Back in 1984 Sarajevo hosted the Winter Olympics and it was a great success. During the war the infrastructure was severely damaged and today it has been left damaged and abandoned. However, the part ruined concrete structure of the bob sled track has been graffitied with some pretty cool art. And what is really cool is that you can walk along it. It was quite a buzz to walk along a track where the winning team in ’84 travelled at a speed of 150kmh. As I walked along it I could see the colour, hear the noise of the crowd and the sound of the sled hurtling along. I could feel the celebration that the Olympics brings and it was incredible to feel this then realise that in the forests surrounding the track were still unexploded land mines from the war. Shrapnel marks could still be seen on the track that was now incomplete due to shelling.
Seeing the track was so cool however I could not help but walk away thinking that the juxta positioning of an event that brings the world together in peace was later torn to shreds by the hideous war of the 90’s. It was a mix of emotions but unfortunately it was the sad emotion of the war that was the strongest.
That night we climbed a hill to the Yellow Fort for what was a spectacular of the city of Sarajevo. On the way we passed a large Muslim cemetery where you could see way too many tomb stones of people taken during the war. They were way too young.
Looking down on the city you can see that it sits neatly in a valley between two impressive mountains. They probably thought that the mountains would offer protection only to find out that in reality it allowed them to be trapped in for all those years under siege.
The city has had a past controlled by outsiders. One thing that was pretty cool about that is the fact that on the main thoroughfare there is a point where if you look east you see Ottoman architecture and if you turn around and look west you see Austrian. It was quite freaky to see that.
Coffee in Bosnia takes a couple of hours. You do not go there, have you coffee and run. And heaven forbid should you want a take away. Coffee is an experience that is more about the social aspect as it is about the coffee. And there were some beautiful spots to have coffee in Sarajevo. The one we went to was a small square that had a large tree shading it. Perfectly cool on the hot day we were there.
Such a tortured past but still such a beautiful city.
Altamira Sound & Vision Productions 