Franchu’s lair

Sarajevo was a surprise for us. We were not sure what to expect as we had read different opinions online and after a long winding road from Mostar to Sarajevo we were impressed by Sarajevo Old Town (Bascarsija).

When you arrive in that street you are greeted by the same feeling we had when we entered the muslim part of Mostar. Everything seems so different from what we are used to… and it happens so suddenly…

We arrived at night and most of the shops were closed, you just had a few eating places that were open but the street was bustling with people that were having a walk or going to the mosque. That is another thing that surprised me. I had never seen so many mosques, so close one to another. And I had never heard the sound of the almoazen calling the muslims to the mosque for the prayers. It all added to the ambience to make it very special.

As we arrived in the evening, after a walk in the city we went to the hotel to get some sleep to be ready for the intense sightseeing day that we would have afterwards. The hotel went to was the Banana City Hotel in the outskirts of the city in what looked like a commercial/industrial area. Not the best place ever, but it was cheap, on the main entrance of Sarajevo coming from Mostar, decently clean and cheap.

The second day in Sarajevo, we went to visit the Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque. Gazi Husrev-beg was a kind of a ruler under the Ottoman empire and the greatest builder and donor of Sarajevo. He built the mosque, a school and many other infrastructure to improve the living conditions of the inhabitants of the city. When we were told about all the achievements and contributions to the city that he did, we were surprised to see such insight in social issues in a 16th century ruler! The mosque is a very nice sight, and the guide explained us in perfect english the history of the place and some basic ideas on what happens in a mosque and what is each part. Outside of the mosque there were two things that surprised me a lot: a digital clock showing the time in Mecca and how long it was missing until the next prayer, and the bath where they wash themselves before entering the mosque to pray. I had seen before the old places that they used to wash, but seeing a 20th century version was quite surprising.

Then we went for a walk in the city center and we ended in front of the catholic cathedral of Sarajevo and we went in for a quick visit. It is a nice cathedral, not the most impressive I’ve ever seen, but worth entering and spending some minutes admiring the windows and the organ in the back of the church.

After that we continued our visit entering in the Old Serbian Orthodox church that happens to be not far from the mosque. If you have never visited an orthodox church it can be quite an experience as it has almost nothing to do with roman catholic churches.

In order to complete our multi-religious visit of Sarajevo, we went to visit the Jewish Synagogue. They have a nice exhibition on how the jews settled in Sarajevo, where they came from, and some relevant figures from their community whose legacy has transcended time and space leaving their mark in history. I was particularly surprised to see that there was an important sephardi community that produced lots of literary works in Spanish and Ladino.

You can see some of the pictures I took during our stay in Sarajevo:

I have always been very curious, and over the time I have gathered in my mind a list of things and not so touristic places that I would like to see. In order not to forget them, I want to share them with you… and maybe someone has more suggestions of nice things to see

• Cherenkov radiation. Don’t ask me why, but I have always found the pictures of the water glowing with an eerie blue light amazing.
• Aurora Borealis. The Northern Lights have fascinated mankind for ages and I believe it is one of the most impressive sights that nature can offer.
• Microgravity flight. Nowadays it is the closest experience that you can have, short of going to space. Maybe one day space tourism becomes affordable but until then I would be happy to experience a zero-G environment.
• North Cape. Although in the wikipedia article it is stated that it is not the northernmost point in continental Europe, for me this place will always bear the aura of challenging place to go. Probably akin to the feeling that romans had when they reached the westernmost point of the iberian peninsula and called it Finisterre (end of the Earth).
• Antarctica. One of the less frequented places on Earth, and where it is all about you and nature.
• Active volcano. Actually it is not that difficult to see the lava flowing. You just need to go to southern Italy and take a boat to the Stromboli Island.
• CERN and FermiLab. Two places where real science is carried on.
• The Googleplex. To see if it is really as cool as people say
• Spend the night in the Pic du Midi observatory. They offer packages to spend the night up there, see the sunset, have dinner, spend some time looking at the sky with the scientists and enjoy the sunrise over the clouds (if you are lucky)

If you know of any place in Europe where it is possible to see the Cherenkov radiation and it is open for visits, please let me know. My best guess would be a nuclear waste storage plant, but don’t know if there are any open to visitors.

Mostar is an amazing city that I had wanted to visit for a long time. It sadly became famous due to the bombing of its bridge during the Bosnian war and many spanish soldiers had been there under the UN mandate to keep the city safe.

At first I didn’t know what to expect. I guess I was expecting to see a war torn city with destruction everywhere and although I saw it, the feeling was not of despair but of a city that wants to stand up again and regain its place in the world.

One of the most curious things of this city is that it is ethnically divided by religion, the river Neretva defining the border between muslims and catholic quarters. It was specially surprising to see that the segregation is present even nowadays and that in the road that divides both quarters the walls of the buildings are full of bullet holes! It gives an eerie feeling when you realise that you are standing in a place that made the news a decade ago for its violent clashes during the war!

Nevertheless, when you get over that first impression and you walk into the muslim part you have the feeling that you have transcended time and space and you are in another world. The minarets take over the church towers that we are so used to see in non-muslim countries and the bustling shops make you think of some place in the middle-east and not in a city that a few minutes ago looked like so many other European cities.

We went up a minaret and the hike was rewarded by amazing views from atop the Neretva river overlooking the New Old Bridge. From there you have a privileged view of the city, and you can see how much the war affected the city and how it is getting reconstructed little by little. You will also notice that there is a disproportionately high church tower in the catholic side, and the reason is that it was reconstructed to be higher than the highest minaret of the old city. I guess human stupidity will never change, no matter what happens

After the nice time spent in the city, we went to Medjugorje, a pilgrimage site nearby Mostar, to the source of the river Buna and to Kravice falls.

The video above shows the Kravice falls. I didn’t have the camera with me, so I just found this video on YouTube. The video doesn’t convey the feeling of how great the place is, but with a little bit of imagination you can imagine how it is to swim by some waterfalls in a nice lake with cristal clear water And just 20 minutes from the city!!!

We were lucky to have Alenka and Goran to show us around the city and these nice places out of town as well as hosting us in Mostar.

Below you can see some pictures we took in Mostar and the surroundings