(no subject)

[rebness]

I'm going to do a proper photo post when all this craziness has blown over and I can have a nice cup of tea and a sit down, but I leave Sarajevo tomorrow for Mostar and want to share a few pictures with you before I go.

This city is like none other that I have seen; it is scarred by bullets and mortar holes in the concrete of the pavements. The graveyards are full of an inordinate amount of young people who all died in 1992 - when Serbia attacked Bosnia in retribution for declaring independence. You can't walk on vast parts of the terrain because so many of the land mines remain undisturbed.

But that's not the whole of Sarajevo - it's a desperately friendly place, where the locals seem to bend over backwards to show you the strengths of their city, to ask you if everything is okay, do you like it, do you think Bosnia is beautiful?

Well, yes. I do. But let me just give you a couple of photos to sum up the paradox of this place:



This is called a Sarajevo Rose - it's a concrete scar in the pavement caused by a mortar shell explosion, later filled in with red resin to represent any mortar explosion that is known to have caused one or more deaths. These symbols are scattered about the town.



...But it's a beautiful region, nonetheless.

Anyway, there'll be a full post about all this when I get back to England. Onto Mostar!

Comments

[haydenthorne.livejournal.com]

The Sarajevo Rose made me tear up. That's amazing.

[rebness.livejournal.com]

It's sobering and beautiful and... well, horrible.

[pandorasblog]

I showed my mum the pictures; we were both really moved by it... this contradiction between war and peace, yet something that needs to be lived with.

[rebness.livejournal.com]

Yes, exactly. It's been a sobering and wonderful country to visit... Montenegro and Croatia are rather paling in comparison. :p

[mumsisdaughter]

It's the simple ideas that are the most touching.

Looking forward to seeing the rest of the pics.

[rebness.livejournal.com]

I'll hopefully be posting more in the next couple of days!

[ozfille]

It's amazing that Sarajevo which suffered some of the most awful atrocities of that awful, strung-out war is so upbeat. The only place I think I can compare with it would be Hama in Syria where you can see the bullet holes still in the buildings that remained after the bombings. It was here that between 10,000 and 25,000 were killed by the Syrian Army to crush an Islamist uprising (in Feb 1982)against Hafez Al-Assad's dictatorship. Even then the guide had to keep his voice down just in case he might have been overheard by someone when he showed us some of the streets. We'd originally gone there to see the norias (waterwheels)for which the town was famed. We weren't supposed to be there, it wasn't on our itinerary but the guide and the driver were willing to take us there. Hafez Al-Assad still ruled Syria at the time I was there, so they had to be careful.

[rebness.livejournal.com]

I can't imagine being in a place when it was still so very raw. To be fair, you can see Bosnia resurrecting itself from the ruins of war, but it's still sad, regardless. I do want to get to Syria someday.

[avariecaita.livejournal.com]

Sarajevo, who knew you could break my heart like that?

[rebness.livejournal.com]

I keep wondering what you'd make of it!