Sarajevo, 1

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.

Possibly the oldest bridge in town, Seher-Cerhajina Cuprija, early 16th; but not
the most famous

The former city hall; it was converted to the university and national library, but
destroyed completely in 1992; but then rebuilt

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

Across the street, another building, like many, shows its scars

Old market, now the historical museum

Main square in Bascarsija

Copper alley

Lunch time; hole in the wall with iron doors

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

More street scenes in Bascarsija

Outside an evidently fashionable Muslim women's store

War scenes like this everywhere, still

Approaching the main mosque, Gazi Husrev-Bey

Mosque etiquette

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

Andar...nice place

Light fixtures

Lots of these; my pipe's at Rachel's, and I may fire it up (outside) in November

On To Sarajevo

We drove on from Mostar toward Sarajevo, the capital, a two hour drive that took us across mountains, beautiful rivers and lakes, cliffs and gorges, and then forested hills and farmland that reminded us of western Pennsylvania.

No confusion about being in western PA here

Nor here

Tom is telling us we are about to enter the Ivan tunnel,
not that long, but the ridge it passes under is a climatic
dividing line, separating the warm Adriatic side B-H from
the cooler Continental side

B-H must have the world's largest population of honey bees;
everywhere are honey stands, some large and fancy, others
small and plain like this

And there is war damage...

An image that will endure in my memory

Mostar, 2

Continuing our fine day in Mostar...

The divers club office

Panning around

Old mosque reflected in the river

Downstream 

Coffee sets, just in case you've become addicted...

All manner of other things for sale

Last saw this art form in Ypres

Ablution solution

For this very old mosque

Size 8, right?

Market

We had a nice lunch at the Ascinica Balkan II, established in 1967; shared
Mediterranean salad

The grilled meat/sausage thing I had; can't remember its name; whenever I have
grilled sausage in this part of the world, I always think of the Bucharest street
vendor's recipe: "some garlic, some cat; some dog, some rat"; yum

Vicki's veal and frites

Original 1967 salt and pepper set

Neat place nonetheless

Turkish consulate

The ridge from which the Serbs bombarded Mostar; who would Jesus bombard? (note cross)