Sarajevo: A Tragic History Artfully Told – But Bring a Packed Lunch

In his book ‘Shadowplay’, Tim Marshall recounts meeting a Serb for dinner in the midst of the collapse of Yugoslavia in 1995. Having listened to the Serb denounce NATO’s bombing campaign of Belgrade, Marshall retorted that Bosnians had endured more in a weekend of the Siege of Sarajevo than Serbs in Belgrade had gone through in two months. Marshall is quick to acknowledge that he was hardly complying with his title of ‘Diplomatic Correspondent’ but that’s not to say that he was wrong.

Sarajevo is a remarkable city. Its people are warm, its vistas stunning and the city’s streets hosted some of the 20th century’s most consequential events. Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated at the city’s Latin bridge in 1914, ostensibly the catalyst for the First World War, although the site itself is marked by a comically understated memorial and a museum consisting of just one room. 80 years later the city was mired in the Siege of Sarajevo. Bosnia and Herzegovina declared their independence from Yugoslavia in 1992 to which Bosnian Serbs, loyal to and supported by Yugoslavia, responded in kind. They encircled and blockaded Sarajevo and swiftly began a grim bombing campaign which went on to kill almost 14,000 people. NATO intervention gradually pushed the Serbs back until on 29 February 1996, 1,425 days after it began, the Bosnian government declared the Siege over. It was the longest siege of a capital city in modern warfare and ultimately precipitated the collapse of Yugoslavia and the realisation of self determination for millions of people.

Remnants of that Serbian onslaught can be found all around the city. Allied to a gastronomy which this writer would describe as ‘challenging’ and the city’s severe iron curtain infrastructure, it’s small wonder that #SexySarajevo is never found trending on Instagram. However, to the tourist that is willing to look a bit closer, it has a huge amount to offer.

I trundled into Sarajevo on a night bus from Slovenia and if ailments could sponsor bus routes insomnia would have its name plastered all over this one. The bus crawled through Croatia en route to the Bosnian capital and so in just 6 hours the entire bus was marched outside and through a border crossings on 4 separate occasions. The sledgehammer architecture of Sarajevo was a cruel way to welcome me in such a desperate state. I understand that iron is strong, malleable and cheap but endeavoring to build an entire city from it seems misguided. The locals clearly concur given so much of it is smothered in graffiti. However, there are much more interesting aspects to the Bosnian capital’s architecture.

Sarajevo is dotted with chilling reminders of its history, most ubiquitously the Sarajevo Roses. During the Siege of Sarajevo, mortar blasts were a favoured incendiary of the besieging Serbian forces. In addition to the thousands of casualties they inflicted, they left behind a city riddled with mini potholes of poignancy. These concrete scars have since been filled with red resin and simultaneously serve as a simulacrum of both bloodshed and roses, speaking to the horrors the city has witnessed and also the compassion required in societies as diverse as Bosnia. They certainly focus the mind each time you come across one, and their sheer omniscience ensure that to be a regular occurence. That said, the Sarajevo Roses are decidedly dainty when compared to the city’s primary memorial of the Siege, the Sarajevo Tunnel or ‘Tunel Spasa’.

Built in 1993, the Sarajevo Tunnel allowed the Bosnian army to smuggle food and aid into the city during the Siege, traditional supply lines having been severed by the Serbs. A sign declaring it to be ‘The Place That Ended the 20th Century’ sets a sombre mood, unrelenting throughout the museum. There is ample text as to the tunnel’s mechanics, dimensions and utility but walking the tunnel itself is infinitely more effecting than studying statistics. Dark, damp and cramped, it is both chilling and intriguing. Indeed, given the site’s fatalistic mood, it’s easy to forget that it actually saved lives rather than spurned them and ultimately spared an entire city’s capitulation. It’s estimated that 30 tons of supplies were transported through the tunnel each day, much of it Bosnia’s national delicacy, Cevapi. It’s a bit easier to get your hands on some today.

Not before or since my time in Sarajevo have I been able to order grease, in lieu of gravy or ketchup, as a sauce. However, I must have inadvertently requested it in the cheeky downtown diner that I ordered my Bosnian Cevapi. Comprised of minced meat burgers, flat bread and raw onion it was adorned with so much grease it glistened under the light as if dusted with shoe polish. Such treatment would have made it no less edible. Whether on a menu, a plate or your tongue, this is a distinctly disheartening list of ingredients. The onions taste as raw onions do, the meat is unseasoned and bland while the bread launches a robust attack on your cardiac health without affording you that rich buttery taste that makes such a sacrifice feel worth it. Sarajevo did not introduce me to Cevapci (that dubious honour falls to Ljubjana) although it was certainly Sarjaevo that prompted me to bid it adieu for as long as my taste buds remain serviceable.

Perhaps this makes it more remarkable that Sarajevo is one of my favourite cities in Eastern Europe. Its terracotta roofed old town is at once bustling and quirky, its history is tragic and fascinating while it boasts a staggering religious diversity. The city is dotted with synagogues, mosques and churches and several times a week all three chime out in tandem to call their followers to prayer. They will likely call me back to this ‘Jerusalem of Europe’ before long as well.

In 1995, U2 released the song ‘Miss Sarajevo’ which opens with Bono asking;

“Is there a time for keeping your distance

A time to turn your eyes away

Is there a time for keeping your head down

For getting on with your day”

Such sentiments would have been appropriate in ‘The Place That Ended the 20th Century’ but 2020 is the time to add Sarajevo to your travel plans.