Advantages: An important piece of recent history, interesting, enlightening Disadvantages: Not a great deal to see so for the really interested only
In the mid 1990s I watched television news bulletins transfixed at the pictures coming from the besieged city of Sarajevo. For over four years the people of Sarajevo were trapped in their city, often cold, usually hungry as missiles rained down on them. In spite of many months of fierce attack plucky Sarajevo managed to defend itself ? thanks mainly to an 800 metre tunnel that connected the city with ?Free Bosnia?.
How the exact location of the tunnel was not discovered by the Serbs is a miracle. The tunnel runs under Sarajevo Airport which, although it was designated a neutral zone, was often closed due to heavy shelling. The Serbs knew roughly where the tunnel was but were never able to pinpoint it exactly. The tunnel was no secret; everyone knew of its existence, Serbs included. Food, fuel, medical supplies and arms ? all were ...
Advantages: Plenty to see; good value for money; Disadvantages: No budget flights yet (but also a good thing!)
listing the names of their students or staff who died in the siege. Dotted around town you may spot ?Sarajevo Roses?; they are little holes in the pavement, filled with a red substance that looks a bit like candle wax. These are all at spots where civilians died, usually when queuing for bread or going to collect water. We walked over the river to the brewery, it?s a handsome and colourful building but not, we were disappointed to learn, open to the public. Instead we made do with a beer in the adjoining restaurant and beer-hall.
Going back to town we crossed the river on the Latin Bridge, infamous for being the spot from which Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sofia in 1914, an event which triggered the First World War. A plaque marks the spot where they fell and the house next to it now ...
Advantages: Historic, beautiful, cheap Disadvantages: Not easily accessible, war damage
My announcement that I would be spending my summer in Bosnia met with bemused silences. "But why?", they asked - "Be careful" or "Good for you". My neighbour told me "be sure to take a headscarf with you, it's a Muslim country y'know."
So many concerned family members asked me if it was safe, that I began to have doubts. After watching the film "Welcome to Sarajevo" and reading graphic books about the conflict in an attempt at researching this forgotten corner of Europe, I felt even more unsure.
My worries were to prove unfounded. The hijab I didn't pack proved to be unnecessary, and ironically, I felt safer in Bosnia than I do at home in Birmingham.
I discover a country that is simultaneously familiar and foreign. Glamorous young people frequent the city bars, but one Bosnian girl tells me "we can only afford one coffee ...
