We were in Sarajevo three days, two rain and one touring. It is of course a fascinating place, culturally, historically and otherwise. "Europe's Jerusalem," where Christian, Orthodox and Roman, Jew, and Muslim lived side-by-side for centuries. Until the early 1990s, when the Serbian siege of Sarajevo surpassed the Germans' siege of Leningrad: three years, with loss of life and property that are still visible. We spent the day walking from the Turkish old town, the Bascarsija, through the Hapsburg section, into the newer part of the town. Of course there's no neat dividing line, with mosques in the new town and Hapsburg monuments in Bascarsija. As the old saying goes, Sarajevo is the place where, even now, you can walk a block and move from Istanbul to Vienna. It's true, and that's part of why we were there. Even with brutal editing, Sarajevo will take me three full posts, plus one for the Tito Cafe.
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Possibly the oldest bridge in town, Seher-Cerhajina Cuprija, early 16th; but not the most famous |
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The former city hall; it was converted to the university and national library, but destroyed completely in 1992; but then rebuilt |
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It's an immense triangular building, dating merely from the Hapsburg period, late 19th century; neo-Moorish; a point in time when architects were neo-ing everything, and Moorish seemed to fit Bascarsija |
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Across the street, another building, like many, shows its scars |
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Old market, now the historical museum |
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Main square in Bascarsija |
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Copper alley |
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Lunch time; hole in the wall with iron doors |
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We had the burek, a phyllo dough stuffed pastry baked in a spiral; stuffed in our case with meat, potatoes, onions and spinach; and then slathered later with sour cream |
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More street scenes in Bascarsija |
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Outside an evidently fashionable Muslim women's store |
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War scenes like this everywhere, still |
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Approaching the main mosque, Gazi Husrev-Bey |
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Mosque etiquette |
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We were passing by this nice cafe just as another cloud burst came; and we stepped in; turns out the shop was for years a custom shoe shop; by the time the third generation rolled around, custom shoes were no longer in demand, and, so, in accordance with family wishes, the shop became something else, but with a shoe theme |
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Andar...nice place |
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Light fixtures |
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Lots of these; my pipe's at Rachel's, and I may fire it up (outside) in November |
1 comment:
Hard to believe that these people lived peaceably for years and then started killing neighbors. The USA is turning that way...we are just not killing our neighbors yet.
Your lunch looked yummy!
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