Why You Can’t Skip Sarajevo on Your Europe Trip!

Want to see a real cultural melting pot where east meets west and history is always right around the corner? Let's explore Sarajevo. Ringed by mountains, the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina awaits you with bazaars, boulevards and minarets right next to church towers. My day will be filled with stunning Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman architecture. We'll visit an alley dedicated to copper smiths and learn about one of the darkest times in Sarajevo's history during the Bosnian war. I'll also try some typical food and show you a great way to wind down at the end of the day. Sarajevo has a population of just under 300,000 people and it's the country's largest city. I'm starting my day in Sarajevo's old town and this wooden fountain is the city's most iconic meeting point. According to a legend, any traveller who drinks from this fountain will someday return to Sarajevo. The square here is also a great place to people watch and soak up the city's atmosphere. By the way, you can easily explore the old town with its cobblestone alleys on foot. This area is the historic heart of the city, built in the 15th century when Sarajevo was part of the Ottoman Empire. Today, it's full of smart shops and cafes, the perfect place to wander around. In this courtyard, you can even see a former caravanserai. During the Ottoman period, travelling merchants could stay at this roadside inn. To get a better understanding of the city, I met Edino Grezevic. He was born in Sarajevo and works as a tour guide. He shows me a very special alley in the old town dedicated to copper smiths. Copper pots and cups of all sizes, trays, you name it. Everything sold here is made here too, often by hand. I always say that this is an older street in Sarajevo. Sarajevo 100 years ago was a city of 40 different guilds, 40 streets of different crafts. These crafts these days are disappearing, but one street remained intact, unique as it was 200 years ago. So I always say that these copper smiths, they are resistant to globalization. We get to watch a copper smith at work. This plate is typical of Sarajevo. It's used for serving coffee. It takes a copper smith two days to make it. He's the fourth generation to run this shop. I ask him what will happen when he retires. He tells me, I've been retired for 20 years already. Edin wants to show me one of Sarajevo's main landmarks here in the old town. It's one of the country's largest mosques, and dates back to the 16th century. Tourists can pay a fee to visit. Nearby, a church and a synagogue stand side by side, reflecting the city's remarkable religious diversity and earning it the nickname Jerusalem of Europe. I mean, that's part of Sarajevo identity. People are very proud of it, having all that different faiths, living all together, celebrating each other's holidays. It's something that is integrated. It's an essential part of Sarajevo identity. This blend of cultures even has its own symbol in Sarajevo, set into the ground. The spot which is called Sarajevo Meeting of Cultures, and on this spot you can literally see the direction of the East and the West. A long time ago, we were part of the Ottoman Empire and we got this Eastern vibe with very Eastern religions like Sephards, Islam and Orthodox Christianity, Catholics were there as well. But the big wave and influence of the Catholic Church and Western culture is coming to my city with the arrival of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. With just one step, you can switch between eras and cultures. I'm eager to check out the former Austro-Hungarian part of the city, but first I need something to eat. One of the best things in this city is that you can have Cevapcici for lunch and then head straight into a Viennese-style cafe for dessert. The Sachertorte tastes especially good in this opulent setting. Chocolate with apricot jam, a Viennese specialty. Now I'm feeling refreshed, so let's continue to the former City Hall of Sarajevo, a faithful replica of the building that opened in 1896. The area was under Austro-Hungarian rule at the time, yet the City Hall is designed in a pseudo-Moorish style. It's a must-see for visitors. Wow, just look at that. I mean, it looks more like a palace than a city hall. Today, it's mainly used for cultural events. Now, I don't know about you, but when I think about Sarajevo, I can't help to also think about war. The city has truly seen some very dark times. Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, was assassinated beside this bridge in 1914, an event that triggered World War I. The city endured its darkest period during the 1990s Bosnian War. A mortal shell memorial marks a deadly attack on the marketplace, while bullet-scarred buildings recall the nearly four-year siege of Sarajevo by Bosnian Serb forces and the terror of sniper fire. The war began after Bosnia and Herzegovina declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1992, amid escalating ethnic and political tensions. How do children experience such wars? I pay a visit to the world's only War Childhood Museum. It displays personal objects of children from Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as from Gaza and Ukraine. We have identified that globally there isn't a single war museum, history museum, institution that would focus on experiences of children. So we thought that this perspective is entirely marginalized or even missing from this discourse about wars, and that children are active agents in their own right. Also during wartime they should have a seat at a table, and obviously inspired by what we went through as children. Each item is accompanied by a brief explanation, written by people who were children during the war and are now adults. Seeing war through their eyes is harrowing. This jersey speaks about a girl who, even if she lived in a city under the siege, she was really eager to practice volleyball, and she was really motivated to train, and so war did not stop her motivation, did not break her spirit, and so this is one of the stories that speaks about resilience of children in wartime. Life goes on, and children have this ability sometimes to create protective factor and to mimic life to make it as normal as possible. To be honest, a visit to this museum is quite heavy, but it's an important chapter in the city's history, and I still think it should be part of any trip to Sarajevo. The past has left deep scars on the city, but alongside them there's also a cosmopolitan Sarajevo where people love to celebrate. I want to end my day in the city like a local. Just a few minutes away from the historic old town is this street lined with cafes and bars. You can even order a beer brewed in Sarajevo here. Cheers! I hope you enjoyed my Sarajevo tips. What other cities would you like us to explore? Let us know in the comments.