Bosnia

We caught the bus to Bosnia. I know of the country because of the war and history but I was not sure what to expect of the landscape. As we crossed the border it was flat and dull. We stopped off in a town called Mostar, which has a famous bridged. It was interesting to see the contrast with Croatia. In the outskirts of Mostar, shelled out buildings still stood in the streets, buildings still were marked with bullet holes. As we drove from Mostar, the landscape turned to beautiful green mountains split by a river. It was lovely, however apparently it is still somewhat dangerous to head to the mountains due to the possibility of mines.


The outskirts of Sarajevo are similar in that there still stands many half destroyed buildings some riddled with bullet holes.

It’s hard to explain but I really thought Sarajevo was quite a special city it had a quite lovely vibe to it, something I was not expecting. The surrounds of Sarajevo are very picturesque, it is surrounded by mountains, which makes it very pretty. But these hills are also what allowed Serbian forces to surround the city making it under siege. As people could not leave the city and there were many civilian casualties there are many cemeteries very close to in the city.(The main square in Sarajevo)

We did a walking tour with a young woman who had lived though the war, still going to school everyday. She told us how a tunnel was built under the airport, which allowed people to escape and also bring in necessary supplies during the war. Also the bridge where Franz Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated which triggered the first world war. (The Latin Bridge)

I’m mentioning so much about the war only because the marks of it are so evident in this city. While Croatia has had the money to rebuild, many of the buildings in Sarajevo including the library are still severely damaged; some of the holes in the footpath are filled in with red concrete and are called Sarajevo roses in memory of people who were killed by the shells. There is a monument in the market where a mortar killed many civilians while they shopped.


Sarajevo is a multi-cultural and very religiously tolerant city. In the same street you will see a Mosque, Orthodox Church side by side. There is Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian influence to the city. This means there is great coffee and a lovely culture around spending time drinking it as well as eating lots of yummy cakes. I fell in love with Bosnian food, especially their pies stuffed with potatoes, spinach or cheese, and topped with yogurt…….mmmm.

The next day we returned to London in the pouring rain.