Sunday, November 11
Another busy day. We started by visiting Sacred Heart Cathedral or, as it’s more commonly referred to as, The Cathedral. It’s a large Gothic style catholic church that was built by the Austro-Hungarians. Construction lasted from 1884 – 1889. It’s the largest cathedral in Bosnia and Herzegovina and is the seat of the archbishop. The Cathedral was heavily damaged during the siege of Sarajevo in the 1990s and has been completely restored. In front is a huge sculpture of Pope John Paul II to commemorate his visits. He was there twice. Entry was free of charge.
Our next visit was the Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque. When the governor of Sarajevo, Gazi Husrev, died he left his fortune to the city. The money was used to build the mosque, a primary and secondary school, a public bath and a market place. The mosque, which was built in 1530, is the largest mosque in Bosnia and Herzegovina and was the first one in the world to be lit by electricity in 1898. It was heavily damaged during the siege of Sarajevo in the 1990s. With funds from all over the world reconstruction began in 1996 and it was restored to its pre-Austro-Hungarinan decor. The interior is in the typical style – one large domed room with white walls and brightly colored decorations. We enquired about climbing the minaret. Apparently, some 20 years ago, someone committed suicide by leaping off the top. Since that time the minaret has been closed to visitors. Cost of entry: 3 KM / $1.80 per person. Cash only.
(Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque)
The mosque complex also includes two turbe or tombs. The first one contains the governor, Gazi Husrev-beg, and the second Murat Beg Tardic who was the governor’s commander and the first administrator of his charity.
Next we walked over to the other side of town and visited The National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The complex is actually several museums arranged in a rectangular pattern with a small botanical garden in the middle.
The first building contained their archeology collection. There was a small display of broken artifacts starting around 600 BC followed by pieces from ancient Greece. The largest collection of items was from the Roman period. There were a lot of large carved stone objects many of which were part of funerary rituals.
When we got to the second floor we came face to face with the main reason we had come to the museum: The Sarajevo Haggadah. It’s a rare illuminated Sephardic Haggadah that was created around 1350 in Barcelona. Haggadahs are the program for the Passover Seder. The book has had a turbulent history and has barely escaped destruction several times including, most recently, The Nazi occupation in World War II and the Siege of Sarajevo. We were horrified to find that the room where the haggadah was on display was closed. We could only glimpse it through the glass door. After seeing the rest of the building we enquired about the room and were told that due to security restrictions the haggadah can only be seen on Tuesdays and Thursdays. There was no mention of this on their web site nor anywhere else that we’ve looked. We were VERY disappointed. There was a video screen that showed pictures of all the pages. We took a photo of one of them.
(The Sarajevo Haggadah)
The next building held a library. It was closed.
The next building contained the Natural History Museum. On one side of the building there was a large display of minerals. We saw quite a few meteorites most of which, ironically, had been found in the United States. On the other side was a large collection of stuffed animals in naturalistic settings.
The last building contained the Ethnographic Museum. We’ve seen a lot of these museums in the past year and none were really too interesting. We decided to skip this one.
The courtyard that contained the Botanical Garden was a charming place to walk. It was not a large space but there were walking paths and old monuments had been placed along the perimeter. Of course nothing was in bloom when we were there. Cost of entry: 8 KM / $4.80 per person. Cash only.
Finally, it was time for lunch and our opportunity to try another one of our guide’s recommendations. We went to Ćevabdžinica Mrkva. Deborah ordered a skewer of grilled chicken and vegetables while I ordered a cevapi. The skewer was well seasoned and quite delicious. The sausages in the cevapi were some of the best we’ve had but the sandwich was lacking because the restaurant didn’t serve ajvar (I had to pay extra for the kajmak). Still, it was a very good meal. Total cost: 11 KM / $7.00. Credit cards are accepted.
After lunch we tried to see the Sephardic Synagogue, which is now a museum, but is open only Monday – Friday from 10:00 am – 2:00 pm.
Distance walked: 6.5 miles
Monday, November 12
Our first order of business was to visit the main post office. The interior of the building is reputed to have a gorgeous glass ceiling. Also, we hadn’t yet gotten our stamps for Bosnia.
The ceiling turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. It’s just plan mono-colored glass and nothing that would warrant the things we’d heard of it. Our hunt for stamps was much more successful. We were presented with collections of stamps for the past three years. The collection for 2017 seemed to have the nicest pieces so we bought it. Total cost: 38 KM / $23.75. That’s a lot more than we’d care to spend but we’ll get over it. Credit cards are accepted.
Next we went to the Museum of the Assassination of Franz Ferdinand. It’s a tiny, one room exhibit where most of the displays are about Austro-Hungarian culture at the end of the 19th century. Only the last two displays had any information on the assassination itself. The most interesting part of the museum were the maps showing how the major powers had divided up the world during that time period. Total cost: 4 KM / $2.40 per person. Cash only.
Lunch was at a falafel restaurant called, believe it or not, Falafel Restaurant. We ordered a bowl of tahini covered falafel balls which came with a nice salad and an order of humus which came with a basket of soft, fresh bread. It was quite filling but also quite delicious. Total cost: 10.00 KM / $6.10.
(Falafel for Lunch)
All of the baklava we’ve had since we left Sofia, Bulgaria has been very disappointing. The most common problem is that the syrup is made from sugar and doesn’t contain any honey. Before we left the apartment this morning we checked to see the highest rated baklava places in town. We had high expectations that we could find something to our liking here.
We found one small shop that sold seven different kinds. They each were made from a different kind of nut (walnut, almond, hazelnut) or dough. We tried the Sarajevo version. It was made with walnuts and had a dough that was more pastry than phyllo. It was quite good. We determined to try the other shop as well before buying enough to choke a horse.
Now for the real fun. There are two fortresses on the hill to the East of the city. One is known as the Yellow Bastion and the other the White Fortress. The first one was about 1.5 miles away but it was going to be uphill all the way.
The Yellow Bastion is just a ruin. It’s just a plateau where you can get a view of the city but there’s not much else. The most interesting part was the walk to get there through a part of town that we had not previously seen.
The 1.5 walk to the White Fortress was also quite interesting. We walked through some typical residential neighborhoods and got to see how many of the people live. The houses were small, typically made of stone and had ceramic tile roofs. Many people had workshops facing the street and cats roamed everywhere.
When we finally got to the White Fortress we saw a stronghold made from large white stones that had collapsed some time ago. It looked like it dated from the Ottoman period. A little further along we came to another, larger fortress that was also made of white stone. This one was definitely from the Austro-Hungarian period. Some of the walls had fallen and there was no roof whatsoever but more of the structure had survived. At the far end, accessible only by walking over narrow elevated stone paths, were large windows that led to small balconies – ideal for shooting photos. From there it was easy to see where the Serbs had bombed the city from the highest peaks on the Northeast side. It’s likely that all of these fortresses suffered substantial damage during the siege.
(Sarajevo as Seen from the White Fortress on a Hazy Day)
When we got home I realized that I had a sore throat and felt achy in all my joints. I had caught a bad cold. It was the first time I’ve gotten sick since we left the States.
Distance walked: 7.2 miles and 43 flights.
Tuesday, November 13
We had planned to go to the museum about the Siege of Sarajevo and write up a detailed account but because I was not feeling well we just stayed in, rested and prepared for our six hour bus ride to Dubrovnik tomorrow.
Distance walked: 1.3 miles