Arrival in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia - What kind of country is Bosnia? Around the World by Takahiro Ueda, a Buddhist monk - Bosnia Part 2
April 26.
Landing at the airport in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The airport is of modest size for an international airport in a capital city.
Cloudy sky.
But the temperature is nearly 30 degrees Celsius. The air feels hot and humid.
Finally, I was in Sarajevo.
From the airport, we drove to our lodgings in the old town.
The atmosphere of the city is somehow different from both Europe and Asia.
The city looks a bit desolate, perhaps because the traces of the recent conflict are still lingering.
Now, we arrived at the inn on the outskirts of the old town.
The inn where we stayed this time was a pension along the river, quiet and scenic, and in a good location, less than a 10-minute walk to the center of the old town.
However, this quiet location on the outskirts of the old town was also the cause of later events, but that is a story for another time.
At any rate, the Miljacka River flows in front of you.
Downstream of this river, a 10-minute walk away, is the Latin Bridge, the site of the Sarajevo incident that triggered World War I.
I walk along the river to the old town.
Today, the first day, I took a quick stroll through the city streets to get a drink.
In Bosnia, streetcars are the legs of the citizens.
The car body is quite old. The lack of supplies may be a factor, but surprisingly, Sarajevo was the first city in the world to put streetcars to practical use.
The first such system was introduced in Vienna, the capital of Austria, which ruled Bosnia at the time, as an experiment.
That was in 1885.
Vienna is known as the city of flowers.
The fact that it was used as an experiment to be introduced there could also mean that this city of Sarajevo was so prosperous.
The streets a little away from the center of the old town are still a little lonely.
It is a unique landscape with a mixture of different cultures, different from the European world, the Asian world, and even the Arab Muslim world.
It is said that the Ottoman Empire, which ruled Bosnia for a long time since the Middle Ages, had a great influence on this unique landscape.
Later, the Ottoman Empire was replaced by Habsburg Austria, famous for the Empress Elisabeth mentioned earlier, who ruled here from 1878.
I was in Vienna, Austria just before I visited Bosnia.
I can see the Habsburg palace as I saw it in Vienna.
They had this place under their control.
And as you walk through the old town, you can see the mountains rising beyond your field of vision.
Sarajevo is a city surrounded by mountains.
There is abundant nature just a stone's throw from the city.
At the same time, however, it was this topography that caused the people of Sarajevo to suffer.
Now, let me tell you a little bit about Bosnia.
Bosnia has a population of approximately 3.5 million.
Bosnia and Herzegovina is located on the Balkan Peninsula.
The region once formed the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, consisting of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, and Macedonia from the north.
However, the conflict in Yugoslavia in the 1990s caused this federal state to cease to exist.
Each country achieved independence after a period of conflict, and this is how it is today.
The "powder keg of Europe," which you may have heard about in history class, is exactly this Balkan Peninsula.
This is where World War I began.
And not only at the beginning of the 20th century, but also in the 1990s, as the 21st century was approaching, the area became a flashpoint for conflict.
That is how complicated the political and historical situation surrounding the region has become.
More than 20 years after the conflict, the city of Sarajevo is recovering.
However, the rate of progress was slow in the immediate post-conflict period, and only in recent years has the city finally begun to recover at a rapid pace.
The city's popularity as a tourist destination has also increased in recent years, and the city is beginning to regain its liveliness, even if some aspects of the city's life are still inadequate.
Supermarket where I came to get drinks.
The atmosphere is that of a supermarket, but a small store.
Perhaps a remnant of the socialist era, there was only one staff member at the cash register even though there was such a long line.
The line does not go very fast.
Maybe it just happened by chance, but the standard overseas is that nothing goes the way you want it to, just like in Japan.
As I reached the midpoint of my trip, I was getting somewhat accustomed to the rhythms of a foreign country.
According to our conversation, there are a number of large Western-style supermarkets in the new town.
But here in the old town, the old style still remains.
In a way, I would say that experiencing such a store was a valuable experience in getting to know the area. (Although this store is modern enough to be called a supermarket compared to old-fashioned stores.)
Well, that concludes today's itinerary, having arrived in Sarajevo.
Tomorrow, we will tour the city of Sarajevo with a guide, listening to stories about the time of the conflict.
be unbroken
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