We started the day with a trip to the barber shop that was near our apartment. She didn’t speak English. I asked her if she wanted to see a picture. She said no. Well, how bad could it be. At least she won’t shave his head. She said that the price was 6 marks. That’s $3.50. Rob gave her 10 marks and she was thrilled!!
We walked through the city to board the cable car at the top of Trebević Hill. It had just reopened in 2018. We were able to get a birdseye view of beautiful Sarajevo.
Mountains surround the city. In earlier times there were fortresses to protect the city. These were used by the Bosnian Serbs during the Seige of Sarajevo. We think that it must be better to live on a glorified hill than in the valleys surrounded by hills.
Once upon a time, there was a state of the art Astronomical Observatory at the apex. It served as a vantage point for the Serbian Army during the war. Today it is in ruins.
At the top were families having picnics. They were gathering kindling and firewood. We saw women picking berries.
We asked what they were harvesting. They weren’t sure of the English word but were using the berries for tea and jam. I wondered if they had advanced skills of living off the land due to wartimes.
The bobsled run used in the 1984 Winter Olympics is located here. (I wondered if all those who covered the Olympics were shocked at the news of the Siege of Sarajevo and used their voice in the media.)
The concrete shoots were also used by Serbian snipers and shellers as protection during the war.
We walked down the concrete track and wondered how it is iced? If you wanted to practice bobsledding, where do you find a track? There can’t be too many since there needs to be a lot of land…and then they must be maintained. We thought of the Jamaican Bobsledders!
I wanted to bring a sled here after the winter snows arrived. Be sure to wear a helmet!!
Rob and I attended the Al-Jazeera Balkans Documentary Film Festival that was taking place in Saravejo this weekend. It was standing room only for Light-footed which was about the first child killed in the Bosnian War. Her name was Aida and she was six years old. She was hit by shrapnel while lying in her bed. The story was told by the father. There wasn’t a dry eye in the place.
There is a children’s memorial in the park with all the names of children listed. War is ugly! It breaks so many hearts!!
Here are some other movies that I would like to see:
No Man’s Land (2002) This movie won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film.
An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker (2013) This movie is about a poor man trying to support his growing family.
Remake, Grbavica (2003) This movie has two storylines. One of a father who is a soldier in WWII and one of his son in the Bosnian War.
theculturetrip.com has other film recommendations that you may want to investigate… for any country.
Ten minutes doesn’t seem like much but it can be an eternity in the Siege of Sarajevo. Watch this video entitled: 10 minutes.
I watched the film “10 minutes” …..yeah ……sad ……