Sarajevo - one last day

Sometimes when you visit a city you feel as if you've overstayed your welcome. The views get 'samey', the food loses its novelty and you just know it's time to move on. We've been in Sarajevo for three days and I feel I've only just touched the surface of the city. Our first day here was pretty crazy. Too many tourist coaches unleashed on the old town and the usual issues that come with trying to get yourself acquainted to a city. By Sunday, the rain had driven the crowds out of the old town and we were starting to get a sense of the events that have shaped the history of Sarajevo. We are staying in a small guest house in a middle class neighbourhood that could be in any city in the world. Looking out the window of our room you can you see numerous bullet holes on the exterior wall of the house next door. It's hard to believe that not so long ago, bullets were being fired from the window of the room in which we are staying. The marks of the war are still in every corner of Sarajevo.
I started the day with a visit to the Siege of Sarajevo Museum. It's just out of the old town and very easy to access. Again it's a privately run museum with some powerful artefacts from the war all held together with a narrative provided by people who experienced the siege. Probably the most chilling exhibit, for want of a better word, is footage of Russian writer Eduard Limonov, a devotee of the politics of Radovan Karadzic and Slobodan Milosevic, firing a machine gun on the besieged city of Sarajevo. He committed this unconceivable act in the company of Radovan Karadzic.

It was then time to lift the spirits a little with a short break for morning tea. We wandered into Ramis a famous dessert cafe in the old town where I came across the delight of Zito sa Slagom or Serbian wheat pudding for the philistines like me. It was so good I ended up polishing off a second one later in the day.
After filling up at Ramis it was time to join a two hour walking tour of the city. We've become passionate fans of city walking tours after discovering London Walks way back in about 2008. If you get a good guide these short tours can fill in lots of missing gaps. We've also decided they're best done at the end of a stay rather than the beginning. Adis, our guide today, was a wealth of knowledge of the history of the city and his observations on contemporary Bosnian politics were considered and gave us a greater understanding of how things function and sometimes don't function in this country. For example, he told us that the Bosnian Chief of Police was arrested today on charges of corruption. You can't make this stuff up!
After all this history and politics it was time for our second visit to Sac. What's so special about Sac? Well if you want to sample what is arguably the best pie in Sarajevo this is the place to visit. They cook the pie on an open fire which adds something special to the flavour. We've had the beef, spinach and feta versions of their pies and you can't go wrong. Make sure you ask for what they call sauce. It's actually yoghurt, but it really adds a little something to the dish. The chief financial officer on your holiday will also appreciate Sac. Two slices of pie today were just on 10 Bosnian Marks. It can get crazy busy at peak times, so be prepared to be patient. It's worth the wait.
After all of the meat pie consumption we decided to walk up the hill to the Yellow Fort and old Ministry for Defence Barracks. It's a steep climb at times, albeit short and sharp. The view from the top is pretty damn impressive. It's hard to see much of the barracks, but you can get some idea of the grandeur of the original building. The Austrians certainly went out of their way to leave their mark on this city. Check my pics below and you'll see evidence of the brewery they opened in 1863 which, unlike the barracks, is still functioning today. Sadly the barracks were partially destroyed in the siege and there's ongoing plans to restore the building in the form of a luxury hotel. It seems the plans have been floating around for at least ten years. Meanwhile the building continues to deteriorate.

When you've climbed that hill you should treat yourself to a rest and great tea and coffee at Caffe Kamariga - (Point of View). Google maps will find it for you in a flash. The building is aesthetically pleasing even if the cigarette smoke is not so pleasing. I'm not a tea or coffee drinker, but I indulged in a Moroccan tea blend and to my unsophisticated taste buds it scored 9.5/10. I also indulged in my second Zito sa Slagom of the day. This one came with cream so it definitely had extra health benefits. The Caffe was also playing some great soul music just to add to the cultural experience.
Now we had to waddle back down the hill to the old town. We made a wrong turn, which was fortuitous, as wrong turns often are! The gods of navigation delivered us to a beautiful neighbourhood with some great cafes and a lovely buzz. The cafes look like they have come straight from Marrakesh circa 1969! We were too full of food to indulge again, but if you're in the vicinity it's an area worth visiting. It's in a narrow lane that runs diagonally from Pigeon Square. I suspect it's called Stari Grad, but don't hold me to that one!

I did one last lap of the old town today to provide a gelato rating. On Saturday I thought Sarajevo might get a 4/5 rating, but on further inspection I discovered that the gelato stalls here are only skin deep. Dubrovnik scored 5 gelatos, but Sarajevo just squeezes a 3.5/5