Had to pull out the merino this a.m. It being 6 degrees when we left the hotel.

We did start off the morning with the Aus/NZ series – My Life Is Murder on Bosnian TV. And Series 1, the pick of the three – in my opinion – probably because it was filmed in Melbourne. 

We followed that up with a luxury hotel breakfast where naturally I had to take photos.  A lady standing in front of the food bar apologised for standing in my way. Fellow Aussie. From Geelong. Of course. 

For those of you who don’t know, Geelong and Ballarat are 90km apart and really the pathway for Ballaratians on their summer holiday to the beach.

Fully watered and fed, we headed off to find Sniper Alley. Without success. We did however find a local young man who said he was 22, looked 35ish and clearly enjoyed practising his English on us while he puffed away on his ciggie. 

Took some photos on the way.

And then it was on to find caffeine. Which turned out to be a western coffee. That would be a weak one. No, I did not enjoy it because yes, it would appear that I am now a real coffee drinker.

Sarajevo Old Town is quite fascinating to wander, you do have to be careful of the cars, they don’t slow down. And footpaths are very narrow. 

We saw a lot of this ‘artwork’ on the street. Turns out it is a memorial ‘scar’ caused by mortar shell landing on concrete during the Siege of Sarajevo (1992-95) and later filled with red resin. Because it looks almost like a flower it has been named the Sarajevo Rose. 

We found Sebilj  Fountain. Built in 1753, legend has it that those who drink from it will return to Sarajevo one day. 

Bonus were the pigeon’s. If you like birds. If you don’t, I suggest you keep away. The fountain is the green dome thingy in the below picture.

Our adventure continued as we headed up past Latin Bridge (circa 1541), 

past the corner where Franz Ferdinand and his pregnant wife Sofia were assassinated 😢

onwards and upwards to the Cable Car.

Originally built in 1959 the Trebević 2km Cable Car connects the old part of the city with Trebević Mountain. It needed to be reconstructed thus reopened in 2018 with 33 modern cable cars in the Olympic Colours. 

Of course the Olympics were held here in 1984, so whilst on the mountain we were able to walk along the now abandoned bob sleigh track. During the Siege of Sarajevo the track was used as an artillery position by the Serbian army and the whole terrain was heavily mined. 😢 The start of the track is at an altitude of 1050m, the length is 1250 metres. 

We didn’t walk the whole track of course. I wasn’t risking running into the local wildlife; brown bears, grey wolves and wild boards. Fortunately we didn’t.

From there it was downwards to check out the local brewery museum. The Sarajevska Pivara opened in 1864 and for a brewery that has been operating for that long my expectations for the museum were far too high. Thought we would at least see some old but remarkably polished brewery equipment. Nope. It was one small room where the little man kept a sharp eye on us. MoD, ever the optimist, claimed it was to answer questions. Me, not the optimist, claimed it was so we didn’t damage or steal anything.

By this time we hadn’t been fed or watered for some time so we headed to a little restaurant at the end of the beautiful river Miljacka. 

The Princess that I am, did not like it. No. Not one bit. We sat, we ordered, we waited. The morbidly obese man, drinking the Coca Cola beside us, then proceeded to light up. Not to be outdone, the woman on the other side of us thought she would as well. Because here in Sarajevo you can smoke inside. And they all do. It’s revolting. The waiter told us that from 15 December inside smoking will be banned. Fortunately we were able to remove ourselves and sit outside in the cold. Me, with my prim disgusted look. MoD with his happy eternal optimism. He was after all, very excited to be able to order his third coffee of the day but finally a ‘real’ one – a Turkish coffee. Said “it’s not that strong, here taste it”,  handing it over with shaking hands.

I don’t think so MoD. I have come a long way with my coffee drinking, but not that far. 

The food was nice enough. What they don’t do well here is outdoor eating. They have a lot of outdoor restaurants but not one of them has any outdoor heating. 

From there, a little more wandering to find The Museum of Crimes Against Humanity & Genocide 1992-1995. 

Where we spent the next two hours. 

Tonight I look at Sarajevo and the people here through different glasses.

As a race we have not learnt.

You only have to look at these events post Hitler’s Nazi regime, where we said we would learn, and now more recently in the last two years in both Gaza and Ukraine.

We continue to fill our hearts with hatred, judgement and intolerance. 

Continue to think we can take what’s not ours.

By force.

Think we have the God given right to pass the hatred, the greed, the demand it be ‘our way’, the bigoted and racist beliefs, the twisted opinions, on to innocent people. Via horrific actions.

Innocent people who just want to live in harmony with each other, regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation or beliefs.

From what I now understand of what happened in this city, I hope there is indeed a Hell.