Clockwise from top
left
⁄
Strong, sugary
Bosnian coffee and Turkish
delight at Divan; a hilltop
view of one of Sarajevo’s
many cemeteries; a shisha
café in the old town;
traditional metalware on
sale in the market; the
spot where Archduke
Franz Ferdinand was
assassinated 99 years ago;
bullet holes in a graffitied
wall in the commercial
district
Norwegian flies to Sarajevo fromOslo,
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A
youthful, vibrant town where Muslims,
Christians and Jews peacefully lived side-
by-side for hundreds of years. An avowedly
secular city where Islam is the principal
religion, it’s almost always possible to get
a beer with your meal. Downtown bar
Zlatna Ribica (the Goldfish bar; 5 Kaptol,
+387 33 215 369),
offers a side
order of delicious
eccentricity with
your beer. It’s
dripping with retro items – there are black
and white TVs everywhere, including one
tuned to Fashion TV in the bathroom.
Thankfully, Baščaršija was spared the
worst of the shelling in the Balkans conflict
and 15th-century mosques,
hans
(roadside
inns),
hammams
(baths) and a bazaar dating
back to Ottoman times have survived. At
Baščaršija cafés, teenagers smoke shisha
and watch pop videos; in venues like Divan
(77 Sarači), customers sip strong, thick and
sugary coffee, another Ottoman import.
This month the city plays host to the
Sarajevo Film Festival, launched during the
siege and now regarded as one of the best
in Europe. Bono and Angelina Jolie have
attended in the past and raved about how
much they love Sarajevo. They’re right – it’s
beautiful, although that hardly comes as
news to the old town’s tea drinkers.
