Sarajevo is the capital of Bosnia, this every one should know.
This is one of the much-speculated
Pyramids of Visoko, right outside of Sarajevo.
The Tunnel of Hope -- from which Sarajevo received most of its supplied during the
1992-96 siege by Serb forces.
Maleziya (yep that's Malaysia) funded its transformation into a museum.
Bosnia Project <3
Center circle: Belma, Valerie (William and Mary), Deivid (Swarthmore), Lisa (Swarthmore)
Outer circle: Andrew (Swarthmore), Dan (W&M), Seth (W&M), Will (W&M), Robyn (W&M), Steph (W&M)
Gazi Husrev Bey's Mosque -- the Turkish warlord who built Sarajevo. I had an epiphany-like moment when our tour guide told us that Sarajevo was named after the Turkish for palace -- sarayi!!!!! How come I didn't notice hmmph.
Providing water to weary travellers is obtaining pahala in Islam -- so every traveller can go inside mosques to rest/get water. Also water fountains were once ubiquitous in the Ottoman Empire.
Like this. Which is also an official? symbol of Sarajevo.
Which is very, very cool for the backpacker.
The clock tower with Arabic numerals!
Sarajevo is a very pretty city, but only in the touristy parts (or part). Pretty, sunny, but also quite boring.
The rolling hills were to die for. Mmmmm.
This is the old Austro-Hungarian City Hall which was also a library -- the Serbs shelled it (not least to destroy all symbols of Bosnian culture) and thus almost all the artifacts were destroyed.
The Bosmal building! Which, according to one of my kids, stands for Bosnian-Malaysian Building. Verified by google.
Confusion is sex
The Catholic (Croat) Cathedral -- in Bosnia (and Yugoslavia), religion is used as an ethnic marker. Muslim = Bosniak, Catholic = Croat, Orthodox = Serb.
Probably most of the souvenirs were made in China. :)
Except these pretty hand-made metal work!
Coffee drinking is a national pastime.
Hohoho Tito's still quite popular in the former Yugoslavia -- he turned them into a regional powerhouse (with the West's funds, of course).
The never-ending flame against fascism, built after WWII.
Notice the bullet holes!
LOL
Many buildings away from the touristy parts are still dilapitated. This is an olympic museum or something on a hill.
Shelled, abandoned, and ignored.
The University of Sarajevo
So I bought one tram ticket and I took a tram tour of the city lah. And
I went onto the tram and sat down and rested my tired feet -- then
these officers came up to check for people who didn't have tickets lah. So they came up to me and I showed them my ticket and apparently we had to punch the ticket into the machine. And I was like I didn't see the machine (which was on the tram) because the people in front of me didn't punch their tickets and also because I thought that all I had to do was buy the ticket and get on the tram -- all the while speaking in English to pull off the stupid tourist routine.
But they made me get off the train and told me that there was a fine of like 20 Euros for not having a ticket or "misusing" it -- which is acceptable lah if it wasn't in super small print behind the ticket itself -- there wasn't even punching instructions on either side of the ticket. So I continued arguing lah, no way I'm going to pay 20 Euros for something I didn't know I had to do -- not my fault because there were no instructions on the ticket, and none of the passengers before me punched theirs.
This continued for about 15 minutes -- they even called someone who was more fluent in English hoho and I continued arguing with them -- all the while maintaining that I was not going to freaking pay the fine because the law was not clear. Plus I paid for the ticket okay. And I don't know what they really wanted me to do -- pay the fine or pay them a bribe.
But the most (and I think only) convincing argument I made to them was by pulling out my pants pockets and showing them that I had absolutely nothing inside them, other than oil blotters and a chap stick. (I had earlier taken out my wallet and put it in my sling bag :D ) And at that they were like oh shit okay lah whatever lah stupid tourist go on by. And we got on the next train and they made me punch my ticket and went on to check whether other passengers punched their tickets or not.
:)
Inside an orthodox church.
