JOURNALS Bosnia and Herzegovina Sarajevo, the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina and host of the 1984 Winter Olympics, has emerged from its past of strife, fuelled by community Spilling spirit – and potent coffee. STORY BY Rachel Lees PHotos BYSarajevo Amer Kapetanovic “Objectively, Paris is the most beautiful city in the world, and nothing in B Sarajevo can be compared So says Goran Bregovic, has worked diligently to patch up the scars A Bosnian coffee to Paris, but one of the Balkans’ most of the Siege of Sarajevo. Rebuilding is all is served in traditional copper my heart never successful contemporary but part of the DNA of the city, whose coffee sets at composers. Bregovic was history is littered with strife. Viennese Cafe & Restaurant. trembles in exiled in Paris when the Yet the heart of the city, where the war in former Yugoslavia old town has been restored to its former B Centuries old Paris like it does mosque minarets broke out. And while the glory, beats with renewed fervour. Today, tower above the here… when I French capital still serves Sarajevo has the charm, pace and warm streets of the as his sometime base, hospitality of a village or country town Bascarsija. wait in line at it’s Sarajevo that holds – one with a unique and vibrant cultural the post office.” Bregovic under its spell. fusion. The Byzantine and Ottoman This compact city, empires of the east and the Roman, encircled almost Venetian and Austro-Hungarian empires completely by hillside and straddling the of the west have each left an indelible mark Miljacka river, has that effect on people. on the city. In the outer suburbs, scattered Church bells peal as a muezzin recites construction takes place among graffiti- the call to prayer, in one of the few places splashed buildings, which still bear the on earth where Orthodox and Catholic pockmarks of wartime shelling. For the last churches, a mosque and a synagogue A 20 years Bosnia and Herzegovina’s capital are within easy walking distance of one 58 | SILVERKRIS.COM SILVERKRIS.COM | 59 JOURNALS Bosnia and Herzegovina NATURAL LIBERTY Born and raised in Sarajevo, dino lemes, local expert for luxury tour operator Insight Vacations, shares some of his city’s lesser- known sights. UNIQUE PERSPECTIVE One of our favourite pastimes is to enjoy the most amazing panoramic view of the city from the Zuta tabija (yellow fortress). We buy sandwiches and drinks before heading up there; it’s around a 10-minute hike from the city centre. If you’re D lucky, you’ll hear the church bells chiming at the same time as the mosque’s call to prayer. Along with the sound of traffic and birds, Stony-faced men in leather jackets sip LOCAL LINGO C Locals and tourists linger over coffees it evokes a feeling of their razdremusa (morning coffee) outside While the contents of the cup largely remain at Barhana cafe. tranquility and chaos in Caffe Bar Sebilj (Bascarsija 13, Tel: 387 33 the same, the city’s favourite pastime has the same moment. D The Sebilj fountain 535 437), as a flock of pigeons congregate given rise to its own extensive jargon, from in the Bascarsija is HORSING AROUND around the cafe’s namesake, a pseudo docekusa (coffee to welcome guests) to a popular meeting place. I’d encourage everyone Ottoman-style wooden fountain in the sikterusa (to bid guests farewell). If someone to experience a centre of the Bascarsija. serves you doljevusa (adding water to E The home of centuries-old tradition: Across town, on the Ferhadija pedestrian brewed coffee) – deceptively known as Sarajevsko Pivo Beer – Pivnica HS a horse-drawn carriage mall, jovial 20-somethings languish in the lazy or cheap coffee – it means they’re so ride from the spring of restaurant and afternoon sunshine over cups of frothy enthralled by your company they want you brewery. the river Bosna, down the 3.2km-long Grand pricusa (daily coffee drunk while talking), to stay longer than planned. Or perhaps F Hand-ground Alley of wild chestnuts, surrounded by European buildings housing they seek courage in the extra cup; they coffee. to Great Park in Ilidza. continental brands such as Swarovski, want to divulge something for which they This park was one of the L’Occitane and Mango. have yet to find the right words. first protected forest gardens in Europe and C is filled with everything from wooden moon bridges to swans. There are also pedal boats, which you can rent. another. Labyrinthine alleyways snake Ask any Sarajevan – from the WALK THIS WAY through the nearby Bascarsija (bazaar) built concierge at 130-year-old Hotel Europe The path from by the Ottomans in the 15th century. And (hoteleurope.ba) to the bartender at downtown, through at all hours of the day, the heady scent of Pivnica HS (Franjevacka 15, Tel: 387 33 Barice and Crepoljsko Bosnian coffee wafts across the city. 239 740), a restaurant and brewery plateau, to the Ah yes, the coffee. founded in 1864, and home of the city’s Skakavac waterfall is amazingly beautiful. beloved Sarajevsko Pivo beer – what they It takes about three BEANS THAT BIND do in their downtime and the answer is hours to walk and you Sarajevo barely rates a mention among the same: “We drink coffee”. It’s taken can get back to the city the world’s most caffeinated cities. Can up to five times a day, with each break on a local bus. Even if it compare with the likes of Vienna, lingering between 30 minutes and an you only go halfway, whose world-famous coffeehouse culture hour and a half. Barice has an amazing view of Sarajevo. There was added to the UNESCO Intangible “We’re really obsessed with coffee,” are several mountain Cultural Heritage list in 2011? Or Rome, says Azra Osmic, a shop assistant at local huts where you can where names such as espresso and fashion label Thara LaBoutique (thara. have doughnuts with macchiato originated? Or Melbourne, whose co). “Whether it’s the start, middle or end homemade jam and scene is legendary, or Seattle, the birthplace of the day, it’s a time when you can relax cheese, and plum of the world’s largest coffee chain? with friends.” brandy or beer. Yet Sarajevo positively brims with On a crystalline weekday, cafes all brew bravado. over the city are crammed with patrons. E F 60 | SILVERKRIS.COM SILVERKRIS.COM | 61 JOURNALS Bosnia and Herzegovina G When it comes to Bosanska kafa style, chandeliers sparkle overhead as G Picture perfect Stari Most in (Bosnian coffee), whose origins can likely bowtie and waist-coated waiters deliver Mostar. be traced back to the Ottoman Empire, one round copper trays bearing kafa to a mostly word is better left unspoken. Don’t call it local crowd. It’s here I discover the nuances H Hotel Europe's terrace cafe looks Turkish coffee. that distinguish the local brew from its onto the ruins of “There is a difference. For one, we drink more famous counterpart. the Taslihan and a 16th century it more than they do,” says Dino Lemes, Before it reaches my table, raw beans covered bazaar. local expert for luxury tour operator Insight have been roasted then ground into a Vacations (insightvacations.com), whose fine powder using a hand grinder. Boiling itinerary includes a visit to one of Sarajevo’s water is added to a gently heated dzezva (MO)STAR OF most famous coffee houses, the Viennese (copper pot with a long handle), before the THE SHOW Cafe & Restaurant (hoteleurope.ba). coffee powder is stirred in, and the pot is The cafe is mere metres from the Gazi returned to the stove and brought to the A majestic stone arch Husrev-beg Bezistan (the covered bazaar, boil. The resulting frothy kafa, still in its stands between two built circa 1540) and the ruins of the dzezva, is delivered on a tray accompanied TO WATCH A VIDEO mediaeval towers in TOUR OF SARAJEVO, the city of Mostar, just Taslihan (once an inn for merchants and by a small ceramic fildzan (cup) and a dish DOWNLOAD horses), but the experience is unexpectedly containing white sugar cubes and rahat SILVERKRIS ON a two-hour drive from TabLET Sarajevo. grand. Decked out in Austro-Hungarian lokum, a Bosnian sweet with an uncanny Like something lifted from a fairytale, Stari Most (Old Bridge) arches – 20 metres at its highest point – across the fast-moving Neretva river. Several times a day, repeating a tradition dating back to 1664, an athletic if slightly nervous- looking man edges out over the side, takes a few deep breaths, then hurls himself off the structure to cheers from the tourists who line it. While most divers are locals, the occasional traveller has taken the plunge after making a donation towards the bridge's maintenance. Flanked by the fortified Halebija tower on the west bank and Tara tower on the east, the bridge was originally completed in 1566 by Hajruddin – a student of Sinan, the father of classic Ottoman architecture. Stari Most was destroyed during the civil war in 1993, but was reconstructed using original stone and 16th century building methods. It reopened in 2004 as a UNESCO World Heritage site, reclaiming its place as the focal point of the town. For a stunning view of the bridge and its surrounds, head to the top of the minaret in E N Koski Mehmed Pasha. gi A M IN H OTO PH 62 | SILVERKRIS.COM SILVERKRIS.COM | 63 JOURNALS Bosnia and Herzegovina FOR STORIES OF HOpe, GLEANED FROM diNNER with A BOSNIAN FAMILY, GO TO SILVERKRIS.COM I I The grand Austro- resemblance to Turkish delight.