A Photo a Day Keeps the Parents at Bay: Sniper's Hill

Day 40 - Sarajevo, Bosnia:

Breakfast consisted of a hot dog and egg sandwich - not my favourite, but it did the trick.

Most of us set out to the bird fountain down the hill in Old Town to meet a local guide for a morning walking tour at 10. The sky was clear blue and the sun already strong! I was thinking smart this morning and decided to pack my umbrella for shade and sunscreen with me in my backpack, which proved to be very handy later on.

The walk took us though the old town and we saw several mosques, city hall, the Latin Bridge that Franz Ferdinand was assassinated on by a 17-year-old on June 28th, 1914, and all the old red roofed Turkish influenced buildings. We then crossed into new town or Novi Grad, and you could stand between the two and instantly see the difference. New town had different ground tiling and more modern and taller buildings. In the new town was saw the eternal flame which is dedicated to lost soldiers and the liberation from the Nazis in World War II. We also saw the outdoor market that sustained two major bombings during the Bosnian War - one in 1993 that killed 43 people and one in 1995 that killed 75 people. Both bombings happened on the exact same day, but three years apart. The last place we visited was the children's memorial for the 1,600 children that were killed during the siege of Sarajevo. So very sad.

After the walk we had an hour and a half break before meeting at the bird bath again to go on the war tunnels tour. During the break I went and got a cappuccino and ate my leftover apple and potato chips with Katherine and Karrie. After that I broke off on my own and walked around old town and checked out all the stores and tried on some dresses, but with no luck.

The war tunnels were something to see. Originally they were 800 meters underneath the airport and they would bring black market supplies into the city this way. Now you can only walk about 25 meters in the tunnels, however. It was blistering hot out while we were out by the airport (we took a bus there) and my umbrella came in handy for shade! We watched a movie with footage of gunfire and bombings from the Bosnian War in Sarajevo. It was chilling.

From the war tunnels we went on to "Snipers Hill" and got great views of the city, which is also why it was Snipers Hill. From up in the hills you can see everywhere, and our guide told us that the guns they were using could shoot up to 8 kilometres in distance. Our guide was a military academy graduate whose father and grandfather had been in the war. He had also served two terms in Iraq - each 6 months long.

We took roads we hadn't been on yet to get to snipers hill and ended up seeing apartment buildings that were worse hit than any of the others we had seen so far. It gave me goosebumps - especially after seeing the buildings in the video at the war tunnels getting bombed. As we passed through streets I was also thinking about all of the people we saw in the videos running as fast as they could through intersections trying to get to the other side while avoiding being shot. I simply can't imagine going through that. I'm very lucky to have been born in Canada. I'm very lucky to have family that hasn't lived through war, is healthy, and all together in the same place. So many locals I have talked to here are separated from their families, have horrible memories of the war, and live with a fear of uncertainty.

The bus brought us back to old town, right behind city hall, and I decided to walk to the front of city hall and get a good look, as I had seen video footage at the war tunnels of the city hall building in flames after being hit by mortar. There I found a plaque that was commemorating the loss of the national and university library in the war. From there I continued walking though old town and when I passed the mosque I noticed it was prayer time. I stood behind the walls and peaked through and watched them pray while the Imam's voice rang through the speakers. They would stand up, bow half way down, and go down on their knees and put their head to the floor over and over and over. It was fascinating. It was also very interesting to see how much space the men got to pray (75% of the area available), compared to the women (25% roughly).

From there I walked down to Logavina street, as I had read a Guardian article about a reporter during the time of the war that stayed with a family living on this street and reported from their point of view, more or less. The police station happened to be on this street as well.

Once back at the hotel finally, I freshened up to go out for dinner for John's birthday! At 7:15 we all met at the bird bath again and made our way across the river to the Sarajevo Brewery (where during the war many risked their lives and made the trek to get fresh water from the natural spring there). The brewery was very nice and dinner was quite good - as was the beer.

Our leader, Brian, had kindly arranged a cake for John's birthday, so we all sang to him and got a piece for dessert. Unfortunately, Karren and I were unsure if anyone was going to get him a cake so earlier we had bought a piece for him as well from a bakery, so that went to waste. Oh well!

After dinner a few of us walked back across the river into old town and made our way to the FIFA World Cup viewing tent to watch Costa Rica vs. Greece. We lasted until the first half was done and then all decided to call it a night.

Latin bridge where Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in 1914: