Bosnia, The Heart Stealer...

                                        

BOSNIA- Mostar and Sarajevo

Let’s just start here. Bosnia, stole our hearts. One of our favorite countries

we have been to so far.  We spent just 6 days there, but could have stayed

longer. Its history is intense, it’s landscape is complex and beautiful, and it’s

culture is an intriguing blend. For a country that was in a brutal war that ended

in 1995 to see where it has come from and the progress it is making and has

made is fascinating. The Bosnian people were devastated, held captive in their

cities, shelled, and killed. Thousands of men, women, and children died. It is

not to say that other countries have not suffered a great deal in wars, or that

people are not suffering now around the world, but because we spent a bit of

time in Bosnia we can understand more clearly what happened in that part of

the world and find it interesting to tell a bit about it.

So what about it’s history?

Bosnia’s mountainous terrain and central location gave it a pivotal role in former

Yugoslavia. A union of separate countries (Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro,

Kosovo, Macedonia and Serbia), Yugoslavia was one of the first attempts at

forming a “united Europe.” It was led by a benevolent dictator, Josip Broz Tito, and

until his death, the union of countries worked well together.

After Tito’s death in the 1980’s, things began to change. Financial and economic

hardship compounded on existing racial and ethnic difficulties. The Croats (Christian),

Bosniaks (Muslim) and Serbs (Orthodox) all could not agree on a way to govern and

all disagreed on land borders.

Instead of a unified country, the ethnic groups wanted to have individual control.

Things peaked in the 1990’s with the Yugoslav wars. The Serbian people invaded

Bosnia and Croatia claiming that they were the true owners of the land. War and

fighting went on, primarily over ethnic divisions for years. Bombing, shelling, snipers

and mass-killings all took place in this grim conflict. Many of the scars from the war

are still visible throughout the cities. Bosnia’s GDP took an 80% dive once the war

began--today, unemployment for young people hovers at 75%. Schools,

hospitals and many historic sites and areas of culture were lost or destroyed during

this conflict. One landmark we experienced first hand was the Mostar Bridge originally

from the 900s, built by the Turkish people centuries ago. It was purposefully destroyed

by the Serbians in the war in 1994 and was just recently rebuilt.

One of the most moving parts of our trip was the “Memorial for Children Killed during Siege”

in Sarajevo. During the Siege in Sarajevo, over 10,000 civilians were killed 1,500 of those

were children. The memorial lists the names and ages of the children, some as young

as six-years-old. In glass and stone the memorial reads: “A reminder of the innocent

children who lost their lives due to the violence of adults.”

We couldn’t believe that the war was so deadly and so recent. Seeing the museums

of the concentration camps and reading stories of soldiers killing innocent people in their

homes still astonishes us that it happened in the mid-90s.

Our trip:

We were not sure what to expect upon entering Bosnia, at first it's landscape did not

change much from that of Croatia, but it soon began to shift. There were mountains

with jutting, jagged rocks, crystal clear, blue rivers, streams, and lakes, and in any

village or city you passed through you could see a mix of old and new Bosnia; Catholic

and Orthodox churches and Islamic mosques in the same villages, little shops, and

many fruit and juice stands lined up along the roads.  We were taken aback by its

unsuspecting beauty. We honestly, out of ignorance, were not sure what to expect and

didn’t think it would be so beautiful.

 
Our first stop was Blagaj while passing through on our way to Mostar. It was considered the well

of life where the source of the water was hidden below the mountain so the people were

unsure where it came from, it was also an old Monastery.  We then headed to Mostar.

We had an AirBnb with a pool! It sounded like an awesome perk, but we soon realized

it was unheated and the outside temp was 50 degrees, so we decided to just enjoy the

city instead. Mostar is a city with lots of Turkish and Muslim influence, both in architecture

and in culture. We enjoyed amazing street barbecue our first night, we highly recommend

Cafe Irma. It was hands-down our favorite food of the entire time in the Balkan countries.

Beers were less than $1 and we could eat for under $5 with drinks! The following day to

come was let’s say, an adventure.

We woke up the next day to start wondering Mostar, we found a little breakfast place next

to us that served authentic Bosnian coffee and great food made with homemade flat breads

yum! After, our first stop was to get a better view of the bridge that was destroyed during

the war and rebuilt. We didn’t know that stop would change our whole day.  Here at this

spot enters David. He politely asked if we had a lighter for a smoke, but then went on to

talk about the history of the bridge and the water below it. We listened politely and

enjoyed the casual conversation we had. He then asked if he could send an email to his

mother using one of our phones. He explained that he didn’t have a phone at that

moment and would just ask people to use their phone sometimes when he needed it.

A little unsure we did allow him to use it, after all wouldn’t we want someone to extend

the same to us if we were ever in need?  He then said it was really important that he

reach his mom and so if it were okay with us, he would like to give us a free tour of the

city, in order to stay close to the phone for a couple hours in case his mom messaged back.

We were intrigued to see where the day would take us.

 


Our first stop, the grocery store for a big bottle of beer, ha ha. We went to his house to

sit outside in the yard and drink a beer and chat. Kind of strange at first, but we went

with the flow. After we finished he took us to a known spot in the city (that we wanted

to visit) that used to be an old bank that was used for a horrible sniper attack. Formerly

the Ljubljanska Bank, an eight story glass-fronted tower, now it is an abandoned and

closed off area that you are not supposed to enter. Young adults and travelers still enter

to see the point of view and graffiti that now covers the walls. It just so happens that

David knew the best entrance point, so up we go. Seeing the different painted art almost

like memorials to those who lost their lives and to stop violence, we spiraled up many

staircases to the top of the building to see where the shooter hid. It was a strange and

somber feeling for a few moments, but also a place to take a deep breath as you could

see the whole city from this view. We climbed our way back down and didn’t run into

any trouble at all.

 

After that the day was growing longer and it was getting later. We went to stop for tea in

hopes that we could finally reach David’s mom. No luck yet.  We sat and had tea in a place

that seemed closed, we guessed that David knew the owner. David had a small shot of

alcohol as well, he had a very sore tooth/nerve in his mouth that brought him a lot of pain.

He didn’t have the money or insurance to fix it. The same with some open wounds on his

leg that appeared to be getting worse. He told us a bit more about his life; he went to school

and university in a different country as well, but he came back to Bosnia to be a chef. Work

was/is scarce and so he would do odd jobs for cash “under the table”, but even that was

difficult at times and he said sometimes people would promise him work and wouldn’t show

for it. He paid weekly to rent a room in a man’s house and that is why he needed to talk to

his mom, to wire money. Without it he said he would have to find somewhere else to go or

maybe sleep outside for some evenings. He talked more about the war and how people's

hardships are a direct result of what had happened.

We still wanted to visit the war museum that evening and it was coming to a point to say

goodbye to David. He wanted to continue on with dinner and drinks, but we had another plan.

He finally got a hold of his mom. He again thanked us and we thanked him. We do think fondly

of David, he showed us kindness and a great time learning about the city and we hope that

he is doing well. He gave us a very interesting experience we would not have otherwise had.     

After that, the three of us went to the war museum which we highly recommend, if you are

interested in that part of their history and would like to see remnants of the war. It was also

very sad and not for the faint of heart.  We then spent a bit of time discussing the museum

and found a place to have a meal. We then retired for the evening as we were taking a trip

to a bunker and the capital, Sarajevo, the next day.

The Bunker:

We also had the chance to visit a formerly top-secret military bunker. It was designed in

the height of the cold war to be the operating center of Yugoslavia. It cost the equivalent

of  $4.6 billion dollars and aside from the largest air force base, it was the second biggest

expense of the Yugoslavian government. It was thankfully never used, but was an interesting

peek into the 1970s and 80s because the facility had all brand new equipment from that era.

Much of the equipment was imported because former Yugoslavia did not have the

manufacturing capability to produce the hardy machines needed to ride out the nuclear

holocaust.

Our tour guide not only gave us insight into the construction of the bunker, but also insight

into the fall of Yugoslavia and how Bosnia fit into the former union. The workers were

brought in from all over the country; they were blindfolded, driven a strange circular route

and upon arrival told they were building a new factory for new jobs. They only worked on

one wing, so they didn’t notice how large the bunker actually was (9 wings). Even the

furniture was all ordered from outside the country so people wouldn’t notice such a large

order, which would stand out to the factory owners. It was said that only four people in the

government knew about the full plans of the bunker, and it was accidentally found by the

Bosnian military during the 1990s war.

It was absolutely worthy of going, and seeing what governments (even small countries like

Yugoslavia) were preparing for during the cold war scare. It made me wonder what the

United States and other European countries are hiding below ground.

 

Sarajevo:

We spent three days in Sarajevo enjoying an Airbnb, right downtown, with cool views

of the city. We ate out, shopped around, and toured the most shelled city in Bosnia, hearing

about all of its stories. Ryan's favorite breakfast food, perhaps ever, is Burek. It is a thin pastry with phyllo dough spun into a spiral shape, filled with anything; perhaps it is filled with sausage or cheese and spinach or just cheese. Either way it was piping hot, and delicious and we got 3 huge servings for like $3.75 total. I would go back to Bosnia just for the Burek! We also tried the bread and meatball bowls, cevappi which is homemade flatbread with meat tucked inside with onions and a yogurt sauce and we had a few delicious pieces of baklava. 

 

We visited the markets in the old part of the town, which is very touristy, but neat! And we walked across the bridge that began World War 1, where Franz Ferdinand was shot. From that bridge we continued over it to find a brewery to buy some local beer and liquor. 

 

 

We went on a city walking tour, which focused on the hardships of the war. They showed us one of the most deadly shells that hit a market and showed us an area where apartment buildings are still riddled with bullet holes. One of the most interesting stories is one the Bosnian people call "Romeo and Juliet's Bridge". There is a famous bridge in the city where two young lovers are still remembered from during the war. These two wanted to escape the war and if you had enough money, essentially you would be able to. What would happen is that the this younger couple paid the Serbian soldiers, that were located in the mountains near the bridge to snipe anyone moving below, to hold their fire at a certain time in the evening so they could cross the bridge to get on a plane to leave the country.  In the story they are unsure if there was miscommunication to the Serbian guards or if they deliberately lied to them. But when the two lovers went to cross the bridge they held hands and as they got to the middle of the bridge the guards opened fire killing 'Romeo'  and instead of 'Juliet' fleeing she stopped and laid with and hugged her dead boyfriend, they then shot her too and both of their bodies laid there for weeks, her holding him and shielding him because there were no people brave enough to venture on to the bridge to remove their bodies, for fear of being shot themselves.  Bosnian people to this day remember the lovers names and their story and it is talked about each year in the news on the anniversary of their death.  For some reason this story has stuck with me and 

was beyond painful and beautiful to hear. 

After all of the amazing stories, sites, food and people in Bosnian we couldn't imagine any place we went next to top it.  We headed back to Croatia to drop off the car and to split ways with our wonderful friend Emily and we headed to Budapest, for a lighter portion of our trip, to hopefully soak in some warm bathes, see some beautiful sites and continue the exciting journey. 

Until Next Time, 

Ryan and Linds