Witness a Modern Islam

Post-war, cevapcici, Sniper Alley

By Shira Levine

War isn’t exactly great for tourism. But in the case of Sarajevo, Bosnia, the Balkan War has left its mark -twelve years of it to be exact. The now peaceful nation, once home to the 1984 Winter Olympics, is a gem with a few leftover blemishes that's eager to welcome tourists.

In Sarajevo, known as a second Jerusalem, churches, synagogues and mosques converge to form a religiously diverse crossroads. The Imam's call to prayer  five times a day rings proudly throughout the city. Hopefully, it intrigues rather than alarms the unfamiliar. Visitors should recognize that those old bomb splats tattooed across holy sites, bridges and Austro-Hungarian walls are reminders and not warnings to stay away.

Besides well-publicized post-war concerts and Winter Olympics, Sarajevo is the site of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife in 1914. The site of the event that triggered World War I is located along a heavy foot and car traffic spot in town.

History buffs will want to stay in the famed Holiday Inn Sarajevo located in Sniper Alley. It's a short cab ride from the Turkish Quarter, but near the tram and buses. The Holiday Inn was the only wartime hotel that stayed open for war correspondents after Serb snipers killed 12 unarmed peace demonstrators. Not much has changed about the hotel, built just a year before the Olympics. Although, the façade still shows off its war wounds and, of course, the prices have risen remarkably. Up the hill from the Turkish Quarter is the Hotel Saraj and the most stunning city views, good for grasping where the Turkish Quarter, Stari Grad (Old City) and Novi Grad (New City) are in relation to one another. More modern renovations are on the docket, but Saraj is three stars, has warm hospitality and is savvy with free wifi. Not bad at all for a city under a four-year siege just more than a decade ago.

When you're walking around the fairly easy-to-navigate city, you’ll see patterned scars on the concrete roads and sidewalks. Those are the Sarajevo Roses -mortar shell explosions filled with red resin that look similar to a flower and memorialize the death of individuals during the Balkan War. Although visual memories linger, the Bosnian spirit has lifted and moved on.

Sarajevo typifies the modern Islam. Here blond-haired blue-eyed Muslim women choose to wear headscarves, enjoy experimenting with their makeup, and kiss their boyfriends publicly without thinking twice. Bosniaks invite you to join them outside one of the ubiquitous coffee shops and happily cover the one or two marks it costs to drink the powerful Bosnian coffee. (Don’t call it Turkish!) It's hard not to return daily to the family-owned restaurants to devour yet another fatty and utterly delicious cevapcici –a greasy lamb or beef gyro wrapped in a thick fried pita-like bread and drenched in a tahini-like sauce.

The slow-growing economy doesn’t stop Bosniaks from relishing the prewar life they've managed to return to as life has resettled. Post-war Sarajevo is laidback. Folks soak up the day just because the sun is shining bright. Soon, you'll begin to recognize familiar faces sitting in affordable cafes, like the hilariously named Cafe Bill Gates. Everyone innocently chain smokes like before Slobodan Milosevic plowed through with genocide. Young students studying tourism at the university sport hip, uniformed styles and have replaced the armed soldiers. They are excited to show you the sites of their modern and ancient history. It seems like if you are young and in Sarajevo, then you are either studying tourism or you are a struggling rock star. The live rock music in Sarajevo is so bad that it's good.  Bosnian youth seem to be excitedly anticipating the winds of change. (You still hear the Scorpions hit song blasted too often inside bars and cafes.) They're waiting on bands like the Rolling Stones to tour (like U2 already did) through the forested hills and Dinaric Alps that surround the Sarajevo valley and rock out.

Most of the younger population speaks English and Bosnian isn't easy to pick up. But you will learn to shout "zivjeli" before clinking Sarajevska Pivara beers for a cheers. "Hvala" does sound more natural for "thank you," as does "dober dan" for goodbye. Cab drivers are the least likely to speak English. One example: In a cab to the Tunnel Museum, saying “Tuneli, Tuneli” will not suffice. What should have been a 17 mark metered cab ended up costing 35 marks after many wrong turns into gypsy compounds. (There’s also the #3 tram from the city center to the end of the line. Then either a short cab ride or a half hour walk will take you to the museum located in a suburb.)

The Tunnel Museum explains thoroughly that the tunnel was built to link the captured city with the Sarajevo airport where the UN troops were settled. The Serbs cut Sarajevo off from the rest of the world and the tunnel brought food, weapons and aid from the “neutral zone.” Today the museum is made up of 20 meters of the 800-meter tunnel. The Kolar family still owns the house that surrounds the tunnel.

Edis, the family's son who manages the museum, kindly offered me a ride back into town. He took a shortcut briefly through Serbia. Seatbelt-wise, no one wears one in Bosnia. Yet, in Serbia Edis buckled up. “I don’t want to get a ticket and give the Serbs my money,” he says. As we pass back into Bosnia, Edis slips off the belt again. “The war is over, now we are friends again,” Edis explains. “We live here together.”

Further Information

Travel tips: Cover your head and shoulders when entering a mosque.

Must see/do at this place: Visit the mosques, shop in the bazaars, drink Bosnian coffee and eat cevapcici.

You should avoid here: Avoid Gypsies or the Roma people. Although they should be a respected community, many of them are desperate so they steal, beg and often harass if you don't dismiss their requests immediately. Also, avoid the pigeons. People in Sarajevo seem to think it isn't dirty to let 100 pigeons land on you for a photo opp.