a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasontabarias/3438792070/in/set-72157616619083067/”img style=”float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 160px; height: 240px;” src=”http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3627/3438792070_2231288a82_m.jpg” border=”0″ alt=”" //aSarajevo was always going to be the main point of the trip. As the capital of Bosnia, it was almost the anti-European: ex-communist, non-EU, poor and mostly Muslim. In the end it lived up to all the expectations, partially by being all that we expected and partly for challenging expectations.br /br /The train to Sarajevo from Mostar took around three hours through some spectacular mountainous terrain. Central Bosnia is very hilly (Sarajevo hosted the 1984 Winter Olympics while it was part of Yugoslavia) and there was snow on the top of most of the mountains despite the temperatures of around 20 degrees at our level. The trip took us along the river much of the way, showing us the many hydroelectric dams that supply power for the country (and trout farms that feed some of it).br /br /It was a long walk from the train station to the Baščaršija part of the Old Town, which is where our empension/em was located. The walk was pretty interesting in and of itself – from the bombed out buildings near the rail station, via the famous Holiday Inn where all the foreign reporters stayed during the war, via the grand new adminstrative builings, past the Austro-Hungarian architecture in the centre of town and finally on the the medieval heart of the Old Town.br /br /The Old Town are is relatively small – we spent the first day walking through the area dominated by mosques (built by Croatians), ćevapi and burek restaurants and people just hanging out, drinking coffee and generally doing nothing. And therein lies the essences of Sarajevo, and perhaps Bosnia in general. br /br /emĆevapi and Burek/embr /Growing up in Australia, my experience of Yugoslavs was mostly via Croats. They love their Ćevapčići (or ‘chevaps’ as they have become). I figured Croatia is the home of the Ćevapčići, and yet I couldn’t have been more wrong. The sheer amount of a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cevapi”Ćevapi/a restaurants in Sarajevo shows that this is a Bosnian dish. No doubt the Serbs would probably stake a claim too, but when every second shop is a Ćevapi shop its hard to argue with it being Bosnian.br /br /Ćevapi is acutally a way of serving Ćevapčići – that is, with some (Turkish?) flat bread, chopped onions and sour cream. And its fantastic. When I say these restaurants are Ćevapi restaurants I mean that you can literally buy nothing else there. Not a coffee, not a beer, not a hot dog – just Ćevapi. br /br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasontabarias/3438801394/in/set-72157616619083067″img style=”float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 160px;” src=”http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3557/3438801394_a5644f3c69_m.jpg” border=”0″ alt=”" //aWhen you note that one of the kinds of cevaps available in Sarajevo is a emshish/em cevap (on a skewer, aka shish kebab) and that these are about the only beef sausage in the world (and the Bosnians are Muslims…) you can see how it all comes together via the Ottoman/Bosnian angle.br /br /Then there is the a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burek”burek/a. How have I missed this little gem? I’ve seen these in Turkey and not even bothered – just another bread/pastry thing filled with random stuff. But the Bosnian version – rolled filo pasty around meat flavoured with onions and spices – is a relevation. Most of the restaurants that aren’t serving Ćevapi are serving burek. It goes Ćevapi, burek, Ćevapi, burek, Ćevapi, other.br /br /When you eat the meat version you are immediately reminded of a high-class sausage roll (much like the kind they sell at a href=”http://www.moen.co.uk/”my local butchers/a or the ones I like to buy at the Borough Markets. And with a dollop of sour cream (just like on the cevapi) they are awesome. They also come in a spinach and ricotta version! They were pretty nice, we had them a couple of time. Dirt cheap, too.br /br /I’m having sour cream on my next sausage roll.br /br /emPeople Hanging Out/embr /In Sarajevo, everyone eats Ćevapi – Bosnians, Croats and Serbs (and tourists). br /br /Everyone knows about the multi-culturalism of Bosnia: Bosnian/Muslims; Croatian/Catholics; Serbian/Orthodox. But it kinda seems like it’s true – people do seem to mix and all get along in the same space. Sure, there are churches/mosques all over the place – which only proved that people used to get on at some stage. And the war would probably say that they don’t these days, but talking to some locals on the train to Budapest convinces me that at least most the bulk of Sarajevans are really up for the whole live-and-let-live thing, even if some of their fellow Bosnians elsewhere and neighbours aren’t.br /br /emDoing Nothing/embr /People don’t do anything in Bosnia. br /br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasontabarias/3438838910/in/set-72157616619083067″img style=”float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 160px; height: 240px;” src=”http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3601/3438838910_d60f0b0213_m.jpg” border=”0″ alt=”" //aThese are not a hard-working group of people. At any point in time, most of them will be having coffee. Coffee is more of a part of life in Bosnia than Italy or Spain or whereever, just because in Italy people do other stuff some time. Bosnians don’t. There is nothing going on.br /br /People don’t seem to have jobs. Young people don’t seem to have school to go to. They’re just doing nothing. It’s kinda cool – the pace of life is so slow and laid back. It’s hard to believe that they could be motivated to have a war. br /br /Maybe they were really fighting over coffee.br /br /strongThe Tunnel/strongbr /Sarajevo was under seige from the Bosnian Serbs for about 1000 days, and during that time lots of bad stuff was happening. The city sits in a horse-shoe shaped valley surrounded on most sides by big, beautiful hills. These hills were for shelling the city from, and that’s exactly what the Bosnian Serbs did.br /br /The one part that is not surrounded by hills was the UN-controlled airport, beyond which was ‘free’ Bosnian (ie. not Serb) territory. Being unable to get in and out, the Bosnian army dug a tunnel under the airport (pictured, above), which we went to see.br /br /Most of it has collapsed now, but a small section is still open near the house of two soliders (father and son) who fought for Bosnia and have now turned this section into a museum of sorts. br /br /The tunnel (1m wide and 1.5m high) was used for all sorts – getting food and water in an out, but also for telephone and electricty supplies (the main ones were cut). It was also how some officials, like the Bosnian leader Alija Izbetgovich got out to go to UN and EU meetings for example. It’s pretty cool to see.br /br /We also visited the unassuming bridge where Franz Ferdinand was shot by a Serb as a protest against the Austo-Hungarian rule of Yugoslavia, which eventually escalated into WW1. We mainly went because of the name, but there was an interesting (if small) museum that Kirsten checked out.br /br /span style=”font-weight:bold;”Jajce/spanbr /br /On a recommendation from a Bosnian colleague, we also visited the town of Jajce, near Banja Luka in the north west corner of the country. br /br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasontabarias/3438877654/in/set-72157616619083067″img style=”float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 192px; height: 240px;” src=”http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3644/3438877654_97b36eefc2_m.jpg” border=”0″ alt=”" //aJajce is a small town famous for its waterfall. We were told that it wouldn’t be that busy with tourists, but when we arrived after a 3 hour coach ride through some beautiful countryside and landscapes we found a town packed with teenagers. It was a warm day, and I guess they had all been bussed in on some kind of school outing. When they left a few hours later the place was like a ghost town.br /br /We spent the day walking around the small centre of town, checking out the old churches, citadel and of course the waterfall. It was a beautiful town, perched high on a hillside with beautiful views of the surrounding areas. It was also a Muslim town, but was very close to Banja Luka, the capital of the Serbian part of Bosnia and the site of a whole lot of bad stuff during the war. You’d never know from idyllic Jajce though – aside from the usual ex-communist dilapidation and the odd bombed out building (fewer than other places) it was pretty nice.br /br /Jajce was also the town where all the Yugoslav countries came together in an anti-fascist group to band together and form Yugoslavia. Given the very mountainous terrain and the slow pace of getting anywhere in Bosnia these days, I’d guess getting from far-flung Slovenia or Macedonia to Jajce was the hardest part. There is a museum to the great occasion, but most of its mementoes were pillaged during the war. The assembly hall still stands, as does a massive gold statue of Tito. In typical Yugoslav style, its actually an 8 foot carving from polystyrene, spay painted gold.br /br /span style=”font-weight:bold;”Reflection/spanbr /br /Looking back, Sarajevo and Bosnia in general was really awesome. I don’t think either of us has had a holiday that has made us think as much as Bosnia – not just about the war, but about what makes European country European at all, too.br /br /It was totally beautiful, and clearly not as many people visit as they should. Perhaps in some ways that’s a good thing – they still don’t have a McDonald’s in Sarajevo, for example. And maybe clearing away the land mines that litter the countryside will need to happen first.br /br /Nonetheless, its hard to see Bosnia as anything but a jewel – a faded jewel, sure. And perhaps one that not everyone appreciates the value of, but a jewel no less. Given the way things are going, in 15 years time Sarajevo will be like Prague or Cracow is today. I’m glad to have experienced it, and its a country I won’t soon forget.br /br /You can see more photos of the trip to the Sarajevo and Jajce in the second half of the Bosnia set a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasontabarias/sets/72157616619083067/” target=”_blank”here »/a.