floors, basement, attic, garage. It had central heating and was fitted with all the normal things you’d find in a house, as well as 2600 meters of land. On April 23, 1992, the Yugoslav army, from the Sarajevo airport side destroyed almost everything they had. The roof of the house and the garage were completely destroyed in a fire. The upper floor was also heavily damaged. With the help of neighbors they prevented the fire from spreading further. The Kolar family managed to get some necessary material from a warehouse in Butmir, and the house was partially restored. Instead of a roof there was a big concrete ceiling, which was good protection against the Serb shells. Even as they watched the Yugoslav army tanks aiming at them and the airport on a daily basis in the early days, few people believed that it would continue. The Serbs set several more houses on fire, and on the same day two more shells hit the Kolar family house. There was little sense in fixing things if they were just going to get shelled again, and so the people of the district began to organize resistance. The digging of the tunnel began while the Yugoslav army dropped 10,000 shells on around 100 houses, the defense lines of the Bosnian army were unbroken and the tunnel was finished. As the house had been commandeered for military purposes, the family made a room ij the garage in which to live. Grandmother Sida became well known o everyone who worked at the tunnel, as well as others passing through it. She always had a glass of water for exhausted soldiers, a piece of bread f9or those who were hungry and, in winter time, she provided heat for hundreds in her little room, where people waited their turn to go in the tunnel. The tunnel saved 300,000 citizens during the siege. “We are hoping that, in the near future, this small tunnel can become a large monument for Sarajevo and for future generations to learn, so that this evil we have been through will never happen again.” We returned to the city and went to Babim Restaurant. This restaurant gave us the most beautiful view of all of Sarajevo from atop the mountain. The food was very good Bosnian food and the service, as usual, always good. We had to take a taxi down the mountain back to the city center where we continued our tour to the city. We went to see the Jewish Museum located in Velika Avlija - Grand Yard. It was closed because Saturday is the Jewish Sabbath. We continued into the city and walked down Ferhadija walkway the most charming part of town. This street has many shops, café’s and banks from almost every country. Just take your pick where you want to spend your money. Next came the “Cathedral of the Heart of Jesus”. When we arrived they were saying the “Rosary.” We quietly stepped inside to look around. The Cathedral was built by the Germans in the 1860’s. We viewed as much as possible from the back of the church and then quietly left. We continued our walk through the City Park and saw a group of men playing chess. I always thought that it took 2 people to play chess, but you will see that there are about 10 - 15 of them. I can’t imagine trying to play with people yelling at me where to move next. Also in the park are statues of Bosnian authors. We took pictures of a couple of them, but of course, when we get to the bookstore we can never remember who they are. There is a new monument that was placed in the park in 1997 called Multicultural Cevjak Monument, other than I can’t translate the inscription. You might notice that the statues received a “special paint job.” Other than that I won’t explain on this page. Ask us about it when we return. The next few pictures are of places that many people were killed during the war such as the market place, the bread shop and even on the street corner. Take special notice of the red spots on the street. These are called “Sarajevo Roses.” When the bombs hit the street it left a crater and they filled it with red resin to indicate that people died when that bomb hit. We have purchased some of the bullet shells that actually killed Bosnians. It really makes you think about life knowing that you hold in your hand an instrument of war. The last place that we visited on our tour was called the “Eternal Flame.” This flame burns in memory of the liberation of Sarajevo after WW I. This ended our time with Mustafa, we want to thank him for his time and all of his knowledge of Sarajevo. He is a wonderful guide and if you are ever in Sarajevo, look him up. Today was a long day. We returned to the apartment for the rest of the evening. Gulliver was as tired as we were so everyone took their showers and got ready for bed. Not much on TV in English so we are all reading lots!!! Until tomorrow.