Sarajevo hosted the 1984 Winter Olympics, and 8 years later Bosnian Serb militias laid siege to the city. The hills that circle the city were ideal for ski slopes but were also ideal for artillery and snipers. The city is still a multicultural city. At noon today I heard the adhan call for Muslim prayer while the Catholic and Orthodox churches simultaneously rang their steeple bells. I regularly walked past a 500 year old mosque and then a Catholic church on the next block. The most interesting thing I saw on my afternoon stroll was a group of old men playing chess with oversized pieces on a 5 yard by 5 yard chess board in front of the national Orthodox church. They would argue with each other about the next move and then tell the player why he messed up.
Here are some photos I took today:
This is the view my hostel window.
The Hotel Europe is supposed to be a
really nice and new hotel.
Ferhadija Mosque, built in 1561
Cathedral, built in 1881
My camera battery died, so I started using
my video camera for pictures. These are screen
shots from the video. This picture shows a
famous wooden fountain. According to the
survival map shown in a previous post, this
plaza was a dangerous intersection for sniper
fire. The photo shows how open this space is,
and it's very vulnerable to whatever sniper
is on the hill.
A side street with a bunch of shops selling
copper and metal kitchenware and other stuff.
These copper shops had these pens made from old bullets
along with 'vases' made from spent artillery casings (I think
that is the right word). I thought buying a bullet pen would be cool,
but I then realized taking it through customs might be difficult.
These are multi-colored coffee grinders
"Sweet Corner"
There's a bunch of pastry shops here,
and the architecture is supposed to show
a mix of old Ottoman and newer Austrian-
Hungary influences. I don't know enough
about architecture to recognize the differences.
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