Drinking the Water in Sarajevo, Bosnia

OCTOBER 13, 2012

In the past several days, I took the time to delve into the two copies of the Bagvad Gita I had been carrying with me during the trip.  The Gita is a short tale, written in verse, taken from the much larger Indian Vedic epic The Mahabarata.  The story chronicles the struggle of the warrior, Arjuna, in his dilemma of whether or not to go to enter battle against an army of his own family and peers.  The story, and my reading of it in Sarajevo, couldn’t have possibly been more apropos.

For those who hold a fascination with architecture and history, Sarajevo, Bosnia should be placed on the top of their list of Balkan cities to visit.  Walking through the old town area was such a gem.  In all honesty, a bit of travel weariness had crept into my being in the last week and since leaving the beaches of the west coast I had lost a bit of interest in the history of the region, in favor of time spent in and around the ocean and mountains.  Sarajevo changed this a bit for me.

 

 

Much of the city was restored to its original pre-war form, or better.  At the same time many of the buildings still showed their scars from the shelling they took over a decade ago. 

Sarajevo was the first stop on my trip where a local, someone I met through a friend-of-a-friend type of connection, would be me guide.  Between her, a talkative taxi driver I would later hire, and a guy I would meet the next day at a Kirtan, I learned much of the city’s history.  Sadly, they validated the horrible stories of bloodshed and neighbor vs neighbor that I had read on the internet.

It is said that those who drink from the fountain will return.  So I guess we'll see you soon Sarajevo.