Cris goes to BOSNIA.
Food in Sarajevo.
As soon as I woke up after a good night of sleep, one of the things I was most excited for was actually breakfast. I wanted to try new foods and there was no time to lose, so instead of the usual croissant and cappuccino, I ordered Burek and Bosnian coffee at what we were told was the best place in town, called Buregdžinica Bosna, and this is what I received:
It was absolutely delicious. Those were baked pastries filled with different things and we obviously ordered all kinds because we wanted to try 'em all. One was with cheese, the second with meat, the third with potatoes and the last was filled with spinach. With our coffee, they also brought Turkish delights. The whole coffee set was made of copper. Everything was absolutely fantastic... and we literally paid only €2.75 each! Speaking of lunch, you can eat the typical ćevapi for less than €4. We were told that the best place to have one is Ćevabdžinica Željo.
Scenic Views.
There's a gondola lift in the city that just reopened last year. A round trip ticket costs €10 and there is no student discount. The view from the cable car was absolutely breathtaking. The city is surrounded by the mountains and you can clearly see which part of it is new and which one is the old town.
Free walking tour with Meet Bosnia.
Given the fact that we knew little information about Bosnia before travelling there, we decided to sign up for a free walking tour with a company called Meet Bosnia. They were fabulous. Our tour guide was really nice, smiled the whole time, and was open to questions. To start off, we were told that the city was the centre of the world on three occasions: 1914, 1984, and 1992.
In 1914 the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife was the start of the first world war. In 1984, Sarajevo hosted the Winter Olympic Games, and in 1992 the longest siege in modern history started. One of the buildings that burned down during the siege is the city hall, which reopened only in 2014. It suffered a loss of around 2 million books.
Worth mentioning is the legendary story of Inat Kuća, the building with the green balcony. When the Astro-Hungarians wanted to build the current city hall, named Vijećnica, they had to negotiate with the owner of the property, a man by the name of Benderija who did not want to give up his house and the view over the river. He eventually agreed to give up his property only if they would give him a bag of golden coins and, more importantly, if they would move his house on the other side of the river brick by brick.
Sarajevo is a multicultural city that hosts many nationalities and religious groups. In fact, there are many Croats, Serbs, and Bosniaks, and because of all the different religions, the city hosts many places of worship (mosques, synagogues, cathedrals, and Orthodox churches).
There is a point in the city called "meeting of cultures". If you walk East you enter the Turkish looking part of Sarajevo, if you walk West you enter the Austrian side. It is incredible to see how different the architecture is depending on where you are standing. It is clear that Sarajevo was ruled by the Ottoman Empire and later by the Astro-Hungarian Empire.
In Bosnia, many things are hand made with copper, especially coffee sets. I couldn't resist so I bought one, but they also have pens made out of bullets and more stuff to choose from. Results of the recent conflicts are still visible and it was something that particularly touched me.
I haven't mentioned many things of Sarajevo but I could probably continue for hours, so here's a quick list of the things that I haven't mentioned yet that is worth checking out: Sebilj fountain (rumour has it that if you sip from it you will return to Sarajevo in the future!), IIWW Eternal Flame, Sacred Heart Cathedral (the Hungarian architect was inspired by Paris' Notre Dame), Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque (which is the largest historical mosque in the whole country), and last but not least the place where the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife were murdered:
But Sarajevo is not the only place that I visited while I explored this beautiful country, I also walked around Mostar which is a cute little town full of shops that sell mostly all things made of copper. It's famous for its bridge and, in my opinion, there isn't much to do except walk around.
What Went Wrong.
Obviously, something had screw our plans up. To this day, I don't understand if I got on the wrong bus (even though we specifically asked the driver) or if Bosnia just isn't well connected with its border countries. The bus we were supposed to take was scheduled for 4pm with arrival time estimated for 7pm. It was meant to cut east through the country, but instead, it took us south, through Mostar, which is where we were supposed to go only on our way back home. What was supposed to be a 3 hours ride was extended by five hours. In perspective, it took 14 hours to reach Split from Milan and it now took eight hours to reach Sarajevo from Split.
Alright, next...
As we are trying to get off the bus at around midnight, this guy sticks his head inside the vehicle and asks if we need a taxi. Yes, we do need one. It is probably the safest way to get to our hostel at that time of night, especially because it was approximately 4 kilometres away from the station. We ask this guy if he is a taxi driver and he says yes. We ask which one is his car and he points out at a black vehicle parked on the side of the road, with no signs that would prove that he is a real public driver. As we tell him so, he replies that he is an Uber driver but we know that there is no Uber in Bosnia. "No thanks, but we are not getting in a car with you" and he exclaims "real taxi driver will charge you more than me, choose me!"
We eventually took a real taxi, obviously, and we have been charged the same amount this guy demanded us. When we arrived at our hostel, a really kind and helpful young woman welcomed us. She gave us all kinds of advice on Sarajevo and then we went to bed.
On our way back to Croatia, we obviously had to go through passport control. It never happened to me in my entire like but Rafael and I were the only ones who were told to leave the bus and follow the officer into a room where they had to go through our stuff. We are not sure why we were the only ones but the only right explanation is that they probably choose randomly otherwise I can't explain what made them think that we were possibly dangerous. Anyway...
Bosniaks.
I was really happy with the way locals treated us. Both the people that check us in at the hostels we stayed at were really nice and friendly. Overall, people at restaurants were kind and accommodating and when we were trying to speak the language they would help us with the correct pronunciation. I highly recommend to sign up for a free walking tour with Meet Bosnia. They are well-prepared and will make you feel at home!
_
On our way back to Croatia, we obviously had to go through passport control. It never happened to me in my entire like but Rafael and I were the only ones who were told to leave the bus and follow the officer into a room where they had to go through our stuff. We are not sure why we were the only ones but the only right explanation is that they probably choose randomly otherwise I can't explain what made them think that we were possibly dangerous. Anyway...
Bosniaks.
I was really happy with the way locals treated us. Both the people that check us in at the hostels we stayed at were really nice and friendly. Overall, people at restaurants were kind and accommodating and when we were trying to speak the language they would help us with the correct pronunciation. I highly recommend to sign up for a free walking tour with Meet Bosnia. They are well-prepared and will make you feel at home!
_
I hope that you enjoyed this post about Bosnia. Feel free to ask me any question in the comment section below and hit the "Follow" button on the right-hand side of the desktop version page. I also took all the pictures in this post, so please cite the blog for reuse. Follow me on Instagram @crisgoesabroad for more pictures of my travels!
Read also: CRIS GOES TO HONG KONG.
- Cris
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