Sarajevo

Copper Street

Arose from our slumber this morning and walked down into the old city from our apartment.  Stopped when we got to the city and Nicki and I had coffee and cake and the lads had gelatis.   


(10am may be early for ice cream but we've worked out if we give it to them early they won't pester all day after that so it's win-win.)

Lunch

After that we walked around the old Turkish quarter which was really funky and a lot of fun.  Apparently the Turks set up each street to manufacturer or sell a certain type of craft.  So there was a copper street, leather street, gold street, spice street etc etc.  Whilst there were originally dozens of these streets there are now only a few remaining dedicated to it's own speciality. 

Spot of the assassination starting WW I

Had lunch in the Turkish quarter and then found the Latin Bridge and the spot where World War I started with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of the Austro-Hungarian empire.  

At 4:30pm we went on a walking tour of Sarajevo with a local lass which was terrific.  She didn't speak much about the siege except to say that they didn't want anyone's sympathy and that she wanted to talk about how wonderful Sarajevo was.  Good for her.

The tour took us about the old parts of the city and explained the Turkish history of the place and how the buildings, infrastructure and commerce was funded by the Turks.  It was very interesting stuff and well worthwhile doing.

Walking tour.

We also saw some big churches that were of the Orthodox and Christian flavours and walked to a spot which marked where a person(s) had died during the siege.  These spots dot the city and are called Sarajevo Roses and are where a mortar crater has been filled in with a red resin to mark the spot where some poor bugger died during the siege. 

our guide.

We also saw a building that has been left as it was after the siege ended as a reminder of what it was like.

Grabbed some takeaway after that and walked back to the apartment.

National library - 1st target in the siege.

Stray observations:  Bosnian coffee is as good as Croatian and Republic of Srpska coffee.

Muslims are people too.

Bullet ridden buildings might look 'cool' in the movies but in real life they are just depressing.

Orthodox church.