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Arriving Late in Bosnia

Sarajevo, Bosna i Hercegovina

Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

December 20th 2022


Black and white stray cat sitting on chair in Sarajevo Cafe, Bosnia

Along the meandering road that curled threw the Eastern Bosnian mountain range, hurtling between two ridges along a continuous untouched gorge towards the capital, I was forced to close my eyes and entertain myself with thoughts as nausea slowly took over. During this, I mulled over something that had been bugging me about the balkans since I arrived. My constrained British-educated brain is screaming out to pin down the slavic character and categorise them into nicely identifiable stereotypes, but be it caused by culture, religion, geographical position, or history, I find it frustratingly difficult to do so.


Undeniably, there is a quality of kindness you can find here that simply cannot exist in the West, a rough and raw type of comradery that has become eroded back at home by rules, regulations and formality. Sure, on average driving safety and courtesy is beyond atrocious and indoor smoking is still allowed in restaurants and cafes (in Serbia and Bosnia at least), but I am constantly touched by the little welcoming favours of strangers. I've had three meals paid for me by someone without any prior suggestion, and had numerous free drinks including in Serbia's equivalent of Starbucks, where the waiter simply told me my drink was "on the house" as a goodbye present. This no-strings-attached cordiality is tough to find nowadays.


Father and son walking home in Sarajevo, Bosnia
Family walking through square in Sarajevo, Bosnia

My inner struggle unsatisfied, I arrived in the capital Sarajevo after sunset and walked around briefly before going to my hostel. Yet again my preconceptions were wrong, as the grand commerciality soon shone through as well as everything associated, including clean, new streets, and dozens of huge glass shopping malls. Who knew.


Along my walk along the shallow Miljacka river, I casually crossed the location that hosted an event that most historians label as the start of World War I and the most important defining point of modern history: the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. I tried to take a photo of the location and a band of guys walked past smiling and yelling, on the exact spot the assassin stood. Utterly strange.


A group of men wave at the camera while walking past the location of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, Bosnia

Location of the Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand


Woman in Hijab tries to pet a cat in a candy store in Sarajevo, Bosnia

Black and white stray cat in Sarajevo, Bosnia

Man takes photo of stray cat in cafe in Sarajevo, Bosnia

Black and white stray cat on floor of street in Sarajevo, Bosnia

Most of the stray cats are black and white


Graveyard site in Sarajevo, Bosnia

Stray cat puts ears back in Sarajevo, Bosnia

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