Roses of Sarajevo - War Tour

Sarajevo Roses are concrete scars in the pavement made by a mortar shell explosion and filled with red resin as a memorial to those killed in the Siege of Sarajevo. 

The Siege (the longest in the world at 1425 days: 5 April 1992 to 29 February 1996) started when the Serbs surrounded the city; 330 bombs a day fell on the city leaving people without food and running water, gas or electricity; over 100,000 people died.

During this time, an 800 m tunnel was constructed under the airport allowing people to leave and goods to be brought in; the Tunelspasa (Tunnel of Hope) became a symbol of resistance. All around, key infrastructure and entire residential areas were destroyed. The constant artillery and sniper fire ended in late 1995 with NATO forces launching air strikes on Serb artillery positions around Sarajevo.

So today we do the Roses of Sarajevo tour.

Despite a late night, I slept LIKE A LOG (no 2 or 4 a.m. waking up today!!!); in fact, I could have slept in!!!

We are being picked up for our tour at 9 a.m. Supermarket open at 7:30 a.m. - we get there shortly after to buy breakfast supplies. Then walk a few blocks looking for money exchangers but when they open at 8 a.m. a couple we try say they have no money … so this will have to wait (cash is king here; credit card is often not accepted so we are glad we have bought euro cash with us to exchange). 

We need breakfast as dinner last night was actually our 4 p.m. meal at the film-maker’s ‘village’ yesterday after the Sargan train trip - and it was nothing exciting: a Serbian ‘hamburger’ which comprised a minced meat patty in pita bread with chopped onion on the side and fortunately we had ordered a side of sliced tomatoes which were delicious and were definitely the best part of the meal. So, we were hungry this morning and thank goodness we could use credit card to buy our groceries as we had no local Bosnian marks yet!

Our tour guide Mak arrived in his mini-bus along with Dave from Massachusetts and we collected two girls from the UK afterwards.

This tour has a recommendation from (the singer) Sting who took it in 2022 when he visited BiH with his wife. Mak actually was the guide and no wonder Sting recommended this tour because Mak is excellent (!!!): knowledgeable, a good communicator, a safe driver and adds also his lived experience of this truly terrible time: like how his mother carried him (age 5) and his brother through the city under sniper fire, to the tunnel and out the other side where they then faced a difficult and dangerous journey as refugees to Croatia; Mak's father stayed to fight (men were not allowed to leave in any case).

It’s a 4-hour tour, very organised. Mak drives us through the city of Sarajevo pointing out the sights enroute to the Tunnel of Hope as it is called.  We pass along the main boulevarde of which a portion is called Sniper Alley where civilians were regular killed and injured by snipers from their perches high up in multi-storey buildings (225 killed and more than 1000 injured by sniper).

At the Tunnel of Hope, Mak gives an excellent overview of what took place and his personal story is very sad as his father suffered very bad PTSD and never recovered and the family split up.

Afterwards, we pass through the urban Alipašino polje neighbourhood which was the 1984 Winter Olympic Games village (very communist, brutalist-style architecture). Another neighbourhood is Istocno in what is known as East Sarajevo in a completely separate ethnic entity of BiH called the ‘Republika Srpska’; it has its own laws, mayor, police, etc. Very confusing. Probably best described as a Serbian enclave within the city. Mad.

We drive up the Trebević Mountain (Sarajevo is in a valley surrounded by mountains) to the Olympic bobsleigh and luge track. 

There are great panoramic views of the city from here but it is also one of the Serbian sniper zones.

Coming back down the mountain, we stop at one of the largest Jewish cemeteries in Europe and a synagogue here, all a bit rundown. Apparently Jews are now not recognised as an ethnic group in BiH and they have left in droves. This is despite its long history of religious and cultural diversity whereby it has a mosque, synagogue, Eastern Orthodox and Catholic church all in the same neighbourhood  - one of the few major European cities to do so - and so it has been called the ‘Jerusalem of Europe’.

Finally we pass the Suada and Olga Bridge where the first victim of the Siege was killed. Here too was a tragic war story of two young lovers who died and known locally as the Sarajevo Romeo and Juliet story. We pass back through the main boulevarde of the city with its imposing architecture from the years of rule by the Austrian-Hungarian Empire; past the Latin Bridge which was where Franz Ferdinand was assassinated (the event that triggered WWI); and then to conclude the tour, we drive up to the Yellow Fortress, built in the 1700s and which formed one of the defence points against the Austro-Hungarian troops in 1878.

Wow! We were ready for lunch. 

Mak had recommended Buregdžinica Bosna in the old town bazaar area for its burek which is a filo-pastry roll stuffed with meat filling or cheese, spinach, etc. We got a plateful to share with plain yoghurt spread over it and it was DELICIOUS. 

We then found a place that sells Andar brand coffee that Mak had also recommended. I think the coffee is good; I’m just not a fan of how they make it. We share a sweet called kadaif with this - it is a traditional Bosnian sweet with shredded kadayif dough and a rich nut filling and covered in a thick syrup.

We happen upon the Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque and its museum which a guy coming out of strongly recommends we go in and visit. So we do. The mosque was built in the 16th century and is the largest in BiH.

We walk some more to find the Eternal Flame. We mess up with Google maps (as we usually do) and overwalk it and have to go back. It is a memorial to the victims of WWII and dedicated on 6 April 1946 on the 1st anniversary of the liberation of Sarajevo by Tito from the 4-year-long Nazi and fascist Croatian occupation.

We return to our apartment for a short break then head out for dinner which takes about an hour of walking (in intermittent rain which has been the case all day) because most of the recommended places are booked out. We pass the City Hall on our circuitous route.

We finally get to a restaurant where we have ćevapi: basically grilled Serbian sausages. Quite nice. 

No alcohol here though so we find a bar on the way back to our apartment - Zlatna ribica - it is a real find: great atmosphere and it is nice and warm and cosy (it is quite cold today so I am not regretting the suitcase full of warm clothes!). While MF has a glass of the local brew, I try the rakija which is a sort of fruit brandy very popular here - very strong too!

Supper before bed: cuppa tea and THE MOST DELICIOUS baklava in the world! (from a shop recommended by Mak).

We walked 12.7 kms today.