Gratitude Monday: Sarajevo

I’ve been in Sarajevo for two full days, and I hadn’t realized when I added it to this trip how much it would mean to me when I got here.

My focus as a New Military historian is mass conflicts of the first half of the 20^th Century, how they affected people, changed society, ended and created empires. And events in Sarajevo sparked the 1914-1918, when Bosnian Serb nationalists—mostly under the age of 21—were armed and trained by members of Serbian military intelligence and the Serb nationalist secret society called the Black Hand to assassinate the heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

That sentence is a mouthful, and I need to give you context. Which I will, in a future post. Just know for now that Bosnia-Herzegovina was a province of Austria-Hungary since 1908, which was the same year Serbia was declared independent; both countries had previously been part of the Ottoman Turk Empire.

But on 28 June, 1914, in a tragic comedy of errors, six of the conspirators tried and tried unsuccessfully to pull it off, until Gavrilo Princip got a lucky break because the imperial chauffeur got lost. Princip shot Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg; both died within minutes.

A Gordian knot of alliances led to declarations of war between Austria-Hungary and Germany on the one side and Serbia, Russia, France and the United Kingdom on the other. It was called the Great War; back in the day they didn’t realize they’d have to start numbering them. It lasted more than four years and when it ended, the Russian, Austro-Hungarian and German empires were in tatters and the British one would follow in a few decades. The entire world was utterly exhausted and the winning powers created a nation called Yugoslavia (South Slavs), comprising Croatia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovenia, Serbia and Macedonia.

Interestingly, Sarajevans seem to have moved on from this momentous event. Possibly because it’s a century on, but more probably because of the events of the 1990s, when those Serbs reappeared after the breakup of Yugoslavia—they attacked in turn all the constituent republics, but Bosnia-Herzegovina pretty much got the worst of it. UN “peacekeepers” were…either useless or helpless, and Sarajevo (which is in a valley surrounded by mountains and high ground) was besieged for 1425 days, starting on 5 April 1992. It was the longest siege of a capital city in the history of modern warfare.

Well, okay—I haven’t even scratched the surface of this city's recent history, and it’s Gratitude Monday. So all I’m going to say is that I am under information and emotional overload in this place, and I am deeply grateful that I decided to come here.

I have walked miles and miles (more than seven yesterday, without pain, so I'm also truly grateful for the knee replacements), eaten cake for breakfast, walked across the Latin Bridge (where Franz Ferdinand and Sophie were shot) and been to multiple museums. I've listened to the muezzin call the faithful to prayers and to multiple church bells. This city...

Here is the actual bridge, which is pedestrian only now, which of course because look how narrow it is. No wonder the chauffeur got stuck trying to turn the car around.

And Sarajevo sunset, photo shot from that bridge (black specks are gnats or midges).

And more Sarajevo sunset, because it was glorious.

Breakfast of champions

I have found my people, and they are Bosnians.

I was told that Bosnians love cake, and in Sarajevo’s old town (especially in the Bascarsija section), you cannot swing a fork without smacking a cake shop/café. We are talking Viennese-level cakery.

So here was my breakfast yesterday:

It cost $2.50.

And here was the display case in the tiny café:

Oh, yeah—I’m in Sarajevo now.

 

 

 

Footprints

 On my way Thursday to the fortress, I noticed some interesting markings in the concrete walkway:

I don’t know whether they’re staged or not. But they were amusing.

 

 

Lawrence and the Friars Minor

Spent another day walking Dubrovnik—primarily the old town. The two highlights were Fort Lovrijenac and the Franciscan Monastery.

First, you have to know that visiting the fortress requires climbing about a thousand stairs. 

Of course. Also, apparently it’s one of the shooting locations for Game of Thrones, which would probably explain the hordes of people following individuals with little paddles up those thousand steps.

The fort, named for Saint Lawrence, was started in the 11^th Century and completed in the 1500s. Primary purpose, at least in the latter part of that span, was defense against the Venetians, who were quite the marauders.

You get quite the view of the old city from Lovrijenac. And looking out on the Adriatic is beautiful, too.

I saw this boat heading out and all I could think of was how I’d be hanging over the stern, barfing, since it looked choppy.

Some of the elements of the construction interested me—I’m a sucker for a good arch:

A cannon and pile of ammunition for those pesky Venetians:

View to the other side of the fortress.

And the water is remarkably clean:

Except where there’s plastic trash in it:

Then, inside the city walls, the Franciscan monastery had more interesting architectural features. Many of the capitals on the columns around the courtyard had intriguing creatures on them. (The rest had shells and leaves and such.)

Columns:

The museum had a painting by Artemisia Gentileschi—“The Ecstasy of Mary”. It was dark, and not lighted well, but still—Gentileschi. (No photos allowed.)

Franciscans played a major role in converting the people of Croatia to Christianity. They established the Church so deeply that inroads from Orthodox Christianity and Ottoman Islam from the East did not really stick across the centuries. (That also set up a distinction that, in the 20^th Century, led to wars and war crimes for about 90 years.)

Oh—and here's Wednesday's sunset:

And moonrise last night:

 

 

Walking walls

So far, I’m afraid I’m not loving Dubrovnik. Some of that is to do with all the stairs involved. It’s like climbing to the top of Sacré Coeur four times before lunch.

These are just the stairs to my very poky, very grody room.

(Which is not a hotel and it’s certainly not an apartment, which is what I thought I was getting from an outfit calling itself Dubrovnik Old Town Apartments, and from the photos in its Amex travel listings. I’m going to have words with them, when I get back.)

I am truly grateful I didn’t attempt this before I had both knees replaced.

Yesterday I did the first thing all the guideblogs said: walked the walls of the old city. They were started in the 13^th Century and would probably have defined the limits of the city, because that was the purpose of Medieval city walls. That was a time when people felt high and thick stone walls would protect them from outside dangers; oddly, some folks still think that.

For something costing €35, you’d think they’d put out more (as in, any) bits of information about where you were at any given point and what you were looking. In fact, were it not for the Web, I’d have no idea of their history or efficacy.

It was also interesting to me that there are almost no handrails for all those stone steps, either for going up or down. But that seems to be the norm here in Dubrovnik. I wonder how many people take headers every month?

I saw two cruise ships near the city when we flew in, and this one was lying off the Old Port. There’s also an infestation of Viking Cruise tour groups. I saw three pass by while I took a beverage break in the early afternoon.

Some of The Game of Thrones was filmed here, and a lot of the tourons are here for that. Since I’ve never seen it, I have to say that this is an anti-attraction for me. Also, since apparently the TV series used a metric ton of CGI augmentation, I’m not sure how many of the locations would be recognizable to the fans if they weren’t pointed out to them.

So here are some snaps of Dubrovnik.

 

This guy looks surprised.