Saturday, July 08, 2006

Sarajevo....

On an emotional level, Sarajevo was a lot for me to handle.
Bosnia itself has always had a special place in my heart, its warm atmosphere, the blend of the orient and the west. These elements are still there, yet since my last visit to Bosnia, another element has been added: the reminder of war.

The "old" part of Sarajevo (Barščaršija) is still as charming and cozy as ever (if you don't let the beggars get on your nerves too much). While sitting there, soaking up the atmosphere and enjoying my "kahva", I felt so at home....

I continued to enjoy the sites, the beautiful architure of Sarajevo's mosques and churches.... My heart sank when I saw the library, which is now being renovated due to damage sustained from the war... more and more such buildings kept appearing, but that wasn't what broke me...
What were once sports fields in the Olympic village are now resting places for the dead. And as I looked up at the beautiful green hillsides that completely surround Sarajevo, hillsides that are now overgrown with white obelisks, I began to cry...

2 comments:

eyad said...

Its sad, i was young when the war took place there,I used to see Bosnian women and kids, been brought to Jordan, they were living in school here,that was really sad,i felt as i'm bosnian,i was reading their stories in the newspaper,you reminded me of all those once forgotten memories.

Betqa said...

Those were really rough years and those poor people went through (some still are) horrible times. When the war was actually going on, I was still living in Canada, but experienced the 1st war that triggered it all when Slovenia separated from Yugoslavia in 1991 (I was on vacation here at the time). I can't compare this though... Slovenia got off extremely lucky as the war here only lasted 10 days, though while it was happening people here didn't know if it was going to last 10 days or 10 years. But still, I'll say it again, we got off lucky.