West meets East: Sarajevo / Bosnia and Herzegovina

22nd July 2023 - 24th July 2023

MARKUS:

We skip Croatia with a somewhat uncomfortable overnight bus tour and head directly to the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

It's difficult to do justice to this city in a short text...

With its narrow streets, where mosques, coffee shops, restaurants, craftsmen, and the obligatory tourist junk shops are crowded together, Sarajevo's old town is more reminiscent of Morocco than a European city, especially at night when people seem to squeeze through the streets.

Outside the old town, in addition to remnants of the Habsburg era and modern buildings of the international finance sector, one encounters the sad memories of the war: bullet holes on every other facade, and the strange feeling that creeps over me that every other adult face I encounter might have experienced the almost three-year siege of Sarajevo. The red stains scattered throughout the city, embedded in the ground, are just another reminder of it.

BIH is still relatively strictly divided ethnically. Although everyone is united under the same nationality, if you want to work in the public service, you have to choose an ethnic and therefore religious affiliation. Spatially, too, the groups have been clearly separated since the 1990s. Once again, I am so grateful to have grown up in a somewhat secular state.

On the second day, we leave the urban area and climb the highest mountain in the surrounding area. Instead of taking the cable car, we hike almost 4 hours constantly uphill. 1100 meters of altitude with gradients of up to 40% are challenging, but they make us even happier upon arrival, although only encountering head-shaking bewilderment from the locals.

TANJA:

Small addition: How easy it is to meet new people from the most diverse countries over and over again: Our dinner table consisted of a Newfoundlander, a Northern Irish, and an Indian.

Oh, and it was a really strange feeling to walk through a bobsleigh track from the 1984 Winter Olympics in the middle of the forest in the mountains😉

And by now, we have already managed to lose an inflatable pillow, a towel, a charger cable, a shampoo, and a pair of shorts....we need to improve on that😂