Day 86: Walking Tour in Sarajevo

May 12, 2023

Rest Day #2

"Spin to go East or West, the choice between Bosnian Coffee and Espresso," our walking tour guide tells us.

“Sarajevo Meeting of Cultures” is the message of an inlaid marker on Ferhadija St., near Gazi Husrev Bey’s Bezistan. This is the spot where two dominant cultures that once shaped Sarajevo merge. The eastern side where we are at is Ottoman and Muslim, the western side is Austro-Hungarian and Christian.

This spot also is where we will pick up the Free Walking Tour in about 45 minutes. We walk around a bit before returning. As we wait enjoying a cuppuccino, the rain starts again, we did not come prepared today. We stay under an awning drinking coffee and we see the" lady with the umbrella" with her small tour group walk by. Soon the rain stops and we decide we can catch up with the tour at the mosque just down the street in Baščaršija. "This area is Sarajevo's old bazaar and the historical and cultural center of the city. Baščaršija was built in the 15th century when Isa-Beg Ishaković founded the city. Baščaršija is located on the north bank of the river Miljacka, in the municipality of Stari Grad."

We are successful and join the small group for the walking tour!

This picture taken yesterday shows the Meeting of Cultures line east and west. The big E on the right wall spins to see which way to go.

This corner is where we waited for the walking tour.

The clock is set every day to lunar time for sundown

We walk past a small passageway and into an old caravanserai that is now a cafe and rug shop. We have walked past this several times and not noticed the entry. A caravanserai is a large fort-like structure which could accommodate an entire caravan, with all of the pack horses and merchants.

"Caravanserais were usually built on two levels and they would almost always have only one entrance, which would definitely be locked at night! The open courtyard area was reserved for the loading and unloading of goods, it was often paved with cobblestones and there would also be a well or fountain." We see a water source at one side, a large tree in the courtyard provides shade. Our guide explains that the people slept in the upper level and the horses were kept underneath. The horses provided heat during the winter.

The next stop is the Sebilj, an Ottoman-style wooden fountain (sebil) in the centre of Baščaršija Square in Sarajevo built by Mehmed Pasha Kukavica in 1753.

Sipping water from the fountain "you will return to Sarajevo one day," says our tour guide

The guide then takes us down a street and to a copper shop. There is a demonstration of how the copper is decorated.

Spent brass shells from the Bosnian war are repurposed into flower vases. We buy a smaller 20mm casing.

We cross the river for a better view of City Hall as the guide tells the story of the neo-moorish architecture. The building was destroyed during the war and reconstructed in 2012. Our hotel is very near to this building.

Back to the Latin Bridge over the river Miljacka, the guide explains the history and events at this site. The northern end of the bridge is the site of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria by Gavrilo Princip in 1914, which began the July Crisis that ultimately led to the outbreak of World War I.

We are then led to the ruins of a caravanserai, Taslihan.

This is a former caravanserai that is located on the site of the current summer garden and an open bar of the Evropa hotel, and now protected by law. The guide points out that the Europa Hotel, the most expensive hotel in Sarajevo sits on a site of caravanserai which would have been the cheapest place to stay.

It is the third stone caravanserai in Sarajevo, built in the period from 1540 to 1543, as an endowment of Gazi Husrev-beg, after his death.

As we walk back toward the meeting place and end of the tour, we pass by Tesla Restaurant. There is some discussion about whether he was Serbian or Croatian.

Our guide points out that Saravejo has been called the "Jerusalem of Europe" because without 500 meters there is an Orthodox Church, a Catholic Church, a Mosque and a Synagogue. "

In fact, all monotheistic religions have peacefully divided this city for centuries. Muslims, Orthodox and Catholic Christians were already there when the city was founded in the 15th century.

The walking tour ends off the street with the Meeting of Cultures inlaid line at the Synagogue Museum of Bosnian and Herzegovina Jews. The current working Synagogue is on the other side of the river.

It is lunchtime by the end of the tour. We have discovered that we don't know the real time, that somewhere we lost an hour and have been lucky that knowing the real time didn't matter.

The guide had pointed out this restaurant on the tour, so we return to restaurant Cevabdzenica Petica for Cevapcici (grilled minced meat fingers in bread). Patrick notices the Halal Certificate on the wall, meaning the food is fixed according to Islamic tradition.

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