Interesting contrast | Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

This place was Great

A downed chopper

Heading to Sarajevo was important to me, as I wanted to see a city that has been recently at war, before it had been completely cleaned up. It was very different to be walking around seeing buildings that were either riddled with bullet holes, or just shelled out completely. Even the hostel we were staying at had a huge explosion mark on its side. It was completely safe now though, and people have returned to business as usual... which is always nice to see.

For those who are unformiliar with the history here, I will attempt to explain it as I understand it. When Yugoslavia broke up, Serbia wanted to make Bosnia (Sarajevo) part of their country, and of course the residents there wished to form their own country. For 4 years, over 1000 straight days, Serbian tanks and forces had Sarajevo surrounded from the surrounding hillsides, and they constantly fired upon them. The people of Sarajevo managed to form a resistence, and at the expense of 11000 lives, sucessfully defended their city, until finally NATO stepped in and removed Serbian forces. The Serbians tried to suffocate the city by stopping water, food, and electricity supplies to the city. Sarajevo citizens built a tunnel to an area behind the Serbian front in or to bring in food and supplies. As part of the city tour we did we got to see part of the tunnel.

It was a nice place, but very errie seeing all the destruction. I would recommend that anyone go and see the city before it is rebuilt. Keep your eye out for Sarajevo roses: where shells had hit the pavement, the crator marks were filled in with red paint as a reminder to those who's blood was shed.