On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Good morning everyone,
Sorry for the misfire yesterday, and I think this is out of order. C’est la vie.
Sarajevo was a sharp contrast to the other stops in the trip, since although most of it is a modern city (especially having been rebuilt after shelling during the post-Yugoslavia wars), it had strong Ottoman influence, particularly in the Baščaršija, Sarajevo’s old bazaar and the historical and cultural center of the city that was built in the 15th century.



The Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque, built in the 16th century, is the largest historical mosque in Bosnia and Herzegovina and one of the most representative Ottoman structures in the Balkans

The Baščaršija is home to numerous traditional artisans.



A small memorial, with an eternal flame, dedicated to the military and civilian victims of the Second World War. Elsewhere around the city, where miniature memorials to the victims of sniper fire during the post-Yugoslavia wars — small red flowers made of some sort of ceramic material, embedded in the pavements where people died. When I visited in 2012, they had all faded, which somehow seemed appropriate.
Mary G
Love the stained glass lamps.
Uncle Cosmo
I’m so jealous – you’re visiting some of my all-time favorite places plus a few I wish I’d gotten to when I had the chance (Mostar) my first time in the area (1985, before the bloodbath of, jeebus cripes, over 20 years ago???).
When you were in Dubrovnik, did you go up the funicular? I’m guessing no – we surely would have seen photos from the top in your post. When I was there in 2013, I reconnected with a guy I’d met on the previous visit (1985!) & not only did he take me up there, for the spectacular vista of the town laid out before us, but then he led me to a nearby building which housed a museum dedicated to the war of the 1990s, and he took me through it. My friend, as it happens, not only ended up in the Croatian army, but rose to the rank of colonel & commandant of the island of Korčula by war’s end, and although I had followed the conflict closely, his commentary was invaluable.
When we emerged he pointed at the ridges of limestone hills inland to show from where the Jugoslovenska narodna armija (JNA, Yugoslav Peoples’ Army) artillery had lobbed shells into Dubrovnik. Then he gestured at the building we’d just left. This was our command post. The JNA tried five time to storm it. Five times we drove them back.
Dogonlynose how much of the city would have been left if the (mostly Serb & Montenegrin) JNA had been able to shell it from pointblank range. As it was, when I circumnavigated the walls for the second time ($0.85 admission in 1985, $18.00 in 2013) I saw a very few weathered & darkened roof tiles amongst the bright orange terracotta – & was told the dark ones were remnants of the prewar roofs. In a small room just inside the entrance to (IIRC) the Palac Sponza at the far end of Placa (Stradun) from the Pile Gate, there was a display of photos of the >200 residents killed in the bombardment.
I had been deeply interested in the Balkans from 1975, when I started learning their folkdances, and I had “no dog in the hunt” as Yugoslavia was breaking up (Franjo Tudjman and the Croatian right-wingers being almost as odious as Slobodan Milošević and his Serb bigots). Until the JNA shelled Dubrovnik – a town of no military importance whatsoever. There was absolutely no reason to bombard it other than sheer spite that a place that beautiful belonged to the Croats.
/tmi
Sister Golden Bear
@Uncle Cosmo: I didn’t go on the funicular. Don’t remember exactly why except that it was probably crowded, and I’d gotten an equivalent view on the drive in to Dubrovnik.
Because the number of photos per entry is capped, I omitted a photo showing an info board outside the wall showing all the buildings that had been shelled (most of the town). As you said, they were easily identifiable by the bright terracotta tiles that had yet to weather down to a duller color.
J R in WV
Thanks again for sharing this trip with the rest of us jackals!! Great photos of fabulous area of Europe
ETA:
IN the sorta long ago, wife and I took a funicular to the top of the canyon Bilbao lies in, only to find a wonderful park with striking memorial to those lost in the Spanish Civil War, as well as fabulous views of the city below. For almost nothing, no crowd, def. worth it!
mr perfect
Lovely pictures. We were there as well as Mostar, Korcula, Dubrovnik and Kotor three years ago. My wife and I felt it was the best vacation we have had. Thank you.