Leaving Sarajevo

My time here in Sarajevo has gone by all too quickly. This city has quite a bit of charm, from the beautiful hillsides to the friendly people to the spectacular local beer.

For a city whose buildings are still riddled with bullet holes and whose streets bear the impressions of grenade blasts, it's a remarkably hopeful place. Everyone here has been so eager to tell us about Sarajevo's long history of peaceful coexistence between religions and about the city's role as a crossroads between East and West. Between the Ottoman Empire and the Austro-Hungarians, Sarajevo has soaked up a mysterious and cosmopolitan air that even a brutal war couldn't wipe away. 

Sarajevans seem to have a real optimism for the future. The economy is rough and the outside world is mostly inaccessible due to visa difficulties but the people I've spoken to are eager to put the past behind them. My tour guide, a young woman with blue eyeliner and long black hair, told us about how she's studying to become a pharmacist and has learned to live with Serbs even if she can't understand what they did. 

The owner of my hostel told me about his experiences in the war last night. He described how he sat with his six-month-old baby boy and his wife and thought "This is Europe. The world won't allow war here." He told us how when the Serbs began shelling the city, he went with his neighbors up to the hills to defend their homes. The three of them, Catholic, Orthodox and Muslim, respectively, fought side-by-side to defend their families. Thankfully, all of his immediate family survived. And now that the war is over, they're eager to share their experiences and their newly rebuilt and beautiful city.

That's not to say there aren't problems here. Bosnia definitely has more than its fair share. But at the same time, Sarajevo is a unique city that's changing and developing by the minute. It's the kind of place that makes me want to go home and tell everyone, "Change your plans! Go to Sarajevo!" both because it's so interesting and because the tourist dollars are so badly needed.

So what are you doing? Go visit Sarajevo already!