Sarajevo

It was before the breakup of the Eastern Bloc so it was not a free society… very depressing at times but interesting. I am sure its a much nicer place now.

Sarajevo is the love of my life. I’m not really Swiss, I’m from Sarajevo.

dude, i have traveled a little bit. but sarajevo was the only city that i loved instantly. it was a small city to me(i was living in london at the time). but there was so much heart, so much history, so much naturual and cultural beauty. i would love to go back someday. it was quite a powerful trip seeing and hearing personal stories of the war. something shifted in me in that country. i highly recommend it.

As you can see in the title it stands “first” because this is definitly not the last time I went there. Why? First of all the city of Sarajevo is magnificient. It is placed in a bottom of a small hill, which surrounds the hole city with it”s green. The people are really firendly and nice, and humorous. The city is quiet, life simple and the air is very different, you can say that there is something around,in front and behind you, that is beautiful. I can”t explain it. I never felt more welcome here that in all the places and cities I visited so far. The three days I spend there weren”t nearly enough for me. unfortunatly, i had to leave as I was having the time of my life. Shopping, taking photos, seeing places like “Baščaršija”, “Sebilij”,” Gazi Husrev Bey”s Mosque”, and going at night out to Coloseum Club, City Pub, Jež. Everything is cheap especially the taxis. I really do hope I go there at least once a year, but if I don”t the memory of Sarajevo will stay in my heart for the rest of my life.

I had the opportunity to visit Sarajevo in the early 1990s as part of the U.N. humanitarian relief effort when the conflict there was still raging, and before NATO became involved. As a photojournalist, I spent the better part of two weeks flying into and out of Sarajevo and had the opportunity to meet some wonderful people there. I’m glad the place is on a road back to normalcy now, over ten years later.

I came here the first time in August 2002 on a quick detour from a beach holiday in Croatia. I was ridiculously naive, knowing little about the country or the recent war, and was humbled and horrified by the recent devastation. There was little tourist infrastructure and lots of obvious need that I had no idea how to process. I spent one night and hightailed it out on a bus back to Zagreb the next day.

I returned for a week in October 2005 because I never stopped thinking about Sarajevo. In the interim I’d educated myself quite a bit and I was eager to get to know the town and talk to some people. I lucked into a cozy guesthouse in Bascarsija run by a garrolous man who sat and had beers with his guests every night and was generous with stories and advice. I spent a week wandering around town, taking loads of pictures, matching places with history, and coming home every evening to talk some more about what I’d seen.

So much had changed physically in three years – places that were ruins in 2002 were rebuilt in 2005 and an atmosphere of busy optimism pervaded the town. The scars are visible everywhere, on the buildings and on the people, but there is a resilient spirit and refusal to be defined by horror that I so admire. I fell in love with Sarajevo and have wanted to return since. And though I don’t kid myself that the city needs yet another goofy do-gooder with no Bosnian language skills coming to “help”, I’d love to find a way to give something back to this town that’s captured my heart.

I love Sarajevo

JUST EVERYTHING! Hang around and just FEEL the city. Its the best. It really changed my life!

I booked my flights! i arrive in split on teh 21st of June and am then going up to Sarajevo then to work on the bosnian pyramids for a2 days (i hope) then to Mostar, then medjugorje, Then Dubrovnik, Then Split, then korchula to see my family.

In Sarajevo I am realy lookign forward to
- Visiting the airport tunnel that was used during the war.
- Visit the Miljacka River and site of Franz Ferdinand Shooting that started World War 1
- taking photos of War Scars
- Seeing Vjecna Vatra (Eternal Flame) at night
- walking down Snipers alley
- shopping at the market the massacre took place in.
- Working on the Pyramids (just north of Sarajevo)

surprised—didn’t expect warmth, charm…in those corners