Sarajevo was definitely one of the peaks of the trip for us. I had just a few days left for my return flight to Istanbul from Belgrade when we arrived to Sarajevo, but because everything had worked so well before, I decided to postpone my ticket, which was a fortunate decision otherwise I might have missed a lot. So Sarajevo also became the city where me and also Dorota prolonged the trip, allowing us to see Albania as well.
As before the emphasis will be on people not the buildings or sights, in this case more so since our Sarajevo is the city of Tijana and Lelo. But let's return to the point where we left off.
From Mostar to Sarajevo, with Lelo!
We were sitting in the car of Lelo, me in front and Dorota at the back. Lelo is a middle-aged man with style, wearing ripped-off jeans and his blonde hair reaching till his shoulders, is looking definitely younger than most of the people in his age group. Sharing cigarettes with us constantly and listening to some local music on his radio while driving he was looking really calm and cool, but at times you could also feel a hidden tragedy in his soul, I remember talking about that with Dorota. The reason would become clear later in Sarajevo.
We talked throughout our ride in several languages with him, in Bosnian (w/ Dorota) , in German (me) and also in English (common), he is a multilingual man. He told me that he has been to Istanbul many times before, mainly because he used to be a goldsmith and came to Grand Bazaar etc. for business, of course as any sane people in this world he was a fan of Istanbul. He also said that he's running a cafe in Sarajevo, called Cafe Mirandol, next to the biggest mosque in Bascarsija(Main Bazaar, baş çarşı) and invited us there.
We were passing some really beautiful sceneries by, a kind of green delta of Neretva surrounded by some green mountains when he wanted to have a coffee break as he was coming from Croatia. It was a really nice looking restaurant called Zdrava voda on roadside near Jablanica.Considering the nice look of the restaurant which you can also check from the link, the prices were not bad at all, but of course the usual scenario happened, again as guests we couldn't pay anything. The service in the restaurant seemed so nice, judging by their smiling faces and also allowing us to take one of the maps of Bosnia and Hercegovina which they put on tables. So we had a map and a little information about the sights in Bosnia when we left there.
It already got dark when we reached Sarajevo. We head the address of Tijana and the name of the pizzeria nearby but we didn't need to bother with finding the address. Instead Lelo kindly wanted to bring us directly to her place so he made a phone call, asking the address to be checked from the Google Maps! After this information combined with directions given to Lelo by the people on streets - levo, pravo, samo pravo - we made it there. After thanking Lelo it was time to look for her apartment.
We found Tijana's apartment with the help of her shout. It was for sure the nicest around and could easily be one of the best apartments of Sarajevo. She was waiting for us to leave the flat, in order to save her father whose car broke down on road. After a brief orientation to the flat and insisting us to sleep on her large and comfortable bed, she said she may come (or not) and didn't want to wake us, she left the flat with the promise meeting the next day at the very least.
The flat was a 1+1 with two large balconies, everything being new, modern and comfy. As expected from an orchestra conductor there were music CDs all around ranging from U2 to Pavarotti or Karajan to which we listened so much. The flat was the ideal comfort materialized.
But even in the greatest comfort you need something to eat.Dorota went out together with Tijana to get a pizza for us. It was a delicious and huge, really huge, pizza for just a couple of Euros, unbelievably cheap. It could be enough for three-four normal people, but surprisingly was also enough for two hungry hitchhikers. How could you be not happy then, when you are full and have a warm shelter?
The whole evening we listened to some music,mainly Pavarotti, with Nessun Dorma being the favourite of Dorota whereas I preferred Una Furtiva Lagrima and E Lucevan le Stelle. Can't resist to give the link to these rightly famous arias.
We made fun of the fact that we were enjoying Pavarotti sitting in a comfortable flat, who could guess that we would end up in such a situation when we were in Dubrovnik for example? Well traveling is full of surprises for sure.
The first day in Sarajevo, the quest for Mirandol and later Pivnica
As Martin Luther King we had a common dream: a nice, proper breakfast or in other words not burek. You get easily fed up with eating burek all the time although it may be fun to do so for a week or so. Since I woke up early again, about 7 o'clock, decided to make a small surprise and went out for shopping without waking Dorota.
So I went to the supermarket nearby. Contrary to my expectations the stores were open, in Turkey you have to wait 10 o'clock for most supermarkets. In front of the supermarket there was a small fresh market too, which made my job easier. So I bought lots of different things like a few kinds of cheese, butter, honey, of course black tea, olive oil, olives, tomatoes, a watermelon from the fresh market and some more things which I can't remember now. Then I went to a pekara to buy some bread. I told the woman in the store to give me a bread in my limited knowledge of Serbian-Bosnian-Croatian but she of course understood that I was a foreigner and also that I was from Turkey too, saying "Bir ekmek?" to me with a very warm attitude. While we were talking an old woman came in and funnily she saw a blond hair on my shirt, showing it to me while saying jokingly some things which I can't understand, both she and the woman in pekara burst into laughter :) I joined to their laughter for a while and then left saying goodbye.
When I came back Dorota was still sleeping, so I began to prepare breakfast. When she woke finally up, almost all of the preparations were over. After setting up the small table we could begin to eat. It took a while for us to finish our breakfast, after days of burek or chicken paste it was a relief and every moment had to be enjoyed.
Then after cleaning and tidying up we were finally ready for seeing Sarajevo. It was about noon when we succeeded in going out. I think it was then when a creepy neighbor shouted us from balcony. We couldn't understand anything but it was clear that she was angry that's for sure. Dorota told her that we were Tijana's friends but it didn't matter for her. Not caring much we moved on. But next day the lock of the outer door of the apartment was changed.
Anyway after this small excitement we had to figure out how to go to the city center. It's always a good idea to follow the river, so that's what we did. The riverside was kind of a park, many people were jogging while some students were also to be seen, since it was the 1st of September I assume, when the holiday is over for students :) We walked and walked and finally arrived to somewhere resembling a city center. A woman in a travel agency which we first thought to be a tourist information helped us with directions to get to Bascarsija which was really close to there.
After having a look at the Eternal Flame, in memory of the Second World War heroes, we began to walk the street Ferhadija down, it is maybe "the street" of Sarajevo, a pedestrian zone such as Kneza Mihajlova in Belgrade. The Austrian-Hungarian influence was clearly felt on the architecture of the buildings on Ferhadija. However it ends in an Ottoman-stytle bazaar, Bascarsija. With mosques on either side, small shops, bazaars etc. it is a typical Ottoman style area of the town, being the most famous as well.
We went to tourist information to get some maps and afterwards began to look for Mirandol. No one we asked knew about the cafe, as predicted by Dorota just by accident we found it. Lelo said he was going to be there after 6 o 'clock so let me briefly recap what we did till then.
Other than walking around and drinking Turkish tea at a Turkish teahouse, we went to an internet cafe where I checked the address of the office of JAT Airlines so that I could postpone my flight which I did without any problem, well I had to pay some 40 Euros extra but didn't care much about it. We have seen the famous fountain in Bascarsija called Sebilj (like sebil in Turkish, the names of both people and things can easily make you think that you are in Turkey), skipped all the mosques, seen the all white looking graveyard on a hillside, skipped Alija Izzetbegovic Museum when we heard that it wasn't for free, not that much we were interested in anyway, went up to the White Fortress (Bijela Tabija) whose name was reminding me of one of Orhan Pamuk's better novels called the White Castle.The bushes next to the fortress became our WCs, peeing while enjoying a very nice view was priceless. There was just a local couple other than us when we arrived, sharing some intimate moments, exactly like the one seen on the video given in the end.After Bijela Tabija we went down through a rather strange way, went down the stairs and found ourselves out of the city, we saw the welcome sign of Sarajevo, so we entered the city for the second time. By walking along the river we have seen all those bridges, including the famous Latin bridge. It's famous because Archiduke Ferdinand and his wife was shot in 1914 by the Serbian nationalist, Gavrilo Princip, exactly at the corner of Latin bridge. Now there is a museum for this assasination in that place and the exact location is shown in front of the museum. So from history textbooks to reality, we have seen where World War I started :)
We went to a bookstore as well and had a look at the very cheap second-hand Lonely Planet guides and books about the greatest tragedy in Europe since WW II, Srebrenica, of which Dorota had no idea before. The photos were shocking, they could easily have the same effect like the Holocaust documentaries. I've felt the same feelings watching "The Night and Fog" by Resnais while having a look at those books and in a way it's even more frightening, happening just like some 15-20 years ago so it's something we witnessed. I like one saying, of a Turkish actor, "If three assholes are beating a guy and you are just watching it, then you are the fourth one.", so everyone shares the responsibility not only Karadzic or Mladic. In the bookstore there were also maps showing how life in Sarajevo worked during the long siege, with Tunnel of Hope etc. One thing to note here is the relaxed attitude of Bosnians about all the terrible things happened, in Croatia we saw a big hatred against Serbian people for example, but in Bosnia, it wasn't the case, although they have suffered the most during the war. Just one more point for Bosnia :) But ok enough for now again, let's save it for another entry.
Just a little bit later than 6 o'clock Lelo came to open his gallery/cafe, together with a single guy as waiter, he put a few tables outside, lit a candle, offered us beer/cigarettes as usual, thinking of a cold Sarajevsko made me feel like Pavlov's dog now by the way. Cafe Mirandol is not for everyone, as Lelo put it, it is just for his friends, so the strangers have to ask permission in order to sit, which we also witnessed. Our talk was rather insightful about Lelo, we told him what we had done during the day etc. and he told us some extracts from his life story.
Here is what I can remember. The name of the cafe comes from a small French town, Mirandol, where he and his wife used to live before, so the cafe is a memorial for her in a sense. After he lost his wife, maybe not to succumb to one of the greatest personal tragedies you can imagine, he began to travel around the world, at the age of 30, and came back home only after 19 years! He even spent 40 days with American Indians. Some life story isn't it? Adventurous and sad at the same time. Life can be really cruel sometimes even if you are best guy out there.
While we were talking on such things, suddenly he decided to bring us to the top of the mountain Tribevic where you can see the "ultimate" view of Sarajevo; so we went to his car and found ourselves on top of the mountain. Such a great man, always thinking of making us, his guests/friends, happy.
It was dark when we were atop. A cafe is located on roadside, all the tables being completely full of people enjoying the view with the city lights. There was a minor problem, we should have had a photo with the view in the background but there wasn't enough light. The solution found by Lelo was a crazy one, he turned on the headlights of his car, when we were standing up in the middle of all the people sitting in the cafe. Another proof of his coolness. He just doesn't care about going off the beaten path, as long as he can make you happy. He wanted to leave us alone and visit his mother for a while but he promised to come back to bring us to Pivnica, supposedly a restaurant where we would meet Tijana in a brief amount of time. While he was absent, we drank some tea, talked with some Turkish academicians working in the University of Sarajevo and then a Bosnian/American couple (?), with whom we shared our table. However it was getting late, we had not so much time left to meet Tijana and Lelo was not in sight. Just when we were thinking of hitchhiking, Lelo appeared, kindly apologizing although there was really no need after the things he has done for us. He brought us to Pivnica, perhaps the most luxurious restaurant of Sarajevo and went back to his cafe.
The restaurant was very luxurious but we had several problems. First of all we were out of money so we had to withdraw some cash. But this problem could easily be solved afterwards. Second problem was our dresses, everybody inside was dressed well, in suits etc. , the restaurant had a very pompously looking interior and look at me: Flip flops with completely dark feet due to all the dust stuck during the day, a short and t-shirt. Trying to hide myself behind Dorota, who was in a little bit better shape than me, we entered inside but couldn't see Tijana. So while waiting for her, Dorota told me to wash my feet in the bathroom which I had to accept, they were looking terrible. Like Muslims performing ablution, I was to wash them inside the wash-hand basin, a disgusting and tasteless way for sure. So I put Dorota as watchgirl in front of the toilet and began to wash my feet. However soon a woman came, Dorota warned me, but I didn't care since I was in the men section, but suddenly the woman decided to use men section so all my attempts to hide it failed in the end. Moreover one foot of mine was still dirty. Anyway after this we contacted Tijana and soon it became clear that we were in the wrong Pivnica so we left to look for the right one. So we used the most luxourius restaurant of Sarajevo to wash my feet :)
It wasn't easy at all to find the right Pivnica, some people took us to some places in Bascarsija but they were all wrong. It must have been tiring for Tijana as well, so she wanted to pick us from the tram-stop at the Latin bridge. We asked some locals for the stop at the Latinski Most in a distance like 100 m from the bridge itself, but funnily they were unsure where one of the most famous attractions of the city is. To cut it short, Tijana came to tram-stop and brought us to the right Pivnica, a pub -instead of a restaurant- in another part of the town. She was with her sister, who came for a visit from Canada and a friend. They all were charming, belonged to the higher class of Bosnia for sure, a group of very well educated -and also strong- women. If you compare Tijana and her sister however, you could still see the same contrast seen in between the sisters with an age difference. As usual the elder sister, Vaneja, had a somewhat calm, mature and also maternal personality, whereas Tijana was, at least relatively, hyperactive all the time. This however makes them very much enjoyable as a group, rich and diverse personality qualities.
After sharing a couple of beers there, they wanted to visit a friend of Tijana in another pub, close to our home. Everything was perfect, except that we were almost starving, since somehow we thought that Pivnica would be a restaurant and it would be nice to wait for the dinner but as it was not the case we had to find something to eat. Preferably a Sarajevski cevap (kebap) in a cevabdzinica. (kebapçı) But it was late and the only option which could be found was again...burek, our curse :) The second pub was a small and nice one, with some funny friends of Tijana working there. Almost all of Tijana's friends had some connection to art and music, we were in an elite group so to say.
The evening passed rather quickly and after leaving Vaneja at the family house near the famous broadcasting antenna we went back home. Our first day and second evening was thus over.
The second day: Dorota's friend Adam and a rainy night in Sarajevo
The second day began with the news that Adam, a friend from Dorota, was going to arrive to Sarajevo after cycling from his homeland, Poland. But before that Tijana unfortunately had to go out early, missing the breakfast again. So we were again alone in the flat, having our breakfast, enjoying music etc. Soon Dorota went out to meet Adam to help him in finding a cheap hostel. In the meantime I just spent some time at home relaxing, resting, actually can't remember exactly what I was doing, probably nothing.
When Dorota came back it was already afternoon. We went out in order to meet Adam, whom we met downtown, close to his hostel. Adam is an interesting guy with a little knowledge of English or at least he was too shy to use it. His passion is cycling but should have other passions and interests as well, of which sadly I don't have any idea. Together we went to Lelo again, as usual welcomed well by him. I think he brought us again to Tribevic since I remember walking with him back to his cafe where a funny thing happened. Lelo said suddenly "Wait" to me and Adam, and holding Dorota's arm they began to walk further. We couldn't understand anything, was he bringing her to bushes or something, all the possibilities crossed our mind. But it soon became clear that Dorota needed a WC and Lelo brought her to toilet that was all :) During our usual chat he said that he is going to Croatia for the weekend with a friend of his and invited us too. It was a really very attractive offer, not for Croatia but to be together with that cool man, which we turned down in the end, remaining faithful to our plans of seeing new places.
Soon it was time to meet Tijana in a cafe/pub on Ferhadija. But before that, we shared some Sarajevskos on a square nearby and Dorota and Adam ate Sarajevski cevap, while my stomach wasn't ready for digesting it, although I tried a little piece, the taste/shape, all of them was quite the same as Inegol meatball. Not impressed again with the cuisine, sorry.
We were there before Tijana and her friends, waited a little bit but soon they appeared. Adam brought some rakija from his hostel meanwhile, the way of getting drunk in a pub for poor travelers :)
After that meeting point, it was time to discover another pub, a pub for artists as put by Tijana, where a large group of women consisting of Tijana, Vaneja and some friends was formed. They were kind to invite me to their talk, it's been a while since I was the only guy in a big female group, the first year of my university was spent like that actually but afterwards no huge groups, 1-2 girls were enough :) All laughing, cheerful ladies and a nice pub what else do you want?
It was around midnight I think when we went to an underground bar/disco, it was literally underground. There was a shower outside, we became wet until making the small distance to that pub. At first I didn't feel any desire to dance there, although it was a very nice place, but soon the caring ladies forced me :)
When we got out and said goodbye to all those beautiful ladies, something inside me died :) It was also time to say goodbye to sweet Vaneja, since we were leaving Sarajevo the next day. Well she was also heading to Canada soon. Meanwhile Adam went to his hostel, too. The next time I hear of him was in Albania but we'll come to that.
So that was our last night in Sarajevo, the third night came to an end sleeping on the large and comfortable bed in Tijana's flat as the previous two.
Leaving Sarajevo
Leaving Sarajevo was very hard for us, because it meant also leaving Lelo and Tijana, but sadly traveling is all about leaving. We went out, but we didn't know exactly where to go? Srebrenica, Visegrad, Canyon Tara or Albania? After letting a man to copy the photos in Dorota's camera into a DVD, thus saving space for new ones, we went out of our beloved Sarajevo with a trolley. I'm not so sure about the other cities but Sarajevo is one to see again for me, in other words Tijana and Lelo :)
Before ending this entry I want to post a nice video showing Sebilj, the fountain in Bascarsija, Bijela Tabija, the graveyard and some more things accompanied by poetry of a local poet. As you can understand the title was a direct reference to this short movie, but it also is true for us, since we loved Sarajevo, Tijana and Lelo so much!
Sarajevo mí amor ile Pyotr_Magnus
As before the emphasis will be on people not the buildings or sights, in this case more so since our Sarajevo is the city of Tijana and Lelo. But let's return to the point where we left off.
From Mostar to Sarajevo, with Lelo!
We were sitting in the car of Lelo, me in front and Dorota at the back. Lelo is a middle-aged man with style, wearing ripped-off jeans and his blonde hair reaching till his shoulders, is looking definitely younger than most of the people in his age group. Sharing cigarettes with us constantly and listening to some local music on his radio while driving he was looking really calm and cool, but at times you could also feel a hidden tragedy in his soul, I remember talking about that with Dorota. The reason would become clear later in Sarajevo.
We talked throughout our ride in several languages with him, in Bosnian (w/ Dorota) , in German (me) and also in English (common), he is a multilingual man. He told me that he has been to Istanbul many times before, mainly because he used to be a goldsmith and came to Grand Bazaar etc. for business, of course as any sane people in this world he was a fan of Istanbul. He also said that he's running a cafe in Sarajevo, called Cafe Mirandol, next to the biggest mosque in Bascarsija(Main Bazaar, baş çarşı) and invited us there.
We were passing some really beautiful sceneries by, a kind of green delta of Neretva surrounded by some green mountains when he wanted to have a coffee break as he was coming from Croatia. It was a really nice looking restaurant called Zdrava voda on roadside near Jablanica.Considering the nice look of the restaurant which you can also check from the link, the prices were not bad at all, but of course the usual scenario happened, again as guests we couldn't pay anything. The service in the restaurant seemed so nice, judging by their smiling faces and also allowing us to take one of the maps of Bosnia and Hercegovina which they put on tables. So we had a map and a little information about the sights in Bosnia when we left there.
It already got dark when we reached Sarajevo. We head the address of Tijana and the name of the pizzeria nearby but we didn't need to bother with finding the address. Instead Lelo kindly wanted to bring us directly to her place so he made a phone call, asking the address to be checked from the Google Maps! After this information combined with directions given to Lelo by the people on streets - levo, pravo, samo pravo - we made it there. After thanking Lelo it was time to look for her apartment.
We found Tijana's apartment with the help of her shout. It was for sure the nicest around and could easily be one of the best apartments of Sarajevo. She was waiting for us to leave the flat, in order to save her father whose car broke down on road. After a brief orientation to the flat and insisting us to sleep on her large and comfortable bed, she said she may come (or not) and didn't want to wake us, she left the flat with the promise meeting the next day at the very least.
The flat was a 1+1 with two large balconies, everything being new, modern and comfy. As expected from an orchestra conductor there were music CDs all around ranging from U2 to Pavarotti or Karajan to which we listened so much. The flat was the ideal comfort materialized.
But even in the greatest comfort you need something to eat.Dorota went out together with Tijana to get a pizza for us. It was a delicious and huge, really huge, pizza for just a couple of Euros, unbelievably cheap. It could be enough for three-four normal people, but surprisingly was also enough for two hungry hitchhikers. How could you be not happy then, when you are full and have a warm shelter?
The whole evening we listened to some music,mainly Pavarotti, with Nessun Dorma being the favourite of Dorota whereas I preferred Una Furtiva Lagrima and E Lucevan le Stelle. Can't resist to give the link to these rightly famous arias.
We made fun of the fact that we were enjoying Pavarotti sitting in a comfortable flat, who could guess that we would end up in such a situation when we were in Dubrovnik for example? Well traveling is full of surprises for sure.
The first day in Sarajevo, the quest for Mirandol and later Pivnica
As Martin Luther King we had a common dream: a nice, proper breakfast or in other words not burek. You get easily fed up with eating burek all the time although it may be fun to do so for a week or so. Since I woke up early again, about 7 o'clock, decided to make a small surprise and went out for shopping without waking Dorota.
So I went to the supermarket nearby. Contrary to my expectations the stores were open, in Turkey you have to wait 10 o'clock for most supermarkets. In front of the supermarket there was a small fresh market too, which made my job easier. So I bought lots of different things like a few kinds of cheese, butter, honey, of course black tea, olive oil, olives, tomatoes, a watermelon from the fresh market and some more things which I can't remember now. Then I went to a pekara to buy some bread. I told the woman in the store to give me a bread in my limited knowledge of Serbian-Bosnian-Croatian but she of course understood that I was a foreigner and also that I was from Turkey too, saying "Bir ekmek?" to me with a very warm attitude. While we were talking an old woman came in and funnily she saw a blond hair on my shirt, showing it to me while saying jokingly some things which I can't understand, both she and the woman in pekara burst into laughter :) I joined to their laughter for a while and then left saying goodbye.
When I came back Dorota was still sleeping, so I began to prepare breakfast. When she woke finally up, almost all of the preparations were over. After setting up the small table we could begin to eat. It took a while for us to finish our breakfast, after days of burek or chicken paste it was a relief and every moment had to be enjoyed.
Then after cleaning and tidying up we were finally ready for seeing Sarajevo. It was about noon when we succeeded in going out. I think it was then when a creepy neighbor shouted us from balcony. We couldn't understand anything but it was clear that she was angry that's for sure. Dorota told her that we were Tijana's friends but it didn't matter for her. Not caring much we moved on. But next day the lock of the outer door of the apartment was changed.
Anyway after this small excitement we had to figure out how to go to the city center. It's always a good idea to follow the river, so that's what we did. The riverside was kind of a park, many people were jogging while some students were also to be seen, since it was the 1st of September I assume, when the holiday is over for students :) We walked and walked and finally arrived to somewhere resembling a city center. A woman in a travel agency which we first thought to be a tourist information helped us with directions to get to Bascarsija which was really close to there.
After having a look at the Eternal Flame, in memory of the Second World War heroes, we began to walk the street Ferhadija down, it is maybe "the street" of Sarajevo, a pedestrian zone such as Kneza Mihajlova in Belgrade. The Austrian-Hungarian influence was clearly felt on the architecture of the buildings on Ferhadija. However it ends in an Ottoman-stytle bazaar, Bascarsija. With mosques on either side, small shops, bazaars etc. it is a typical Ottoman style area of the town, being the most famous as well.
We went to tourist information to get some maps and afterwards began to look for Mirandol. No one we asked knew about the cafe, as predicted by Dorota just by accident we found it. Lelo said he was going to be there after 6 o 'clock so let me briefly recap what we did till then.
Other than walking around and drinking Turkish tea at a Turkish teahouse, we went to an internet cafe where I checked the address of the office of JAT Airlines so that I could postpone my flight which I did without any problem, well I had to pay some 40 Euros extra but didn't care much about it. We have seen the famous fountain in Bascarsija called Sebilj (like sebil in Turkish, the names of both people and things can easily make you think that you are in Turkey), skipped all the mosques, seen the all white looking graveyard on a hillside, skipped Alija Izzetbegovic Museum when we heard that it wasn't for free, not that much we were interested in anyway, went up to the White Fortress (Bijela Tabija) whose name was reminding me of one of Orhan Pamuk's better novels called the White Castle.The bushes next to the fortress became our WCs, peeing while enjoying a very nice view was priceless. There was just a local couple other than us when we arrived, sharing some intimate moments, exactly like the one seen on the video given in the end.After Bijela Tabija we went down through a rather strange way, went down the stairs and found ourselves out of the city, we saw the welcome sign of Sarajevo, so we entered the city for the second time. By walking along the river we have seen all those bridges, including the famous Latin bridge. It's famous because Archiduke Ferdinand and his wife was shot in 1914 by the Serbian nationalist, Gavrilo Princip, exactly at the corner of Latin bridge. Now there is a museum for this assasination in that place and the exact location is shown in front of the museum. So from history textbooks to reality, we have seen where World War I started :)
We went to a bookstore as well and had a look at the very cheap second-hand Lonely Planet guides and books about the greatest tragedy in Europe since WW II, Srebrenica, of which Dorota had no idea before. The photos were shocking, they could easily have the same effect like the Holocaust documentaries. I've felt the same feelings watching "The Night and Fog" by Resnais while having a look at those books and in a way it's even more frightening, happening just like some 15-20 years ago so it's something we witnessed. I like one saying, of a Turkish actor, "If three assholes are beating a guy and you are just watching it, then you are the fourth one.", so everyone shares the responsibility not only Karadzic or Mladic. In the bookstore there were also maps showing how life in Sarajevo worked during the long siege, with Tunnel of Hope etc. One thing to note here is the relaxed attitude of Bosnians about all the terrible things happened, in Croatia we saw a big hatred against Serbian people for example, but in Bosnia, it wasn't the case, although they have suffered the most during the war. Just one more point for Bosnia :) But ok enough for now again, let's save it for another entry.
Just a little bit later than 6 o'clock Lelo came to open his gallery/cafe, together with a single guy as waiter, he put a few tables outside, lit a candle, offered us beer/cigarettes as usual, thinking of a cold Sarajevsko made me feel like Pavlov's dog now by the way. Cafe Mirandol is not for everyone, as Lelo put it, it is just for his friends, so the strangers have to ask permission in order to sit, which we also witnessed. Our talk was rather insightful about Lelo, we told him what we had done during the day etc. and he told us some extracts from his life story.
Here is what I can remember. The name of the cafe comes from a small French town, Mirandol, where he and his wife used to live before, so the cafe is a memorial for her in a sense. After he lost his wife, maybe not to succumb to one of the greatest personal tragedies you can imagine, he began to travel around the world, at the age of 30, and came back home only after 19 years! He even spent 40 days with American Indians. Some life story isn't it? Adventurous and sad at the same time. Life can be really cruel sometimes even if you are best guy out there.
While we were talking on such things, suddenly he decided to bring us to the top of the mountain Tribevic where you can see the "ultimate" view of Sarajevo; so we went to his car and found ourselves on top of the mountain. Such a great man, always thinking of making us, his guests/friends, happy.
It was dark when we were atop. A cafe is located on roadside, all the tables being completely full of people enjoying the view with the city lights. There was a minor problem, we should have had a photo with the view in the background but there wasn't enough light. The solution found by Lelo was a crazy one, he turned on the headlights of his car, when we were standing up in the middle of all the people sitting in the cafe. Another proof of his coolness. He just doesn't care about going off the beaten path, as long as he can make you happy. He wanted to leave us alone and visit his mother for a while but he promised to come back to bring us to Pivnica, supposedly a restaurant where we would meet Tijana in a brief amount of time. While he was absent, we drank some tea, talked with some Turkish academicians working in the University of Sarajevo and then a Bosnian/American couple (?), with whom we shared our table. However it was getting late, we had not so much time left to meet Tijana and Lelo was not in sight. Just when we were thinking of hitchhiking, Lelo appeared, kindly apologizing although there was really no need after the things he has done for us. He brought us to Pivnica, perhaps the most luxurious restaurant of Sarajevo and went back to his cafe.
The restaurant was very luxurious but we had several problems. First of all we were out of money so we had to withdraw some cash. But this problem could easily be solved afterwards. Second problem was our dresses, everybody inside was dressed well, in suits etc. , the restaurant had a very pompously looking interior and look at me: Flip flops with completely dark feet due to all the dust stuck during the day, a short and t-shirt. Trying to hide myself behind Dorota, who was in a little bit better shape than me, we entered inside but couldn't see Tijana. So while waiting for her, Dorota told me to wash my feet in the bathroom which I had to accept, they were looking terrible. Like Muslims performing ablution, I was to wash them inside the wash-hand basin, a disgusting and tasteless way for sure. So I put Dorota as watchgirl in front of the toilet and began to wash my feet. However soon a woman came, Dorota warned me, but I didn't care since I was in the men section, but suddenly the woman decided to use men section so all my attempts to hide it failed in the end. Moreover one foot of mine was still dirty. Anyway after this we contacted Tijana and soon it became clear that we were in the wrong Pivnica so we left to look for the right one. So we used the most luxourius restaurant of Sarajevo to wash my feet :)
It wasn't easy at all to find the right Pivnica, some people took us to some places in Bascarsija but they were all wrong. It must have been tiring for Tijana as well, so she wanted to pick us from the tram-stop at the Latin bridge. We asked some locals for the stop at the Latinski Most in a distance like 100 m from the bridge itself, but funnily they were unsure where one of the most famous attractions of the city is. To cut it short, Tijana came to tram-stop and brought us to the right Pivnica, a pub -instead of a restaurant- in another part of the town. She was with her sister, who came for a visit from Canada and a friend. They all were charming, belonged to the higher class of Bosnia for sure, a group of very well educated -and also strong- women. If you compare Tijana and her sister however, you could still see the same contrast seen in between the sisters with an age difference. As usual the elder sister, Vaneja, had a somewhat calm, mature and also maternal personality, whereas Tijana was, at least relatively, hyperactive all the time. This however makes them very much enjoyable as a group, rich and diverse personality qualities.
After sharing a couple of beers there, they wanted to visit a friend of Tijana in another pub, close to our home. Everything was perfect, except that we were almost starving, since somehow we thought that Pivnica would be a restaurant and it would be nice to wait for the dinner but as it was not the case we had to find something to eat. Preferably a Sarajevski cevap (kebap) in a cevabdzinica. (kebapçı) But it was late and the only option which could be found was again...burek, our curse :) The second pub was a small and nice one, with some funny friends of Tijana working there. Almost all of Tijana's friends had some connection to art and music, we were in an elite group so to say.
The evening passed rather quickly and after leaving Vaneja at the family house near the famous broadcasting antenna we went back home. Our first day and second evening was thus over.
The second day: Dorota's friend Adam and a rainy night in Sarajevo
The second day began with the news that Adam, a friend from Dorota, was going to arrive to Sarajevo after cycling from his homeland, Poland. But before that Tijana unfortunately had to go out early, missing the breakfast again. So we were again alone in the flat, having our breakfast, enjoying music etc. Soon Dorota went out to meet Adam to help him in finding a cheap hostel. In the meantime I just spent some time at home relaxing, resting, actually can't remember exactly what I was doing, probably nothing.
When Dorota came back it was already afternoon. We went out in order to meet Adam, whom we met downtown, close to his hostel. Adam is an interesting guy with a little knowledge of English or at least he was too shy to use it. His passion is cycling but should have other passions and interests as well, of which sadly I don't have any idea. Together we went to Lelo again, as usual welcomed well by him. I think he brought us again to Tribevic since I remember walking with him back to his cafe where a funny thing happened. Lelo said suddenly "Wait" to me and Adam, and holding Dorota's arm they began to walk further. We couldn't understand anything, was he bringing her to bushes or something, all the possibilities crossed our mind. But it soon became clear that Dorota needed a WC and Lelo brought her to toilet that was all :) During our usual chat he said that he is going to Croatia for the weekend with a friend of his and invited us too. It was a really very attractive offer, not for Croatia but to be together with that cool man, which we turned down in the end, remaining faithful to our plans of seeing new places.
Soon it was time to meet Tijana in a cafe/pub on Ferhadija. But before that, we shared some Sarajevskos on a square nearby and Dorota and Adam ate Sarajevski cevap, while my stomach wasn't ready for digesting it, although I tried a little piece, the taste/shape, all of them was quite the same as Inegol meatball. Not impressed again with the cuisine, sorry.
We were there before Tijana and her friends, waited a little bit but soon they appeared. Adam brought some rakija from his hostel meanwhile, the way of getting drunk in a pub for poor travelers :)
After that meeting point, it was time to discover another pub, a pub for artists as put by Tijana, where a large group of women consisting of Tijana, Vaneja and some friends was formed. They were kind to invite me to their talk, it's been a while since I was the only guy in a big female group, the first year of my university was spent like that actually but afterwards no huge groups, 1-2 girls were enough :) All laughing, cheerful ladies and a nice pub what else do you want?
It was around midnight I think when we went to an underground bar/disco, it was literally underground. There was a shower outside, we became wet until making the small distance to that pub. At first I didn't feel any desire to dance there, although it was a very nice place, but soon the caring ladies forced me :)
When we got out and said goodbye to all those beautiful ladies, something inside me died :) It was also time to say goodbye to sweet Vaneja, since we were leaving Sarajevo the next day. Well she was also heading to Canada soon. Meanwhile Adam went to his hostel, too. The next time I hear of him was in Albania but we'll come to that.
So that was our last night in Sarajevo, the third night came to an end sleeping on the large and comfortable bed in Tijana's flat as the previous two.
Leaving Sarajevo
Leaving Sarajevo was very hard for us, because it meant also leaving Lelo and Tijana, but sadly traveling is all about leaving. We went out, but we didn't know exactly where to go? Srebrenica, Visegrad, Canyon Tara or Albania? After letting a man to copy the photos in Dorota's camera into a DVD, thus saving space for new ones, we went out of our beloved Sarajevo with a trolley. I'm not so sure about the other cities but Sarajevo is one to see again for me, in other words Tijana and Lelo :)
Before ending this entry I want to post a nice video showing Sebilj, the fountain in Bascarsija, Bijela Tabija, the graveyard and some more things accompanied by poetry of a local poet. As you can understand the title was a direct reference to this short movie, but it also is true for us, since we loved Sarajevo, Tijana and Lelo so much!
Sarajevo mí amor ile Pyotr_Magnus
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