Sarajevo

Between 1992 and 1995, when I was finishing law school, starting a lucrative job as a lawyer in Atlanta, and meeting Eli and planning our wedding, the city of Sarajevo was under attack by the Bosnian Serb Army. For nearly four years, the inhabitants of Sarajevo were literally trapped inside their city (which is nestled between several mountain ranges) without running water, electricity, gas, or adequate food supplies. Around 10,000 people, including 1,500 children, were killed during this so-called "Seige of Sarajevo." Food and munitions were smuggled in through an underground tunnel that was completed in 1993. The Serbs brutally and relentlessly attacked the city and its people daily from their positions in the beautiful hills surrounding the city. UN peace keepers ineffectively provided protection. It was the longest seige of a capital city in modern times.

Our family visited Sarajevo this past weekend. I was blown away by the sheer natural beauty of the city, but perhaps more so by how the city seems to have pulled itself up by the bootstraps. Other than many, many shell markings and bullet holes on the outside of buildings, there are few visible signs of the unfathomable trauma experienced by this city and its people less than two decades ago. Tourism appears to be thriving in Sarajevo, the streets are filled with people, and honestly, it is one of the most amazing and interesting places I've ever visited.

For centuries, Sarajevo has prided itself on being a veritable ethnic and religious melting pot. Indeed, in the old center of town, one can find a cathedral, several mosques, a synagogue and an orthodox church within blocks of one another. The city's architecture provides evidence of some degree of harmony between different groups of people here through the ages, as well. Given the city's strong Ottoman influences, in certain parts of the city, you could swear that you were in Istanbul, but walk several blocks, and you feel as though you've been transported to Salzburg. The food, of course, was fabulous, with a heavy emphasis on meat (cevapci) and wonderful breads, pastries and cakes.

My appreciation for the city and its history was enhanced by having read two excellent books recently involving Sarajevo. I would recommend both The Cellist of Sarajevo, by Steven Galloway, and People of the Book, by Geraldine Brooks. I have my outstanding book club here in Belgrade to thank for the selection of both of these great books. I'm also told by a friend who lived in Sarajevo a few years ago that Logavina Street: Life and Death in a Sarajevo Neighborhood is an excellent read for folks interested in learning more about what happened in Sarajevo in the early 1990s.

Here are some photos from the weekend:

Graham and Mommy at dinner in Inat Kuca, in the famous Spite House

View towards the eastern hills and over the old town from the western hills

Latin Bridge -- site of the famous assassination of the Archduke of Austria in 1914 that precipitated World War I

Orthodox church in old town Sarajevo

Muslim family sitting on the steps of the Mosque in old town Sarajevo

Eli and the kids on the Latin Bridge

Sarajevo's beautiful National Library, destroyed during the war in the 1990s, and under renovation

Graham with the pigeons in Pigeon Square

Bascarsija Square (otherwise known as Pigeon Square) in Sarajevo's old Ottoman quarters

Virginia in one of Sarajevo's much-beloved sweet shops