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:

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