Sarajevo

And I still remember it for the 1984 Winter Olympics . . . but how much has happened in this beautiful mountain city since them. I hate to keep giving Wikipedia links for information on the places I go, but it's conscise and pretty darn accurate. The stories and still clear evidenc that this place was the target of some of the worst attacks in during the Bosnian/Serbian conflict add so much to the experience that goes beyond the river, mountains, cool clubs, great restaurants and cobblestoned old roads. Living in Kosovo where the Serbian population is marginalized and living in harsh conditions compared to the Albanian majority here skews the perspective a bit on who deserves the term "victim" here. Traveling to Bosnia/Herzegovina gave me a perspective of the conflict that I don't get here in Prishtina. The Serbian government of the 1990s did some disgusting and horrifying things to people and it is all there to be seen.

We were fortunate enough to have a friend with a flat right in the center of Sarajevo, who happened to not be in town when we were there, so he left us his keys and we moved ourselves in for two days. Once we found a place to park pumpkin, we were free to roam the city. The historic city center is not all that big, but there are a lot of sites to stop at. Huge cathedrals, mosques everywhere, jewelry shops and the old market, which is still remembered for the bomb that was dropped on it in 1994 killing almost 70 people and injuring at least 200. It's back in action now, and unless someone tells you that it was the place, you'd never know it. Then you walk to the other end where the national library sits. Obviously not open for business, this was also a Serbian target due to it's housing of so much Bosnia history and culture. It remains with pullet holes and bombed out holes, open to the public only for special occasions. The Sarajevo film festival was there right before we were and the library was open during it.

The tunnel museum is about 20 minutes drive from the city center. It is the home of a bosnian family who risked their lives and their realestate to save the people of their city. it was the city-side of a 800 meter tunner that went under the airport away from the war zone. It was the means of transport of food, weapons, fuel and electricity while the people of the city were being beseiged by the Yugoslav army. The tunnel museum c ommemorates what the tunnel meant to the survival of hundreds of thousands of citizens of the city. You can walk the first 25 meters of the tunnel yourself to get a sense of what these people had to count on.

This all happened in my lifetime while I was graduating from high school, attending my first college classes, going to house parties with my friends, starting my first job, going to graduate school . . . All of this happened in my life while people were being attacked and killed by what was meant to be their own government. Until this trip, Sarajevo was simply the sight of the 1984 Winter Olympics.