Sarajevo

My first memories of Sarajevo are of the 1984 Winter Olympics. What a beautiful town it was then and actually, still is! We started our day at the old Byzantine overlook fortification, which provides a panoramic view of both the city and the mountain/river pass leading into the city. We drove to "Goat Bridge", supposedly built when Sarajevo was created as an Ottoman town. We then went to the place where World War I was essentially stated when Archduke Ferdinand and his wife were shot in 1914. Unfortunately for Sarajevo, it has had a key role in several conflicts, the most recent being the Bosnian-Serb War in 1992-1996, where Serbia lay seige to the city for nearly 3 1/2 years trying to gain Bosnia and Herzogovenia lands for Serbia. 11,000+ people lost their lives. Sniper fire and shelling were daily occurances. Black humor arises in times of such stress - like "the difference between Serbian Roulette and Russian Roulette is that in Russian you take out 5 bullets and leave one. In Serbian, you take out 1 and leave 5."

The most emotional part of the day was the photo exhibit on Bosnian and Herzogovenian mass graves (read "mass executions and genocide). I couldn't stop weeping yet couldn't stop looking at the pictures, feeling my tears as a small offering for the horrors of the attrocities of man's inhumanity to man. It did leave me drained and the rest of the day has been a bit tough.

Our last appointment was with a Bosnian Ottoman scholar who gave a great 45 minute lecture on Ottoman history in Bosnia and the ramifications of that legacy. I was glad to get back to the hotel and take a good long bath (jaccuzi tub!) and let the stress of the day, esp. the emotion, be released. Now we head to Mostar after a stop at the Tunnel Museum of Sarajevo in the morning.