Only about 10 days ago, I moved to Croatia, and I have already decided to travel to nearby Bosnia and Herzegovina for the weekend. I was only gone for a couple of days, but this has definitely been one of the most interesting trips I've been on so far, and soon you will discover why.
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 fillings, and we obviously ordered all kinds because we wanted to try them. One was with cheese, the second with meat, the third with potatoes, and the last 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 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 that we knew little about Bosnia before travelling there, we decided to sign up for a free walking tour by 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 Austro-Hungarians wanted to build the current city hall, named Vijećnica, they had to negotiate with the owner of the property, 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 Austro-Hungarian Empire.
In Bosnia, many things are handmade with copper, especially coffee sets. I couldn't resist, so I bought one, but they also have pens made of bullets and more stuff to choose from. The results of the recent conflicts are still visible, and it was something that particularly touched me.
I haven't mentioned many things about Sarajevo. Still, 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 I visited while I explored this beautiful country; I also walked around Mostar, a cute little town full of shops that sell 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 an arrival time of 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-hour 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 were trying to get off the bus at around midnight, a random guy stuck his head inside the vehicle and asked if we needed a taxi. Yes, we did need one. It was probably the safest way to get to our hostel at that time of night, especially as it was approximately 4 kilometres away from where we were. We asked this person if he was a taxi driver, and he said yes. We asked which one was his car. He pointed out a black vehicle parked on the side of the road, with no proof that he was a real public driver. As we told him so, he replied that he was an Uber driver. However, we knew that there was no Uber in Bosnia, at least not at the time. "No thanks, but we are not getting in a car with you", and he finally admitted, "A real taxi driver will charge you more than me; choose me!"
We eventually took a real taxi, obviously, and we were charged the same amount as this guy. 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 life, but Rafael and I were the only ones who had to leave the bus and follow the officer into a room where they searched our stuff. We are not sure why we were the only ones. Likely, they chose 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 who checked us in at the hostels we stayed at were really nice and friendly. Overall, people at restaurants were kind and accommodating, and when we tried to speak the language, they helped us with the correct pronunciation. I highly recommend signing up for a free walking tour with Meet Bosnia. They are well-prepared and will make you feel at home!
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I hope that you enjoyed this post about Bosnia. Feel free to ask me any questions in the comments 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 if you decide to use them. Follow me on Instagram @crisgoesabroad for more pictures of my travels!
- Cris
