Sarajevo, Bosnia Hercegovina

Thurs 18th - Mon 21st July

“Perhaps you should appreciate this city for its beauty and not its past.”

-- Jimmy, Waiter at Sarajevo Brewery

Jimmy, our waiter at the Sarajevo Brewery had just offered to take us on a tour of Sarajevo to help explain the atrocities of what had happened here from 1992 - 1996. He became so choked up while thinking of where to take us that he politely declined, asking that we focus on his city's beauty instead. It was a heart breaking moment, but one that clearly demonstrated the will of Sarajevo to move on from it's horrific past.

Kate, one of our Sarajevo waiters, myself & Bevan at Sarajevo Brewery in the VIP room

Spray painted across the marble slabs of the city's main shopping street are the words 'Srebrenica 1995 - Never Forget'. A few steps away at the entrance to the city's main street market where over 60 civilian men, women and children died in a shelling while trying to buy food are spray painted the words “Imagine” with a peace symbol beneath it. Just a few more steps up the marbled path is a Sarajevo Rose, a symbol in the city of how people made something beautiful and everlasting out of such horrific events. The roses are actually large scars ripped into the pavement by a mortar shell. During the War the citizens of Sarajevo would fill them with red wax resin to mark where someone was killed, leaving bouquets of roses on the ground.

A Sarajevo Rose near the city's main market

If you walked around the city with your eyes in a squint, you might never notice that it was any different from other Central European cities, but these details make Sarajevo impossible to forget. Nearly everyone from my generation remembers the horror stories on the news every night about the atrocities being committed in what was then Yugoslavia just 15 years ago. The images that beamed into our homes were shocking, but it seemed so far away that it was almost surreal – like a horror film. Visiting this city over 13 years since the end of the War has made it real.

Bullet holes sprayed across an apartment building on the front line

The rebuilding under way here is remarkable, but I can't erase the memory of how many houses, state buildings and historical treasures are still marred with thousands of bullet holes. Every single building that I laid eyes on was either newly restored or spattered in bullet holes on nearly every side. How did anyone survive such an onslaught? Who were these people that managed to hang on to hope in the most horrific and inconceivable circumstances imaginable?

Survival Map of Sarajevo. The red circles represent areas of danger from shelling & snipers. Notice the tanks, sniper rifles and heavy weaponry in the surrounding hills -- the Serb front line even stretches into parts of the city.

Visiting the Bosnia History museum put things into perspective. The museum itself sat very close to the front line on the infamous Sniper Alley, just across the street from the Holiday Inn where the international journalists took shelter. It's still in tatters, with parts of the ceiling and walls missing and light aluminium panelling secured in place to keep out the rain. Inside is a small collection of personal belongings from Sarajevo citizens, along with their vivid descriptions of how they survived the war. Small ovens made out of tin cans, vegetable gardens that grew on balconies due to the food shortage, stories of the unending hunger, school books splattered in blood when a shell dropped into the local school, photos of broken bodies lying in the city's market. You leave feeling terribly shaken but in absolute awe of every person you pass on the street, especially because they all seem so happy to be alive.

Apartment complex near Sniper Alley. Notice the brickwork to repair gaping holes from Serbian shelling.

I'll never forget the people of this city. Every single person we spoke to in the bars had lived here during the War... and the pattern continued. Wait staff, tour guides, local supermarket staff, tram drivers... everyone we spoke to had lived here and somehow survived. But beyond being survivors, Bosnians are among some of the friendliest and genuinely lovely people I've ever met. Our waiter at La Casita tapas bar took the time to translate the entire menu to us, then kept stopping back to smile and check that the food tasted okay. He even explained the recipes to us so we could make them at home. Our tour guides made every effort to try and explain the horrors of the war and did their best to answer our questions, even when you could see in their eyes that they were fighting back the horrific memories as they showed us the tiny wooden tunnel that served as Sarajevo's only link to the outside world for nearly 5 years. They took us up to one of the hills where Serbs sat shooting at women and children in the streets below and tried to hide their shaking as they pointed down Sniper Alley describing how they had to run between buildings just to get water every day.

One of the apartment tower blocks used by Bosnian Serbs along Sniper Alley


Today the front line is filled with families enjoying a riverside walk

Yet the cafés are now full of families enjoying Sunday brunch, shoppers bustle through the pedestrianised streets and the pubs crank loud music until after 3am while people dance in the alleys. Sarajevans sacrificed their lives and the lives of their families to ensure this city survived and would one day experience peace again. I think those that died during the War would be proud to see the city today.

Walking through Pigeon Square

View Sarajevo Photo Album

Siege of Sarajevo slide show (Warning -- it is quite graphic)
Veterans of Sarajevo – Al Jazeera feature story that gives a quick summary of the war