Our guide from two days ago took us round the city in a mini bus first , which meant that we could get to some of the more far flung parts of the city,
These included the tunnel dug by the Bosnians during the siege of Sarajevo in the 1990s in order to obtain resources and evacuate wounded, when everything was cut off.
The only front not closed completely was the airport strip between two hills which was controlled by the UN forces. They dug from a house on one side of the airport to a garage on the other side. Today we visited the house, and a small section of tunnel which is open for viewing and heard about the war. Our guide, Muhamed was a 10 year old boy when the siege started, and was able to tell us first hand of his experiences.
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| The red areas show the surrounding Serb army area. The airport is the tiny blue line in the gap. |
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| Those who helped in the construction of the tunnel are remembered on this board (about 180 of them) |
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| imagine carrying a heavy backpack or box through 800 metres bent over like this with water around your legs , live elecricity in the roof and poor ventilation and lighting. |
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| model showing the tunnel |
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| finely typed pages showing the lists of the dead. |
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| the house where the tunnel was |
The local brewery had a natural spring , and when all other water was cut (as was electricity and food supplies) the inhabitants had to go to the brewery to get water. The shooting never stopped for more than 3 years, so being in the streets made you a target. But there was no avoiding it. Kids had to leave their own basement shelter and go to the largest one in the area , where school teachers continued to teach the lessons. Then they went home and read their books via the minimal light of a lantern made from motor oil , a bottle cap and a shoe lace, breathing in terrible sooty smoke.
The list of names of those killed in the siege is on show at the tunnel site. Over 11000 of them (over 1100 were kids). Muhamed described the time as hell on earth. The Bosnians would not give up their city, and kept the spirit alive, with underground clubs, blackmarket booze, music in the basements, film festivals, theatre etc. Remarkable. They could not have lasted much longer than they did.
We visited the Yellow Fortress, with views over the city.
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| Muslim Cemetery |
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| The yellow building is the Holiday Inn, where all the journalists were during the siege.. |
We drove past the the yellow building, that used to be the Holiday Inn, where all the reporters stayed during the siege.
Then we took to our feet again and walked our way along the narrow old town streets, to the town "square" , one of the 99 mosques, the ancient public toilets (from the 1600s!!), and headed off on our own to eat more of their delicious chevapchichis wrapped in pita bread with chopped raw onion.
We headed off then to have a look at the City Hall which was bombed during the siege and rebuilt over a 2 year period into an ornately decorated museum, and City Hall again. Hand decorated patterns decorate many of the inside surfaces (especially ceilings), and there is some fairly simple but still attractive stained glass (including a central dome) .
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| stained glass central dome |
With a few free hours remaining on our hands, we decided to come back to the Pensian and have a bit of a rest before heading out again for tea with the mob.
Tomorrow we head onwards again.
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