Up the hill in Sarajevo

Hi all,

My first full day in Sarajevo is almost over. Within one hour I will finish this day with a good waterpipe near the Gazi Husrev Begova, the oldest mosque in Sarajevo. A great experience, some moments that you ask yourself why everything is just feelings so...travel.

I did a lot today. Woke up early, took a quick breakfast and waited for the tram just outside my dormitory (for people who want to know, I am staying at the Ljubičiča hostel, situated on the Mula Mustafa Bašeskije road in the old town of Sarajevo) and went all the way to Ilidža, a suburb of Sarajevo.
Ilidža is oriental. The ambience on the market was one of different fruits, herbs, copper and meat for sale. While I was watching the locals buying, I drank a turkish coffee and just enjoyed the fact of being there, and feeling something you only have in these specific situations.
I wandered to Butmir, some 3 kms of Ilidža. All the way, and It was blistering hot. Looking for the tunnel museum, I just saw the airport on my left side, and nothing more but typical Bosnian houses.
The butmir tunnel was the only way in and out Sarajevo for its inhabitants during the war (1992-1995). It is something of 1,60m high and 1 m wide. Can you just imagine that this was the only entrance for food, water and medicines for a city of 400,000inhabitants under siege? It was hard to understand, but nevertheless true. During three years this tunnel under the airport runway was pure hope. hope, so that you just had not the feeling that the world forgot you.

After 30min: I hadn´t found the tunnel yet. Luckyili for me, a car with french people stopped and asked me where the tunnel museum was. I answered in French and they seemed happy to have the possibility to say i all in their native language. I could drive with them , they said, and after just a few minutes we found the museum. It was not a big deal, but it had a certain impact.
The museum is located in a heavily bombed house. Somewhere in the floor you could see an unexploded bomb sitting in the wall. Maxbe it was placed by the owner for some deadly humorous reason or maybe it was real. I don´t know.
We saw a film of the Sarajevo siege and after that we had a walk in the garden, that was bordered by the airport area. This side of Sarajevo was heavily damaged, due to two front lines just beside the airport runway that were occupied by the Bosnian serb army: it formed a small corridor, and you almost hadn´t a chance to pass these lines without being shot or wounded. The airport itself was UNO area, but wasn´t an option either.

We drove back to Ilidža where I jumped out. I tried to find the bus schedule to Bjelašniča, a mountain range outside Sarajevo. I would like to walk there tomorrow or something, but it is just too far and there are only two bus services a day.

After my lunch - tasty Krompiruša, burek filled with potatoes, I took a walk in the steep suburbs of Sarejevo near the Trebevic mountain range.
I bought a map of Sarajevo and vicinity, but it was worthless. The suburbs of this city is just one giant labyrinth. It took a while until I finally reached the place where the vegetation started and the city ended.
I spoke to some local Bosnians. They asked - of course - where I came from, and I offered them a smoke. One funny guy laughed when I let him see my pack of Bosnian Drina cigarettes and said that he would only like to smoke some Belgian stuff. Pleased by this short conversation - he also sai that I had to stick to the asphalted streets because of Mine dangers on Trebević - I continued. I was sweating like a horse. It was something around 35 degrees C. But I had some fun.
The people I met were first looking If a could have been some alien from Mars, but after a friendly ´dobar dan´ (hello), most of them answered. back with their dobar dan.

I had magnificent views on the city, but again fell a certain shiver, because the place where I was walking could have been a Serbian sniper post during the war. I looked at the city, and saw the capital lying int he valley, thinking that it couldn´t have been difficult to shoot people one by one from this spot. It was frightening.

Back in the centre I took a long shower, after that had some talks with two Belgian girls who were making a trip from Croatia to Japan. It is always while travelling that you hear the weirdest, but yet philosophical stories. If it weren´t for the world and the delights of travelling, my heart would break...




Christophe