the hope that house built.

We went on a tour today, ran by good old (dobri stari, if we're talking Bosnian) Haris in Sarajevo. I wasn't sure what to expect when it started, as I'm used to Bata's tours, which are renowned as the be all and end all of city tours, as a thing of wonder. As per usual, there was a snorer in my room, so I woke up early, made some Bosnian coffee and sat outside for a bit. People complain about having to walk up the hill to Haris' hostel here, but the view from the top is nothing short of stunning, especially in the morning. So I made me a pot of coffee and sat outside for a bit. Walked into town, stopped by in Haris' office to speak to his lovely assistant Juliet, an Australian girl from Norwich who has lived in the Balkans for 15 months or so. She's pretty awesome, even if she does copy my different coloured sleeves style. Whats up with that?

So, the tour. The first stop was the tunnel museum just outside of the city, which I have seen before. Its interesting, mostly because of the story behind it. During the war, Sarajevo was completely under siege, so there was no way in and no way out of the city, its inhabitants were trapped. The idea was planted, and they decided to build a tunnel out of the city. Soldiers on both sides started digging, and 4 months later they eventually met in the middle. So this tunnel was the only way in or out of the city, the only way to get supplies in, and the only for the Bosnian army in the city to get weapons. Basically, it saved the city. It was literally built starting in a family house as well, which is pretty awesome. So you can go there today and check it out. You watch a video about the tunnel, then there is a little museum and a small stretch of the tunnel still standing. It's very interesting, and impossible to fathom.

The next part of the tour, was really eerie. In 1984, Sarajevo hosted the winter Olympics, becoming the first socialist host. It's not something you can avoid in the city really, they are incredibly proud of this. There is a museum for it and everything, which we went to later in the afternoon, and was interesting, complete with hilarious 80's video. Anyway, the interesting part. Haris took us up to the bobsleigh track that was used in the aforementioned Olympics. All very normal I guess, only that the track itself is completely abandoned, overgrown and ruined. It was very, very interesting. There are a lot of things like this in Eastern Europe, but it is clear that there is something beautiful about abandoned structures. In many ways, a structure being completely destroyed leaves a greater beauty than something that just gets forgotten. In a forgotten structure, you tend to look at them and think, 'aah, that used to be pretty. sad times'. In destroyed things, you tend to paint your own picture of how they were, and they have an added poignancy.

That's probably the lamest thing I've said, I hope Gary Brennan doesn't read this.

We also went to a traditional old Bosnian house, some lovely panoramic views of the city, and the Latin Bridge where Gavrilo Princip started World War 1 by assasinating Farnz Ferdinand, declaring war on Serbia, mobilizing the Russian Army, invading Belgium, burning down Germany, leading three separate colonial uprisings in Africa and positing the theory of Social Darwinism as related to imperialism, nationalism and domectis economies. Or maybe just the first of those. The world blames him though. We finished the tour by eating (what else) some čevapi, and by god it was the best čevapi I have had all summer. Fantastic.

Tonight I'm going to watch a brass orchestra, and tomorrow I'm going to Srebreniča. Variety might just be the spice of life.